Personas

You may remember in the reading one technique of testing a concept is to use personas. This link is a great read in understanding how powerful personas can be:

How to Understand your users using personas

Presentation Techniques

Looking at the marking criteria, there are a lot of marks around the place for professionalism in presentation - both visually and orally. This link may help if you are not used to giving presentations:

Ten Kick-Ass Presentation Techniques

Background Research for the Assignment One Concept

Have a think about how you are going to present your background research. It should at least include:

• What did your background research reveal to you?
• Examples of background research
• Your design concept, vision and intent
• How does your concept respond to the brief?
• Relevant background and supporting research materials
• Key inspirations
• Other works and designers with similar visions
• Informing ideas and other materials

What do I do next?

Some example ideas of what to do next once you have solidified your design concepts are included below:

• create a “mood board” of images and things which are of interest and you think inform the idea;
• go out and spend some time on the site; take photos and draw sketches - work out where it might go; 
• make a photo mockup of it;
• make a diagram of use;
• refine how you go about describing it and name it;
• connect to the literature; or
• describe the characteristics of it as an experience.

Universal Principles of Design

The book I brought in last week as further help for the Nathan Shedroff reading is Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler (Rockport Publishers, 2003). It has each 'design law' set out in a clear, easy-to-read manner, with good examples.

There are five copies in the QUT library.

Here is an example of how the book explains Hick's Law:

• Hicks Law Explained (Text)
• Hick's Law Explained (Diagrams)

Catchup on action items before Thursday's (18-03-10) tute

Hi students for Design for Interactive Media (KIB214),

While the university gets the hamsters running and fires up my username and password, I'll use this blog to post notes and announcements regarding the Thursday night tutorials.
Most importantly this week is to tick off everything on the Weekly Action Sheet. I'll post a PDF you can print off, but you can make your own or use the one on Blackboard.

1. Weekly Action Sheet
2. Visit the Maritime Museum
3. Get together with your study group and finish brainstorming and clustering ideas as per Week 3 readings.
4. You should be a good way down the path to solidifying your three design concepts. Remember the keywords in the design brief: 'The Museum should commission interactive media works that "reveal/make visible, the invisible life of the Museum"'. When applying interactive design techniques, it is easier to turn the brief into a 'problem question' here - what is the problem you are going to solve? A reminder about the keywords:
   • interactive
   • invisible (you must present something that existed before but was otherwise unseen)
   • maritime museum (must be connected!)
5. Set up your web blog
6. Begin your paper journal sketching
   
7. Remember to keep using your bookmarking account (such as on delicious.com)
8. Do the five minutes sketching exercise that we didn't get to cover last week. It is in the Week 3 tutorial notes under Learning Resources on Blackboard.

Riss