Not much progress

Hi, been working hard this week but with not a lot to show for it, I have been working on the roll of honour and integrating the flash and php at the moment. I know my php works as far as searching the database and finding results but somewhere along the line my search from flash isn't reaching the php file and or it is not displaying the results from the database in the flash file. I am having similar problems with my other project at the moment. I have ordered two books that will hopefully help me solve the problems but there is going to be a delay with any progress as I wait for delivery.

On a more positive note I met with Leslie this week and showed her the onscreen typewriter that I had created to facilitate the role of honour search functions and she seemed to enjoy using it and she also said it was beautiful and she was very impressed.

The positive reaction from the client lifted my spirits as I have been feeling down with regards the amount of time and effort that I am placing on this project with hardly any return in terms of progress. I have been very stressed and I feel as though I have been neglecting my responsibilities as a father recently but the positive response from the client reminded me that I am doing something that I can be successful at and the time and effort will pay off in the end.

meeting the clients, developing the database and the future of kiosk interfaces

I forgot to upload last weeks post so here it is.

I had a meeting last Friday for the first time with my clients from the Hull Merchant Navy Association, it went very well. I had the chance to show them the work that I have already produced in development and more importantly it gave me an opportunity to understand my client’s needs and to gauge a feeling on how important this application is to them. I need to produce a piece that is usable by everyone but it also has to sell the message that the client wants to deliver and it is up to me to sell that message in the accessible way for the end user to understand.

I have been working on the database for the roll of honour section of the application, there are sixty pages of data to insert into the database and this presented a slight problem. It is possible to insert the data using phpmyadmin if the data is organised in a consistent way, this is where the problem was. I needed to find a way to check and prepare the data for insertion into the database. I called on the services of superstar php guru and fellow student Liam Smith who developed a script to check the data’s consistency and for that I am very thankful.

I have decided to develop my onscreen keyboard in the style of an old style typewriter, I have researched and developed the design for the keys and thanks to my lecturer Gareth Sleightholme I have been given the opportunity to photograph a real old fashioned typewriter to incorporate as part of my design. Here is my design process for the onscreen keyboard so far:

I was thinking about the future of information kiosks especially museum based pieces and I believe that the new technology “multi touch” would provide increased interactivity options that would offer a more interesting experience. Using multi touch would allow the user to resize different elements, so increasing accessibility for the visually impaired. The user would also be able to restructure the information bringing the parts they are wishing to view to the front of the display and this means that user has increased control over the content they wish to see. If I needed to develop a kiosk in the perfect world I would choose a multi touch interface.

Some visuals this week

It's time to catch up on my blogging again and I thought I should show some of the design process in image form, so I have been converting files ready for this blog.

Ideas generation is a key part of the design process and I started by using the mind mapping technique followed by the creation of a mood board.

I then broke the structure of the piece down and started developing ideas for the individual elements used with the application, backgrounds, content holders, buttons etc...

I have tried to take time to carefully consider every element of the design, taking into consideration best practices, aesthetics, symbolism, usability, and the customer's requirements not necessarily in that order. This shows how a design can be considered to try and avoid any potential problems at a later date. The only problem with this process is that it's possible to become emerged in one particular area i.e. usability and the fact is you need to create an end product that has met as many of your requirements as possible which means that sometimes there must be some give and take, it is no good creating a useable product if it does not have a visually pleasing interface if the requirements of the project include providing an attractive aesthetic design.

I have also put together an official communication enlisting the services of a fellow student Chris Wood as an illustrator to provide some visual images for my application, this will be used as part of our professional practice as it demonstrates a process that a professional designer would have to follow if they needed to outsource work as part a real world project.

I have also being looking at and developing the onscreen keyboard for our touch screen interface. I found an example which was very complex, I have also been introduced to a much simpler example that may be more suitable for this project, I still need to consider the usability aspects of the keyboard although user testing will provide me with any feedback about possible changes that may need to be made.

During my client meeting on Friday 05/03/2010 I received my first piece of content for the application from the client and it raised some important questions about providing information to potential users. The client provided me with a written piece with over 2500 words, it is well written but ultimately in my opinion there is more content than a potential user would be willing to read. My client is obviously very passionate about delivering his knowledge about a subject that is very important to him, the general public may not hold the subject matter in quite as high a regard so the information needs to be brief interesting and informative, from a designers point of view you are then left with the needs of the user vs. the needs of the client and a fine balance needs to be struck through the mediation of an informed professional mediator in this case me, I will advise the client using my knowledge of user expectancies and needs to try and create a piece that suits both parties.