For the seventh week at IXD we had our final class Critique were as a group we showcased our current portfolio designs to the class for further feedback before out submission date in January.
We also covered in this week our brief and overview of our next project the “Elements site” and we got to discuss with Kyle idea and looked further into past projects to give us an understanding of what would be expected from this project.
Critique:
Just like in week 3 when we showcased our Figma designs to the class during our online class, for this weeks final critique we once again used the Miro tool to showcase my current designs using the Webflow software. Going into this weeks critique I felt a lot more confident in my designs and what I had created so far and was ready to get the feedback from my classmates to allow me to improve my site for my hand in submission in January.
Using the Miro tool kept our sites organised from one another and gave the class the opportunity to note down their feedback to me so that I had the digital copy to check back on when needed. Having good structured feedback helped me understand what exactly I was missing and elements of my site that did and did not work as I had expected.
The feedback I received was mostly positive which gave me the confidence boost that was needed coming to the end of my designing for this site. The areas that were of concern I was able to openly discuss with the class to allow them the understanding of the purpose and reasoning behind the design. 
The feedback I was most proud at receiving was regarding my colour choice. I worked tirelessly to ensure I was was choosing the right shades of my yellows and charcoal colours and seeing the reaction from the class noticing how I was implementing the colour within the site really showed me that I was getting there with my overall design choice. However, I did receive some feedback regarding the navigation and in the weeks ahead I will redesign chid area of concerned to create a more flowing navigation through my case studies.
Elements Overview
Class brief for Second Project – Elements
- What is the the Periodic Table
- Previous years work
Elements Brief:
Kyle discussed to us what is expected from our second deliverable of the Elements Project that is due Week 13 of the semester in January. We will have weeks that will have some soft tutorials in class and weekly classes that provide us the opportunity for feedback session before submitting.
It is our job as designers to create a digital product that aims to reach out to either young (8-10) children or undergraduate students to help further their understanding of Element and the Periodic Table.
When Kyle first mentioned at the beginning of the semester that we would be looking to create a project based around the Periodic Table and it’s Elements I immediately panicked as I have a very minimum understanding of Science and the background of this particular subject. I never thought after my GCSE’s I would have to be introduced to this subject again but here we are 6 years later getting the opportunity to design a digital product around subject and in this weeks class I slowly came to the realisation that I wished I had paid more attention in my Science class.
Even with the uncertainty behind this new deliverable Kyle reassured us in class this week that as designers it’s ok to not know everything we are expected to know when introduced to a new project. It is within our job to learn to understand problems and find our solution to learn new things we wouldn’t expect to know as designers.
From here then Kyle went through some slides to help us further understand the meaning behind the Periodic Table and Elements. I did get confused trying to listen and note down points that Kyle was discussing which wasn’t much of a surprise as I expected this from myself as I have always found this topic hard to fully in depth my understanding in. And because of this I will be doing further research into Element and the Periodic Table using textbooks I have around my workplace and learning the basic from BBC Bitesize etc.
Product choice:
Kyle went through further with us the methods of Digital Products we could create our Elements project on such as, watches, iPads, smartphones etc. It’s important that I choose the correct and most useful Digital product for my target audience for example if I am aiming for young children it is unlikely they will have access to their own smartphone and if I choose undergraduates it would be the opposite having a smartphone would more than likely be their most used digital product.
Royal Society of Chemistry have a current have an example piece of what can be expected from this project in terms of the elements of design within their concept to help the development of understanding with this topic. The issue with this example piece however is that there are very little elements of this concept that is interactive, it just includes static images with information surrounding a particular elements.
With some research into this site I discovered that the Royal Society of Chemistry have a range of research based around the understanding of the Periodic Table and its Elements that I will use to help me further my understanding before proceeding with this project. 
Project Requirements:
- Branded Homepage containing version of PT
- Minimum of 5 element pages for 10 years old and below or for Undergraduate Chemistry Student
- Style Guide/ Visual Grammar and brand
- Delivery Platform for priest is a prototype tool (Figma)
UX Workflow:
With being close to the completion of my Portfolio website project I understand the importance behind a structured UX Workflow and for my second deliverable I will be ensuring that I use the same method to ensure I have a well structured and designed digital product for this project.
Kyle’s example of a UX Workflow is shown below basing my workflow against this structure will ensure that I cover all areas of this project that is required for completion.
Example pieces:
At this point during the class I was beginning to get the underdtsnfing of the expectations that was required from me for the completion of this project. One thing I was struggling with was whether to lean more towards a digital product for children or for university students. Going through the example pieces with Kyle in this weeks class allowed me to see the difference in design elements I would need to consider for each and allowed me to begin some idea generation for this elements project.
Sarah Cupples –
Kyle showed us a range of examples from other students in past years that have completed this project also. Sarah Cupples created “Deadly Elements”.
As soon as I got to see this project I immediately knew I wanted to begin this project looking at a digital product for young children. This was because I thought Sarah really demonstrated well the level of design you could push when creating a project like this for children. I loved her use of colour and character design and the overall concept behind teaching children the elements using elements that all relate to one subject (death).
Gemma Ferguson –
We also looked at Gemma Ferguson who created “Metal Monsters”. This was another project I was memorised at how well designed and thought through the concept design was presented. Again with this project Gemma’s use of colour, character design and concept of explaining the elements using on selected subject “metals” is what really stood out to me.
Deliverable points:
- Groups
- Appearance
- Uses
- Discovery Date
- Discovered by
- Managing disparate range of content
- Organising content into a structure
- Presenting content coherently
- Target content to specific audience (children)
Taxonomies –
We looked at the practice and science of categorisation or classification into the method of grouping and organising content.
Kyle showed us a project from a colleague that he worked with in the past called “Tinybooks”. A website about a book that demonstrated the running of your own business and how this designer gathered the content required for this specific project.
In this weeks class I enjoyed getting to look further into the new deliverable and what is expected from this project. It was interesting to see the level of design I can hopefully go into and how far my idea generation can go with this project. I am excited to head into this new project and begin developing my digital product in the coming weeks.
For this weeks task Kyle has requested that I organise the periodic table data, begin to consider paper prototypes, sketches and wireframe for the elements project and visit the elements production taking place at the Ulster Museum.