Googles’ Research Workflow

I thought it would be really important to look at ghow Google researches its’ projects and the how the different stages can be seen throughout the projects. This is something I plan to use in my project. The different stages are;

1. Setting up the challenge statement. This will be something you need to come back to during the research and development stage to keep you on track, it will sometimes need updating.
2. Internal Interviews with the people in the process of the development of the service, to see how the internals work and how it can be improved.
3. Present the idea to a group and get feedback. Use the comments to continue further within the R&D.
4. User interviews are important as they allow discovery of the likes an the dislikes of the current services available to them.
5. Create a project map like the one below to show the different user journeys a user may take, it allows you to eradicate an issues before building.
6. Crazy 8- A method used my google, setting a time limit of 20 minutes, create 8 different designs for the interface. Present these to a member of the team and get them to vote for their two favourite designs.
7. Sketch the final design based off the previous stage.
8. Storyboard the experience, make sure to include ways the user could diverge.
9. Create a working prototype of the experience
10. Get your target audience to test your prototype and provide feedback
11. Adjust the design based on feedback
12. Repeat step 10.
13. Repeat step 11.

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Researching motion

Javascript is the basis for motion on the web it is able to create stunning websites that caption an audience. I plan to look at the different frameworks and use them on a site to create something that I am really proud of. First I started my search on reddit, getting an idea from the web developer community what was the best way to to use motion in the web. 29 developers on the forum all give me their opinions on what to research and become skilled in, I plan to take all the advice they have all given me…

Content Research

The museum will be split up into various sections, of different factual information. This allows the visitor to get real insight of what a Whalers life was really like. Images on the wall will turn into animated scenes on the iPad, there will be questions about the images. Interior of the museum will be dimly lit, with lights focusing on the actual content for the visited to see, this will create a much more immersive experience. Changing the boat within the museum to allow it to move and have people sit inside it, whilst wearing virtual reality headsets will create a truly realistic experience that is not only factual but visual.  The flow of the content will move through a Whalers life, showing the tools he used, his life on the ship, people you came across on his journey and other exotic animals he so along the way.

This is the information that is viewable when looking at the various animals around the exhibition;

Geographic distribution
Images
Bone/ muscle skin Layers
Communication
Amount of people who have signed the petition/percentage of number of people who like whales
scale of the animal in com[parison to other animals
Life expectancy
Diet = Carnivore/Herbivore
Weight
Population

Timeline
6,000 BC – The earliest archaeological record of whaling is found inSouth Korea, where carved drawings dating back to6,000 BC show that Stone Age people hunted whales using boats and spears.

9TH CENTURY – Whaling begins in Norway, France and Spain.

12TH CENTURY – Hand harpooning begins in Japan.

1848 – The exploding harpoon is invented. The harpoon was fired with a cannon and used a motorized whale catcher. This enabled whalers to catch the fast-moving and huge rorqual whales.

1930 – 80 per cent of the great whale species are thought to be on the verge of extinction.

1946 – The International Whaling Commission (IWC)is set up by15 whaling nations to manage whale stocks.

1963 – The UK ceases whaling.

1972 – The population of blue whales falls to 6,000.

1990 – Seven out of the nine remaining whaling nations agree to stop whaling.

2003 – Iceland resumes ‘scientific whaling’.

2006 – Iceland resumes commercial whaling.

Boats
“Thar She Blows!”
Fin Whale
Antarctic Minkle Whale
Sperm Whale
Humpback Whale
Sei Whale

The captain
The mates
ATE TOGETHER AND BEST Accommodation BEST SLEEPING QUARTER

The boat steerers
The foremast hands
ATE LAST – WORST SLEEPING Quarters

Length of journey
The whaling schooner, the smallest whaler, generally undertook 6-month voyages
brigs, barks, and ships might be at sea for three or four years

Right whale – Carnivorous
(SCALE)
Population

Weapons
Harpoon
Fired in then bent with pressure

Lance
cut the meat

Polar Bear – Omnivorous
ABOUT ERIC THE BEAR
1981 – 22,000
1993 – 25,000
1997 – 24,000
2001 – 23,000
2005 – 22,000
2009 – 20,000
2013 – 18,000

References;

https://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urlblob&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=RSPCABlob&blobwhere=1195662481324&ssbinary=true

http://www.whalingmuseum.org/learn/research-topics/overview-of-north-american-whaling/life-aboard

http://www.whalecraft.net/Harpoons.html

http://mysite.du.edu/~ttyler/ploughboy/olmstedvoyage.htm
http://www.whalingmuseum.org/learn/research-topics/overview-of-north-american-whaling/life-aboard

http://nibbler.silktide.com/

Letterhead Research

To create a strong, professional brand, I will need to apply the same visual identity to all of the products that I produce. Materials used in letterheads are very important, there are lots of types and thickness of paper that can be used depending on style and design of the actual letter. I spoke to a company Marqetspace, they mass produce trade printing from business cards to letterheads to flyers and asked them to send me examples of the different types of paper that they print on. A couple of things i learnt from actually receiving the products were that thickness generally provides the user with a sense of quality and luxury while the opposite is said for the thinner pieces of paper.

You can see images of all the letterheads I looked at here;

Given that the thickness gives the paper a certain quality the “120gsm CONQUEROR” has a really nice texture but I also believe that you wouldn’t want to go below 100gsm if you don’t want to loose that ‘quality’ feel. Also the fact we are in an age where we all have to consider the environment we live in it would also make your company stand above e it’s competitors if you showed that you care, one way of doing this would be to use the “100gsm RECYCLED” letterhead. Something else to consider when choosing the thickness of the letterhead would be the capabilities of the printer you used to print on the letterheads, as you need paper that would not jam in the printer. Yet another consideration of letterheads is the legal requirements as a business you are required to provide your name, the registered company name, contact number and address.

From my research about good and bad letterheads it is reasonably easy to state the plain white ones that the average company such as a bank send are considered to be the worst, while unusual shapes and sizes are seen as better design. Something I noted from the good designs is that they have all redesigned the envelope as well as the actual letter itself. You can actually see this in these two images below, they have actually redesigned the entire concept of sending out material to their customers.

I think I like these two designs and will actually use them to create my own designs when it comes to making my mockups. Something I noted earlier was to have consistency across all of the material I produce, the pieces below have actually got a similar colour scheme and design processes behind them so that as a user you know they relate to the same company.

I looked at the consistency across the portfolio of items below and I noted that it is very similar to what I was going aim for, the colours fall in line with my logo design and would work perfectly. I may consider this when making my designs.

Another consideration for the letter is the eligibility of the content, I need to make sure the content of my letter is easily readable. Firstly, contrast of colour is something I really need to to focus on, my logo is a black to light purple gradient with light purple text, therefore to get the contrast for my type and logo design to stand out on the page i need to consider the colours my letter and envelope will come in. Line height, spacing and length are all factors that can impact the readability of the page, as discussed in this article (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0071161), dyslexic people find it easier to read shorter lines, so this is something I must consider when creating the letter layout. A larger line height is better because it improves the scannability which is something else I will need to consider when devising the layout of the letter because it allows the reader to flow through the content much easier by guiding them with the layout of the text.  At the same time though I don’t want too much text on the page so it is important to have a substantial amount of white space on the page as well, by using white space in between paragraphs it makes the content more scannable. Using grid layouts is going to be very important when creating the layout of the letters and their content and this is something I am going to examine in another post.

I really like the letterhead below because it uses flat colours (something that very fashionable in design right now) to separate the company information and the personalised information for the customer.

In a sense from the name ‘formal letter’ they should be simple and boring, but that is not the case by adding interest to the layout sets you apart from the competition. Making use of the back side of the paper is just important as it again adds interest to your letter, you can see below there are a couple of examples that take advantage of the free space.

References:

http://www.marqetspace.co.uk/home/

http://startups.co.uk/letterhead-legal-requirements-your-business-needs-to-follow/

http://www.peppermintprint.co.uk/products/letterheads/

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0071161

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/18/10-principles-for-readable-web-typography/

Researching Artists

There are four artists that I came across in my research stage and I thought it was important to look at their work before I went out and took my own images.

The criteria of my brief? A collection of images that equally promoted the old and the new around Hull. Something that could be used in marketing of thew freedom festival in 2017. I was interested in black and white photography of architecture because by removing the colour there is instantly more focus on situations, sceneries, objects and people.

Ellen Fisch was the first person I came across during my research. Her compositions are interesting as they use leading lines to make the user look at the focus of the image, which was generally not shown in the image, this was interesting as it attracted the viewer to something that isn’t visible in the image. You can see this in these three images below. This is something I believed was worthwhile noting for my photo shoots.

Joel Tjintjelaar images are really good, I found them a very helpful part of my research and you will see very clearly how he has effected my work. The images were shot in a way that they became abstract due to the fact that they have been taken in an unusual way. Joel is also another photographer who presents his images in a square format. So the lessons I have learn’t from Joel is that taking abstract and unusual images using depth of field and leading lines pays off, and that presenting your images in a square format works well.

David Gutierrez was next with a mix of styles. While choosing not to create square photos, there are clear depths of field in these images. Two of the images use leading lines to create interest while the other focuses more on framing the image. You can see them below.

Kelly McCann chose to mix between landscape and square format images, she uses framing in the shot of chapel, and she also uses the rule of thirds in the images to allow the viewer to get a sense of perspective when looking at the images. These images work really well and will influence my work.

Cameron Nielson has an interesting take on his architecture which he has branded as ‘straight up’ where his signature is that he just points the camera straight up and shoots. He ends up getting some interesting photos that show the the skyline of the building whilst also capturing the sense of scale with field of depth and leading lines, as we all stand street side look up, this is something every viewer can relate too.

I believe using leading lines to draw attention to the focus point of the image works well, so I will be using this technique, I also like the images being square as I think it allows for a constant size, which is the same for all images, making it more about the content than the shape.

References:

http://www.kellymccann.co.uk

Joel Tjintjelaar – http://www.bwvision.com/

David Gutierrez – http://www.davidgutierrez.co.uk/london-photographer–black-and-white-photography.html

http://www.ellenfisch.com

http://straightup.co/portfolio/san-francisco/