MA Reflective Journal

William Cundall - NTU MA Graphic Design

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Website considerations

Regarding creating website for my app, I still in the decision making process, I have created a design which I am far than convinced with. It’s a simplistic, but, risky design based on the grids. My initial idea with the design was to keep it simple and coherent for the intended audience. Instead of a  typical scrolling function, a tablet influenced function will be executed.

Regarding the presentation of my entire work, I’m not sure if I will show it at the degree show as I honestly see it as unnecessary addition to the project.

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Icons/symbols

I have created numerous icons and symbols for my app design. I am pleased with how they look, however, the size of them is an underlying issue. With my app design I want to make sure user friendly aspect is positive in every situation. I have acted on this possible issue by playing it safe by increasing the scale size so they can be seen. However, I had to be careful they didn’t change size too much as I don’t want the icons and symbols to effect the layout of the app design.

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App animation software?

The underlying issue of creating an app animation still remains as I want to do one but I have no idea where to start regarding which software is best. I’ve been recommended to use After Effects, but I have tried and it’s a complicated piece of software. However today I realised you can create animations on Photoshop. To aid myself with this discovery I have looked at numerous tutorials to see if this can become a reality. On paper it seems to be more simple and less time consuming than After Effects. I will attempt this alternative route tomorrow as I really want to create an animation as it would be the icing on the cake regarding my entire MA project and the presentation at the degree show

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Indecisiveness regarding visual styles

As I leave my tutorial, I still indecisive regarding which visual style I should choose to go with. It’s between the minimalistic design and geometric design. As I was creating both designs I was more in the corner of the minimalistic design. However, as I was creating the geometric design, I was pleasantly surprised as it came across far better than I expected. I printed off both designs on A3 paper to see how they visually came across. As I viewed them, the geometric design stood out more than the minimalistic design. The minimalistic design still looked very professional but the geometric design had that dynamic aspect. 

As I favour the geometric design, it puts a spanner in the works regarding the market research I collected in the ‘project development’ module. As my research concluded with the my target audience preferring the minimalistic approach as they liked the informative driven approach rather than the culture visual driven approach. As I decide, I might attempt to create a go between by creating one app design that answers both issues

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Presentation at the degree show

At my last tutorial, our course tutor gave some vital information regarding the degree show, scheduled at the end of July. He mentioned it would be wise to consider how you will present your final work at the show. He gave us questions to consider such as:

- How will you layout your work?

- What will you put on display?

These questions are important to creating an excellent degree show. Personally, I want to see my work come across to viewers as simplistic but dynamic and powerful. I intend my work to not across as overly cluttered. I have began draw brief sketches displaying potential layouts. 

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Awareness of the App

An issue as arisen regarding creating awareness of the app. How will my targeted audience be aware of the mobile application. To solve this issue, I will create and design direct mail, which will be given to Non-Governmental organisations to hand out at Maasai tribal areas. The direct mail will feature information regarding how to download the app and what features will be included on the app. 

Regarding the design of the direct mail, I intend to keep it quite simplistic as the information it will contain is the main component. Therefore, perhaps a leaflet would be efficient.

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Incorporating Partnerships

As part of the promotion of my app, I need partnerships for this app so it can be a reality. I have selected Safaricom and Vodacom as partners for my app. I believe these two companies are necessary as they represent and monopolise telecommunications in both Kenya and Tanzania.

The logos will be featured on the posters, which will advertise and promote the app to the target audience

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Body text decisions

A important decision was made today regarding my MA project. A decision relating to the font I use to portray the body text featured in my app. Initially, I began working with Avenir (Roman), but then began to work with alternative fonts such as Garamond. The reason behind using such a peculiar font for a web based design was that with my design work I have always relied on the need of expanding my design to more risky levels.

I began testing Garamond on each page of my app design. A first I believed it worked and created a more sophisticated and coherent design. However, as I started to place on the geometric styled app design; It didn’t look as great. This caused to develop a doubt regarding whether Garamond was the way forward regarding the font for the body text of the app. To make sure on my finalised decision, I decided to print off all designs with the two fonts featured. As viewing a design away from the computer screen can potentially visualise an alternative look at your design. As soon as I viewed them all one by one, my decision was clear and obvious. I began to scrap all plans regarding the Garamond version as from a distance the text was illegible and visibly was hard to see on the geometric version of the app.

With this situation I can turn a negative into positive and see this as a learning curve. Always test each route as you never know it might turn your project into a different direction.

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Name Change (Kundi to Mifugo)

I was having a chat with my sister who is currently over in Tanzania. My intention by talking to her was to gain further understanding regarding the translation of the name of my app ‘Kundi’. I was worried that the translation was not correct. My sister mentioned that word ‘Kundi’ is vague and does not really describe the intentions or subject area of the app. The translation of the app is ‘group’ and ‘herd’. With the help of her boyfriend, she was able to come up with alternative solutions regarding the name of the app. Out of the names she suggested the one which stood out was ‘Mifugo’. ‘Mifugo’ means livestock in Swahili. Therefore, I went through each visual style and changed the names so it coincided with the new name.

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Tutorial 29/06/2015

As my current supervisor for my MA project is still ill, we were once again allocated with our course leader. At this stage of the course I am in the position of realising and visualising my final piece. Therefore, I did not have much to show as I was just tweaking certain of the app design such as body text size etc.

Aims

My aims for progress were that he suggested I change the body text into bold as it’s white text on a black background.

Supervisor feedback

Possible direct mail to NGOs to promote new app and small tweaks to type required. Consider reading activities and eyesight.

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Understanding Adobe After Effects

One of my aims from a recent tutorial is to gain an understanding of Adobe After Effects. The reason behind this is that as I am creating a mobile application. It would be wise to create a brief demonstration of the app functioning. The app will not be fully functional though as to create fully operational old take over six months to create. In believe an animation of my chosen app serifs would visually look appealing and would be the perfect way of further communicating my design to my target audience as well as at the degree show in July

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Layout reconsideration

As I am in progression of creating and visualising my final app design. I expect certain design hiccups to arise. The biggest hiccup today was the usage of photography for profile pictures. The issue was that currently my app design has already got photography for other parts of my app, therefore the incorporation of more photography had made the app look busy and cluttered. As I was positioning the photos I wasn't too surprised as I was expecting it. To solve this design issue, I have decided through lateral thinking to not include profile pictures on the live feed parts of the application. Instead there will be a name of the individuals profile. However, when you enter the individuals profile, their profile picture will be first thing you'll see as you enter their profile page.

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Tutorial - 15/06/2015

I received an email in the morning informing me that my regular supervisor will not be present in the tutorial as she is ill. My course tutor volunteered to take her place. 

As the tutorial commenced, I briefly summarised my position regarding my project as I wanted to make my course tutor knew where I was in my project. I discussed continual indecisiveness regarding the selection of one visual style for my mobile application. He asked my personal preference and I answered with the minimalistic/photographic style. My reasoning was based on the findings from my focus groups, where my targeted audience prefer the minimalistic design as they’re more informative driven approach. However, I did mention that I possibly will continue with both designs as I was intrigued to see both designs finalised and select one at the end for the final assessment.

Aims

- Carry on working on both

- Animation/Style Guide/Poster

- Sound/Video - Incorporation?

- Think about degree show presentation

- Minimalistic - Loading Screen?

Supervisot feedback

Good progress so far. Start to think about how you present your final work - how will you design this and how much will you show?

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De Montfort University, Leicester (Graphic Design) Degree Show 2015 I was invited to visit the degree show of my previous university. There was plenty of work on show differing in standard. I briefly met my old tutors again which was a 'joyous' experience. To be honest, the work wasn't at the standard of the previous degree show at Nottingham Trent University. I took some selected photos of individuals work I like for inspiration regarding potential projects in the future.