Design and the Social Mind
When brainstorming design ideas, I am increasingly thinking about the quality of the idea in terms of how it will be accepted by the social human. I was spurred by the intuitive design video we watched in class that talked about the design of a door and the plethora of bad designs in our world. But what is a bad design? One which doesn’t come naturally to the user. But what created the users natural intuition? I would argue that it is less about the biological function of the brain and more about how it has been socialized over time to have certain expectations. Along these lines, when creating a device or system, it may come down to what fits the expectations of the user (and by extension, society) rather than what is most efficient. I find this fascinating as someone with a science background that has been taught to think in terms of the most functionally efficient and cost-effective, rather than sacrificing these for aesthetics. This is an interesting challenge we encountered when delving deeper into the needs of the NICU. There are many ‘needs’ that would not be in place if the existing system or device was implemented properly. However, there is a reason that it is not. That small opening is what I am finding to be crucial to explore further.
BME Design 