Assignment 11 - Second Presentation

Bbc app presentation 2

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Blog - IKEA TV Interface

Article: "Salone Milan 2012: Interface design of IKEA's Uppleva TV furniture unit" - found at Core77

The article talks about one of IKEA's new pieces of furniture, which also happens to be a TV unit. As it is one of theirs, they got to design the interface. Personally, I think it looks pretty nice. It's neat and organized, as shown above in the home screen.

The organization and simplification stays consistent throughout the application pages on the smart TV, as can be seen in the images below:

The design appeals to me because it is simple, easy to get through multiple screens and therefore do what you want to do efficiently, and appealing to look at. I wouldn't have a problem reading this stuff -- the app logos are large, the text is simple and uncluttered, and the organization in general is way easier to understand than, say, an iPhone's (which is much more user-changeable and personalized) -- which is what bothers me a lot with some of the designs out there.

Blog - Beatsurfing

Article: "Beatsurfing iPad App Lets You Design A Frankenstein Music Instrument" - found at Fast Company



There is an awesome app for the iPad currently in beta called Beatsurfing. Basically, it takes the idea of a MIDI, or a Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and allows you to build an instrument from the ground up instead of using the normal interface for regular instruments. This allows for some awesome instrument concepts not taken advantage of before in such a way, like a mixture of vocals, beats, and distortion as shown in the video. The best part about this app is the fact that because everything you make in the app is of your own creation, you are able to decide much more easily how prevalent certain parts of the instrument are when playing. Not only that, but you can play two parts of the 'Frankenstein'-like instrument at once, to create a more complex sound.

The app is still in beta, but people can take part in it here.

Assignment 10 - Wireframe Pictures

These first wireframes show how the first few pages would look like -- specifically, the home page and the show page. Just to give an example of how the 'favorites' button works, I also included an example of that. As a note about the 'forum' link on the show page: it will be the same size as the rest of them; I just forgot it when I drew it out so I added it in last minute. The bottom bar has (in order) a home button, a favorites button, a 'post topic/send message button (changes based on what page you're on; disabled on the home screen), an account button, and a 'return to higher level' button.

These are examples of the cast/crew (and the character) blog and the forum. Any links posted on the blog (to external sources) will open in the web browser on the phone, but any internal links (such as photos that are in posts not in the first blog post) will just open up in a new frame in the app. The forum portion of the app, defaulted, will post threads in the order of when they were last updated/commented on (not seen: there will be a small top bar with a 'refresh' button; a 'add new thread' button; and a 'sort by' button that will allow users to sort threads by update date, posted date, and popularity. The preference for the sort by button will be saved via your account). On the individual thread page, you can pull the thread down to update (like on the Facebook app), or just use the small top bar.

Since it's not shown on the wireframe, I will talk a little bit about forum threads. You can create a thread as a written thread or a video post (created only by the camera on your phone), but can only comment with text.

Shown here are the account page, messages page, favorites page, and extra content page -- all of which you can get to from your account page. The favorites page is also accessible by the button on the bottom bar, and the extra content is also accessible from the individual show pages.

Blog - iPad Cutting Board

Article: "Imagine A Kitchen-Friendly iPad That You Can Cut On" - found at Fast Company

Everything is all about multitasking and efficiency these days, and working in the kitchen is no exception. However, most people wouldn't dream of letting any of their gadgets near knives or food. That said, someone came up with a concept tablet specifically for kitchen use -- Jae-Wan Jeong created the idea of the Almighty Board, a tablet that one can use for pretty much any portion of cooking. The tablet would work as a cutting board and a scale, and if the writer of the article (Mark Wilson) had his way, there could be a way to include a version of a stovetop. You could put a recipe onto the tablet, and it could check off the ingredients as you put them into the mix.

Another interesting feature of the board is the fact it still works the same if you flip it over. You could cut meat on one side of the board, then flip it so the part that used to be on the table is now facing the ceiling so you can cut vegetables up without contaminating them.

What's most interesting is Jeong's concept for cleaning. As the board would have electronic features, the idea of running the tablet through water like someone would for most cutting boards might not be a good idea at all. So he decided that the board would have a self-sterilizing, UV mechanism installed into the tablet so it could clean itself.

If this exists in the future for real, I am definitely buying it. It has got to make any cook's life easier.

Blog - Taking Photos with Hands

Article: "Incredible Camera Takes Photos With Your Fingers" - found at Fast Company



There is an awesome piece of technology originating from researchers at IAMAS called the Ubi-Camera, which allows users to take pictures of whatever they want using the traditional 'setting up a composition with your hands' technique most people use before shooting photos with traditional cameras instead of with said traditional camera. The camera piece is placed on the index finger of the left hand, and the thumb of the right hand pushes the button when the picture is set up. You can even zoom in and out my moving your hands further from and closer to (respectively) your body.

Though this camera is only a prototype at the moment, it is a fantastic idea, especially if it can get an image quality similar to high-pixel cameras of most smartphones (even better if at the level of DSLRs, but that's unlikely). The use of this camera, though it might look weird having something on the tip of your index finger, is taking advantage of something everyone does. I'm a little amazed, now that I think about it, that this is the first time this has ever been attempted.

Blog - Dream App

Article: "App Aims To Design Your Dreams, But Can't Wake Up" - found at Fast Company

There really is, apparently, an app for everything, even if it doesn't work properly. Lucid dreams are hard to have on a normal basis, but the makers of the app Dream:ON aim to get all their app owners to have them all the time. Liam Houghton, the product designer of the application, explains what the app does: “It can tell when someone is dreaming by looking for REM sleep which has a characteristic movement that we can detect most of the time,” Basically, once you enter REM, the soundscape plays audio related to the genre (space shuttle sounds for the space shuttle soundscape, etc.) and users subconsciously will use that as a cue to be at that place in their dream.

However, the app doesn't really work. While the soundscapes do essentially put the mood for the setting they're aiming for, the cues don't really line up with REM sleep, and therefore the app misses its target and most users have complained that the soundscape doesn't actually turn on. On top of this, the writer of the article (Mark Wilson) tried the alarm function of the application, which is meant to go off in relation to sleep cycles, and it just ended up going off when he set it to go off.

The thing is, this app has real potential. If they can actually get it to work in later stages, they could get a lot of money off people who had PTSD and nightmares, as when you dream lucidly you have a certain level of conscious control over what you're seeing, and they could actually sleep through the night. Not to mention, all those like me who enjoy being able to control dreams and remember them will have a blast sleeping. If they actually get it to work, I will totally buy it.

Assignment 8 - Create a Logo

Occupy, free time, fans, BBC, television programs, series, computer, streaming, BBCAmerica, watching

Words chosen: BBC, Computer, Occupy, TV Program/series, Watching.

Review of images by row --


BBC: 

1. While I do like this image, it would be too cluttered for an app icon.
2. Wouldn't look the best as app image, though the idea of using a QR-Code isn't the weirdest idea I've ever had.
3. Regular icon, uncluttered, not bad.
4. HD icon, uncluttered, love the color coming off the HD part. My problem is that I'm not sure the prettiness of the colors would be easily seen on an app image, and WOULD ultimately make it cluttered.
5. I do enjoy this one. I'm just not sure about the colors. Maybe I could make that into the app background?

Computer:

• I think my main issue with all the images on this is that it has less to do with the app or the BBC and more to do with how most people in America and other countries have to watch BBC shows if they want to watch them at the same time as the UK.

Occupy:

• Don't want to use bathroom occupy logos, but the shape is interesting. might use something similar in the app logo design; the name with some small image below it.
• signs seem to be a popular thing with Occupy as an image search; probably because of the Occupy movement. It wasn't my intention to use the word occupy in this function, but it was interesting to see how people dealt with the occupy movement in a creative/design way. I doubt I'll go that route, but it was kinda cool.

TV Programs/Series:

• Most images that I found with this search had to do with specific shows, which wasn't what I was aiming for. The image that strayed from that which I found interesting and relevant was an image of the BBC iPlayer from the PS3 home. It's simple, but works well. 

Watching:

• Most of the images I found with this were variations of eyes. I like this idea a lot. The whole point of the app would be to see extra content, stuff no one has had access to previously. And as creepy as the image is, I do like images 1 and 2, which show the entire eye. I like 1 because its an actual eye shape, but 2 because its a cartoon (or, well, more cartoon like).

Finished App Logo:

Blog - Weather App

Article: "An iPhone App That Predicts The Weather To The Moment" - found at FastCompany

To oppose the regular weather forecast model, which gives a new idea of the weather every hour, a free weather app called Ourcast predicts the weather as its happening. The app gives a window of two hours, in ten minute intervals, of how the weather will be.

This is a cool idea in the sense that if someone had a lunch break at 1:30 and wanted to spend it outside, but didn't know if they could as it was expected to rain at approximately 2, they could look at the app and see if the forecast called for rain exactly at 2 or closer to 2:20. However, I do agree with the article with its mention that the app is a bit pointless beyond that. You can't see past the two hour mark to check the weather at a later time, even at a shorter interval (nor can you set a reminder with the app to check a certain time within the two hour mark). So the new forecast model is great, except when it isn't needed. My opinion is that if Ourcast updates at some point, they should allow for both forecast models -- one for immediate, ten-minute interval weather forecasts, and one for longer term forecasts.

Blog - Turntable for 3D Images

Turntable for 3D Images Article: ”Creating an Object Rotating in Space Video: To Turntable, or Not to Turntable?” - found on Core77

While there is software out there to create 3D models that does not require the use of something in the physical world (all design is done in program), such as Autodesk’s 123D Catch, there are flaws with it. Most 3D model programs don’t look aesthetically pleasing, and since a good portion of the designs from said software is used for prototyping and trying to sell your product, that isn’t really a good thing.
The article describes a Kickstarter project for a turntable called the Arqball Spin. The turntable, combined with a phone (or camera), would allow people to video a spinning physical object to create a full view of every angle of something real without trying to recreate it in a program that has limited functions (complaints of Autodesk’s 123D Catch software include the fact that the models it exports are of poor quality and include holes).

If successfully funded, this project would be awesome and has the potential to redesign the way 3D interacts with presentations, projects and prototypes. If someone only needs a phone and a stable, spinning turntable, more people would be able to create awesome 3D images, and they might become more prevalent in general in the art world.

Assignment 7 - BBC Application Name

Word association: BBC, Fiction, Drama, Application, User, Character, Cast, Crew, Forum, Occupied, Fans, Knowledge, Free Time

Name: BBC Fancupied. (pronunciation: Fan – kew – pie –d)

Blog - Selling a Geeky Idea

Article: "3 Tips for Selling a Geeky Idea to Everyone" - found at FastCoDesign.com

The article brings up some points we've been stressing this entire semester (i.e., the point of this class) -- specifically related to how to sell a design. 

The three points it stresses are: 

1. Make the design physical -- something everyone can both see and touch, just to get a better (pardon the pun) feel for it. We have done these steps in both our research stages and our wireframe stages: we went out and spoke with people, then invited people for our ideation sessions so they could physically write things down; and we drew out our designs on paper before designing them in Adobe.
2. Expose a process -- explain exactly what the idea does, from the obvious to the lesser known stuff. We did this in a couple steps, but the ones we spent the most time doing this for were steps five (powerpoint 1), six (both with the story we had to come up with and with the describing every button), and eleven (powerpoint 2).
3. Add some magic -- Beyond the obvious, add some surprises, that can make users want to see it again. An example the article gives is the Android mascot waving to the camera when it comes to life, but my favorite are the literal easter eggs in the Angry Birds games. It isn't explicitly stated you can get these eggs which are scattered everywhere in the game, but when you find them, its really fun and an extra level you didn't necessarily have before.

I enjoyed this article, because as stated, it does have everything to do with this class.