Claire Smyth AAD010 Introducing Studio Practice : IXD / Interaction Design (brief / concept pages
Interaction design (IXD) is in which described and referred to as the efficient design of interactive products and services in which a designers focus goes beyond the item to include the way in which users will interact with it, meaning the close scrutiny of users’ needs and limitations etc truly does empower designers to customise output to suit precise demands.
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/interaction-design
To begin the interaction design workshop we took part in sketching / designing a number of quick products, items, objects and buildings under three different time limits / constraints (5 / 10 / 20 seconds) to get our minds constantly thinking about what design aspect work well together when giving something to sketch out in procreation for designing concepts within the set interaction design brief which I feel was really helpful to understand that design can be produced in so many different but intriguing ways, through how simplistic drawings can portray outstanding imagery that is still recognisable. As pictured below, the objects / things that we had to rough draw out included – The Titanic Centre, a watch, phone, radio, book and a laptop:
Within todays developing society, recent research has shown that we are in which becoming slaves to our devices, as while screens provide a window into the digital world they can also immensely begin to separate us from the physical as a result of relying too much on the workings of a device and its contained technology to get through each and every day. Whether we are conversing with friends through the likes of WhatsApp, posting photographs of miscellaneous things on Instagram or organising plans / a night out through Facebook, we now hugely tend to be constantly connected to our screens, through increasingly and more than likely experiencing the world through screens and filters, leading to lose of connection towards / with reality. As a result / for this interaction design workshop we were in which given the brief of developing concepts for a digital product or app that would in which encourage people to take time away from their screens with the aim of getting out and interacting more with their surroundings and areas / county of which they live in, meaning as a result I have created, put together and designed a digital app fitting this brief through the displayment of concept pages, research, ideas and explaining my concept / app in great detail.
Research shows that there are great amounts of people having lived in a specific area but have not fully explored it and seeing what it has to offer along with becoming much more educated on its history etc due to establishing set routines to where they visit, go to and travel as a result of sticking to places that they have liked and was best suited to them and their family despite living in that area for various years or most of their life. For example and in great relevance to aspects such as this when aiming to appreciate your surroundings and local areas, throughout this year of 2020, lockdown more than ever has taught, showed and demonstrated to us that the actual ability, desire and want to go out and explore (daily walks etc) the surrounding, urban areas that we live within or near / close by as a result of the governmental travel restrictions and social distancing measures. In correlation to this brief, I have in which now wanted to put together, research and design a digital interactive but educational app with the main aim and ability of exploring / widening your surroundings much more frequently. As a result I have given it the name of urban exploration in corelation with the aim to explore the local urban surroundings around you and within a small radius, including places, local businesses, environments and buildings such as museums, galleries, parks, loughs, beaches, toe paths, sculptures and national trust forests / parks etc including places within Belfast especially and its contained museums, the history of Titanic, Botanic Bardens, docks, towpaths and many more
Throughout this app and its contained concepts, it can in which give people / families with the opportunity to create memories in the outside world, learn and further educate yourself on the place where you live, with the ability to reflect on your experiences (highs and lows / peaks of pits of your day of exploration), whilst continuing to analyse your physical activity through the use of counting steps and being recommended various local places to participate in the likes of hikes, camps training / exercise camps and park runs.
To work / control this digital app of urban exploration, ensuring that you are getting the best out of it, once downloaded the user will in which begin with selecting, typing in and registering their postcode or area, meaning that it can bring up various destinations, places areas etc close to them within either walking distance or driving to along with a wide range of recommendations of places to visit, go for walks / runs / cycles or experience, to where they can then pick and go through all the suggested areas / places in their surroundings choosing what to actually visit and checking them off as they go along as a result of having the ability to visually look at pictures of the area / destination beforehand along with becoming much more educated upon it. This is because under each tab of a place / area recommended / suggested within the app there is in which a briefly documented fact file including information and key dates of the environment / place being visited. When a family, group of people or individual who is controlling the app chooses to visit a particular area / place, the app will give the opportunity to create a log of each time / day a particular area was visited. This then means that to increasingly interactive and gain more from visiting the suggested places, such as the likes of museums, parks and exhibitions a short quiz is available to be completed incorporating simple multiple choice questions regarding general information about and surrounding it, which allows the people on the app to become much more educated upon the particular place, creating the aspect of competitiveness of wanting to ensure that all questions are correct. Common questions can include: what year did the park open? Who designed the sculpture exhibition/ etc. Throughout logging your explorations and visits, there is the ability to create an almost diary / blog post of the day spent exploring aspects of your surroundings. This includes uploading any pictures taken and documenting the time spent there through highlighting both highs / lows (peak and pits), what you found interesting and in general just an overview of the visit for your personal memories whether it was spent with family or friends as all logs are saved in a calendar tab to where you can look through and reflect upon what you got up to on that particular you went and visited / experienced something new. Furthermore, as exercise is highly important not only for your physical but mental health, the app once logged on will continue to count your steps, along with recommending various local areas to exercise including the likes of park runs and exercise classes in nearby leisure centres
The benefits of this digital interactive app of urban exploration can in which be seen as:
Receiving the ability to be encouraged to go out and walk more, increasing and improving a person’s overall physical health through being recommend greater opportunities to participate in further aspects of exercise, along with tracking your physical health.
By reflecting upon your experiences, it allows the ability to work upon and consider your mental health and wellbeing, much more frequently than perhaps before
The app can further help the likes of local business with your area to boost its economy / hospitality through being recommend a variety of them, especially due to the recent implications brought by coronavirus including the closure of non-essential places / shops.
