Project 2 - 2B - Complete and Finished

The app is now handed in and the video along with it. The ad for it, though not needed for the hand-in, nicely explains what my app is about. So for this final post I will include the informative advert to tie my whole project together.

So to finish, here is my ad for 'powerSave':

Project 2 - 2B - finished app (and extension notice)

Just a short note to say that the app was finished in time and the .ipa was created successfully. I presented it on the big screen, then whipped out my phone and showed it off on there too. I also found out that there was a 2 week extension for the app which was muchly appreciated. This meant that I would be able to add things like actual challenges, as opposed to preset challenge 1, 2, 3, and 4. And also a notification saying that the challenge has actually been sent.

Project 2 - 2B - interesting flash discovery

I quickly got used to the functions in flash and created my app rather seamlessly. I figured out, and fixed the odd bug and broken redirect rather quickly also and then decided to export my (then thought) finished app to a .swf format.

As I was going through the export functions in Adobe Flash I found an export for iOS setting. Now as an iPhone user this immediately picked my interest. I explored this and realised that I could get my app to work on my iPhone. So, I exported using this, and sure enough it worked. I then went through and revised my flash project and optimized it for the iPhone. Due to this, it meant certain things like scrolling through lists were not able to be done on the computer, which was unfortunate, but not critical as I could show it on my phone.

The .ipa (iPhone application) testings were very annoying. It took a much longer time to save the files, and then I had to sync them to my phone. Once I had done that I needed to test that each thing, in each version, was still working fine and well. What was annoying was the fact that I wanted to present it on my phone and I was running out of time and each and every export for iOS took a much longer time than was wanted. Due to my willingness to stay up late (early) I finished the app, with a few minor things missing but that was bearable.

Project 2 - 2B - starting flash

I made my first 'fake app' using Microsoft PowerPoint, which worked but had no animations. aka it looked bad. I showed this to my tutor who then reiterated that flash was a good program to use and that if I was going to continue in the media program it would be a good skill to have. It was also said that the animations would make it look really professional and better than a PowerPoint presentation

I was scared of flash to start with, as it was a big thing to learn for a new project, hence making a PowerPoint presentation. Once I actually tried, and looked into the program, I found may way around and realised it was surprisingly easy. I imported all my images into flash and I was away. Discovering the motion tween was really useful, it enabled the animations that were spoken of previously to be used and they worked really well.

Project 2 - 2B - layout changes and enhancements

This post is mainly just to update the layout status of my app.
The challenges icon has been moved into the center, as this is the 'center' focus for the app, to challenge others.

I have also decided on a font to keep consistent throughout my app and I decided turn the top icon to a grey light grey colour to clearly show what page you are on. A background gradient was also added.

Project 2 - 2B - project startings

I started my app building process by looking again at my precedent image and thinking about where I wanted to take the colour scheme of my app.

This was the precedent:

I chose to go along with a blue themed app. After a brief mockup session I created some icons and put them into place (can be seen below). Each icon you see in the app, below and in future posts, is and was created by me.

So, here is the first sort of mockup of what I thought my app would look like:

Because I wanted to simulate connecting to facebook as how it might act in real life, I also created the gif image which is seen below, to simulate this. I was quite proud of what eventuated. (click image to see it animated)

Project 2A - Correct reading order

Power Meter reactions and usage
http://dsdn112jamesgodfrey.blogspot.com/2011/09/power-meter-reactions-and-usage.html

Project 2 - Inspiration
http://dsdn112jamesgodfrey.blogspot.com/2011/09/project-2-inspiration.html

Porject 2A - Proposal
http://dsdn112jamesgodfrey.blogspot.com/2011/09/project-2a-proposal.html

Power meter reactions and usage

In the recent holidays we were tasked with recording our daily power usage.
To be quite honest I found the device and the recording to be a nightmare. The device I was using was a cheapo from the warehouse, the "Elto Electrical Power Meter" and its design was definitely reflected in its pricing.
The device was so difficult to use that of the whole holiday period I only got 3 reliable readings.
The device told me the readings in cents
The devices I managed to get readings for were
My Computer
117.2cents over 24 hours
The Household Dehumidifier
138cents over 24 hours
An Oil Fin Heater
972.38 cents over 24 hrs


My reactions


My Computer

The power meter was quite hard to understand at first but after that I found it interesting to see how much I was costing my parents by leaving my computer on for 24 hours.

The Household Dehumidifier

I checked up on it every now and then. I wasn’t really interested in seeing how much the dehumidifier was using. I was also very annoyed at the interface as the device did not do as I programmed it to and instead of starting recording at 1 it started at 11 the next day and so when I went to check it, it had only been recording for 3 hours. I had to wait another day. It is something to think about in the upcoming project. Also interesting to note that it is using more power than my computer.

An Oil Fin Heater

Every time I use this device I see the real need for a much better designed interface. When the machine decides to, it does the job. But when it doesn’t work it can be very frustrating.

Anyway, after this terrible experience of metering I saw the great need for something low cost, efficient, and incredibly easy to navigate and use. This will form the bases of my ideas for this second project.

Project 2 inspiration

Here is an interface for an app that I like the look of and is easy and simple to use and understand. These 2 photos are from the blackberry playbook's music app. I like the colours and the buttons. When the user touches or taps the buttons they lighten in colour, in this case go a light blue.

Photo 1

Photo 2

I think in my app I will have the wording and the icon in the same button. That is how I imagine it, but it will likely change as I go on. I am also imagining it will be a portrait app and i would like to have the colours change when the button is interacted with.

Project 2A - Proposal

In terms of interface I really only have one inspiration for colours and buttons, that being the playbook music app. So based on that and other things from my head here is my proposal for project 2.

Based on my experiences with the power metering app, I want to make this app incredibly easy to use, and i even want it to be fun to use. Something someone will go onto to enjoy.

Here are the 2 pages that I handed in detailing my proposed app. I do not have a name for it yet but I am sure I will develop a name as time, and the project progress.

The app I am proposing is a social, power consumption, competition based app. 

These 2 diagrams detail the main app screen and the friends screen

These 2 diagrams detail the challenges screen and the usage screen

Here is my written hand-in to go along with the pages:

For my second Introduction to Interaction Design project I plan to create an interactive, cross-platform application that encourages competitive energy saving between users and friends, and that as a whole the application is aimed at making the users consume as little excess energy as possible.

My intention is to make the application iOS and Android compatible, Web Based, and also to make it run on other mobile devices (Nokia, Blackberry) as well. Running on these operating environments would mean my target user base would be ages from mid-late teen years through to the pre senior years, possibly 65 and below. This is dependent on how familiar the age group is with the platform they are using. I aim to make the application very simple to use and I would like it to be able to be operated without extensive instruction sheets or pages. For the detailed paper prototype I will focus on the iOS application.

The application is going to be very visually based and will depict usage in picture forms. It will be interesting to look at and be designed to be used by the general public, as opposed to stereotypical ‘nerds’ who like plain bar graphs and boring charts. (Although the app will cater for those people as well)

With this application you will add other users (friends) and with the home appliance data gathered by the app, you can then compete for the lowest per household/per person/per appliance energy usage over a user-defined time period. The user can choose from a series of application set challenges or set a challenge themselves for a friend/group of friends to compete in.

DSDN - Project 1 - Hand in - PART B

Description

When I started to think about creating the ‘ManeuvaBall’ I wanted to explore the sense of touch, with a hint of sight (or lack of) on the side. I thought it would be interesting to create an interactive experience for which could only really be solved by feeling where the internal ball is and guiding it through unaided by sight. When using this interactive puzzle the user should feel a sense of intrigue as they pick it up, then enjoyment as they begin rolling the ball around inside and towards the hole. Once the enjoyment has worn thin they should start to feel some frustration as it is difficult to reach the hole. This is then quickly countered by a shake of the ‘ManeuvaBall’ which should give some satisfaction as they would feel it had fallen to the next level. Then overall satisfaction would be reached as the ball falls out the bottom. If they lose the ball as it drops out then some annoyance would be felt too.

5 High Resolution photos of the ‘ManeuvaBall’ in action

Development and Reflection

Development and Reflection
Once I had chosen which of my original concepts I would go with, I created the storyboard as seen here (http://dsdn112jamesgodfrey.blogspot.com/2011/07/project-1-part-hand-in.html). I thought about many variations or features I could include and at the time they seemed easy enough to try and implement. Once it came to actually starting to make the object though, I realised that what ideas seemed simple were in reality the most difficult things to try and include.
What is not shown in the storyboard are some of those ideas. They include:
- Making the segments interchangeable so the user can choose how long the puzzle would be.
- Having the dome at the top and bottom.
- Including different textures inside each segment.
- Making a wire 'catcher' to catch the ball.
This two last ideas were some of the better and more easily implemented ones that I could have included. If my time was managed more wisely they may have made it into the final project.

Prototype
This was my prototype:
*image coming*
I received largely positive reviews and comments for this. Many helpful comments were made on it too, which helped me develop my final. Including different textures inside each segment was an idea that was suggested by the tutor when we swapped tutor groups. I would have liked to include this in the final but again, due to time management and difficulty to make this sadly did not make it.

Reflection
Creating this object was a nightmare. The card was very difficult to work with and the glue didn't work for most of the time. Though that wasn't helped by me buying the wrong glue twice. What was worse was that after each glueing session I had to wait a long time for the glue to dry. This was bad because if I was wrong in the placement, I couldn't fix it because the glue would have dried. But still after all this I managed to finish my project and I am largely happy with what I have achieved.

Project 1 - Part A - - Reflection

Here I shall be reflecting on my progress thus far for my 1st project for DSDN 112.

My progress for my interactive object thus far has been good I think. I would have liked to have spent a little bit more time developing my concept but due to unavoidable circumstances last week this was a wee bit difficult for me. With the time I had available to me though I think I have spent it wisely and made a good amount of progress.
I think I could have made my storyboard just a little bit clearer and included the point that the user must roll the ball into place the ball before they know they can rotate the segments.

-  -  -

Reflection over...

Now onto 'Idea Development'
I think it would be interesting to investigate the sounds that different types of balls would make on the wooden segments when they drop through. For example if a hard ball like a ball-bearing dropped then you could feel it as well as hear it as opposed to a ping pong ball where it is only hearing involved.

Types I would like to investigate for this so far:
-Golf balls
-Ping Pong Balls
-Small Ball-Bearings
-Larger Ball-Bearings

Project 1 - Part A - - Hand in

This is my Part A Hand in for DSDN 112.

200 Words Written Description

I plan to make an interactive puzzle that the user builds for themself. The puzzle pieces will be assembled by the user so as to allow the user to choose a short or a long puzzle to complete. The aim for the user is to get a ping pong ball from one end of the puzzle to the other using certain bodily senses. The hearing sense will be utilised by the user to locate the ping pong ball inside the puzzle because the sides of each segment are blacked out; then position the ball in the correct place, and once it has dropped through to the next segment they will hear it bounce. The touch sense will be used to rotate each piece to allow the holes to match up and the ball to drop through. This will be repeated until the end when the user will use the visual sense as the ping pong ball pops through the end hole. This signals the puzzles completion. So the senses to be used in this interactive puzzle are sound, touch, and sight.

Each stage will satisfy the user because they can only hear when they are correct. Then finally they will SEE they are correct when the ball pops through the bottom.

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And here is the storyboard so you can see how I plan for it to be used.

A3 Storyboard

This is a photo taken then cleaned up a bit on photoshop so that explains the quality.

Project 1 - Idea 1 development

An update on my ideas for my interactive object.

Instead of the ball just falling through the holes in each disk I have thought it would be better to first move the puzzle object around until the ball finds the right place to go through, then once you hear that it is in the right place, rotate the segment required to get the ball through.

Then listen for the satisfying bounce of "Yes! The ball is through."

Project 1 - Concept - - Idea 1 sketch

I have chosen to go along with and develop my "Idea 1" from the previous post. With some changes made to the original idea here is the first sketch.

The changes I have made to this concept are:

-Instead of rods, use disks.

-Have the object be a user assembled puzzle.

-Solve the puzzle by rotating the segments as opposed to removing rods.

Project 1 - Concepts - - note form

Idea 1 - touch and sound - then sight at the end
- Ping pong ball inside tube.

- blocked by rods with different holes in it.

- pull the rods and when it is in the right place the ping pong ball drops and makes a satisfying bouncing sound.

- this allows you to know it is in the right place.

- the rods will also click into place so a deaf person will know it is in the right place.

- when it gets to the end it goes into a see though section so you know it is finished.

- flip it back over and start again.

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Idea 2 - touch and sound
- have a setup of square tubing or something.

- have levers or rip cords to pull.

- when you pull each of them it is a rewarding experience.

- tough-ish/has body to it while pulling.

- makes a different wind sound play from the tube.

- different fan things inside each tube the react to the pulling of the lever or the cord and so make different sounds.

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Idea 3 - touch, sound, and sight
- it is a box.

- have a number of diferent levers, pullies and buttons.

- each interactive thing has a different sound that either suits the activation or is completly different to what you would expect it to be.

- for example a big lever would make a little ting sound or a small button would be a big gong etc