#ixd504

[calumdixon]

Colophon Report

Using my sketches as a reference for my layout I set to work creating pages to hold my written content. I started by creating my colophon in Figma, before later moving on to recreate the design in Adobe InDesign. The reason I made this decision is because I find InDesign quite awkward to use, as such I felt quite hindered when it came to quickly explore different layout options as it would take me longer to iterate, by starting in Figma and later replicating my chosen designs in InDesign I could avoid this.

Overall, I'm happy with how my report has turned out. I ended up really liking my decision to have imagery backgrounds that bled into the other pages, it helped tackle the issue of excessive white space whilst also adding a creative flare. Additionally also like that my design has come out very consistent overall, making it appear well-polished and thought through

Read Finished Report

[calumdixon]

Colophon Report Sketches

[calumdixon]

Pitch In Colophon Report - Calum Dixon

Pitch In Design Report Introduction to Pitch In It has become undeniably clear that the UK is facing a poverty crisis. As of 2020, 14.3 mil

Colophon Report Content

To kickstart my report I wrote the content of my Colophon. In my Colophon I cover the following:

What Pitch In is

How Pitch In Works

My strengths and weaknesses going into the project

The challenges I faced during the project

Who the target market of Pitch In is

What technology/tools I used during the project

Final conclusion reflecting on the project

My aim during the writing of my Colophon's content was to outline all that I've accomplished during the project, from what research I conducted to the product decisions I made. Overall I think I've achieved this goal I've covered how my process has shaped Pitch In into what it is today, for instance in one section labelled "lack of topic knowledge" I explain that my initial understanding of the issue behind Pitch In was limited at the beginning so I had to make up for it with lots of research, I then go into detail regarding what research I conducted and how it shaped the product such as the use of user testing to find faults or room for improvement in my product designs.

Read Written Content

[meghanhalpin]

Brand Dev/Inspo

I’ve moved really far in a few weeks regarding brand development of my card game project for final year. Originally it was called refracted and characterised by black backed cyan and magenta illustrations framed by Art Deco elements.

As I’ve moved on with content design, the aesthetic has grown and evolved. I settled on a type pairing: Space Mono x Playfair Display. But as I continued with content design and experimenting with the content itself, I found myself leaning heavily on the Playfair Display font family. 

Quotes = Playfair Bold, attributions = Playfair Italic

Questions = Playfair Italic

Tasks = Playfair italic (body copy) bold (headings)

After stepping away from colour for an extended period of time, I find myself wanting to stick to black and white. Or perhaps an anthracite/cream combination. Monochromatic and timeless. 

I’ve been looking at brands for inspiration and have included some below.

[oliwiawidutoresearch]

Researching Bubble

I’ve spent the past couple days researching Bubble to see if it would be feasible to work with. I learned a bit about APIs and Databses. I was quite surprised at how advanced the app is - if I wasnt coming from a tech background, I would have no idea how it works at all. Thankfully I am, and I’m learning a lot about backend as well as frontend design. I actually discovered a couple cool pattern libraries which will help me with a range of projects. I already knew material design, but hadn’t referenced it in a while  https://material.io/design Apple’s human interface guidelines https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ Airbnb - some great articles https://airbnb.design/ iOS design patterns https://mobbin.design/

[oliwiawidutoresearch]

North Star Direction

Today was my first day back at uni after Christmas. I met our new lecturer Daniel who gave me incredibly valuable feedback for my project. We talked about what direction Environfriend could head in after it is built. My plan was to research & build all my courses now so that there is a finite amount. This means once the user has completed everything, it’s ‘game over’.

Daniel and I explored whether the courses could be continually updated but I  concluded it wouldn’t be feasible as I wouldn’t have the time while working a full time job and from my research I’ve discovered this kind of education isn’t something developers are really willing to pay for via subscription. Daniel then suggested that perhaps I could sell it as an onboarding training course - similar to ‘ethics’ and ‘code of conduct’ courses you have to complete when joining a new workplace. I thought this was a brilliant idea and could work really well. I considered the format this would take. During my time at Synergy Learning I saw all those courses being built out as SCORM packages (exclusive to Learning Management Systems [LMS]) and even had a go building some myself. This would be perfect except I imagine this kind of training would be picked up by indie companies like Wholegrain Digital, rather than big companies like Western Union. Indie companies don’t tend to use LMS but rather, Notion or Jira so I wouldnt be able to integrate the app. Exploring this idea further, I considered whether I could extract the content from Environfriend and create a Linkedin Learning course. I also considered other popular applications such as Udemy or Codecademy.

Right now I’d like to build the gamified version of Environfriend in Bubble in order to develop my skills. I have been looking at building APIs with GET and POST protocols so I could encourage the user to link their linkedin account and post their progress as a status. I think I may develop a second version as a LinkedIn Learning course, or perhaps even something as simple as Google Classroom. I will need to do much more research before I make a decision.

[liammcevoy]

Kickstarter Launch Date 

I know this post has past the deadline so I do not expect any marks from it I just wanted to put it up so I can still track my on progress on the campaign. I had everything on my Kickstarter finalised then was made aware that I could include delivery charges on top of the my their prices so I had to slightly amend the prices to make them a little cheaper so people wouldn't feel so put off with the delivery charges. 

It took them a day to confirm my identity and then after that I just had to submit my payment details and then send it over for review which usually takes 3-4 Days with Kickstarter  but it only took 2 minutes so that was a surprise.

The Kickstarter is ready to go and you will be able to purchase it online Friday May 1st 2020. The first image is the one I am going to go with to advertise this for the campaign the others where didn't look right in regards of positioning of the Kickstarter logo.

[eimearcooney]

This is another project I really liked the design off. The way they have placement, colour and other content is just perfect. 

Dribbble and Behance are great inspirational websites where designers post their work. With these project the way the people have designed and displayed them makes you want to download the app and use it and that's what I want to work to do.