“RollingGr” — Post #2 Development/ Implementation: The Journey
#DigitalCreativity_CodeAppsGamesLab
Betty Tsakarestou , Dr. Stavros Kaperonis
We constructed our application and the website according to some specific personas, while we always had in mind the potential users. The users of this application are people who like extreme sports and they seek the adventure, their ages mostly ranging between 18 years old and 45 years old. We developed three personas, the first one is John, he is 19 years old and he is someone that doesn’t have so much experience on extreme sports but would like to start attending them and going on adventure trips more. The second persona is Kate, she is 26 years old, very experienced in extreme sports, and frequently takes adventurous trips. Finally, the third persona is Mike, he is 38 years old and he loves extreme sports, but doesn’t get to exercise them so often, and tends to go on adventure trips approximately once in a year.
We started with developing the website, where we initially put some basic information about our application and what it contains, as well as what we promise to bring to our users as the developers of this whole idea. We searched about all the information that we needed to build a complete application that would be able to provide the user with all the things needed to know about the extreme sports (tips, equipment), and the destinations where the extreme sports were found. So, after gathering lots of information, we put everything down and started separating and classifying them. When the user opens our application, he/she is given the choice to sign up and make an account, or log in if there is already an account. After that, the main menu appears, and left on the top you see an icon that stands for settings. When the settings icon is clicked, it opens a page where the user can change password, or delete the account, while also the user sees a small text about the safety of his/her personal information. One of our menu’s titles is “destinations”, where we put 29 destinations, each represented by one picture. On the application when you click on each destination, it leads you on a page where you can find basic information about the specific place and the extreme sports that you can find there. The other title we have on our menu is “extreme sports”, where again we gathered 17 of them, each represented on the website by an image. Again, in this section, if you open the application, click on “extreme sports”, and then click on an extreme sport from the list you are given, you are driven directly on a page where you can read some tips on the extreme sport and the equipment you are going to need. We finished the construction of our application and website by adding two more sections, which of course are “contact” and “help”. On “contact”, the user can find our social media platforms, as well as our email if he/she wants to get in touch with us. On “help”, you can find some guidance on how to use our application simply and easy.
What we were taught from UX prodigy and Magy Kontou’s sessions helped us a lot, because we got to have a better understanding on what we had to do. Specifically, in these sessions we learned how to conduct a heuristic evaluation, which helped us to have a better view of what bases we need to follow in order to create an application or a website that will make the user’s experience enjoyable and convenient. We learned what really lies behind what a user watches, and therefore, we got the insight of how an application should be structured in order for the user not only to enjoy using it, but also to have the will to use it again and again.
During the whole process of this project we faced many challenges. First, at the decision of the idea that we were going to bring to life. Generally speaking, we had many ideas as a team, and after doing some brainstorming we reached a decision that afterwards was altered. This was a challenge for us because, this first idea that we had decided to develop had already a logo, and a couple of pages with information found by the time that we decided to change our minds. However though, we managed to pull our final idea “RollingGr” through, and make an application and a website that we are happy about! Another challenge that we faced has to do with the usage of proto.io and the usage of Tilda as well. In proto.io, actually, the only thing that gave us a hard time was the fact that they were some serious obstacles on using lots of pictures on our screens. We found Tilda a little more challenging, and it took a little more time to figure out its exact operations. For example, we had a hard time finding how to make the connections in order to click a page and lead the user to that page.
This whole project gave us so much new knowledge! We viewed the world of design from inwards, and we learned how it is to make your own application. We were taught what it takes to bring your idea to life through an application and a website, the steps you need to follow, how important the personas you have in mind are, and how important is to evaluate each and every action you take towards completing your creation in accordance with user’s experience.
Our advice to anyone that wants to take this whole journey is that it needs a lot of thinking, many trials and errors in order to reach the final result that will leave them satisfied. It needs time and practicing the means you use in order to become familiar with them.
We are The Challengers, thank you for reading!
Violetta Ioanna Makri , Angelika Bega , eugenia skouteri , Kyriaki Kyriakoggona
