Before starting to design my own product for project 2 I felt it was important to do some research on some other periodic table products that are designed for children.

FunBrain- The Periodic Table

The Periodic Table game by FunBrain is an online game for kids that teaches them about the elements within the periodic table.

Personally I don’t think the layout is very successful as it is just a black and white colours cheme with small text and a small illustration at the top left corner. I don’t think this is successful as it will not engage the children to play the game as it is not colourful enough and has too much text. As a child I would not be particularly interested in playing this game at first glance because of the interface.

Once you begin the game, it asks you to select the correct symbol for a particular element EG “Click on Iron”. I do not think the instructions on what to do is very clear for children as it does not even say “click on the correct symbol on the table for the element Iron”. This could cause confusion within the game as children may not know what to do. The colour scheme and graphics are again very minimal on this page which, whilst kept consistent, would still not engage the correct target audience for this game.

If you get the symbol correct for the element, it is barely noticeable as it just says EG “Right! The symbol for Arsenic is Ar”. Although it states when you get an answer correct, it displays this information at the top of the screen in a red colour; a colour which is often associated with “no” or bad connotations.

If I had to redesign this game I would make it much more colourful as well as including more graphics. I would also make the typeface larger and use a green colour when the player gets the answer correct as green is associated with positive connotations, especially for kids.