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.

The Development Process So Far

I have fallen behind slightly with the blogging process on this assignment so I thought I should show you the visual development of the project so far.

I started with a mind mapping session putting together ideas that relate to each other and to new ideas that were popping into my head at the time.

I then created a mood board by looking for merchant navy images and general sea faring images.

Followed by a mood board on touch screen kiosks:

I then looked at a project I did in the first year where I designed an information kiosk, I reviewed the research I had done at that time.
Here you can see that project:
http://www.newmedia.artdesignhull.ac.uk/pshakesby/level1/interactive_product.html

I then decided to investigate as much as possible the best practices involved in producing user centred kiosk designs, these websites where useful:

http://www.frontend.com/products-digital-devices/designing-for-touch-screen-kiosks.html
http://www.will-harris.com/verdana-georgia.htm
http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/Flash/A-Simple-XML-Based-Searchable-Database/
http://www.pdfgeni.com/book/kiosk-design-pdf.html
http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ergoprojects/dea4702kprojs/LSCkiosk/intro.html
http://www.deyalexander.com.au/resources/uxd/kiosks.html
http://www.wirespring.com/Solutions/retail_web_kiosk_design_touch_screens.html

I then worked on ideas trying colours, textures, shapes and sizes for every element of the application including navigation, buttons, borders and backgrounds. Every element in the application needs a considered development process this makes it easier to produce an application that meet the needs of all potential users.

Basecamp

I have set up an account on Basecamp a project management application, this software is used usually by groups to provide a shared area to keep files, make notes and communications. I have no fellow team members so I am tentatively using it to develop an understanding of how it works as it is more than likely that I will use Basecamp as a member of a team at some point in the future. It may become more useful to me as the project develops.

Client Meeting Two

I created two proposal documents:

• A simplified version for the client.
• A more standard technical version for the benefit of my course.

View simple proposal document.

I delivered my proposal which only contained my proposal for the kiosk application. We agreed that the online version would be added extra and that I could provide this for them in my own time and not under the constraints of the deadlines for this assignment, although I do hope to have an online working version by the deadline but it will not be my priority.

I explained to the client my informed opinion that the application would be more effective for current and long term use with an online MYSQL database and we agreed to proceed with that as the current plan of action.

We discussed my proposal and the client seemed very happy with the application that I proposed although I did stress that it was open to changes at any time to suit their needs, although major changes towards the end of the process may need to be addressed after I have produced a version for marking. This is very important as I have a duty to provide a working application that meets the client’s needs but I also need to meet the learning requirements as needed to complete this assignment as part of my course.

I agreed to produce a working prototype by the next meeting and the client is to start sourcing content for the application. During this assignment I will not be sourcing any content I will only be responsible for delivering that content to the public in an attractive intuitive manner.

We discussed the use of content that may be subject to copyright and we decided that wherever possible we would use non copyrighted material and we came up with a solution for some of the images we require that solves the copyright problem. I require some images of ships and my lecturer suggested that if the images we require were commissioned and drawn by an artist specifically for this project we could avoid the copyright problem. My own drawing skills are not at a high enough standard for this task so I am commissioning the production of these images to a fellow student who has very strong art skills. I will follow a traditional commissioning process and I will keep records of this process for my professional practice module.

Client Meeting One

I had my first meeting with my liaison to the client and I was given the official brief for my assignment, the client explained the sort of thing that they were looking for and gave me a real world example of a kiosk they liked. The kiosk they liked is situated in the Hull Maritime Museum and it has information about the service of local trawler men. I went and visited this kiosk and found it to be hard to use and it did not appear to be working properly. I agreed in my meeting to produce a proposal document by the next meeting stating what I was planning to produce. This document had to be less technical than usual as it would be given to my clients who did not have any understanding of the technology involved.

As I looked at the requirements of the clients I realised that there may be a technological problem in terms of the searchable data the client wanted. In my opinion I believe that the most appropriate way of delivering the application that the client requires involves the use of a MYSQL database, this would mean that the kiosk would need an active internet connection to work. Using an online MYSQL database would mean the data would be updatable remotely and it would also mean that an online version of this application could use the same database.