Final Statement of Intent

06

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN

LEVEL

Module Code

OUGD303

Outcomes

Module Title

FINAL MAJOR PROJECT

1

FINAL MAJOR PROJECT STATEMENT OF INTENT Name: Rob Green Blog Address: http://r-green0912fmp.blogspot.com

Rationale

“A screen-based investigation of interactive design with a focus on user experience.�

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I want to focus on the way my designs are experienced by the user: How they react emotionally to the look and feel of the interface.

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I want to work with a base of funcationality and usability that then gives me space to create personality through emotive design. I want to make my interfaces a delightful experience for the audience.

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My practice will look at interactive design through a variety of briefs changing in platform and purpose.

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A consideration of form & object, perhaps also looking at print solutions that tie-in with my interfaces.

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I have a strong interest in the social and commnuicative capacity of the interent and I want this to be apparent in my design solutions.

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A practice that revoleves around prototying, user testing and re-iteration of design solutions to find the most suitable response.

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Inspired by Bill Moggridge, I wish to involve the following with my practice and design process to improve my solutions: Constraints, systhesis, framing, ideation, envisioning, uncertainty, selection, visualsation, prototyping & evaluation.

Subjects / Themes -

Social impact of the internet; human communication.

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Education through interactive media.

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Science & new technologies; how my interaction designs can be applied to these.

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Service design and user experience; how I can provide a broader experience greater than just an interface for my target audiences.

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Delight and Fun; Games and humour in my work.

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The creation of digital tools that solve everyday problems and improve people’s lives.

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An investigation of designing theories through my work; ideas such as Fitt’s Law and Uncanny Valley.

Design Disciplines / Creative Development -

Digital Design: Most of my work will be screen-based although may also interact with printbased designs.

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Interaction Design: Design for user interaction, including considerations of both screen and object consideration.

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Interface Design: How users interact with software-based technology.

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UX Design: The overall experience of users interacting with my apps and proposed services.

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Design for Motion: Animating my interface designs to show how they would react to human interaction.

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Image-Based Communication: Showing my designs in context to better communicate their purposes.

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Character Design: I have an interest in character design and how it can add personality and fun to an otherwise mundane task.

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Basic Coding/Technological Understanding: I need to understand the limitations of the technologies I am designing interactions for, industry standards and the distribution possibilites for apps.

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Collaboration: I want to join forces with a developer who can work with me to give my designs full functionality.

Practical Skills / Workshops – what, why and when?

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Prototyping Ideas: Testing out my interface concepts by creating prototypes that test specific elements of my designs with potential users.

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Usability Testing: More general prototyping and testing of a more complete sections of my designs.

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Research Methods: Looking into a variety of research methods, including the IDEO selection of user research methods for my briefs to find out what solutions are most suitable for my audience.

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Situational Mockups: Creating a context for my designs that visualises how they would work within their target environments and user-base.

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Re-Iteration to find the best solutions: After prototyping and usability tests of my proposed designs I will need to evaluate my feedback and findings. I will then use this evaluation to make changes and re-iterate my designs into new, improved solutions.

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Broader understanding of code and back-end development: I will need to expand my knowledge of software and web development so that I understand the possibilites and constraints of the technology I am designing for.

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Cognitive Psychology: I will need a better understanding of how people think when they interact with different digital technologies and interface designs. For my work to be successful they need to be usable and able connect with the audience emotionally.

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Photography (Lighting): Creating strong, presentable images of my design solutions will depend on gaining a better understanding of photography and lighting.

Brief 1: Surveryor Website

Deadline

17th Feb

Rationale: Create a fully working promotional website for a surveryor that communicates his experience, abilities, reliability, approachability and contact information. I will need to create a memorable logo that can be used on the website and across other mediums.

Brief 2: DFGA Yearbook Brief

Deadline

30th March

Rationale: Work in a design team to create a year-book for the Digital Film Games and Animation (DFGA) course. I will need to work on a digital tie-in with the print-based yearbook that shows the student’s video responses from their projects. I will also be involved with the branding of the course/yearbook.

Brief 3: D&AD – Mircrosoft Multi-Screen Service

Deadline

9th March

Rationale: Create an intuitive multi-screen experience that improves people’s everyay or profressional life. I will need to consider what users could benefit from modern technologies, perhaps people dealing with a disability would be a good user-base to start my research.

Brief 4: YCN – BLYK (Daily Mobile Inbox)

Deadline

23th March

Rationale: Deasign the content that you would like to receive in your mobile inbox each day. I want to look at the modern situation of information overload, with too many emails and too much news to keep track of. I feel investigating a way to deliver concise, personally relevent information to an individual’s mobile device on a daily basis would be good area to start with.

Brief 5: Pet-Tracking GPS Collar Service

Deadline

6th April

Rationale: Design the interface experience for a service that keeps track of domestic cats using a gps collar. These services already exist but are wrapped up into a service that considers multiple platforms and social tie-ins. I want to create a new way for pet owners to experience the technology.

Contextual references / Designers / Studios / Companies (specific) Think Vitamin / Berg London / Ric Bell / Nation London Sacha Grief / John Gruber / Tina Roth Eisenberg / Frank Chimero Brenden Dawes / Francisco Inchauste / Made by Many / Faser Speirs MG Siegler / Jason Santa Maria

RESEARCH ACTIVITY: Contacting Studios

Deadline

Continuous

Details I will contact the studios and practitioners that I will be featuring in my design context publication with quetionas about the industry and also for feedback on my own design practice.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY: Collaboration with Developer

Deadline

Before 1st May

Details I want to collobarate with a developer who can code for Android or iOS devices on a live brief that we will actually release through the relevent app marketplace. This is something I want to to do towards the end of my fmp.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY : Testing and deconstructing apps

Deadline

Continuous

Details An activity I want to start doing on a regular basis is looking at lots of different interfaces and breaking them down into their key components. By doing this I want to work out what makes them successful or unsuccessful as I feel their will greatly improve my knowledge of the practice.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY: Warp Records Internship

Deadline

TBA

Details I am in the process of securing a placement at Warp Records in London with the hope of a 1-2 week placement with their digital publishing department.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY: User Research & Usability Testing

Deadline

Continuous

Details Another important part of my research will be user research and usability testing to gather feedback on my designs. I will do this with coursemates but also with the target audience whenever possible.

BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS / TEXTS - (Harvard Refernced) Antonelli, Paola (2011) Talk to Me: Design an the Communication between People and Objects New York: Museum of Modern Art Dawes, Brendan (2007) Analogue In, Digital Out: Brendan Dawes on Interaction Design USA: New Riders Moggridge, Bill (2006) Designing Interactions USA: The MIT Press Chapman, Jonathan (2005) Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences & Empathy London: Earthscan Norman, Donald A. (2005) Emotional Design: why we love (or hate) everyday things New York: Basic Books Lidwell, William; Holden, Kritina; Butler, Jill (2003) Universal Principles of Design Massachusetts: Rockport Publishers, Inc.

MAGAZINES / JOURNALS / ARTICLES – (include publication date and details) -

The manual – Issue 1 – Articles about Web + Interactive Design Computer Arts Issue 195: Desiging Brilliant Mobile Apps Think Quarterly: Google’s magazine about web + technology. (Web-based with a limited print run) Wired Magazine – Technology news New Scientist – New and emerging technologies

ON LINE REFERENCES / WEBSITES / ARTICLES (include specific urls) -

Company online guidelines: http://bit.ly/ACev9F & http://voiceandtone.com/ Bruce Tognazzini: First principles of Interaction Design: http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html Aarron Walter: Emptional Inerface Design: The gateway to passionate users: http://thinkvitamin.com/design/emotional-interface-design-the-gateway-to-passionateusers/ Some Random Dude (Blog): http://somerandomdude.com/ Everyday UX Morsels: http://www.everydayux.com/ Smashing Magazine – UX Design Catergory: http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/ Daring Fireball: John Cruber (Blog): http://daringfireball.net/

OTHER REFERENCE MATERIAL (Films, events, exhibitions, conferences) -

TED innovation lectures Creative Mornings design lectures