Assignment 2: Products and Emotions

The product I am introducing here is on watches. I believe that watches is a form of a representation of the owner.

Rolex: GMT-Master II

Visceral design: I would rate this watch as 8/10 for its design as this is the kind of watch that most people would stop by and take a second look at it. Mainly its because of the gold plated covering and the diamond bizels that attracts people the most.

Behavioral design: For functionality, this watch would be a normal 5/10 as it doesn't really have multiple function. It behaves as a normal watch which you can buy anywhere which is to tell time and date.

Reflective design: Rolex has always been a well known brand among everyone to be a watch of high status. In the past and till now, people would always awe in astonishment when there is a Rolex on your wraist. Thus I would rate it 10/10 for its reflective sign of status and class.

Tag Heuer: Diamond Fiction

Visceral design: I would rate this watch as 9.8/10 for its design among the ladies. As the saying goes, "Diamonds are women's best friend." This watch is perfect in terms of design and the materials used (diamonds mainly).

Behavioral design: This watch is rather hard to use as its digital and there is no obvious knob like a normal watch where you can turn the knob to adjust the time. Also, the owner must be especially cautious as she would not want to scratch the precious diamonds on the watch. Thus this watch rates 4/10 for behavioral design.

Reflective design: For reflective design, this watch could be rated 8/10 as diamonds on a watch contributes as a sign of wealth and status. This is not a watch meant for middle-income group but more for women with high income.

Omega: Seamaster Aqua Terra Chronograph

Visceral design: I would give this watch a rating of 6/10 for its design. It does not have an outstanding visual impact as compared to the previous two watches. The Seamaster Chronograph is designed to withstand extreme conditions and thus could not afford to be lavish in its design.

Behavioral design: The Seamaster Chronograph is capable of reading short time periods in addition to the standard function of displaying hour and minutes. The calibre precisely design to denote the time accurately with respect to the movement of the needle up to 2.256mm per second. This watch rates 9/10 for behavioral design given also that its able to withstand waters depth up to 500m.

Reflective design: For reflective design, this watch could be rated 5/10 as this watch is mainly meant for people often out at sea like voyagers or divers. It is not meant to be a reflection of status but more on the functionalities that attract the buyers.

Horrible stove (Assignment 1: Bad design)

Well I remembered going my friend house to stay over, and I was rather hungry in the middle of the night. So I decided to cook something to eat like maggie mee. My 'helpful' friend lead me to the kitchen which he said 'The stove is there. Help yourself.' So when I went to the stove, the design was like:

Fig.1 Picture taken from the user manual.

and I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what knob corresponds to which stove. And my 'helpful' friend was there laughing. So I get my other friends who were staying over too to take a look. And their comments are:

Friend 1 (Yi Ru) : "Haha! Playing mix and match ar?"
Friend 2(Gilbert) : "What the ****? Which is which?"
Friend 3(Zhiqiang): "Wa so troublesome. Don't cook liao la, go da bao*"
*For non-chinese people, da bao means go buy food instead

So feeling irritated, I ask my friend how he used the stove? He said, "Starting i was also fed up. Don't know how they design one. So trial and error lo."

My reflections on the stove

I will DEFINITELY not buy this kind of stove. The user interface is really bad and it is not obvious which knob will correspond to which stove. And the user have to read through the user manual to find out.

My recommendation is that they should at least label the knobs and the stove.
Rating for the stove: 9/10 (Bad among the bad)

My 1st post

Hi all. This will be my blog for all assignments for NM4210. Please feel free to leave comments and such.