In his book “Designing Interactions”, Bill Moggridge has a section called “People”, which talks about four different techniques in which a designer can observe potential users of the designer’s project. The four techniques are learn, look, ask, and try. After reading the excerpt, I feel the “Look” technique would be most beneficial to a designer in his or her projects. Each of the four methods within this technique (fly on the wall, a day in the life, shadowing, and personal inventory) can yield a lot of information about the target user(s). If I had to pick one method and use it in a project, I would have to pick the A day in the life method. I believe, in order for this method to gain as much information as possible without the user changing his or her daily routine, is to observe the user from afar and not let the user know. This way the observer can collect data about the user without the user changing his or her routine.

I would most likely use this method on a project that involves a portable device, like a cell phone or mp3 player. I believe this method would be best on a project like this because the observer can see how potential users use their portable devices on a daily basis and what features are being used. For example, does the user use wifi when available, or GPS, etc. After the information is collected, the observer will have a better understanding of what features should be in the product and what features are not necessary.