Sketches
Now that I had an art direction and the style route I wanted to go down, it was time to start sketching some ideas.
First, I started by splitting my page into 3 sections, back, and front. This allowed me to sketch down any ideas that came to mind. I made sure to take all the sketching tips I have learned into consideration. For example, I used a thicker pen, so I don’t focus too much on small details. I tried to make them as clear as possible, so they were easy for others to understand. I also tried to not put too much pressure on all my ideas being good because that is unrealistic and some of the best ideas come unexpectedly.
I know that I want to focus on the Apollo flights so my initial thoughts were focused on rocket illustrations. I also had some ideas where the user would follow a timeline and be able to click on different parts of it to find out more. However, I felt that these didn’t fit the tone I was going for as I wanted the blueprint style to be the main part of it.
My very last sketch is the one I decided to develop further. You can see a more detailed sketch below:
My idea for this is to have the main content on a “folder”. You can see the tabs along the top with the flight numbers which would be clickable for the user. When the user clicks on these, there will be a blueprint like the one shown above. It will have an illustration of a rocket, with information alongside it such as the date, their mission, and the crew. These may be displayed within post-it notes to tie in with the tone. I want to make this as immersive as possible with animation and other micro-interactions to make it enjoyable for the user to learn.
Feedback
In our most recent class, we had a group tutorial session to pitch our ideas. I found it interesting hearing other people’s ideas and it inspires my own. My idea was well received. The feedback I got was to keep in mind that the animations and other interactions don’t have to be overly complicated and that sometimes, simplicity is key. Also, instead of having all my content on one page, it would be beneficial to have multiple pages for each flight. Therefore, I should keep the main screens simple with reduced information and if the user wants to find out more about specific areas, they will be brought to another page.
My next step is to continue researching and developing my idea then move onto Figma and start designing my prototype.