public, utility

In Project 2 we considered what the utilities we use in our daily lives are given our digital condition, and how we may create a more personalized utility freed from commercial and practical constraints. In Project 3: Public, Utility, we'll consider how we can create a usable product (utility) for others on the web. In this project you have the option to modify your personal utility, or to create an entirely new utility, into a simple web-based (HTML) product that anyone with a computer can use.

In adapting our products from a personal to a public, i.e. shared and accessible, utility it will be important to think from others' perspectives while maintaining our own points of view. What are the boundaries between accessible and uniniteresting? How do we infuse personality into a digital product without it feeling prohibitive? To try and answer these questions we will gather research via interviews.

Furthermore, this adaptation will be constrained by the practical and technical requirements of writing HTML/CSS/JS code. While Figma and Protopie makes it (arguably) easy to visualize and tell the "story" of our applications, translating these prototypes into functioning and usable products is another task all together. Much of the web relies on complex frameworks that access databases, apis, and other complex web applications. As we are novice programmers, part of the challenge in this project will be adapting existing services (IFTT, Google Docs Editor Suite, email, etc.) in creative ways.

One thing to keep in mind is the visual control we have over the web is much more complex and fraught than in design software. Compared to your prototypes your designs may be a bit rough! Based on your research, ideation, and technical constraints, your project can change radically.

A practical utility can serve a practical "utilitarian" use, but it can also serve a conceptual and intellectual purpose. Oftentimes these ideas – function and theory – are put in opposition to each other unecessarily. Your Public Utility can be just as valid by creating a thought experiment, raising awareness, or sharing important information as it would if it helped you manage your budget, keep track of medications, or find a route on a map.

We will take these constraints as productive opportunities. Considering how much of our products are driven by investment backed startups and the grab for capital, we will embrace the freedom our low-tech products provide!