Traveling the Galaxy
Taking a Trip all around the Galaxy to view our different Planets
We were assigned the task to pick a subject from NASA to create an iBook for. Well since I have always been interested in the Planets and learning more about them. So, I went for a simple way to learn facts about the Planets and what kinds of special things each of them has. It is important to keep in mind that this is geared toward teens so that they can learn more. I didn’t want things to be cartooned or too serious for teens.
The Story behind my iBook
My goal for a target audience was the 8–9th graders. I felt like they would be the ones who would actually take the time to watch videos and study facts. This way when we give the teachers the starter pack for the planet cards (which I will explain later) the students can have the iPads and start learning. My reasoning behind why I wanted to do a school related learning project is because I have always thought about new ways to learn. I enjoy learning at school and I want to help all the visual learners out there get involved with a digital book. Providing them with a digital book accepts the fact that we are moving into a digital age and also makes learning fun!
So, I started sketching out my ideas and a possible direction that I wanted my iBook to go.
I needed this iBook to have a continuous flow so that for the students it felt like a fun way to read a book. For these reasons, I started out with gathering simple images for the planets from NASA and Google images. I was starting to get worried about having all my images feel like one book. Each image I found was starting to look blurry and different than the rest. So, I had to make sure that all of my images and videos were from the same place to keep things simple. I ended up with some images that looked like these.
I had a lot of fun picking out these images and getting to see the Planets a little closer up as I was working. It was so interesting to see the different points of view that were offered. I was starting to feel like they should be better quality but some of the planets are so far away it’s hard to get a good quality picture.
After gathering my assets and coming up with a plan I needed to lay out what kinds of images and text I wanted and where I wanted it. I knew that all of my information needed to generally be the same for each of the planets. So that a teacher could hand out this iBook and a work sheet for learning about the planets and the students could fill it out.
My initial thoughts were to just have this book be about Planets. The more I was digging deeper into this iBook project I wanted to do more than work on the Planets. So, I decided to go ahead and move into a subject that could have multiple chapters for an Astronomy type of class. I decided to change my iBook to become a Solar System book rather than just a Planets iBook.
I want to ultimately finish this iBook completely but for now I only had enough time to do a single chapter on the Planets. When I went about creating my pages for the planets the Table of contents needed to be the same as well. When working with iBooks author you have to realize that your background image has to be the same on all of the chapters for the Table of Contents. So, I found an image that worked for all of the chapters. This was a key element for my iBook because as the chapters would progress they would all feel the same. But, as I was doing this I wanted to make sure I could lay it out for the next chapters to come. So, I ended up with something that looked like these next few images.
Each of these images was key in finding what would make my iBook work. I had no idea how to get them all flow together. So, I started brain storming some ideas and the one that came to mind was a small banner. Just like the cover Photo each of the chapters has a banner with the name of what that chapter is going to be about. This way the chapters were tied to the book cover and everything seemed to flow.
The next major task was the pages themselves and how they should be viewed by the students. I was trying to find ideas from previous iBooks done about the planets but they were old and clunky. I wanted to make sure that this iBook looked new and felt like a safe place to explore. When looking at different examples it made me think of one quote in particular:
“The public is more familiar with bad design than good design. It is, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what it lives with. The new becomes threatening, the old reassuring.” — Paul Rand
The public is given mostly bad design and they need to be shown what is out there. I had to be careful not to stray too much from what people already know. Plus working with students, it is important to keep things straight and to the point. I got to working with some of the images that I had chosen and found some fun facts about each of the planets. I wanted to have student’s minds engaged with learning and the way I thought to do that was videos.
Growing up I remember walking into a classroom and you knew it was going to be a good day because you saw the TV out. I also remember getting bored during some of those videos. It was important that I knew where to split up videos, images, and text. So, I ended up with 2 page spreads for each of the planets that the students would be discovering. Here are some of the Planets that were done.
As you can see by the line down the middle of these images that is where the two pages separate. This way as you are scrolling through the iBook there is half of the planet on one page and the other half on the second page. I really liked this approach so that you could ways know what planet you were looking at if you could remember what it looked like. I had a lot of fun creating these two page spreads and I wanted to make sure everything was space right. So, I placed my pages in to Procreate and analyzed what each of them looked like so I could get the right sizing.
In this mark-up, I just wanted to re-state what I already knew I wanted with my iBook. So, I was looking to keep a consistent flow which I was able to accomplish with the images, text, and videos. I had to make sure everything was sized right, given enough padding, and made sense as you looked through the book. By righting all of these things down it really helped me visualize my goal.
The main thing I wanted to make sure that I did was keep the flow. In past designs I missed the flow of the project and I made sure this project had the FLOW. So, I after I had my iBook completed to reach the goal I set ahead creating cards for each of the planets. I wanted to use the same planet images for the Planet cards that were used in the iBook. The reason I did this was to keep the consistent flow of the iBook to its companion piece which was the cards. So, the journey began on working with Photoshop, Zap Works, and other resources for the Planet Cards.
The ZAPPED Companion Piece for my iBook
When we were assigned the task to start work on an iBook I was also asked to create some Zap codes that could be a good companion piece for the iBook. We were initially asked to create a piece that was different from the iBook that could be a sort of second booklet. Later on, it was discussed that the second booklet, cards, or poster could be an extension of what we already had in our iBook. This really got me excited! I had thought about doing cards for this project and was excited to finally get the opportunity. So, I set out to work with a company called Zap Workswhich dealt with the Zap Codes.
Thanks to Utah Valley University and the staff I was finally able to try out something I had never done before. We started work with Zap Works Studio and it was a bit of a bumpy ride. After we realized our work could be done in something called designer I got busy making my Zap Codes. For each Zap code, I wanted there to be an image gallery and sound for that specific Planet. So, I started working on my Planets and it was so much fun to start testing them out. Here are some of the Planets Zap codes that I was working on for a good companion piece for my iBook.
So, I ended up with 9 cards for my different Planets. Yes, I know what you are thinking Pluto is no longer a Planet why do you have a card for Pluto. You can stop worrying because I didn’t create a card with Pluto on it. I needed to have an instruction card for my readers to understand what kinds of materials/application they would be needing in order access the zap codes. This way the students could all have their very own learning experience and be able to view the planets in another fun way.
Each of the cards was keeping in line with how the iBook is laid out with an image, text, and some planet information. Each of these cards was unique in its own way because the Zap code was different on each one. It was so important to make sure to keep the same consistency just like the book with my cards.
I used the same background and font for the cards and the iBooks so that everything was connected. I found that this really helped the users know they were looking at two pieces of work that went hand in hand. All of the users that I tried this out on loved the Zap Codes and its capability. Each Zap code had an album of images and the background sound of that specific planet. Here is an example of what the Zap Works cite looked like while entering in the content that I wanted.
I know everything seems repetitive in this design and maybe simple. For me this was something that was hard to master. I have always loved changing up my design and making things more interactive. It was hard to change my way of thinking but I am so glad that it turned out the way it did.
The cards were so much fun to pass around and see people’s reactions to the design, zaps, and images that they had. I was able to print them out and make them on 5x7 cards so that they could easily be readable. Each of these cards could simply be passed around to a group of students and simply studied.
Final Thoughts
When this project was finished I did a presentation of my project to some other UI/UX designers. Some of the proposed ideas were for the Zap codes and for future cards. The proposed idea was to have cards that could be used as a quiz or cards that when placed together make one complete Zap code so you want to collect them all. I loved all of these ideas and would love to use them in a future project.
This entire project was so much fun to create and I was able to try out new skills and design. Working with Zap Codes was an interesting journey and I want to use them again. After seeing my other peers work it inspired me of what other kinds of projects could be done.
I am really proud of what could be accomplished with iBooks and Zap works. I am really looking forwards to what else can be done in the future. I think this is just the beginning for Zap Codes and other AR/VR products that are out there. With this idea of card packs I want to be creating more packs for other subject like history, science, psychology, and art. The possibilities are endless all you need is the knowledge. So, get out there and learn!
Thanks for reading!
