Sadie Seddon

visual communication level 5

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Snap Maps research

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UI UX Research

https://www.codecademy.com/courses/intro-to-ui-ux/articles/what-are-ui-and-ux-design

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App flow chart

Hannah created an initial wireframe for our app. We thought this was an important thing to do to make sure the app flowed well, and that we were all on the same page about how the app would function.

Initially, the app was going to just focus on finding someone to live with, but we realised that this was not effective for an app as people would just delete it after. We needed to find a way to maintain user retention, so we started considering how we could introduce a secondary use or purpose to the app. We also wanted to reintroduce the networking aspect, and so we came up with the idea of there being a secondary ‘face’ to the app that became a social media. This could be for house groups in the area as a way to promote community for students.

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Insight - personal insight

Myself, Hannah and my other housemates have gone through the annoyance of having to find a new housemate at the last minute. We had to send an email out ourselves, in which we included similar information.

- Group of 5 girls, inviting to someone who may feel more comfortable with just girls

- Year of study

- 6 bedroom house

- Near buffalo/ winton high street, places in common for people to relate to

- friendly group, like to socialise/ go out, getting a sense for personality

- courses we are on at uni for mutual friends?

- instagrams to find out more about us on a personal level

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Insight - student emails

Our insight into this project was the emails that students spam on myaub trying to find a house. As a student myself, it is something commonly complained about amongst other students. There seems to be no other platform available for students to connect and network with other students on a large scale, and so people resort to email.

I looked at some emails students had sent to see what sort of things people tend to advertise about themselves/ their house.

- area of house

- what’s nearby/ things to do

- info about the people’s interests who live there (creative, artistic)

- if they like to go out/ drinking

- instagram handles

- price of house

- names/genders/courses of tenants

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Identifying our problem

The first thing me and my group did was create a Miro Board , so we could put research and work in a collaborative space. We wanted to have a clear idea of the main pain points we were tackling with our app, so we started putting together our problem and solution.

Our apps solution considers the UX by allowing people looking for a house to not just see a list of houses, but to tap into profiles of people and get a real sense of someone’s personality.

This led us to the idea of house profiles for the flip side (people in a house looking for a tenant.) This would allow existing tenants to create a profile around their home, showing off important details but also profiles of the existing tenants, photos, bios and more to create a fun and engaging experience.

All this considered, our idea would also be tackling the main pain point of their not being a space for people to advertise their houses/ their availability as a tenant. The app would have all these features combined, meaning people would no longer need to spam emails.

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EP//M Workshop 2

Next, we were tasked with making a User Persona for our app. This taught me new phrases such as pain points, which are the areas of frustration for a user. We came up with a girl who was looking for a house to move into with specific requirements she wanted to meet such as the budget. We considered that a student might love going out clubbing or drinking, but their housemates might not. Our app could help by networking people with similar schedules or interests together.

I found todays workshop really helpful overall, as it taught me a lot about UX and UI, and the differences between them. Going forward, our group can now refer back to this profile when considering the UX of the app and countering the pain points, as well as considering the preferences and goals.

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EP//M Workshop 1

In the first half of the workshop, we were tasked with selecting an app and answering some prompts given by EP//M about it. My group created a mind map of these features, which we then used to help inspire ideas for apps that might include similar features whilst solving some of the issues we discussed that students face.

Next, we focused into one problem in particular. As my group have all had struggles with student housing we identified that this was a common issue amongst students. Our main idea was an app that would allow for people to get a better gauge of someone’s personality before agreeing to live with them, as we felt networking was hard for students when they didn't get on with their housemates. These are some of the main issues we discussed around housing:

- Not knowing anything about a person before agreeing to live with them, or very little a there is a rush to fill the vacancy 

- No platform for people to find new tenants/ houses to join (resorting to uni emails being spammed

- Networking is hard at uni, people tend not to not get to know their neighbours even though most areas are student houses

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EP//M Briefing notes

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CVL - Ideas from starting points

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brief highlighting

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Learning Outcome deconstruction

By defining my own brief in this unit, it is a lot more independent in terms of the deliverables and outcomes. Therefore, I thought it was important for me to have a good understanding of the learning outcomes in order to keep on track. Above, I deconstructed each LO and noted down how I aim to hit them. From this, I think that some of the most important points to hit are critical analysis, problem solving techniques, relating to contemporary practice & frameworks, and creating solutions that sit in a professional context.

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Unit briefing - Concepts of Visual Language notes

To launch our final unit of the year, we were briefed on Concepts of Visual Communication. From my understanding, this unit has a heavy focus on theoretical investigation, and how we link this to our personal practice and brief. Moving forward from the briefing, I will deconstruct the learning outcomes further to make sure I have a clear understanding of this unit, and ultimately help me make sure my brief and deliverables are meet the criteria.

Next I would like to move into the ideation stage pretty quickly, and start considering what topics I will have a genuine interest in. As of current, I think that I am most interested in the Participation prompt, as I would perhaps like to investigate something to do with groups of people, either visually or possibly behaviourally. I also think that the Navigation prompt could be interesting when looking at how spaces are used. 

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Year 2, Term 3

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Exploring packaging

To help visualise the products as actual items, I created packaging. To keep consistency, I continued the circle icon motif on the packaging, which I think looks really effective.

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Revisiting prints

I was told that the prints weren't as much of a good idea, however I am sticking with the concept as I think they would appeal massively to Gen Z, as well as enhancing the reading experience with the scan element, taking you to a playlist that links to your top genres. I felt that the prints were also a place to introduce the colour in my colour scheme still, making them visually appealing. The circle element from my branding is also incorporated here.