The Design of Everyday Things [6]

Name and describe the three levels of processing and how they matter in terms of design

Visceral - snap judgement processing based on fast cognition brain functions. Tied with perception in the form of our immediate senses (touch, taste, smell sight, hearing). Visceral processing influences us greater than we realize and happens in such a subtle way that it's very important for designers to pay attention to how their products draw the attention of visceral emotions.

Behavioral - Is the learned processing based off past experiences. This occurs instantaneously and without much thought. Trouble arrives in design when behavioral processing does not match with what actually happens. For instance clicking a pen to write but the pen doesn't come out.

Reflective - Reflective is the processing that is mainly conscious evaluations of what happen. This level of processing is slow and laborious. Too much reflective processing is stressful as humans are designed to maximize resources while minimizing their effort. This is what leads to satisficing (learning just enough to accomplish the goal, even if it means using a product wrong)

How does satisficing relate to design?

Compare and Contrast The 7 Steps of Action with the Job Map from JTBD

Goal
Plan
Specify
Perform
Perceive
Interpret
Compare

Plan
Locate
Prepare
Confirm
Execute
Monitor
Modify
Conclude

The 7 steps of action discuss what is occurring when a person is attempting to do any action related to a goal. The jobs maps identifies what are the actions a person might need to do to complete a job to be done.

For instance if the goal in the 7 steps was cut my hair the seven steps might be

Goal - Cut Hair
Plan - Think about all the ways I can cut my hair, barber shop, my self, etc.
Specify - I'm going to cut it myself
Perform - Cut my hair
Perceive - See how it goes
Interpret - What is the status of my hair after seeing the result of me cutting it
Compare - Is my hair cut? Do i still need to go to the barber

For Jobs Map it might be
Plan - Plan how I'm going to cut my hair, what styles
Locate - Find clippers
Prepare - Prepare clippers
Confirm - Confirm clippers are working and guards work too
Execute - Cut my har
Monitor - Monitor clippers making sure they are performing correctly
Modify - Change clippers as needed
Conclude - Clean up clippers and work space

What is a signifier? How do affordances and signifiers work together?