Resources

1. Max Roser, Hannah Ritchie and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina (2020) - "Internet: Technology adoption in US households, 1930 to 2019". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: https://ourworldindata.org/internet

2. Greg Gilbert, Luis A. Fernandes and Ajit Sawant (Jan. 2019) - “Digital is reshaping US health insurance - winners are moving fast.” Published online at mckinsey.com. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/digital-is-reshaping-us-health-insurance-winners-are-moving-fast

3. Product Development. 2020. In The PDMA Glossary for New Product Development.

Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://www.pdma.org/page/glossary_access2

4. New School of Architecture & Design. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://newschoolarch.edu/blog/what-is-product-design/

5. Department of Communications. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sga.umbc.edu/leadership/executive-branch/department-of-communications/

6. Human-Centered Computing (HCC). (n.d). Retrieved from https://isrc.umbc.edu/human-centered-computing/

7. Kong, TK. (n.d). Interns.design. Retrieved from https://interns.design/

8. Glassdoor. 2020. Job Posting: Product Designer at Quora, Mountain View, CA. [online] Available at: https://www.glassdoor.com/Job/product-designer-jobs-SRCH_KO0,16.htm. Accessed March 22nd 2020

9. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (n.d). User Experience Basics. Retrieved from https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-experience.html

10. Carnegie Mellon University. 2020. MHCI Admissions. Retrieved from https://hcii.cmu.edu/academics/mhci/application

11. University of Washington. 2020. Human Centered Design & Engineering: Admission Requirements. Retrieved from https://www.hcde.washington.edu/ms/admissions

12. University of Maryland. (2020). College of Information Studies: Graduate Admissions. Retrieved from https://ischool.umd.edu/graduate-admissions

13. University of Pennsylvania. (2019). M-:IPD degree. Retrieved from https://ipd.me.upenn.edu
    /ipd-programs/m-ipd-degree

14. NYCOpportunity. (2020). Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity Fellowships and Apprenticeship. Retrieved from https://buildwithnyc.github.io/productfellow.html

15. Coding It Forward. (2020). Civic Digital Fellowship. Retrieved from https://www.codingitforward.com/fellowship

Additional sources readers may find helpful:

1. Paul DeVay. (2015). Design Industries - What is Digital Product Design? [PNG]. Medium. https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*01CmACwf3c81ENNK6cVlQg.png

2. Carter, John. (2018, Aug 30). UX Design vs. Product Design: What is the difference? Medium.

https://uxdesign.cc/ux-design-verses-product-design-whats-the-difference-577b3eab19c0

Assignment #5: Annotated Bibliography (APA format)

Degree plan courses taken and currently enrolled in and its corresponding Area of Concentration.

Management Strategies for Digital Products (Entrepreneurship)

ENGR 2196 - Technical Communication (Transfer)

No relevant text/readings from this course. As the first sequence course to my old school’s engineering capstone design class, this course focused more on the grammar and presentation of technical writing. Assigned readings were centered on MS Office techniques and complying with industry standard writing specifications. A reference guide was used however, “A Pocket Style Manual, 7th by Diana Hacker & Nancy Sommers.

ENGR 3001- Engineering Economics (Transfer)

White, John. (2012). Principles of Engineering Economic Analysis, 6th Edition. Wiley.

This textbook guides readers through financial problem solving concepts in the context of large scale engineering. Although mostly catered to aspiring engineers and those hoping to pass professional engineering exams, the skills learned can be largely applied to economic, project management, and entrepreneurship disciplines. The text introduces basic analysis tools used to solve rate of return, return of investment, and cost/benefit situations which will prove to be useful in my capstone project of creating digital products. In a corporate or start-up environment, flow of equities is crucial to the financial success of a designed product. If not carefully planned or executed, decisions made pre-maturely or late can lead to inefficient production and loss of net value. Although it will most likely not be used, the text also provides problem sets in the back to enhance computational thinking.

IS 300 - Management Information Systems

Davis, Nathaniel. (2015). A New Architecture for Information Systems. UX Matters. https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2015/11/a-new-architecture-for-information-systems.php

In this article, Davis talks about the importance of not neglecting the digital user-experience in utilizing management information systems in businesses. He reframes the current mental model of information systems to include the design of human and computer interactions. Traditionally, creation of enterprise information systems accounts little for human factors like perception, culture, and accessibility. It is not until the system has been fully built that many shortcomings are revealed such as UI(User-interface) defects. Davis furthers this notion by creating a model summarizing four key business activities: 1) Context Analysis, 2) Testing, research, and analytics, 3) Design Architecture, 4) Infrastructure Architecture. This will help me in developing my capstone project as I need to understand that more “hidden” and back-end part of information systems such as human resources, e-commerce, and transaction processing are not immune to the design thinking process; in fact they will have just as much priority in design as the front-end interfaces (what the user will see). Although not as glamorous, this will touch on the disciplines of entrepreneurship and Human-Computer Interaction.

IS 202 - System Analysis Methods

Kendall, K & Kendall, J. (2013). Systems Analysis and Design, 9th edition. Pearson.

This required reading in my IS 202 course served as a practical understanding of both the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Agile development process while touching on the disciplines of Project Management, Entrepreneurship (agile), and Human-Computer Interaction. With each chapter outlining effective techniques for forming development methodologies, the reader can apply these in their own teams. Such techniques include Agile & OO design, finding open source software, Entity-Relationship diagramming, Use Case Modeling, determining feasibility, cost/benefit analysis, decision tables, user-interviewing, sampling, prototyping, observing, and Gantt Charts. Kendall shows the specific roles of members in an effective software development team - systems analyst, consultant, developer, supporting expert, etc. This will be a very practical guide to what my capstone project could look like if I decide to assemble and manage a team. Even if I do not take the role of project manager in my capstone project, this will be helpful for future employment across multiple role breadth (UX Designer, Researcher, Consult, etc.)

Ries, Eric. (2011). The Lean Startup: How today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. New York: Crown Business.

Currently being read together in my internship cohort this summer, this book provides an entrepreneurial approach to both creating and managing startups to develop a product into customers’ hands. Because this is mostly in the context of software development and customers, this book would fall into all three disciplines of entrepreneurship, human-computer interaction, and little bit of psychology. Ries provides a readable structure by highlighting several concepts. He suggests managers to eliminate all uncertainty so that order, not chaos, is the driving force for efficient development. Additionally, he challenges managers to ask “smarter” questions - Rather than “Can this product be built?”, one should ask “Should this product be built?”. Questions that are smarter and user-centric will provide tailored experiences for businesses’ customers. In a startup environment, the “fail hard, fail fast” model is key. He describes this as the “build-measure-learn” feedback loop and its first step is to create a minimum viable product or MVP. This is the first step to this design feedback loop until the finished product is created. Because of the nature of the next two semesters, it may be helpful to see INDS 480/490 like a design or start-up sprint. By first seeking to create an MVP first, I can make mistakes more quickly but also learn from them to iteratively create my final capstone digital product. It will help avoid unnecessary questions and begin asking the ones that are most helpful.

Users and Behavior of Digital Products (Psychology)

MLL 305 - Introduction to Intercultural Communication

Cimpan, Andra. (2020). How Culture Impacts UX. Medium: UX Collective. https://uxdesign.cc/how-culture-impacts-ux-design-6443a80319f3

This article discusses that importance and role culture plays in the creation of digital products - to not only be successful to the different cultures represented in the US but also globally should a product be used internationally. Cimpan explains that culture differences pose challenges to the way people use the internet, trust e-commerce, and website development. The best way to design in their shoes is to create user personas. To further your persons, she alludes to Hofstede's model. This model explains that designs should be aware of six cultural dimensions: 1) power distance index 2) individualism vs. collectivism 3) masculinity vs. femininity 4) uncertainty avoidance 5) long-term vs. short-term orientation 6) indulgence vs restraint. For example, designing for cultures with low indulgence (as opposed to high indulgences) may not respond well to abundance of screen options like options for food, color, or operations. These cultures usually operate in a socialist movement. Different colors, unit of measures, national holidays are all aspects that Product Designs must be cognizant of. As I develop my capstone project I hope that it can have an impact not just nationally but also internationally. I think it would be unfortunate if I only created a digital product that was familiar to my background: English-speaking, Asian-American, Individualistic culture. Being aware of this will allow me to design for as many users as possible. This would touch on my discipline of psychology.

Ting-Toomey, S., & Chung, L. C. (2012). Understanding intercultural communication. New York: Oxford University Press.

This required text for my MLL 305 course last fall also served as a very practical guide to communicating with others from different cultures. Even though this text is not in the context of software or design, it is useful for overall communication skills. Topics discussed include cultural and ethnic identities, cultural value patterns, intercultural process thinking, group membership/affiliation, verbal communication frameworks, boundary regulations, and mindful listening. These skills are invaluable especially as a product designer whose ultimate goal is to create products that are user-first. A designer cannot properly design for a user unless they are known. This will serve well not just in my capstone but for life - to conduct thoughtful users interviews means mindfully listening and being sensitive to other cultures. Being a good co-worker or employee also means being able to navigate around cultural values especially in the US. This text offers not so much hard skills but rather soft “people” skills. This is included in my discipline of psychology.

PSYC 210 - Psychology of Learning

Evans, D. C. (2017). Bottlenecks: Aligning UX design with user psychology. Apress Media, LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-2580-6

Understanding psychological bottlenecks or limitations is just as important as entrepreneurial limitations when designing digital products. Evans talks about such constraints especially cognitive ones such as attention, perception, memory, and motivation which are key factors in determining the success of customer perception towards digital products. For example, Gestalt principles and how they affect the visual principles in screen interfaces. The chapters cover specific products like apps, social media, and mmo video games. It also touches on the problems in behavioral and social psychology and how it affects commitment, persuasion, and reinforcement in digital products. This text will help when I create mock-ups/blueprint for my final capstone app design. It will be easy to overlook many psychological principles this text addresses. A part of good design is that it is often very subtle. Like the quote “good design is invisible”, I must be aware of these bottlenecks so that I do not create a frustrating experience for my users.

Technology and Design of Digital Products (Human-Computer Interaction)

ECE 2112 - Electrical Devices and Systems I

Cadence PCB Solutions. (2019). Hardware Development and UX Design: Top Electronics Considerations. Cadence.https://resources.pcb.cadence.com/blog/2019-hardware-development-and-ux-design-

Top-electronics-considerations

This article, written on the blog of Cadence, a PCB hardware company, describes how user-experience is merged with digital systems. Because user-experience is not only tied to digital products, understanding how users interact with physical products like the actual hardware is important. It still considers the same usability goals are software such as functionality, learnability, memorability, efficiency, and effectiveness. The brainstorming and evaluation stage of the design process remains similar to that of software. The main difference will lie in the manufacturing of the MVP where designers must be CAD (Computer Aided Design) specifications for manufacturing guidelines. This touches on the discipline of hardware-interface design (more emphasis is placed on the interface because a physical interface is there for the user to touch, not just a screen). For my capstone, if I decide to embed my digital product alongside a physical interface, this will help me understand the limitations of hardware production.

IS 303 - Fundamentals of Human-Computer Interaction

Norman, D. A. (1990). The design of everyday things. New York: Doubleday.

This text is considered a staple of design across many design disciplines and not just human-computer interaction. Norman’s guiding principles has been largely applied to the product design world. It is concerned with the discoverability and intuitive understanding of design in the objects we see everyday. He lays out his framework for HCD or human-centered design where the following steps are 1) Empathize with the users 2) Define - the problem or task at hand 3) Ideate - solutions through convergent and divergent thinking 4) Prototype - using tools like pen and paper or software like Axure 5) Test- by A/B or usability testing. He tells readers about the interaction principles common to design such as mappings, signifiers, and feedback. He also later shares about the mental models designers should have like low-level vs high-level cognition thinking. This text will serve as an introduction to get my feet wet in understanding holistic design for my final capstone project.

Punchoojit, L., & Hongwarittorrn, N. (2017). Usability Studies on Mobile User Interface Design Patterns: A Systematic Literature Review. Advances in Human-Computer Interaction, 1–22. https://doi-org.proxy-bc.researchport.umd.edu/10.1155/2017/6787504

This research article on mobile user interfaces design patterns explores the progressive changes, since 2007(the release of the iPhone), made to the UI (user-interface) of mobile layouts. Despite the prevalence of mobile UI, standardized patterns do not exist. Through this systematic review, the authors gain an overview of the current existing UI studies and see which areas lack sufficient research and literature. Their research questions were pinpointed to 1) In each area, what factors were concentrated? and 2)What areas of mobile user interface design patterns had insufficient information? The methodology used was “Systematic literature survey” where each UI topic was researched heavily on past and current resources. For example, button icons, lateral access, navigation, information control, input/output modes, etc. One overarching theme was that for topics relating to security or error prevention, there was little to no existing literature; the research not as prevalent since 2007. However, research for navigation and icons had been more established prior. The major discipline involved is Human-Computer Interaction(HCI) and affected. Other relevant disciplines were ergonomics, business, and psychology, however did not provide as deep and key insight.

One strength is the authors’ explanation of core terminology in HCI. Before even going into the literature reviews, two pages were dedicated to explaining four key terms that set the theoretical framework of user interface patterns. The methods and procedure used also yielded very accurate results mostly by their decision of two things 1) Scoping Databases - article reviews were gathered from a total of 24 different online databases 2) Specifying Time Frame - the only papers sought after were between those published from 2007 to 2016. One weakness that I found was the authors’ inability to quantify their findings in their tables (pg. 15 - 16). Doing so will have allowed the readers to understand the end impact more. The authors do not (and most likely cannot) go in-depth with the different complex and multi-causal explanations of why UI standardization has changed so little. But it is acknowledged and the sources of their corresponding disciplines(business, psychology, graphic design, social science, etc.) can be found in their citation page.

Shin, Y., Im, C., Oh, H., & Kim, J. (2017). Design for experience innovation: Understanding user experience in new product development. Behaviour & Information Technology, 36(12), 1218–1234. https://doi-org.proxy-bc.researchport.umd.edu/10.1080/0144929X.2017.1368709

This research article focuses on the concept of both user-centered design(UCD) and user-experience(UX) with the main effort to understand “experience-driven innovation”. The team from Yonsei University’s HCI Lab asked what findings will play a role in the development of novel design and how can the needs of contemporary users be more understood. Several methodologies were used to create a “common ground” for the generic term “UX”. The team developed a network theory through graphic theory and nodes (where each node represented a user). The other framework was the experiential network which aimed to represent the various artifacts, system features, and service platforms in UX. Finally, their research methodology took form as a case study built from prior literature in social sciences and principles of triangulation. The end result was various products selected and categorized based on four variables: users' connection (strong/weak) and users’ distribution (central/neighbouring). The foremost discipline represented is HCI. However, hints of entrepreneurship were included; the research team’s aim was to provide practical contribution to this field, particularly business management fields where UX is a core part of the company’s structure i.e. Facebook.

Much of the article’s strength was found in the concise data visualisation and their various methodologies approach. The findings were both quantitative and qualitative. The former used strong sampling criteria for their product reviews - 225 of the 643 cases chosen were winning entries for the iF Gold Award from 2013 to 2015. Furthermore, 72 cases were chosen from the IDEA Award: Gold level. The latter used familiar digital products that even I recognized such as Facebook, KaKao Talk, Kindle, and Fitbit. In this way, the research presented felt very relevant. The biggest bridging strategy used here was Redefinition, where UX is no longer described just descriptively or contextually but something that is dynamic and ever-changing.

Zaheer, H., Breyer, Y., & Dumay, J. (2019). Digital entrepreneurship: An interdisciplinary structured literature review and research agenda. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 148. https://doi-org.proxy-bc.researchport.umd.edu/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.119735

This research article provides a strong overview of the field of entrepreneurship in the context of digital spaces. It brings to the light its rapid nature through three key aspects - insight, critique, and transformative. Each aspect carried a research question: 1) how is the research on digital entrepreneurship literature developing? 2) what is the focus and critique of the digital entrepreneurship literature? 3) What is the future of digital entrepreneurship research? The authors decided to adopt a meta-synthesis method and systematic literature review of articles pertaining to digital entrepreneurship. They compiled 133 different articles, 105 paper journals, 25 conference articles, and 3 book chapters. Endnote and Excel were used as software tools. The team found that digital entrepreneurship was highly under-represented across quality journal publications and disciplines such as management, information systems, finance, and marketing. Additionally, a majority of the current resources of digital entrepreneurship has been focused on qualitative methods or quantitative, showing that there is much to grow in this field.

Overall, the article was not helpful to any coherent and practical steps related to my INDS degree. Although the methodology used was systematic and helpfully categorized by discipline, the findings proved that there are simply very few scholarly resources in this realm. In a way, its strength was showing me that because digital entrepreneurship is such a new field and dynamic, perhaps it is a field that is not meant to be quantified but rather experiential and adaptive. Thus, I found that this article had difficulty in using a common ground strategy. However, it would benefit much from using Bridging the Explanation-Action gap. There are many factors brought up that can play an interesting role not yet studied like geography, minorities, and social self-efficacy.

Jing, T. (2018). Hacking Product Design : A Guide to Designing Products for Startups. Apress.

A more practical approach to designing digital products, Tony Jing shows how products can be built from start to finish. The book is presented in a fun and creative way. Jing, who is now a product designer at multi-billion dollar startup Uber, attempts to answer the question many designers ask when they first get into product design, “What should I do?”. He addresses the soft skills designers need to be successful and talks about the hard skills as well like information architecture, visual design, prototyping, copywriting, and motion design. His aim is to have readers unleash their full potential. The methodology was each topic of interest divided into nine chapters where he goes in depth into each. Each chapter is accompanied by illustration and sample work so the reader can get an idea of what is discussed. He makes it clear that because a product designer must be wary of each discipline, he/she must be aware of the concepts each can bring. I.e. Business introduces the idea of Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), whereas Psychology brings in the Gestalt principles.

I believed that this guide was straightforward and practical. However, one thing I would like to see more of from Jing was each discipline of business, psychology, and visual design perform checks and balances on each other. For example, he did not discuss the potential for a visual designer’s limitations on creating a prototype if it cannot be produced through code. Each concept is laid on by chapter and subtitle however he does not go in-depth where each discipline may fall short of one another.

Krug, Steve author. (2014). Don't make me think, revisited : A Common Sense Approach to Web usability. [Berkeley, Calif.] :New Riders,

This text is also considered a staple of design across many design disciplines and not just human-computer interaction. Steve Krug’s guiding principles have been largely applied to the product design world. It is concerned with the discoverability and intuitive understanding of design in the objects we see everyday. His main area of concern is applying useful principles and tips to prevent and address current usability issues, even as the design landscape of technology is changing. He lays out his framework for HCD or human-centered design where the following steps are 1) Empathize with the users 2) Define - the problem or task at hand 3) Ideate - solutions through convergent and divergent thinking 4) Prototype - using tools like pen and paper or software like Axure 5) Test- by A/B or usability testing. He tells readers about the interaction principles common to design such as mappings, signifiers, and feedback. He also later shares about the mental models designers should have like low-level vs high-level cognition thinking.

Similar to Tony Jin’s guide’s Hacking Product Design, this served to be a practical resource. It is laid out to systematically address each concept with visual and relevant examples to date. Krug uses many analogies to explain his reasoning which provide a helpful mental guide to his examples. For example, he states that web page navigation is like looking for something in a big department store except it can be 1) see how much of the site is unexplored 2) where you are on the site 3) how to return to a specific place. An efficient website will help you find what you’re looking for, where you are on the site, and allows overall ease of navigation, very similar to an experience in a store.