Final Presentation

So today was the day of final presentation and hand-in. I was super stoked with how my whole project had come along, and also how well the presentation went.

Firstly, I feel like the dossier looked really clean and well-designed, with heaps of visuals to assist with the text. I feel like it was super informative, with the necessary information, although the illustrations with it help to communicate and re-enforce each idea a lot stronger than just a whole bunch of text.

Secondly, the presentation. I really wanted to make sure my presentation stood out from the rest and would be remembered, as there is literally nothing worse than sitting in presentations and seeing people just talking to a couple of photos on the screen. So I decided to create my whole powerpoint so that it was a whole bunch of illustrations of my user persona Alexis going through the whole user journey. How he interacts with is before, during and after are key aspects of my design strategy proposal so I decided that this was the best way to do it.

Using an actual character to show it helps the audience easier understand and gain empathy for the character, and realise exactly how they would interact with is and exactly how it would help them out.

So I was stoked to hear from Phoebe and Tim afterwards that I really nailed the presentation, and that they were impressed with how much work I had done considering I was on my own. On that point, I was quite surprised and in some ways disappointed to see how heaps of groups hadn't actually done more work than me. In some cases, there were groups of three that had done far less. If I, on my own, could produce a whole design strategy with multiple effective touchpoints, then I would've thought a group of three would've had a much easier job doing so.

However, I am really stoked with how it went, over the moon.

I'm unsure what I would do differently if I were to do it again. However, if I had a further two months to work on the project, I would just continue to refine and massage out certain aspects of the strategy, and continue to make the whole thing super user-centred, so that the user feels connected, valued, and welcome.

I think my project turned out really well, and it is crazy to look back and see my initial ideation sketches in comparison to this final output a few weeks later. Lingotime, I feel perfectly responds to the brief I had written for Alexis in the first term, as it is a way of helping people to connect to one another, while having a fun, unique and engaging way to do so.

I really enjoyed this paper, and it's exciting to now be ready to go into fourth year and see what I can do. A big thank you to Phoebe and Tim for teaching our class for this paper.

Week Twelve - Session One

My project has continued to develop as I started looking at the strategy for retaining the user's attention, as well as getting them excited about the game in the first place. I also then looked at how to make sure the user doesn't feel forgotten, and instead still feels valued by what is now called 'Lingotime'.
Lingotime is the name of this 'app' or initiative that I have started. 

Lingotime is essentially an innovative language learning initiative which aims to establish meaningful connections through a social network and gaming system.

As a reward for completing language courses, I want the users to feel valued and still a part of the Lingotime community. The last thing we want to happen is to have them feel as if they have been forgotten about. So once they complete a course, they receive a piece of Lingotime clothing, which is unique to the language they have just completed. For example, once you complete the French course, the shirt will be red, white and blue. Not like three big stripes, but more one colour for the basis, one for the trim, and one for the logo.

Another idea I have created is 'LingoSponsor'. This is essentially the basis for the funding, growth and development of Lingotime. Since it runs primarily off the experience created in spaces of dead time, and each game is 'location specific', it gives businesses and organisations a way of standing out from the crowd, and further enhancing their customer's experience.

The projected target audience would be places such as:
- Airports
- Train Stations
- Barbers + Hairdressers
- Museums
- Cafes + Restaurants
- Backpackers

Week Eleven - Session Two

Most of the groups today user tested their stuff since the studio was opened up again. I got some feedback from a few people, as well as Tim, in order to see what they thought of how my project was developing.

I realised that my work had developed a lot in terms of the visuals, although I now I really want to start focusing more on the overall strategy and user retention, as well as ways which connect the users before, during, and after using the app. I had been working on the stickers for each location, such as the airport and bus stop stickers, although hadn't really worked on too much more outside of that.

I also need to come up with a logo and a branding, that way it becomes more recognizable. I'm super excited to see how this develops in the course of the next week.

I'm going to start working on the dossier and presentation over the course of the next few days as well. I really want to get these refined to a super high standard, so that it stands out from the rest of the groups.

I don't want my presentation to be one that nobody remembers, I want it to stand out in some form or another, that way my project will be remembered. In relation, I also want the dossier to be interesting and well designed so that people want to pick it up and read through it. There is nothing worse than just a whole bunch of text slapped onto a page.

We also had our final exchange class today, which was really exciting. It was so cool being able to see how everyone's projects had ended up, and how each person had responded to the aspect of wellbeing in such different ways.

Week Eleven - Session One

Again, over the course of the weekend I continued to work on the project and keep refining. I focused on further refining some micro details with the interface design such as icon size etc. It is easy to assume everything looks the right size while you are busy designing it all on the computer, although once you actually get in context and real life size you see just how difference it really is.

I did a lot more research over the weekend, further looking into ways of engaging people, perception of public transport, language statistics, and also looked into how much time is spent in people's lives doing a whole bunch of things (such as waiting for public transport).

It's been confirmed that Friday we will have another user testing session. Not one where people sign up to chat with certain teachers, but a studio time where each group or individual can just spend the class testing out their designs to find further areas of development.

#Supercrit

I signed up to speak with Tristam again today. This seemed logical as I spoke with him last time, and he's the lecturer who is most knowledgeable about apps and app interface design.

Tristam was sad to see that the idea of the screens on the buses had gone. He really liked the idea of it and said that it shouldn't matter about logistics/pricing at the moment, it's purely a strategic response to the brief.

However, he did like the way in which I had turned it into an app, and in the end said it was for the better, as he really liked the code scanning feature, as well as the idea that each location-specific game is only available within a certain distance of the access point/code.

I was stoked to hear Tristam compliment how well the app interface had been designed, saying "because of the pixel pushing you've been doing, it almost looks as if it could head out into the market tomorrow".

We are only two weeks away from the final presentation, yet I still feel as if the project will develop a lot by the time the presentation comes about. I'm going to further look into and consider the user journey, before, after and during so that I can add to this strategic proposal.

I would like to look at ways of engaging the user each and every day, introducing them to the app, and making sure they stay interested in the app.

Week Ten - Session One

Over the weekend, I had developed the stylistic approach to the app by changing things such as the colour scheme etc. I had also refined smaller aspects such as typography sizes, weights, and then sizing of some of the small icons.

On Friday, we are having our #supercrit on Friday, where we sign up to see a certain teacher again, as well as user test our designs with peers from other classes. This is not only a good way of testing out how our own projects are coming along, although also a good way to be exposed to a whole new bunch of projects that are being created in the other streams.

I'm looking forward to class on Friday, I think I will pick Tristam again for feedback since I had him for the interim, and that way I can see how he feels about my development over the past two weeks.