Upon beginning to play the whole game I did not understand the concept of touching on so many different aspects in such a different way than I'm used to. At first I didn't understand how to correctly conduct a usability test but after working with others I was able to better understand how much info you can truly receive from conducting them. I also learned how much it can make a difference to not design for yourself but the outside user because once you become too invested you can try and add too many unnecessary features. The idea of trimming down to the bear minimum was an eye opener to me when talking about how to design.
You hit on two keys points that I have found particularly interesting while learning how to play the whole game of HCID. The first being not to design for yourself. When coming up with ideas, even at the beginning of the semester, I always thought that I knew best when it came to the design of a particular idea that I had. I never really thought twice about getting a second opinion, but now I have seen just how valuable someone else's opinion can be to a product, especially the opinion of a potential user. The other point thought I found eye-opening was trimming out everything that was not absolutely vital to the sole function of a design. I used to think that the more bells and whistles that a certain design had, the better it was. When the truth of the matter is really that users want to be able to accomplish the task they are using the software for in the first place. This idea is so simple, it almost sounds stupid, but is actually genius because it works.
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