Week 6B: Oct. 1

Today in class, each group presented their prototyping programs/ apps that they were assigned to demo. Ours was pretty successful, and it was nice seeing other programs and their different functions to get a feel of which program I would like to use for prototyping. Next, we got paired up with another person to discuss ideas for our Interface project. My partner, Eric and I discussed a few topics, such as chess, groceries, technology, and bee keeping. We decided to go with bee-keeping, because it would not only give us a chance to learn about bee-keeping, but also have fun with the design.

Homework:
- read Chapter 2 of Interface Design book
- read article on medium.com
-do steps 1-3 as seen on medium.com

Week 5A: Oct. 1

Today in class, Levi, Abby, and I continued working on our presentation for the demo and showed each other our progress over the weekend. Levi had suggested to go further in-depth for the Build mode feature, as there are a few different features within that function in terms of adding hotspots to the mockups.

Homework:

-finish demo/ presentation

- find and write three- one sentence topics (learning communities) for Interface project

Week 5: Outside of Class

Over the weekend, I worked on the keycode guide for InVision. Abby worked on the demo and Levi worked on the pages for the demo. Abby, Levi, and I touched base in class on our progress on Monday. 

For the keycode guide I basically highlighted the four different icon functions and explained what each of them do.

Week 5B: Sept. 24

Today in class, we handed in our final versions of the icon project. We then had a discussion in the middle room about how we learn best. The levels from worst to best methods were hearing, showing, doing, and teaching, which leads us into the next project. We are to teach each other about different programs used for interface design. We were broken into groups of four, and one group of three, to tackle a certain program and come up with a way to teach other groups through demos and other methods. My group decided to take on InVision, which is a program that allows you to prototype your screens for an app or website, as well as share them with others through a live conference or invite others to be collaborators. The prototyping part of it reminds me of the Axure, which is wireframing software. Levi, Abby, and I have decided to do a tutorial of certain tasks, since we decided that the best way for us to learn is by actually following along with the instructions. We would have an example ready for our classmates to upload to the site, and from there would follow along with our instructions to make the screens interact with each other. This would in turn allow them to gain better insight on how the InVision app works.

Week 5A: Sept. 22

Today in class, we had a final critique of our icons, and presented our final reports. I had some suggestions on how to fix my icons, as well.

For this icon, I was told to adjust the perspective and make the pencil look more like it is actually tucked behind the worm's supposed "ear."

For this icon, it was suggested to adjust the part of the worm that is pointed, which I thought would convey the fact that he was sticking out of the window.

For all of my icons I was instructed to work on the lines and make sure that they are all consistent. I was also told to keep the expressions of my worm relatively the same.








Homework:
- Make adjustments as needed to icons/presentation.

Week 4: Outside of Class

This week outside of class, I worked on refining my icons and my final report. Below you will see the ideation process I went through throughout this project. The third set of icons are my final ones.

- I further experimented with the "marauder bookworm" icons but ultimately decided that if they were sized smaller, they would be hard to see.

- For my final set of icons, I made close-ups of some of the icons as suggested by peers during the round-robin critique last monday, and added a new one with a magnifying glass. I was also sure to add more personality and expression to my bookworm, which goes with the close-ups as well.

Below is my final report for my icons. It is a bit simplistic, but I feel it gets the message across of my ideation and style for this project.

Week 4B: Sept. 17- Design Studio Visits

Today we drove to Harrisburg to visit two design studios, the first being WebpageFX and the second
AndCulture. Upon walking into WebpageFX's building, I instantly got the feeling as if I was walking into someone's home. We went on a brief tour of the beautiful spacious 4-story building, and then went to the kitchen to talk to some of the employees from different areas of expertise, as well as the president of WebpageFX. What I found so unique about this company was that they hire particularly younger people fresh out of college, and provide them with any further training they may need, instead of looking to see if a potential employee has all their required skills and experience. I appreciate the fact that they would invest in you in terms of giving you the knowledge you need to work there, and giving you the strength to succeed in the business. I also enjoyed the laid back, casual, yet semi-structured atmosphere.

The next studio was AndCulture, which was right down the street. This place was even more casual and laid back, as well as cozy. Though it looked like a studio apartment, each section of the rooms had people grouped into their own small team of expertise, such as designers, developers, strategists, and experience designers. I was more interested in AndCulture while talking to the User Experience designers, simply because I've developed an interest in that field from the Intro to Experience and Interactive Design class that I took last semester. It was also interesting to hear about the different design programs that the designers use, such as Pixate, Sketch, and a few others. I am not the best at Photoshop as much as I am on Illustrator, so I definitely plan on checking them out.

I had a great time today in Harrisburg, and I feel that I got a very good feel of the differences and similarities of design studios in terms of how they work. I really enjoy the laid back, casual atmosphere the most, which I feel promotes more creative thinking, and the fact that you get to collaborate with other creative minds.