When Collaboration and Imagination Come Together
Entering week 3 of the process, we at Untitled.jpg had to solidify and narrow down our ideas in order to proceed further. Thus our app idea, Byte has been unofficially adopted as our main project for this quarter. From the get go we felt like we had the most passion for Byte and that we can take it one step further than any of our other ideas.
The topics for week 3 had to do with sketching user experiences and receiving criticism from outside voices.
Sketching storyboards and creating personas are essential in the user experience and design world. It allows designers to establish scenarios for different cases to make sure their product works and is ultimately memorable. On the other end, without this part of the process the engineering/coding background do not have a lot to work with. With this in mind we began to work on our very own storyboards and personas. Each group member had the task of thinking of a possible scenario that would be run into when using Byte. For ourselves this ranged from the first time the app was opened to times where the various features were implemented. On top of that, each storyboard was unique in that the characters within were different potential users of the application itself. Ranging from college students to adults it gave a general idea of who would use Byte more and in the most efficient manner.
After our time with the storyboards it was time to put them into action and to explain to others our vision on our product. The second part of the week focused on collaboration with other groups and receiving criticism. In order to improve in the field of User Experience and Design, one must obtain feedback from outside sources. Criticism is one of those things that is just as hard to receive as it is to give. Giving good criticism is even more difficult as there is so much to consider in giving an opinion on design. We teamed up with the group the Wack Panthers for this part of the assignment. Overall I felt like we both learned a lot from each other. Hearing suggestions from individuals outside of our group made us realize why constructive criticism is important. Giving our own suggestions helped us narrow down what we really wanted in our application and focused our attention to more realistic approaches. At the beginning designing stage there is so much excitement that sometimes emotions override what is feasible in the given amount of time. This week has allowed us to really see the potential in Byte, in doing so we were able to brainstorm realistic features that still stays true to the untitled.jpg name.
Next week we’ll look deeper into the UX process with usability heuristics.
Until Next Time,
Nikkie Ella
