The console will be built from scratch and we hope to use wood, where possible, to give the product a rich textured feel. Wood will compliment and enhance the overall handmade look we are striving for. Here is a preliminary mockup of the console:
Similarly, the fonts used throughout the product for headings and instructional purposes will adopt the same simplistic sketched look. Here is an example:
The ‘Fonts’ game will feature a number of fonts from both the serif and san serif families to illustrate the difference in typography used for headings etc. in print and onscreen publications. Example: Arial, Verdana, and Trebuchet MS are examples of san-serif fonts. While Courier, Georgia, and Times New Roman are all examples of serif. Serif is the standard typeface for large blocks of printed text as the ‘tails’, i.e. the small strokes on the ends, are believed to guide the eye along while reading.
A user-friendly feature and marketing strategy of the Visualize brand is to personify four of the design concepts explored in the software. Their rules, guidelines and principles become their personality traits. In addition to the audience ‘getting to know’ these personalities onscreen, the characters will also become a physical element of the hardware console needed by the user to navigate. Giving design principles such as white space a personality, in a sense, brings the concept to life. From a branding perspective, the idea is to endear users to the product by encouraging interaction and creating a sense of familiarity. The four characters are: White Space, Fontz, Contrast and Colourz.
The products artistic look and the personification of design concepts through characters will flow onto our blog too. Below are screen shots from the blog as it looked on Monday, 22 March 2010.
