Examples of Icons

I have been thinking about the icons that I will use. They must be easy to understand for the user as their function is to serve as a type of short cut. Icons that are already known would be ideal to use. I can modify them to suit the style and aesthetic of my interface. 

I like how big and easy to read these are. I especially like the maps and places icon as they are commonly known to represent these things. I also like how the words of what they mean are included underneath the icon, so there is no time wasted trying to figure it out. The idea is that it should be quick and simple to use.

Commonly known icons. Such as the rubbish bin meaning to delete something and the top right hand corner icon is always known as meaning change the settings.

Some more very simple icons. I like the X one and the magnifying glass. That would be a useful one as people will want to search for destinations. 

The plus and minus magnifying glasses ones will be helpful for zooming in and out of the map. The arrows meaning go back one and go forward one will also be useful to go back a step if a mistake has been been or the user changes their mind about the location they have searched or route they have chosen. 

Very aesthetically pleasing due to colours and simple, plain white background. I may consider a white background for my interface rather than a black one which can seem more claustrophobic and busy. All these icons are commonly known and recognized by people so the user has no need to memorize any new icons, symbols or buttons. The refresh button here may be a good one to include (bottom left.) 

Navigation that I like

This is the navigation from waze.com. I really like the bright colours and use of the icons. This makes it very user friendly and would help with the game aesthetic that I want to create. Although, perhaps still a little bit overwhelming and could be made more simpler. I think that the colored road among the light grey makes it much easier to navigate the route in which you want to take. 

I like the idea of having an alarm type thing set into your cell phone as shown on the right hand screen. Maybe saying it's time for class and at the time you should start heading to class the map pops up onto the cell phone screen. I also just had another idea inspired by this! Each route could have an estimated time it takes to reach the location point, so students can time themselves carefully as to when to start heading to their next class.

This has split screen which I like. With 2d and 3d. Although this may get a bit busy. Might be best to keep it simple. I also like the colored line of the route. 

I like the colored line of the route to take. 

A nice, fun looking interface. Colours and large letters are very effective. I like how this tells you how much time you've saved by taking a particular route. I also like the icons. Nice, big and simple to read.

Another example of a split screen with 2d and 3d interface for navigation. Maybe not the best idea for the interface I want to design but can be explored. 

Mind Map

Made from: http://www.mindomo.com

List of all my ideas and thoughts at this stage of the development and research.

Current Map of Kelburn Campus

This is a screen shot I took of the current map for Kelburn campus off http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about/maps/publications/kelburn-campus-map.pdf

I think this is a very ineffective map and not user friendly at all. When I first began University I was very daunted by this map and had no understanding of it. Although it's colour coded with a KEY at the bottom (not shown in my screen shot) I still found it very confusing and unhelpful. Although it doesn't help that Kelburn has so many different buildings jammed together. It is quite a difficult place to navigate around by yourself.

The colours of this map are horrible - mostly greys with mustard yellow. Not appealing to a first year design student at all. The map has very little detail. Just saying the names of the buildings. Not room numbers, hallways, toilets or anything are clearly marked. Some buildings have symbols on them to indicate where things are but no instruction on how to get there. There is no acknowledgement of there being different levels in the building. You may be trying to find a classroom in the Kirk building, but if not knowing how to read room numbers, knowing it's on another level would be impossible. Navigating for stairs or elevators would also be very time consuming.

This map needs to be completely remade with much more detail and user friendly appeal to scared and lost  first year students.

Class Reflection.

Realized I haven't done a post about Lesson One for Project Two.

We got into groups and made maps for each other. We either had to write or draw the instructions and then hide the piece of paper some where in the building. My group was told to draw our map. We did a very simple and easy to follow one, the opposing group found our teams piece of paper fast. It was hidden in the library. I drew our map very simple with a plan view of the first floor of the building. However we couldn't use words so I used a 'x' to mark the spot and a red line following the route of how to get there.

I think the map was definitely too easy but I wanted to draw an easy one as I want the navigation system I develop to also be easy and simple to follow for the user. So this was a good experiment.

The groups map we got was written, which in a way is easier to do. We never found their destination as they lead us to a door with a piece of paper stuck to the outside saying to go down there. We didn't know how to get to that side of the building so gave up. I think this shows that if the instructions aren't clear and have gaps such as that, the user will just give up and try to find their own route to the destination. This may result in the user becoming lost, never actually finding the location and or being quite late and makes the app useless.

So in conclusion. I think a simple plan view map is the easiest way to go. If written or spoken instructions are included they must be very clear and precise without any gaps or assuming the user may know where something is.

Waze Navigation

From: www.waze.com
What I love about this app is that it is set out like a game. It's a "social" game where you can see other Waze users on the road and earn points by hitting landmarks.http://gizmodo.com/5656790/the-best-navigation-apps

I think that this is a pretty cool aspect and would like to include this type of idea in the app I create. Perhaps students could earn points as they get to their destination and pick up other "points/coins" along the path on the navigation system. Then maybe they can share their results on facebook and compete with others to earn the most points. This would add an addictive type element to the interface. It would also make the application a lot more appealing to first years who will be the target market for an app such as this.

Research Navigation Systems

Some Screen Shots I took from the website : http://www.google.com/mobile/navigation/

"Google Maps Navigation (Beta)

Google Maps Navigation is an internet-connected GPS navigation system with voice guidance. "

Features I like about this navigation system: 

• Search bar - Search for a type of place you want to find on campus. For example, at ATM machine or cafeteria. 
• Search along route - Search for a type of place you want to find on campus along a certain route. For example, a cafeteria in the Kirk building.
• Walking navigation -  Get voice-guided navigation for walking directions. Device vibrates for turn notifications.
• Offline Reliability - Get continuous guidance and automatic rerouting, even if you lose your network connection after you’ve begun a route.
• Shortcuts - A list of Icons making it easier to find the option you want.
• Birds Eye View - When viewing the map.
• Alternative routes - showing the different ways you could walk
• Popular searches - showing the most popular searched for destinations at Kelburn.

Practice Stop Motion

Rachel stop motion Practice from Ally Baldwin on Vimeo.

My practice stop motion as part of the weekly task. I just used my friend walking down the Water Front and added some music to it - as credited in the video.

This was a great little experiment and has got me thinking about what I could do for my time project. Some of the photos are a bit over exposed as it was a really sunny day but I didn't bother to fix them up on Lightroom as this was only a little experiment type thing.

Final Four Images. Structure to Noise

Development - Process

An abstract shape which I tried creating to depict the leaf.

Creating structure and noise

Playing with colours that claimed to be "earthy tones" on colourlovers.com when they really did not go with the greens of the leaves.

Trying different sizes to create more noise.

A way too red, bold outline around the "leaf" shapes.

A nicer green around the 'leaf' shapes which help support the idea of these circle shapes representing an abstract leaf form.

Inspiration and Precedent Images

My inspiration for this project is falling leaves being blown by the wind. I chose this as I wanted to take a simple aspect of nature and depict it in an abstract form. I will take the green and earthy tones, the small, simple round shapes of the leaves and the patter in which the fall in as precedent principles. I like the noise and structure in which they create. As they leaves fall they're depicting structure as you can see the shapes of the leaves. However once fallen to the ground they create more "noise" rather than structure as they lay upon each other create many different shapes and different layers of colours upon each other. This makes it hard to depict each individual shape of each leaf and together they create 'noise.'

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1680&bih=845&tbm=isch&tbnid=B46l32Fud7m1hM:&imgrefurl=http://fxh.worth1000.com/contests/21266/fall-2008&docid=9ekfWACt-n4RYM&imgurl=http://rookery.s3.amazonaws.com/1145000/1145412_fb7f_625x1000.jpg&w=625&h=416&ei=E5M1UNfEL-WNiAfwsIEg&zoom=1

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1680&bih=845&tbm=isch&tbnid=B46l32Fud7m1hM:&imgrefurl=http://fxh.worth1000.com/contests/21266/fall-2008&docid=9ekfWACt-n4RYM&imgurl=http://rookery.s3.amazonaws.com/1145000/1145412_fb7f_625x1000.jpg&w=625&h=416&ei=E5M1UNfEL-WNiAfwsIEg&zoom=1
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http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?start=77&um=1&hl=en&biw=1680&bih=845&tbm=isch&tbnid=el_0dUgunU5aSM:&imgrefurl=http://www.scenicreflections.com/download/198227/Falling_Leaves_Wallpaper/&docid=hnABlOhrkYH_DM&imgurl=http://www.scenicreflections.com/files/Falling_Leaves_Wallpaper_6i6hz.jpg&w=1024&h=768&ei=HJM1UMjiAvCTiAfQ94DgBQ&zoom=1

I like the green colours in this image and would like to use these tones as inspiration as opposed to the orange. This is because they orange may not represent leaves in an abstract form.

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1680&bih=845&tbm=isch&tbnid=JDagslakSNGb8M:&imgrefurl=http://paradox11.deviantart.com/art/Leaf-storm-140483721&docid=UdbejM_Om7faIM&imgurl=http://www.deviantart.com/download/140483721/Leaf_storm_by_Paradox11.jpg&w=3888&h=2592&ei=-5I1UKO3IMayiQfq_4HIBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=711&vpy=491&dur=280&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=138&ty=105&sig=101123237934194788256&page=1&tbnh=152&tbnw=200&start=0&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:0,i:129

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1680&bih=845&tbm=isch&tbnid=3BKrWsOcra8YeM:&imgrefurl=http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-33728509/stock-vector-falling-leaves.html&docid=S8eHk_IjuHCHBM&imgurl=http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/359863/359863,1247707184,1/stock-vector-falling-leaves-33728509.jpg&w=340&h=470&ei=E5M1UNfEL-WNiAfwsIEg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=985&vpy=302&dur=94&hovh=264&hovw=191&tx=94&ty=172&sig=101123237934194788256&page=1&tbnh=150&tbnw=109&start=0&ndsp=37&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0,i:151

Coloour swatches RBG from colourlovers.com

Some colour samples that I have been looking at and exploring for my project:

http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes/search?sortCol=votes&sortBy=DESC&query=spring&hex_logic=AND&page=7

http://www.colourlovers.com/palette/515916/z_i_m_b_a_b_w_e

http://www.colourlovers.com/palette/152077/Leather_and_grass

http://www.colourlovers.com/palette/806215/Mountain_Spring

http://www.colourlovers.com/palette/740263/Spring_Sprung_Sprang

Proposal for Project Three - Photographics

Proposal for project Three

For project three I plan to show time through a stop motion of claymation. I will create a character and show their againg process through their face with suited music. I will need to develop this idea further however and really consider the aesthetics of the stop motion.

Stop Motion I made

The Clip - A Virtual Reality from Ally Baldwin on Vimeo.

This is a stop motion I made for a project in dsdn101. I may use this style of claymation again in my assignment two for photographics :) I feel pretty confident in knowing how to do it and using the software.

I'm also quite into photo manipulation.
Here are some works I have done in the past using stock images (credited on my Deviant Art account.)

Exhibition Description

Baldwin Ally Embracing Vision

Written Proposal This interactive object is focused on the sense of sight. The must have aesthetics for this model in order for it to function are two magnifying glasses facing into each other. They are attached to tubes and fixed at a certain length from each other in order to be in focus. The tricky thing about this model is that when looking through it, your sight is upside down. This is what gives the model a new and innovative experience. Navigating is difficult. However, by embracing this new vision the user will see the one of the three images correctly and in 3D while everything in the background of the image is an upside down world. Instruction -       Choose one of the three upside down images provided. -       Get someone to hold it up as you take two steps back from them with the binoculars. -       Gently hold the stalks at the end, one in each hand. -       Hold the lenses up to your eyes, red being on the left. -       Adjust the lenses to the width of your eyes. -       Looks through the lenses so that you see one image. -       Navigate to find the image. Remember that your vision will be upside down. -       See the 3D image which will only appear the correct way around to you.

8 Photographs of final design

Prototype

I've already talked about this prototype in other blog posts but will explain a few details.

Two lenses

 Side on view

 Other side has no stalks to hold onto. This is where your eyes would view. These lenses will have coloured filters. Red and cyan.

 Hold the stalks like this.

 View through the magnifying glasses.

I was holding the lenses with one hand as I needed to hold the camera to take the photograph. Normally when actually using it, you'd have one in each hand. They would also be held together and not diagonally like this as I couldn't balance them with one hand. 

Making 3D Images in CS5 - Screen Shots.

My first image I made 3D. This will of course be upside down. I thought if it got into the exhibition it would be cool for the open day. People thinking about studying  Design at Victoria will pick up the binoculars and read this. Maybe they'll think it's a sign :)

This is an upside down optical illusion. It looks like a white man with a long nose but then you see that it's actually Batman in 3D hanging upside down. Thought that this would be good.

A picture of a dragon which I digitally painted in 3D. It will also be displayed upside down.

Just a practise image for a photograph. This is a picture of my old car - 1981 Leyland Mini. I just wanted to see whether I could get 3D to work on a real photograph. It did work, but I needed the image to pop out from the back ground.

So I got this stock photograph from Deviant Art (no copyright.) 

http://photshopmaniac.deviantart.com/art/Bike-Stock-193909184?q=boost%3Apopular%20in%3Aresources%20car%20white%20background&qo=0

And then this background. I edited and blended them together. I blurred the background and turned down the saturation. I then used levels to blend the bike in and painted in some shadows. 

This makes the bike pop out from the background more. The background is just normal and not in 3D. I wanted only the bike in 3D in order to make it stand out.

http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/?qh=&section=&q=background#/d1sz0ga

I have tested all of these images with my 3D glasses so don't see why they shouldn't work. I will need to test them again once I have made my final model. I'm going to get these professionally printed and mounted onto foam board for the display.

Four Images To Print