Lois Gordon @loisgordon - Tumblr Blog

Major Project Idea Generation - Idea 2

Interactive Story Book

Overview

The idea is an interactive story which would be read to a child accompained by an adult. The story book would come with a pack of characters and cards that help unlock/reveal parts of the story. The story would link to each object and it would be adults responsibility to place or post the objects in the correct place at the correct timing to the story. A guide to this would be provided with the pack.

Location based triggers could be included in the story and it would be a task for the user/reader to get to the location of the NFC trigger, for example, it could be attached to the front door and be triggered by going outside. It depends on the storyline where this kind of trigger would fit it.

Other triggers could be on the characters themselves, where the user/reader would have to hold their device toward the correct character/find the character where the adult has hidden them and clues would be revealed through the post provided on cards.

Additional narrative content on near field communication (NFC) tags could be part of the story too, it makes the story more of an adventure than just sitting and just reading.

There could also be opportunities to interact with characters to influence the storyline and develop the characters further. Developing the characters would lead to popular merch and creating a main character.

Storyline ideas include:

An animal escaping from the zoo, different animals ask for the readers help to find their missing friend. The goal is tracking down the evidence of the missing animal through the clues etc - the message of the story could include how animals are becoming endangered & extinct

A character who goes on adventures and the book tells the story of one of their adventures. The user/reader has to find the key/different objects to help the adventurer along their journey.

Other ideas could stem around, animals, space, pirates and adventures with a main character. I would like to focus on something that is suitable for an young audience

Pros

Illustration is one of my strong points, I want to show that in my Major Project so this idea is a good way to put that to use.

Print design/layout is something I have experience in

If I create an Ebook, I have some experience with with motion design (the basics of After Effects/animating illustrations) and some animation could be added to it

Cons

I've never made any plush toys or plastic figures, so these would have to be outsourced and could be expensive

Story writing is something I have minimal experience in, so could be challenging

Only vaguely familiar with target audience, would require deeper thought and research into what children are interested in & enjoy

How might we build it?

Using print design I could design and print the book

I could create an ebook (this gives the book more possibilites)

Or there could be both - an ebook & printed book

NFC chips placed in the book itself, characters & objects

Who's it for?

The target audience would be families with a child/children between the ages of 3 and 6

The target sales audience would be the parents and the children, the adults are the buyers

What's the business model?

1 time purchase for the book & character/card pack

possibly an expansion pack for additional characters/unlock more chapters

#ixd501

Major Project Idea Generation - Idea 1 - City Park

Idea 1

City Park

Overview

An app to reserve, book & pay for parking spaces.

The idea of reserving a parking space through an app would be useful for those who regularly travel & park in the city centre and struggle to find a space or find it expensive to do everyday. City Park would enable the user to view a map of the area which would have pins showing where each carpark is and how many spaces each has left.

The car parks would have an ‘in-out’ counter at entrance and exit and compare this to the total amount available to determine the figure that is displayed in-app.When the user decides which car park they wish to park in, they can reserve a space via the app for the time it would take for them to travel there which would be calculated through a maps app (Google Maps/Waze/Apple Maps) + any extra time picked up for traffic and getting parked when inside. Once parked and inside, the user can ‘start their parking’ and pay via credit/debit/paypal upon return, just prior to their exit.

Users could build up loyalty points for using the app, parking in the same car park or reserving a space and in turn earn enough points to havesome free parking.

Other potential features could include; Car parks could provide ‘Parking Packs’ or ‘Parking Bundles’ that would give the user/customer the option to pay for parking/reserve a space long term at a certain location for a set price; e.g. Weekly Bundle - Mon-Fri All Day @ £365 - Location B. When the user selects the location they wish to park at, they could be given the link to open the maps app of their choice to take them there. This feature could be useful to tourists or those who aren’t familiar with the location of their chosen car park.

Target Audience: Weekday workers, Office based city workers, Students, Retail workers, Seasonal shoppers.

Related Products: ParkMobile, ParkWhiz, PayByPhone, Parking Panda, Waze, Uber, FreeNow

Pros

Users can reserve spaces before getting to the car park

Users can save money by buying park-parks

Long-term space reservation

Saves time searching for an empty space

Cash-less, ticketless, all payments handled via the app

Cons

Many exisiting competitors

A large quantity of carparks would have to buy into the system in order for it to compare with eachother.

Carparks would have to pay to implement this app

Someone could get to the space before you if they aren't using the app

A lot of people still aren't knowledgable enough with technology to understand how it would work

Expensive to develop, I don't have the tools to build it

How might it be built?

The app itself would have to be developed

A way to implement a maps/gps tool

car parks would install counter upon entrance and exit

Who's it for?

Everyone & anyone who drives a car and parks it regularly

Business model?

-Free app with in-app purchases & upgrades

#ixd501

Structuring a proposal, Essay writing, Bibliography & Referencing

Week 2

Following up from the introduction to the module, I am now going to focus in on my idea for my thesis. I want to write about the Pyschology of design - mostly within customer behaviours within products. This topic is inspired by the book by Nir Eyal, Hooked. This resource focus's on how companies created habit forming products. I would like to discuss in my essay the question of 'Is it good to encourage customer behaviours that could be a habit?' this is a really rough example of how the question could be worded, but I will develop this futher as I research and the tasks move forward.

Writing styles, tone of voice & referencing

This week we covered the different writing styles and which are appropriate for this style of proposal. Formal writing in third person is the correct style for this essay.

We also had an overview of how harvard referencing is applied and we were shown some examples of how this is done. This is the preferred method of referencing and the one I will be using.

#ixd502

An introduction to Research and Writing (IXD502)

What's it involve

For this module I am going to research and write about a topic that's in relation to my Major Project idea. The module will give me an understanding in history and theory in my chosen topic.

Why research?

Expand or increase your understanding and knowledge in your area.

Discover new ideas, new ways of thinking about things

Increase knowledge — become a more confident designer

Provides information and knowledge needed for problem solving and making decisions.

This research will also benefit me in the design and research for my Major Project idea.

These points were taken from my week one class for the IXD502 module.

Why write?

Writing is a skill or a craft and like any skill it is learned.

Writing is an important skill to have for your professional career

Writing is an essential skill for a designer, will help you become a better designer

The more you write, the better you become at it

Writing allows you to clarify your thoughts and ideas

It doesn’t come fully formed, lots of drafts

As you write, your ideas grow — it’s a creative process

These points were taken from my week one class for the IXD502 module.

What am I going to write about?

Some ideas outlined during the week one class include:

Freemium Models

Designing for Good / The Purpose of Design in Society

Psychology of Design

Digital Backlash

I plan to focus around 'Psychology of Design' as this is an area I'm really interested in and interested in learning more about. I will narrow this down into a topic that is relevant to my Major Project idea.

#ixd502

Sketching is critical

3 interfaces, 3 minutes

This workshop covered how important it is to sketch and generate ideas using a pen and paper - it doesn't have to be a perfectly polised design, but a rough outline is a good way to get started.

I used the Trip Advisor website as a reference for the interfaces and I timed myself for roughly 1 minute on each (I added the colour after to enhance them a little...)

Sketching these interfaces roughly and quickly is a good way to get more ideas quickly.

Thinking through paper to communicate

Examples of sketching to communicate is sketch noting. An example of sketch noting is Ava-Lotta Lamm's, she uses a limited palette and a few pens to note down lectures & conference talks rather than just words.

Words vs images - for example a stop sign vs a paragraph of text telling you to stop. The stop sign is much quicker for the brain to process the message.

Visuals are processed 60,000× faster than text. *

Visuals are 43% more effective when presenting to others.

90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual.

The 60,000 × faster reference is attributed to 3M (Though this is disputed by some.)

#ixd501

Workshop - Crazy 8's

8 ideas, 8 minutes.

The intention of this workshop was to quickly generate ideas using a pen and paper and jotting down the things that come to mind within the given time.

Some of these ideas (the majority) are not good enough to consider in my main 3, but the exercise is a good way to get thinking.

2 of these ideas are the one's I will expand upon; Car parking app & open world book app. I think these two are the strongest.

Another idea that stemed from this workshop was the idea for a portfolio for designers. This idea came from the 'Collaboration App'.

#ixd501

An introduction to Major Project Prototyping (IXD501)

What's it involve?

For this module I will be focussing on gaining & developing the skills for idea generation and prototyping.

I will initially have 3 ideas of what I will be designing for my Major Project, and out of these I will choose one to develop and focus on.

Throughout this module I will be conducting user research, prototyping, wireframing and pitching ideas.

Research

For this module I will be using books, articles and the web to research topics and exisiting products related to my chosen idea. I will document this using this Tumblr blog & also have some paper based supporting material.

Notes

I will be summarising my lecture notes on this blog and further research the teachings of the lesson.

#ixd501

Submisson

Submission 08/05/2018

IXD303

Peak InVision Prototype

Embedded Prototype

Oblique Stategies

Supporting Material

IXD304

Takahe Site

Heroes and Villans (markup)

Type Poster

Supporting Material

Notes

Github

Supporting material is tagged, #IXD303 and #IXD304.

#ixd303 #ixd304

Heroes and Villans

Moodboard and style tile

Here you can see how I've clearly been inspired by my mood board of images for my style tile.

https://niice.co/m/09fd83c6fea2a00d29946273347355fb

#ixd304

Heroes and Villans Moodboard

https://niice.co/m/09fd83c6fea2a00d29946273347355fb

#ixd304

Heroes and Villans

Style tile

The style tile for the master apprentice exercise.

My style is inspired by the time in which sherlock holmes was set and the style of their clothes and what typography was trend at that time.

#ixd304

Takahe site

National Geographic site inspo

The colour palette of the national geographics site has inspired my design.

The large images also have.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/

#ixd304

Style Tile

Takahe

Loosely using the National Geographics brand guidelines, I designed my style.

I have used a limited colour palette including greys and whites.. the yellow adds elements of the brand throughout and also a splash of colour.

#ixd304

Oblique Stategies

A snapshot of my minimal design. I feel this fits the cards and it's appropriate.

I styled the card to be slightly rounded just like the cards are physically.

#ixd303

Oblique Stategies

"Oblique strategies is a set of cards created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt used to break deadlocks in creative situations. Each card contains a (sometimes cryptic) remark that can help you resolve a creative dilemma. Whenever you're stuck you draw a card and ponder how it applies to your situation."

My main inspiration for my oblique strategies design is the box and cards themselves..

I found it hard to think of something relevant and suited to the cards.

I created a simple webpage to generate a new card. I think the simplicity of it helps focus on the text of the card.

#ixd303