Finals

Our final is scheduled by the University for Monday, December 16 at 11am. 
There has been a discussion of having a Potluck on that day, which is perfectly fine by me.
We will discuss this prior to finals.

Attendance is mandatory.

During our allotted time you will be returned your final project (unless I choose it to showcase it in the hallway display), receive your final grade (which will already be entered into SAIL), and be asked to discuss the course as it progressed over the semester. 

Case Studies

iPhone App case studies. 
An in-depth review of how some apps are developed.

Link

iOS Human Interface Guidelines

Apple’s Design Guidelines for iOS7 covered in the following sections:

1. UI Design Basics 
2. Design Strategies
3. iOS Technologies
4. UI Elements
5. Icon and Image Design

Link

Project 2

The due date for the App has been pushed back to November 18.

HTML Resources

Mac OSX
Tincta 2.0 (purple octopus)
http://mr-fridge.de/software/tincta/

Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
MetroTextual
http://singularlabs.com/software/metrotextual/get/

W3Schools (online lessons/practice/information)
http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

HTML Book
HTML5: The Missing Manual Paperback
by Matthew MacDonald

Responsive Web Design Book
Responsive Web Design with HTML5 and CSS3 
by Ben Frain

Good article to read for this current project : ) via Diana Caragan

Sketching For Better Mobile Experiences

Mobile user experience design is maturing. One way to gauge this is to look at the tools at our disposal. Prototyping tools such as Balsamiq, Axure and Fireworks enable us to build wireframes and click-dummies, helping us to explain the targeted user experience. Cross-browser frameworks such as PhoneGap, Zurb Foundation and jQuery Mobile help us to create prototypes using the native languages of the Web: HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2013/06/24/sketching-for-better-mobile-experiences/

Templates

Dimensions & PSD file

When designing your App, set up your canvas size to 1136 px by 640 px

Download the User Interface for the iPhone 5s iOS7 at the following page:
http://www.teehanlax.com/tools/ios7/

Extra Credit

Extra Credit Opportunity

Visit the Art Museum of South Texas and view the TAMUCC Department of Art Faculty Show, Corpus Pluralis. 

To get credit for your visit, take a “selfie” with one of your favorite pieces of the show and send it to me at nicholas.mcmillan@tamucc.edu before December 9th.

Sketch Templates

Four (4) sketches for each one of your five (5) concepts.

Download a PDF here… 

http://miketheindian.com/2012/09/28/iphone-5-wireframe-sketch-template/

Project 2 :: App

User Interface Design for iPhone App
Due Monday, November 18

If your UI even vaguely resembles an airplane cockpit, you’re doing it wrong.

— JOHN GRUBER

Objective

Create a user interface design for a new iPhone app.
Note: You are not creating a functional app.

Process

Part I

Choose a topic of interest from the following list:

• Wayfinding
• Medical/Personal Health
• Lifestyle
• Art

Part II

Develop a concept for a Smartphone application that is based on your area of interest. The application should simplify a process that is commonplace in your area of interest.

Part III

Research & writing the Creative Proposal (Due October 23)

Begin to research the specific area that interests you and write a creative brief (a plan of attack). Your creative brief should follow this outline and be no shorter than two full pages in length (not including the cover page):

1. Title Page with the name of the company, your name, date, course, semester, and instructor name.
2. For this section write a brief assessment that is approximately 150–200 words in length of the action that your application will attempt to simplify. 

• What is the activity?
• Is it specific or general?
• How has it historically been accomplished?
• Will people be inclined to switch to a new form of interaction?
• Who has done this type of action in the past?
• Does a specialist have to be present to complete the action?
• What does the future hold for this type of interest? How may it change?

3. What are the benefits of this app over existing technology or other resources?
4. Who is your target market? Age? Sex? Location?
5. What are some of the challenges that you might face when creating this application? 

Part IV (Due October 24)
Develop and sketch (pencil or pen) five (5) concepts. Each of these concepts should include at least four (4) separate screen shots of your application. Use the templates provided to you in class.

Part V
Form your sketches, class critique and other feedback, develop one of your concepts into a full interface for your application. You will need to design a minimum of twenty (20) screenshots to clearly communicate the function of your app.

Extra Credit

Extra Credit Opportunity/Replace your lowest quiz grade!!
Due October 21, 2013

Objective
Develop your own vision of the mobile interface based on your team’s desktop interface design. For this assignment to be considered complete, you need only to develop one screen design. Follow specifications below for your artwork.

Screen Dimensions (your canvas): 640×1136 pixels

Grade
This is an individual project and your final grade will replace your lowest graded quiz. 

The current mobile site can be seen in the picture attached to this post.

Week Three :: Videos

UX and UI, Chicken and Egg

http://youtu.be/2wZUTe70w1Y

What the heck is UX Design?

http://youtu.be/Ovj4hFxko7c

User Personas

Read more about the importance of a developing Personas on page 33 in Designing for Emotion

**Each team member is required to submit one User Persona to be included in the group’s creative proposal. How the Personas are designed is up to your group to determine.**

User Persona: Used prominently in the design industry, personas allow designers to create a report that outlines a member of a larger group. By creating this document, we are able to remain aware of our target audience and their specific needs.

When we design, we research, plan, and create with our audience’s attitudes and motivations in mind. Designers will often interview their audience, then create personas—a report on an stereotypical user who represents a larger group. Personas are the artifacts of research. 

Through this document we learn about our audience’s demographics, interests, their expertise in various subjects, and what influences their decisions on subjects germane to the project.

The user persona should include the following sections
(remember this is a fictional person):

1. Picture of individual

2. Name

3. Age // Career

4. Personal Goals

5. Short biography or description of the individual: These paragraphs should give the reader a solid idea of who is this person.

6. Knowledge

7. Activities and Interests

8. Influencers: A determining factor(s) known to affect an individual’s tendencies and characteristics.

Below is an example of how your user persona may look like when completed.

You should be able to fit all the information required onto one page:

Reminder :: Read Carefully

Just a quick reminder to have carefully read Chapter 6, Site Planning and Chapter 7, Elements of Usability in your text “Above the Fold” by Wednesday, September 18. You will have a 20 question (multiple choice and true/false) quiz at the beginning of class.

Project 1 :: Points

Your first project, redesigning the Artwalk website, is broken down into different segments that result in 140 possible points once the project is complete. The information below shows how these points are dispersed among all the different items you have and will turn in.

1. Presentations (10pts)
2. Creative Brief (20pts)
3. Digital Concepts (10pts)
4. WIP Critique (10pts)
5. Final Presentation (30pts)
6. Final Group Grade (20pts)
7. Final Peer Review (20pts)
8. Final Individual Grade (20pts)

Unless I am aware of a situation that a group member has not pulled his or her own weight on a specific part of a project, team members will receive the same grade for items 1–6.

Your final grade will be determined by dividing the total number of points you earned by 140. This percentage will then be entered into my grade sheet and will count for 30% of your overall course grade.

Project 1 :: Teams

Team 1

Diana Caragan

Becca Allen

Brianna Andrade

Trang Phan

Team 2

Sarah Bracken

Christina Elizondo

Carlos Villarreal

Allison (Nga) Le

Team 3

Tuonz Nguyen

Alyssa Garza

Clarissa Ortiz

Brooke J. Ostrom

Team 4

Starr Renteria

Kitty Thompson

Daniel Vargas

Veronica Anguiano

Project 1 :: Website Redesign

Redesign for the Artwalk-Corpus Christi website artwalkcc.com
Due Wednesday, October 16 (Week 7)

Solving any problem is more important than being right.
— Milton Glaser

Objective
Collaborate with your team members to redesign the current user interface (look) of the Artwalk-Corpus Christi website. Your solution should be complete and professionally presented. This will not be a functional site, but a study of design, layout, structure, and organization in a web environment.

Teams
You will be assigned to a team at the start of Week 2.

Team Dynamics
The dynamics will take shape with how the individuals in of the group interact and communicate. To help this process along, however, I will be providing guidelines that must be followed. How a team decides to handle these requirements is completely up to its members.

Guidelines
1. While the team should determine the aesthetic of the design as a whole, each student will be responsible for finishing the design of at least three pages of the final website. 
2. Each team member will have an opportunity to grade the other.
3. If a single member feels that the team dynamics are not working, you must contact me and I will set up a meeting of all the members of the group and act as a mediator to discuss the issues you are having. At the end of our discussion, I will offer some suggestions to alleviate the issue. If the issue continues to exist I will address and take note of the issue with each individual from the group.

Part I (due September 16)
Pick a name for your team, write a proposal, make a presentation
Conduct any research you deem necessary including visiting and using the current site. Note any visual or user related items that you see as faults and could be improved with a new design. Summarize your findings and state your goals for a successful redesign in a project proposal. Your proposal should follow the outline below and be no shorter than two full pages in length not including the title page:

• Title Page with the name of your company, the client, date, course, quarter, and instructor name. 

• In your own words, write a brief assessment of the current site design. 

+ What is the use of the site? 
+ Who is the target audience?
+ What would be the impact of a new design?
+ Can social media be incorporated to make the site more user-friendly? 

• What are some of the challenges that you might face when creating this application? 

Create a Survey
Create and administer a survey to gather information from your peers and others outside the Corpus Christi community (friends, family, co-workers, etc) as to what the like and dislike about the current design and what they would want to see improved. http://www.surveymonkey.com/

Part III (due September 23)
Develop two (2) visually unique digital concepts for presentation and critique from class. Each of these concepts should consider how the website is developed beyond the first page. 

Part IV (due Wednesday, October 16 Week 7)
From your digital concepts and our discussions your team will complete the redesign of the Artwalk website—at least 12 pages depending on team size. 

Welcome to Interactive Design

Interactive Design

More detailed information can be found within the links above. Future links on the left will contain additional information as it pertains to the course.

Course Description
This studio course will teach students how to develop creative strategies for problem solving in a client-based environment. This studio explores the use of the world wide web, blogs, social media and other interactive media as a creative outlet for portfolio development.  

Learning Outcomes
• To learn and practice the history of web design, its purposes, uses and where it is headed.
• To create with and learn the software necessary to create web pages.
• To create pleasing design techniques for the web.
• To practice the above principles in practical projects.
• To create blog sites and social media outlets

Required Texts

Above the Fold: Understanding the Principles of Successful Web Site Design 

by Brian Miller* 

Designing For Emotion

by Aarron Walter

Please join our Facebook group for this class where you will be able to ask questions, have discussions, and share information that is pertinent to the course: facebook.com/groups/arts3362

If you would like to know more about me, my work, and my past student’s work, please have a look through my website: nicholasmcmillan.com.

Get more information about design, education, and other interesting articles by “liking” my Facebook page: facebook.com/profmcmillan.

Check back soon for additional information.