saras-digi-blog

[saras-digi-blog]

Observe your surroundings, are there desire paths in your life? Are they physical? Digital? Record three desire paths.

Here are three digital/physical desire paths in my "surroundings":

Cutting Across Grass Instead of Walking on Sidewalks – You’ve probably seen those dirt trails in parks or on college campuses where people keep walking the same shortcut over and over. These paths weren’t part of the original design, but they exist because they’re simply the fastest way to get from point A to point B. It's an example of how people naturally create more efficient routes when the "official" design isn’t the most convenient. There are many of these at Stockton, and I use the same on every morning.

Keyboard Shortcuts Over Menus – When using a computer, most people don’t want to click through multiple tabs when working on multiple different things. Instead, they memorize shortcuts like Alt + Tab. Instead of dragging your mouse to the taskbar or clicking around to find the right window, you just press Alt + Tab to cycle through them instantly.

Leaving Items in the Cart for Later – Online shopping carts aren’t just for buying things right away. A lot of people use them like a personal wishlist, adding items they’re thinking about but might not be ready to buy. Even though sites usually have a "Save for Later" button, leaving things in the cart feels more natural—it keeps them visible and easy to find when you’re ready to make a decision.

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Getting Ready in The Morning - When people typically think of getting ready in the morning, they think of a step-by-step process. Brush their teeth, get dressed, pack their bag, do their hair...Each step distinct from the others. However, I tend to do things a bit differently. I live an hour away from school and to get the most amount of sleep I can ever night, I leave myself about 20 minutes to get ready. While what would make sense is to prep the night before, I just like to get right into bed after a long day and prepping is the last thing I want to do. So I have to shorten my typical morning routine. To do this, I trash the step-by-step process and make it one big task. I'll often brush my teeth while simultaneously packing my bag and getting dressed. I often find myself continuing to get ready while I'm in the car. I eat a quick bite to eat while I'm putting on my shoes and finish it within the first 5 minutes of my car ride. Overall, my morning routine is far from the typical step-by-step. I have combine multiple steps at once to save time and maximize the 20 minutes I do have.

Straight to Writing - Every English/writing teacher growing up ALWAYS emphasized the importance of an outline for essays. As someone, who honestly, was never a huge fan of writing and liked to get assignments done as quick as possible, I hated that step. I would often just write up a fake outline just to show them that I "had" something so I could start the actual essay. I still have this habit to this day. I never write an outline, barely even plan out what I am going to say. I just skip right to the writing because if overall if it took less time, in my head it took less exertion. To be honest, I cannot even lie, I did exactly that when writing these paragraphs. Let's hope its not too obviously :)

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Desire Path definition/explanation and first example: https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/what-desire-paths-teach-us-about-ux-design-3aa6eeb56dff#:~:text=User%20Experience%20design%20is%20about,help%20us%20be%20better%20designers.

Example Brainstorming (Second and Third example): Chat GPT

[saras-digi-blog]

Think about the worst designed objects or forms of architecture that you have to live with in your day-to-day life. Write about the workarounds you have to do to use the object or structure. 

Something in my day-to-day life that is poorly designed is my refrigerator. It's an older model that has been in my house for as long as I can remember, and it lacks many of the features found in modern refrigerators. One of the biggest issues is the size, but it's not just about how small it is, it's the inefficient use of space. The refrigerator has a narrow, vertical design, with the freezer on one side and the fridge on the other, unlike many newer models where the fridge is on top and the freezer is on the bottom. This vertical layout makes it difficult to organize the contents, especially when we've just restocked or have a lot of leftovers.

The shelves inside are cramped, leaving little room to store larger items or containers without stacking them. This stacking makes the fridge feel cluttered and disorganized, and it’s frustrating to grab something buried at the bottom of a pile. Additionally, the limited height of each shelf makes it difficult to fit taller items like milk jugs or juice bottles, which sometimes have to be laid on their sides, risking leaks.

While the fridge does technically have adjustable shelving, we’ve never adjusted it because the increments are extremely impractical. If we were to move one shelf, one part would end up with far too much vertical space while another shelf wouldn’t have nearly enough, making the pre-set options unrealistic for everyday use. There are no compartments or bins designed for specific items like fruits, vegetables, or condiments, leading to everything being jumbled together.

Another major issue is the temperature inconsistency throughout the fridge. Items placed on the bottom shelf often freeze, even though they’re not in the freezer side. We’ve had to be very careful about what we store in the bottom section to avoid ruining items like leafy greens or eggs. The overall temperature control is unreliable, with some areas being too cold and others not cold enough, creating even more challenges when trying to keep food fresh.

To work around these problems, my family uses a few strategies to stay organized. We use bins to group similar items together, especially for fruits and vegetables, and stackable containers to maximize the limited shelf space. We use rotating Lazy Susans to help us access items, typically condiments, tucked in the back without having to dig through piles. Additionally, we rely on mini fridges to compensate for the lack of space in the main refrigerator. One mini fridge is dedicated to drinks, as they simply don’t fit in the main fridge, and another is used for snack-type items and overflow leftovers. Everyone in my family agrees that this the refrigerator is a big nuisance in our da-to-day life, but as many new refrigerators are very expensive we are left to just deal with it and figure it out.