Reading Response:

Designing for Children: Catherine Fisher:

Naturally, design for children should delight, inform, and satisfy. It should not be dumbed down, simplified, or be terribly condescending. I got the impression from this that a child should be challenged and have something that they can aspire to. A child can easily tell when you are trying too hard to get them to do something. if they see this, they may easily become disinterested. As we all know, children are makers and doers. They like to explore, touch, taste, smell, feel. A design should therefore facilitate such preferences so that the child may have an enjoyable, engaging and educational experience. With my map I think I was able to find a way for the children to have an engaging experience without it being too demanding. They are able to explore a little with it, but it won't be a complete free-for all as they will still have a fun task to achieve.



More Principles of Map Design, John Krygier:

According to Krygier, when making a map, the audience (for which you are creating tailored information) should immediately be able to understand how to use a map. One should consider basic design principles and use hierarchy to show more to less important information. In my map, the main and most important info was showing the 5 special sculptures. In addition, I snuck in some facts so that the kids can learn about each sculpture. and hopefully they will ask the parents about some of the things, because they will have their own map which gives them more info to share with their kids. Krygier says that your map should not have too much information — less is more. But you should be sure to only include the most important info. My map is simple enough for the children to follow without much confusion, but it is not too easy to follow so they have to really think about what they are doing and where they are to go next.



Play as Research, Eric Zimmerman:

Zimmerman stresses the research of design research. With research you can learn more than just what visual language the user prefers, you can also learn about what they do, what their preferences are in certain circumstances. But you need to engage the a representative of your user-feedback to get some direct feedback with your design artifact. User testing is a very important and invaluable practice when doing design research. I found that having an actual child test my map was very helpful. She pointed out things that I never would have noticed. Such as the color of the sculptures in the picture did not match the sculpture and were therefore misleading, and she unexpectedly took a detour by rolling down the hill on the way. That kind of thing.