Hello everyone! Today we’re going to have our midterm meetings. Please join the Zoom room at your schedule time.
Tensions and feelings are high right now. After our meeting, I encourage everyone to find a way to reflect on current events and chill out. Please review the below notes on the homework, though(bottom of this document).
Schedule
Time Slot
Student(alphabetical order)
2:05
Victoria
2:15
Ben
2:25
Xin
2:35
Brynn
2:45
Lauren
2:55
Michelle
3:05
Sarah
3:15
Selina
3:25
Rachel
3:35
Sonia
3:45
Ki
3:55
Katie
4:05
Erica
Homework Notes
Research is an important part of the design process. This can mean a few different things, but I see it as a few main categories:
Strategy Research
Studying what else has exists in the space that you’re exploring. It can be“competitors” in the sense of branding, or it can be projects that exist in the same space conceptually.
For example: Let’s say you’re working on a website for a sportswear company. It would be a good idea to do a survey of other sportswear websites, too. Not to replicate them, but to understand what’s out there, what language and content is used on these websites, and to see where there is an opportunity to do something different. You then would want to extend your research to other details about the specific goals of this particular brand and project. For example, maybe it comes up that this sportswear company wants to feel connected to current events and have an irreverent spirit. You might research brands that are not sportswear related at all that have made political statements historically, like United Colors of Benetton, for example. You also might look at brands that use language to communicate these ideas, too, such as Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. This fits into the idea of being a rule breaker and focused on social commitment, but it’s not a sportswear company. Both methods can help inform your design direction.
Discovery Research
At the start of every project, I always interview the main stakeholders involved. I start with a variety of questions ranging from their involvement in the piece, what they’re trying to communicate, what they’re looking at. This helps understand the audience, goals, and in the case of working with other people – their interests and personality. In our Slack channel, I’ll share an example questionnaire.
Visual Research
Research where you explore art historical and contemporary references. I prefer to not look at straight up graphic design during this phase, and scale out to cinema, photography, memories. This is the“mood board” phase when you try to visualize the impression or attitude of the project.
User Research
This is when you interview users based on your product. I prefer to do this later in the process when you’re testing more technical details and how effective structural components of your website are. During this phase, you should focus on evaluating usability rather than visual design.
For homework, I’d like you to work on a short presentation that highlights strategy, discovery, and visual research for your helpful app.
For strategy: build on the research you did for today and highlight some of your key takeaways.
For discovery: Identify a potential user of your app and interview them. The questionnaire I’ll share with you is branding related, but yours doesn’t need to be. Think about what kinds of questions would help you build out content and the design of your website and who would be an appropriate person to ask. If Victoria moves forward with her art history educational app, she might consider speaking to an art historian or history educator about what they think gaps are in high school education compared to college, and what the most helpful art historical concepts would be. You should cater it to your content and focus more on this rather than the visual language. This can be done on: email, phone call – take notes, zoom(record it with their permission), in person, on Twitter, Instagram DMS. Try to think of the most important questions to ask them, and tell them your deadline. You’ll need to include the questions you asked, main take aways, and who the person is and why you spoke with them.
For visual research: Begin thinking about what kind of tone you’d like to have within your app that feels appropriate based on your research. Do not design anything yet – start gathering references and utilize a combination of language(adjectives, description) that highlight the goal of your app, both conceptually and stylistically.
Revise your wireframes based on what you learn. Include a link at the end of your presentation.
This is due WEDNESDAY but I’d like everyone to have progress by Monday. For discovery – work on this ASAP, sometimes people are busy and I want everyone to have a strong interview.
Schedule
Homework Notes
For homework, I’d like you to work on a short presentation that highlights strategy, discovery, and visual research for your helpful app.