Branding

Visualize software and hardware elements will have a simplistic sketched look in keeping with the artistic style of our products function i.e. to relay basic design concepts. We opted for a minimalist style, so as not to distract from the design concepts themselves and, to maintain a hierarchical order.

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.

Pre-Pitch

We are pretty much set for the formal product pitch tomorrow to an audience of three lecturers and our fellow classmates ...wish us luck!

Today and yesterday we spent time together fleshing out the game elements. We also put a lot of thought into the look and feel of our hardware controllers. The product is starting to take shape, especially the branding thanks to the introduction of characters.

All-in-all things are going well; we are a capable group with a strong idea.

iPhone photos from our meeting today (really need to start bringing a camera to college):

revised storyboard


a few early-days sketches of our font men and controller station

Group Meeting

Preparing for our project pitch on Wednesday

Target Audience

We are marketing Visualize at a mixed gender audience of design students aged 16 to 22 years. A basic knowledge of computer skills is required to use the product, and those skills are generally already present in that age group.

Visualize may appeal to a wide audience of beginners and aspiring graphic designers of any age, as the product teaches beginner principles.

An existing knowledge of design is not required.

The concepts may be too complex for a very young audience and is therefore more suited to age 12 and over.

Aims & Objectives

• To educate young and aspiring graphic designers
• To convey concepts and principles followed by professional graphic designers
• To highlight the importance of each concept and its role in graphic design

Software Navigation Map

Concept Brainstorming

Feb 26^th meeting summary...

To begin with, we were not sure if we should focus our brainstorming on the hardware or on the software. We swapped back and forth between both approaches. We debated the pros and cons of designing software to fit hardware. We quickly realised that since we have been given open creative freedom on this project it makes more sense for us to base our concept ideas around the software. We went with this approach. With our software concept and designs in place we can custom build whatever hardware we need later.

We discussed the fact that students in previous years were given a pre-school toy as their starting point. They circuit bent that toy into their final product. On the one hand we felt it may be easier to get started if we had a toy to look at. The colour, shape and texture, and material of the toy may inspire us to generate concepts that we were struggling to conceive. On the other hand, with no physical attributes to limit us, our imaginations and resources are open ended. For this reason we decided not to circuit bend a specific toy. Or at least not to form our concept ideas based on a specific toy. The plan is to source a number of toys and electrical equipment, and use their parts to construct our own unique product. We went full circle in our thinking i.e. without a toy as a starting point we are in a stronger position.

So what ideas did we trash out?

Well, Annie had the idea of a hardware station to house our homemade switches, and some ideas on interactivity and social culture based themes read more..., James built on the idea of the hardware station by making it into a 4 ring cooker hob. The switches would take the form of pans and kitchen utensils. The software would be a cooking tutorial package with recipes and cooking tips for traditional worldwide cuisine. The software would open as a flat world map, and take the user to anywhere they wanted to go. Audio and graphic elements would portray a local ethnic feel to each country/dish. It was this idea that really got us all talking and thinking out loud. The idea had potential, we could clearly see our new project roles falling into place now. We talked through several variations and considered the hardware involved which lead to a few other ideas too.

Although we all liked the recipe idea, we didn't go with it because we agreed our product should reflect our knowledge of multimedia principles or practices. We unanimously liked and agreed on Alannagh's typography gaming idea. It seemed everyone in the group could see that going somewhere. Needless to say, we're not exactly sure where that will bring us yet.

Initial Concept

Our group had a very productive meeting yesterday :)

Rather than randomly producing a product theme, we want to bring another aspect of our creative multimedia course into this project. So, we have collectively agreed on Alannagh's idea of typography and the rules of graphic design.

Where we're at with our concept development...

Physical Interface
A station or console to hold/house our switches and buttons. We will make both the station and switches from scratch. These will included, but are not limited to, the arrow up, down, right, and left keys. We may hack toys or other objects for parts. We have yet to decide on the aesthetic direction they will take. This will probably flow from the design of our software game screens. In the meantime we will represent the hardware station in our storyboard as a rectangular box.

Software Interface
There will be three typography-based games and four intervening screens, each with a different message about graphic design principles. We will explore design principles such as white space, proximity and unity, and contrast etc. The user moves in a hierarchical manner through the screens i.e. the user will complete Game I to move onto Game II and so on, thus building on the hierarchy of design concept.

Game Development
The games will focus individually on repetition, balance and fonts. Fonts, for example, will show how each font has a voice. Our first stab at a game denoting balance brought about the idea of letters falling from the top of the screen while a character (controlled by the user) will catch them and balance them as they pile up. Throughout the software letters will be personified e.g. each letter will have its own typeface and may be given its voice in speech bubbles.

For now we are working on the site navigation map and storyboard due Feb 24th.