This is it?!

Alright as an adieu to this class and to our readings, I decided to read the short article by Donald Norman. It put into perspective some things I had toyed with when thinking about how I wanted to design my website. Norman talks a lot about aesthetics and how this is an important factor when considering designing anything. In his example about how two Japanese designed two ATM machines and how the attractive model gained more responses than the unattractive model, I began thinking about a lot of things. As human beings, does that make us superficial? We only like things that look good? Ay! I know I've been guilty of this numerous times in my life, but to actually read an article on it that blatantly spells out why we are superficial is kind of sobering and makes me feel a little disappointed in the human race. Why do we put so much value on the way we look or the way other people look. As consumers, we tend to buy things that look good or make us look good. For example, Maya and I went into a shoe store today. I tried on a pair of Tsubos becasue I've heard really good things about them and because they are cute. Maya tells me they look good on me and two seconds later, I buy them. I have to admit I'M SUPERFICIAL! And now, thinking about it, doesn't make me feel particularly good about myself. I realize a lot of the way we think about things as human beings has to do with influence from outside environmental factors like the media, society, our friends, our family, etc... It's human nature, I guess. Although, why shouldn't we want to look good, buy things that make us look good and create things that do the same? On the creative note, this article has made me (like I said earlier) think about my website design and what I want to do to make it more appealing for my target audience. Afterall, I do want my medical students and prospective students to be able to access my website to see what NYU SoM Office of Student Affairs has to offer in order to make their lives easier while attending or thinking about medical school. Some of them may only want to look at the website if it's pretty and easy to navigate. I guess these are factors I need to consider.

On a different note, I want to say thank you to Jim Diamond. He's been a great instructor these past eight weeks and I think I've learned more from him this semester than in any of my other classes. Even though it's been a hell of a lot of work, blood, sweat and tears in front of the computer screen as well as wanting to guage my eyes out during one of our assignments, it's been well worth it and most importantly, FUN! Congratulations on a job well done as our instructor!

PS- What's your drink of choice? The class is buying =o)

OWARIMASHITA ('Finished!' in Japanese)!