OUGD603: Module Evaluation

Over the last year three years, the extended practice has been the biggest impact on my academic learning at LAU. The module has allowed me to develop a body of work that simulates a professional practice working to develop a range of practical responses at any given time, working with clients, collaboratively, and developing self-directed projects. The seven briefs that I have done have allowed me to gain a diverse amount of design work that has enhanced my portfolio to a standard that I feel that the outcomes that I’ve created are industry level.

As the module is independent lead it has allowed me to incorporate my hobbies and interest in my self-directed studies. This is ensured me that the extended practice module has been very engaging throughout but also shows me as a designer in my briefs. The independent nature of the module meant staying to time schedule that ensured me that my briefs were achieved within a time scale, however at times things became a challenge when in one of my briefs I was waiting for the client to respond to my email to gain further feedback meaning that a brief that should have taken a week has taken a lot longer because of these setbacks. The majority of briefs were achieved within a set timescale. and I personally feel that staying to a strict time plan has allowed me to push my learning to its full potential and leaves me in a good stead for working in the industry.

Working collaboratively within the module has been the main focus for me as the number of projects including Hasbro Brief (Deceit) and Research Brief (Digital Business Card) , has shown me that I have the ability to work successfully with other designers and creatives. The opportunity to work collaboratively has shown me that my projects become a lot stronger within the design process and that I can also work within a time plan in a design team.

Engaging with Reddit allowed me to gain huge amounts of feedback on my work but also helped me gain contacts with people who are in the industry. Gaining feedback from the former global brand manager of adidas helped me gain fundamental information about adidas core values and the outcome had to be substantial been improved due to the feedback that I received.

Overall reflecting back on extended practice, I have been able to progress my skills within my design practice allowing me to focus on branding and 3D software as this area of design that I’m most interested in and hopefully go into once finishing at LAU. The module has shown me my ability to develop a range of deliverables that have been supported with primary and secondary research. 

Evaluation / Brief 7 / Day Brief / Twitch graphics

Doing a day brief has shown me that I complete a project in a short amount of time allowing to push my design skills to the limit.

I also wanted to challenge myself in the brief, As I know when I go into the industry it will be very much the same environment.

Creating graphics for a streamer business has been very crucial to understand what the client is looking for and how I can adapt my work to his style of the genre but also the target audience. 

The streamer was very happy with the outcomes I made that I sent with a watermark on through twitter just in case the client tried to steal my work without paying. Once the client was happy with the end result I was commissioned $80 through PayPal and the files were sent to him by wetransfer. This gave me a taste of what freelance work could possibly be for me in the future if I decide to go down that route.

Doing freelance brief with a streamer who is from America also mean’t that i had to stay up quite late because of the time zone difference but this wasn’t an issue .

Brief 7 / Day Brief / Wireframes

I designed a wireframe that allowed to create a flexible overlay that could be built upon without necessitating a complete redesign.

Brief 7 / Day Brief / Who's The Streamer

Twitch Streamer

SypherPk is the Twitch streamer I’ll be doing graphics for he started streaming for fun back in late 2012 streaming Runescape casually. Sypher didn’t seriously start streaming until April of 2014. he has acquired partnership in the Summer of 2014 and has been streaming full time since then! Meaning that he streams for a living and that the overlays that I will create for him will have a huge impact on his business.

More Information:

Sypher has been streaming a game called elder scrolls online which he started with only a couple dozen viewers a night, over the course of a year he has been able to build a strong and thriving community on around the game. He later became a Twitch partner soon after and decided to pursue his career full time.

His current brand identity:

Because he's playing games that are mostly medieval genre his logo is very suitable for his brand and also his target audience, so creating graphics that’s work with his logo is as it's the most suitable option for this brief.

Brief 7 / Day Brief / Twitch Overlay Research

What is an overlay?

A twitch overlay can be a border around your webcam, or it can be a full 1080p graphic that takes up the whole frame. Normally the overlay is a transparent PNG file. that sits above your game capture window, and your webcam. It’s almost like your stream is wearing a mask, and you position things underneath it so everything lines up nicely.

Thoughts?

I believe that streaming should be made to look attractive by providing graphics to the streamer brand name and logo as it helps utilise the full extent of their business model.

Twitch Streamer Research:

I Looked at several other twitch streamers to see 

see what types of information and language they used in their overlays. Some of the most common categories included:

Webcam Feed

Chat

Game Capture

Recent Donor

Top Donation

Latest Tips

Now Playing (Music)

Follower Goal

Sub Goal

Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Offline Screen

Starting Soon Screen

Brief 7 / Day Brief / Twitch Overlays

Twitch  streamer Brief

Twitch is a popular online service for watching and streaming digital video broadcasts. Twitch originally focused almost entirely on video games but has since expanded to include streams dedicated to artwork creation, music, talk shows, and the occasional TV series.

The Task:

I have been asked by a twitch streamer who wants to make his gaming streams more visually pleasing to look at by having clean and professional graphics that represent his core brand identity whilst he live streams to his viewers.

Target Audience: Gamers

81.5% of twitch users are male with 55% in the age between 18-34

According to a survey, gamers are more social, family-oriented, educated, optimistic, successful, and socially conscious than non-gamers. They watch more live streaming content compared to previous year and are actively using the latest tech to consume content and connect with their peers.

Outcome:

Produce a set of overlays that the client wants produced.

Evaluation / Brief 6 / Digital Business Card

The final outcome is user-friendly, easy to navigate and looks visually pleasing. It works as a digital alternative to printed business cards an saves on paper costs and environmental damages. Which, can be backed up by our research.

This Brief took a little longer than expected which wasn’t an issue as Josh adjusted the time plan allowing us to stay on track of the project and keeping to the deadline whilst I was at my work placement. The brief also took a little longer because of the extensive amount of research and feedback we had accumulated throughout out. 

Doing the research brief as a collaboration definitely helped push the whole design process further.

As i’m more of a digital designer I was very surprised by the amount of business cards that were disregard per week, I personally don’t really agree with printed business cards myself as i know from my own experience that they just get thrown away or put in a wallet and never seen again and I felt that the product/service we’ve made helps tackle the issue and also help the environment as well.

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Video

This video helps to explain the idea behind the app and how the app will navigate. Once again it can be seen that the app is kept simple and produces an answer to the problem stated in the brief. This would help to produce a simple digital solution for business cards and bring them into the digital age. Making cards easier to organise and sort through, it will save time on sharing information with professionals and personal contacts. Business cards still play an important role in society but print is starting to fade out and is slowly having a huge impact on the environment. This app will keep business cards relevant for years to come and help produce a solution to unnecessary print costs and wasted paper.

The editing of the video and audio was done using Adobe After Effects, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Logic Pro. A script was written out for me to read out so there was audio to go along with the video. Then the video was edited using the Adobe software stated above. After Effects was used to produce the bulk of the video and add in effects. Illustrator was used to create the vector imagery to add visuals alongside the type and audio, this was to keep viewers entertained. XD was used to show the navigation throughout the App itself and then added into an Iphone Mockup created in Photoshop. Logic was used to record the audio and edit it before placing it into the finished video. Creating the audio helped create the keyframes in After Effects so I knew when the visuals would appear in time.



Expand App from Joshua Storey on Vimeo.

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Script

The next task is to create a video explaining why the app was created and how it works. We will need a script to make sure the audience can understand the process. The information has been written to sound professional yet friendly to keep the target audiences attention.

The Script:

Expand -

Every week up to 88% of business cards are thrown out. This can result in the destruction and devastation of 100 of acres of trees and wildlife. Expand is an app that hopes to do its part and help save the earth. 

The application helps move business cards into the digital era. print is not dead but it is not always necessary. It is stated that by 2050 all forms of printed money will be taken out of production. Slowly we are seeing print being phased out of everyday situations. It’s time to keep up with the world and give back to it in the process. 

The application is simple and user-friendly. Meaning anyone is able to use the app while their content and personal information are still protected. 

At the tap of a button, you can add a new business card straight to your device by either entering the users ID number, scanning their QR code or using NFC technology to effortlessly tap and connect. 

You are able to add as many business cards as you would like. Say you are out at a social event and meet someone new. There’s no need for awkward silences just tap and within seconds your details have been shared. 

Another scenario could be you are meeting an important client. You need to share your details but don’t want to waste their time by tediously typing out all your info for them to copy and type out. Once again the information you choose to share will be sent across to them.

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and much more, even websites or portfolios can be shared through the app. Simply tap to add a new link and switch on which ones you wish to share. 

We hope to inspire new generations to use this application and do their part to create a better future. 

Expand - Networking Made Easy

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Refining The designs

Refining The Designs

After developing the ideas further and once again posting the designs to gain feedback we were able to refine the final designs. The next stage will place them in context through mockups and a demonstration of how the application will work.

I decided to take more a leading role when refining the app design as I’ve had quite a lot of experience with Adobe XD from past projects and previous briefs. I used the initial layout from the last design board and tweaked until we were both happy with the final design. The colour scheme was changed from a black to a light blue based on the feedback we were given as it was said that it feels more calming and easy to navigate through while the white helps to soften the whole piece and not making it too harsh when viewing.

The app:

The app can be seen below starting with the loading screen for the app featuring its logo. Next is ‘Your Card’ then onto more of your cards. The about page is bottom left to explain a little about the app. The links page next to that so you can turn off and on the links you wish to share and finally the contacts page where you can access your contacts cards or add new ones.

The next task was create a video explaining why the app was created and how it works. We will need a script to make sure the audience can understand the process. The information has been written to sound professional yet friendly to keep the target audiences attention.

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Development

After gaining feedback on the designs this is the development we made using Adobe XD. A software that allows you to layout UI/UX designs and gets a feel for them before someone with the skills to code and develops the application does so.

The designs have taken the favoured features from all the other pieces and made stronger together here. The app should flow easily and focus on the user experience. This will ensure the app is easy to use, looks good and makes sense as an answer to the problem defined in the brief. We went back to keeping the design simple and taking out features such as reminders or search functions as it overcomplicated things. The design still needs to be refined but this can begin to show how it would work and navigate between pages.

Evaluation / Brief 5 / Fortnite Brief

This brief has been one of the most enjoyable projects for me as I’ve combined my passion for gaming with hopefully my future career Job. I personally believe that the game board itself was designed to a very high standard that has allowed me to gain an exceptional amount of support from the gaming community and also the developers of the game. Gaining a huge amount of positive feedback has built up my confidence in this project, however, critical feedback stands out more for me as it allows me to improve on my design work which I’ve managed to gain information that needs to be changed but overall the general feedback was positive and that they could see the product being in retail stores.

Fortnite is going to keep growing because the developers listen to what the gaming community wants through the use of Reddit as the main source of feedback for its game, allowing it to be one of the most successful games in the market at the moment. I will continue to create design work for Fortnite as I personally love how close they’re to the community and I want to do the same with my design work by listening to gamers feedback and keep improving the product or design that i’ve made.

Doing design work for game companies definitely an area of work that i aim to be part of after university, particularly because in my free time i spend a lot of time playing video games meaning have a good understanding of what gamers want. 

In this brief, I’ve learn’t that I can merge two companies together to crate a product that looks professional by using photoshop to manipulate images together without looking fake.

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Digital Wireframes

Doing Digital wireframes will bring clarity to our design, allowing us to work through all the interactions and layout that may need to consider after receiving any further feedback.

Idea one:

The first initial idea is to create a seamless experience that is better than paper. That meant removing all existing barriers to card sharing, storing and usage, and making the process as simple as possible.

Idea two: 

To create a digital business card that allows you to add context to your connections meaning that it will automatically add location to each new connection, and add a note so you'll never forget where you met.  We also added a reminder page to the wireframe so you will never forget to follow up on reconnecting with contacts you have previously made.

Idea three: 

The third idea is to create a digital Business card using a recipients' 6-Digit user ID, Users can simply maintain a wallet to scan and store all the paper business cards received by them. As the wireframe Profile page will have more information it can only be viewed by the person you have shared your card with. 

 

Brief 5 / Game Brief / Fortnite / Research

As a battle royale game, Fortnite Battle Royale features up to 100 players, alone, in duos, or in squads of up to four players, attempting to be the last player alive by killing other players or evading them, while staying within a constantly shrinking safe zone to prevent taking lethal damage from being outside it. Players must scavenge for weapons and armour to gain the upper hand on their opponents. The game adds the construction element from Fortnite; players can break down most objects in the game world to gain resources they can use to build fortifications as part of their strategy.

 Stats: 

The game, made by Epic Games, is surging in popularity. Google search volume interest for "Fortnite" exceeded "Minecraft" and bitcoin in recent weeks.

In the middle of March Fortnite had over 3.4 million people playing the game at same time, likely making it the biggest PC/console game in the world, Epic Games said. The company revealed in January the game has been played by more than 45 million people worldwide.

Brief 5 / Game Brief / Fortnite / Brief

Fortnite Brief

Fortnite Battle Royale is a free-to-play battle royale game developed and published by Epic Games, It is currently the world's most popular video with around 3.4 million concurrent players, it's available on all platform PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac and mobile. The popularity of the game means exposure for anyone involved in making it and since the game is still in Beta testing it means there are always developments.

The Task:

Design a board game based on the popular battle royale game Fortnite, however, you must use one of the most popular traditional games as the core game concept but add a Fortnite twist to it. Fortnite has a huge following, use this opportunity to design to a wide audience and take advantage of the popularity.

Target Audience: (Age 10-30)

The game is perfect for all ages. The cartoony graphics fit what children/teenagers like to see, and they can have fun playing with their friends. The competitive side attracts the adults, who can also have a good laugh with their friends.

Outcomes:

Design a twist to a traditional board game as Fortnite as the main Focus.

Brief 4 / Peter & Paul Poster / Research

I started the brief by looking into work that was related to 3D design. As Peter and Paul wanted to show different interests in arts and design and I personally felt I was picked because how niche 3D work is at our university, which allowed me to stand out when applying for the brief. 

As a designer, I know from experience that you want a poster that stands out and one that grabs the attention of the passersby so you can tell them about your important message, which in this case is the quote. One method to achieve this designing in 3d. 

Creating a poster that is three-dimensional means giving visual volume and weight to elements in my work, making it look a little less stylized and much more realistic.

The main consideration in the design process was to ensure that I can combine a long quote with a 3D visual without it becoming unclear. As the quote I was given in the brief is the fundamental part of the poster, I will need to ensure that the quote is clear and readable.  

Brief 4 / Peter & Paul Poster / Brief Interpretation

After sending three of my best pieces of work to Peter and Paul they were really impressed with my work and wanted me to be involved in the project.

I was noted this is a live brief and that the end results will be part of the new University building, with that in mind, I'm encouraged to push myself to create the best possible outcome and to really take this opportunity to showcase my ability in 3D design!

As it’s a live brief and there are a lot of students involved in the project, I will need to make sure that I manage my own time to meet deadlines, As they stated that they won’t be chasing us if work hasn’t be provided on the deadlines day

We were also given a very limited colour palette (Yellow, white and black) which we could choose the colours from.

Consideration:
Your poster MUST include the quote as text.
Don't design anything too small. It should be readable from a distance.

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Wireframes sketches

Josh and I decided to sketch the ideas into a wireframe layout. We used the primary and secondary research that we've have collected and put this into the designs as it's crucial that we make the app easy to navigate and very user-friendly. 

The designs became very clear and relatively consistent because of the research gathered. Most of the designs consisted of:

1) Business card page.

2) A contacts page.

3) A featured page that allows you to edit

4) About the App, Which is just necessary to explain in more depth.

In the survey, we had a concern about number two, we have considered that some people don't want certain social media links with their businesses so we have created an edit function that allows the user to edit what information they want to share.

The Primary Function and goal of the application is to allow people to share details at the touch of a button and be able to sort through your collection easily. We need to keep this in mind throughout the design process and make sure we do not add any unnecessary features.

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Primary Research / Survey / Results

Based on the results from the survey we tried sending the questionnaire to our desired target audience 18-35 year old through social media but we have also managed to collect data from other age groups as well to get the best possible data.

The comments left as "Other" were very helpful to gain an insight into the idea and take our research further. Many voiced an opinion on how print is still relevant and other showed concerns that sharing content like this may be easy to steal information. Luckily this is something that will be covered in the overall idea and design of the app. As stated in the section of the survey, the only information you wish to share will be shared and just like any app on your phone, the information will be protected by the developers. It has not been stated that the app is a means to replace printed business cards as someone stated that if your phone dies you are without means to share your information. This is something that the user will have to tackle themselves by keeping the phone charged or as stated this is not a straight-up replacement. Take the money, for example, it is stated that it won't be until 2050 that printed money is taking out of production, there will be a transition period. Although this is not the means to replace printed business cards from day one it is the inevitable goal of the application.

Some other comments left were that it may be harder for the older generation to get to grips with an application like this. Once again this is true and great feedback but as the app is aimed predominantly at younger adults this would be more the demographic we hope to use the app.

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Initial Ideas (Draft)

The initial idea is to create some sort of mobile application that young adults can use to share their information similar to that of a business card.

This would include:

• Social media profiles
• Contact Numbers
• Email Addresses
• Portfolios
• Websites

The app would not force you to share any information you do not wish to share and would allow you to create different versions of your business card. This would be to send out to both professional and personal contacts.

When discussing the information with Harrison his views differed slightly from my own. He wanted to create the app based inside of another popular application, Snapchat. This does make sense for the current trends as Snapchat is a major competitor to most social media applications. I argued that Snapchat would not be very professional when meeting potential clients or professionals. It would be fine if the app was solely for personal use but it would mean missing out on a huge potential audience. It was agreed that the idea of adding the app into the mobiles already implemented wallet application would make sense. There would be ease of access to the application and part of the main body and development of the app is already there. This would mean you are able to use the application for both business and personal use.

We now need to gain feedback on this idea to then develop it further.

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Secondary Research / Library

As we wanted to expand our research further than just digital business cards we thought looking at digital marketing as a whole would help benefit our understanding of this area.

We came across a book called Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Engaging the Digital Generation that explained the four P's of marketing which are price, place, promotion and product. Damian Ryan further explained that these were right at the time, however, Damian has re-done them for our current generation.

The general overview of the 10 points above very much explains that's it has always been about the customer from the past to the current and even the future. As we are creating a digital business app we need to focus on engaging with the user and how the app will be appropriate to use over the traditional printed method but also creating an experience for the user.

In the article Conceptualizations of the Materiality of Digital Artifacts and their Implications for Sustainable Interaction Design”, Jung, Blevis and Stolterman explain that the digital era strives to inform us how our era has changed the way we design tangibles, and what materials we choose to use in the design process. This relates to our brief as we do not want to remove, but gradually replace the foundation of a traditional business card and the need for physical. 

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Secondary Research

Why A Digital Business Card is the way forward? 

It's it suggested that 88% of the networking we do is a waste of time because that's the percentage of business cards that get thrown away after one week. This is such a big problem on the environment and the effort people put into networking at events and making contacts and the vast majority is doing absolutely nothing for the individual who's producing them. This isn’t even to mention the time and money that goes into business card design and the cost of card printing. The solution would be a  digital business card.

The Reason Why Traditional Business Cards are Failing?

Technology has rapidly increased however business cards have been around since the 17th century meaning they're quite a challenge to take on. Business cards are so ingrained in our image of what doing business looks like it can be hard to imagine what a world without them would be.

The Problem is, that the way we connect with each other is changing. It's is almost impossible that how we use business cards will stay the same. 

The main problem with a traditional business card is that they largely don’t work for their intended purpose. As stated above 88% of business cards are thrown out within a week, meaning it doesn't even matter how well designed or produced the card  

Josh and I are pretty concerned that 88% of business cards are thrown away within a week. It doesn’t matter how much effort that went into the design or production that’s still the number we are are working with. 

Brief 6 / Digital Business Card / Primary Research / Survey

Is Print Dead?

Often the statement "print is dead" is used to signify that the digital age will soon be all that is known. Most young people have a smartphone and therefore they have access to the internet. Job offers or important discussions happen online on a digital platform. By 2050 it is thought physical printed money will no longer exist and will be solely digital.

With this information in mind, other means of print have to change with the times. The idea is to create an app linked to your smartphones wallet that allows a sort of digital business card for the user. It will be optional to use and optional what information you share on there and with whom. For instance, you’re in a job interview or meet an important client and need to pass on your information. With a tap of your phone using NFC technology, they have access to your online portfolio and Linkedin account. Another example of personal use would be meeting new people in everyday life or even at a party or club. Once again with a tap of the phone, you are able to find all the social media they have shared on their device and even means to contact them through their phone number.

The idea of the app is to save on print costs for business cards and to save on time or awkward situations of silence while sharing details. This would also cut down on environmental issues and potentially save millions of trees.

Based on the information above and your own opinion please answer the following questions:

1. What age range do you fit into?

15 - 25

25 - 35

35 - 45

45 +

2. Do you think the future will be entirely digital?

Yes

No

Other (please specify)

3. Do you prefer digital or print?

Digital

Print

Other (please specify)

4. Do you believe digital versions of everyday printed items are more environmentally friendly?

Yes

No

Other (please specify)

5. Would an app linking all your social media accounts for either personal or professional use, be useful?

Yes

No

Other (please specify)

6. Is print needed?

Yes

No

Other (please specify)