Four pleasure analysis

User Profile

• Alex Hues – 28 year old bachelor
• Lives in by the Harbourfront in downtown Toronto, Canada
• Works as a Financial Analyst for PriceWaterhouse Cooper Corporate Finance

Alex Hues is a single man in his late 20’s living on his own in a condo downtown Toronto. He works as a Financial Analyst for PWC, PriceWaterhouse Cooper, the world’s largest professional services firm in the world.

He is not currently seeing anyone, but is still quite the ladies man. He has always dating young women for a couple of weeks at a time, but is not ready in his life to settle down with anyone. He still enjoys just having a good time! He has a close group of friends who he is tight with, who refer to him as “Paris Hilton” because he loves to entertain guest, go out to bars and nightclubs (nightlife) and enjoys being the life of the party. Because of his busy schedule, he barely has a chance to go home to visit his family, but tries to still keep in touch with them and visit home twice a year.

Alex is working at his second company since graduating from university with a degree in math and business (double degree) from the University of Waterloo. He is not incredibly happy with his position at work. He had hoped that in this stage in his life he would have had been in a higher position with a company or somehow struck it rich in the stock market and retired. He still continues to put in the long hours in hope to land a promotion.

Being very health conscious, Alex tries to keep active on a daily basis trying to keep healthy and his lean image. He goes to the gym almost daily before work. Some days he meets his friends for a game of pickup basketball at the YMCA (local fitness centre and gym).

Most of all, Alex is careful to keep his eye on the latest fashion. He likes to look trendy and show that he makes a good amount of money without necessarily showing off. For work he gets decked out in a suit everyday, but even after work Alex likes to keep a business casual look when he goes off and enjoys the nightlife with his friends, or when he is entertaining the ladies. He keeps up with the current trends by reading GQ and other magazines, as well as shopping on Bloor Street (Orchard Road equivalent in Toronto). Some of his friends even go as far as saying that Alex is slightly narcissistic, but it is mainly attributed from his outgoing personality, that makes him seem to be a little cocky.

Four-Pleasure Analysis of Alex

Physio-pleasure

• Even though Alex puts in long hours at his office, he still likes to put in the time to keep active, fit and lean through working out at the gym and playing sports. – Need pleasure
• Wears suit and tie to work everyday in order to show his professionalism and business savvy – Need pleasure
• He finds it important to keep up with the latest trends though reading magazines and shopping for the latest mens fashions on Bloor Street – Appreciation pleasure

Socio-pleasure

• Constantly going out with friends and enjoying the nightlife – Need pleasure
• Loves to be the centre of attention, life of party – Appreciation pleasure
• Enjoys to have the “Paris Hilton” and “narcissistic” reputation from within his group of friends – Appreciation pleasure

Psycho-pleasure

• Since Alex is always working late hours and usually partying, hanging with friends or going out, he often gets burnt out and needs to relax. One of his hobbies that helps him de-stress is playing online poker (although it can be very costly) – Need pleasure

Ideo-pleasure

• Alex pays close attention to what he wears and the things he buys, as he gets a sense of satisfaction from his personal style. He loves knowing the he is looking good at work and especially when goes out at night – Need pleasure
• Still waiting for the big break at work, Alex knows that if he does work hard at his job he will get the satisfaction that goes along with a prestigious position in a financial firm – Appreciation pleasure
• Alex always remembers the name and at least one important detail of anyone he meets in order to help build a relationship with the person he has just met. whether it be in business, friendship or personal – Need pleasure

Physio – Staying fit and lean, trendy and sophisticated
Socio – Good personal relationship, socializing, centre of attention
Psycho – Self satisfaction, feel elite, status
Ideo – Responsibility, work ethic

Product Benefit Specification

• Candybar style of phone
• reflects the need to be different from everyone as the sliding and flip phone have no taken over
  
• Sleek slim design, chrome/gun metal finish- NO plastic casing
  
• demonstrates unsophisticated and trend consciousness of user
• also sleekness stands out classy and professional looking phone
  
• Functionality in phone is not too important - i.e. extra features
• since user would have the top of the line mp3 player, camera and other gadgets to demonstrate his status, would not need to have a phone with all the bells and whistles
  
• Simple user interface (buttons and menu)
• Conference calling capabilities
• to arrange his busy schedule at work and after work
  
• Extra battery
• calling friends to meet up with all the time, anticipating a lot of usage
• Bluetooth headset
• although doesn't have a car, at home, he can be hands free when he talks on the phone, also adds to status
• Quality of phone needs to be very high (sound, reliability, name, etc)
• reflects the self satisfaction of having a quality product you know you paid lots of money for
  
• Integration of contact list and calendar with computer
• as Alex has many friends, business contacts he can keep his list up to date and sychronized with his Outlook contancts
• organize his busy schedule through his phone

Potential cell phone for user - Nokia 8800

Pleasure with products - Refrigerators from the past, present and future

Traditional

Visceral – The top/bottom design fridge from my childhood is not the most appealing fridge to look at. It wouldn’t make anyone gasp when you walked into a kitchen.

Behavioral – Works like a charm. Very intuitive layout. Freezer on top, fridge on the bottom. Separate compartments for fruits, vegetables etc. It is perfect for functionality and efficiency.

Reflective – Nothing really more than a utility appliance for the kitchen. Doesn’t evoke a lot of thought or emotion. Just happy it does that job.

The traditional freezer on top (or top mount) style refrigerator is the most common type of fridge which has been around for as far back as we can remember. It is in no way an appliance that will cause chatter during dinner parties for its beauty, but it has a simple design and basic functionality that gives it longevity in the market. The freezer being on top (ie eye-level) makes it easy to access frozen items stored in the back. Top mounts are also very affordable based on the size you need, which is also why they are very common. In the end, the functionality and simplicity win out in this old-school design.

[http://images.buyersedge.com/images/Standard/refrigerators_guide_4.jpg]


Side by Side Fridge

Visceral – This sleek, titanium finish fridge adds some wow factor into any kitchen. The added gadgets (internet, music player, camera, video) only put it over the top.

Behavioral – No problems here. Advanced refrigerator technology puts it at the top of its game in terms of how cold to keep things, where to keep them (compartments) . Side by side door looks clean and easy. Issues come about when the extra gadgets make things a little more complicated than needed for a fridge/freezer.

Reflective – This refrigerator will definitely peak people interested when they walk into a kitchen with a lot of the technological features. And the brand LG is also a well known brand when it comes to cutting edge technology. The side by side door is also a popular style of fridge, and it is not that advanced that it has a lasting impression for days to come.

The side by side style fridge definitely has a more appealing aura surrounding it. Especially the titanium finish and display screen housing the internet/video make you want to constantly be standing beside your fridge, listening to music, checking the weather etc. With its internet capabilities you can re-stock your fridge by ordering online. Other than the fact that you have to stand all the time next to it, I would want to be with this fridge more than anywhere else in my house. Music, videos, internet and FOOD!!!

[http://www.lginternetfamily.co.uk/fridge.asp]


Tree House Fridge

Visceral – This unusual yet fascinating design will definitely stand out where ever you see it. By looking at it you wouldn't think that it was a refrigerator at all, more like a cartoon cutout!

Behavioral – The fridge has separate branches for storing meats, cheese, fruits and other items. Although, i'm not too sure where exactly you would keep this in your kitchen at home :P Also you step on a button to open the compartments. It doesn't seem like it would easy to use, especially when i'm hungry and i just want to get something quickly

Reflective – Without a doubt this tree house refrigerator would be very expensive and would probably be more decoration or conversation piece than something used in the average kitchen.

The tree house fridge is definitely something from the future, and is an example of reflective design. I would think to see this only in a science museum or if you were insanely wealthy. I'm not sure how easy it would be to load the different compartments with fruits, vegetables, eggs etc. Although it seems like it would have advanced control of temperature for each section. In the end the fridge stands out as a reflective design giving the memory of childhood when you have a tree house in your backyard and of picking apples from a tree. This is definitely a fridge that you would tell everyone you know about.

[http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/01/the_fridge_of_t.html]

How to unlock the door?

I have recently arrived in Singapore to study at NUS for semester 2. I am on an exchange from the University of Waterloo, located in Canada. While studying here in S'pore I will be residing in the Prince George Park Residence, where I have encountered multiple episodes of bad design. I will detail one of the episodes below -

How do I open unlock the door of my residence?

When I arrived at my residence at 1:30 am, after 20+ hours of being in an airplane, I had hoped to get the keys to my room and get to bed. This was far from the case, as I encountered numerous obstacles before being able to curl up on my bed.

I received two room keys along with a plastic tag indicating my room/level/block number and a circular, black object (key fob) attached to the key chain.

First impressions - Intuitiveness:

Coming from North America, the black circular object I assumed was a transponder or key card of some sort that usually accompany keys for a condominium. The key card/transponder is used to wave in front of a security point to gain access to a set of doors or restricted areas, as to allow only the tenants of the building to gain access.

Another possibility was that the circular object attached to the keys was an electronic key fob. From first glance it was possible that this key fob would give remote keyless entry as you see becoming standard in the cars available today.

Issues:

The door for my room has its door knob as would normally be seen on any door, but there is also a second knob placed slightly higher than the main door knob.

At first attempts in opening the door, I went to turn the door knob, but it was locked. Any user in this situation from any part of the world would try checking to see if the door is open already and just turn the handle. Since it was locked, I assumed to find the keyhole in which to unlock the door from, however none was to be found.

Next thing I did any user would do, would be to try the 2^nd smaller know above the door. Turning both ways it only kept rotating the knob and nothing would happen. This is where normal means to opening a door would probably end. Being from North America, a key, number pad or card swiping would be the normal conventions used to open a locked door.

Already accustomed to the idea of keyless entry for cars, I opted to try pushing the button on the key fob. Eureka! I heard a beeping sound. Although, my spirits were dampened after attempting to turn the handle for the door/gate. I pressed the button on the fob once again, but this time I tried turning the knob. I had finally solved the puzzle. The lock clicked open and I was able to open the gate with the handle.

Other issues relating to unlocking the door is that, your key fob must be within a half a foot from the 2^nd knob, as there must be some signal being transmit when the button is pushed down. Also the length of time that the button needs to be pressed is longer than a user would assume is necessary to unlock the door.

When locking the door, you must again push the button. I had assumed that after I closed the door, I would only need to turn the 2^nd knob to once lock the door.


Summary and Conclusions:

Even now, when I got to open the door, I make mistakes on where I position the fob, assume the door is unlocked or just make some sort of mistake and I am unable to unlock the door. As a user, you would think that after learning how to unlock the door the first time it would become second nature. However, this was not the case. A bad design is one that even if a design is not intuitive, after learning how to use the device, a user still makes mistakes or is unsure of how to properly use it.

In the case of unlocking my residence door the key fob mechanism is so different and non intuitive from what any North American would ever think to do. I still make the mistake of trying to press the button or turn the handle without thinking to use the button of the key fob first. As I am not sure what is considered the norm here in Singapore or South East Asia for that matter, any user coming from North America will intuitively jump to pressing the button without turning the little knob or just turning the main handle on the door without thinking twice. Especially not having a keyhole on the door will confuse almost anyone for the first few times.