Minor Project
Minor Project
Week 1
For the first week, we were briefed on our Minor Project in Microsoft Meetings by Mr Mike. Before all this, we had our very first session back in Semester 3, where we could choose who to group out with. I grouped up with Joanna, Angeline, and Nicole. During the lecture session, we were given a brief on what to expect in the minor project along with the marking rubric. After that, we were given a list of projects and its clients. We were to choose a project and create the given task.
My groupmates and I discussed and we decided to take WAYE (We Are Your Eyes), which is a mobile application that provides a personalized shopping experience through "agents".
Class exercise.
Please describe what is Design Innovation based on the article "What is Design Innovation? by Alex Obenauer." Please cite some examples to elaborate on your observations.
Design innovation is when a certain product or experience is changed and modernised through design, which in turn improves the product and user experience. Design innovation is crucial as it can be beneficial in different aspects, like businesses and tech. It promotes growth and productivity. According to Obenauer, in the past, most of the soda bottles looked the same when compared to each other. Coca-Cola wanted their consumers to be able to differentiate their product from their competitors' so they came up with a whole new design for the bottle which was inspired by a cocoa pod's shape. The bottle became the icon of Coca-Cola that till this day, the bottle shape is used on the can version of their product.
Disruptors, at its core, is a person that interrupts or disturbs a certain event by causing trouble. In a design perspective, design disruptors use the idea of innovation by looking at a problem at a new angle and simply solving old problems by using the power of technology and design, hence, producing an outcome that benefits consumers. For instance, as mentioned in Design Disruptors, the co-founder of LYFT, which is a famous ridesharing company, found it relatively difficult and troublesome when hailing a taxi, especially in busy cities. Through observation, he also realized that cars were never fully utilized. The existence of taxis has already solved a whole list of problems, however, it was something that could be improved by simply looking at a different angle. LYFT has helped give solutions to problems that consumers didn't even know they had until it was made, eg: not needing to estimate your fare through meters.
In this digital age, new technologies have helped creators to be able to improve their user experiences on their created platforms. E-mail platforms like Yahoo, Google and Hotmail have a traditional formality. Mailchimp, on the other hand, wanted to disrupt the idea of formality by providing an emotional context towards their users, so that they may feel a sense of satisfaction after sending an email. They have done this by creating a mascot/personality for its platform, so whenever you've sent an email, it'll give you a high-five, which may provide an emotional context of saying well done.
Week 2
Week 3-4
Week 5
After the first class, My team and I realized, based on the description given in the form during the lecture, WAYE was quite interesting. After a quick discussion with my teammates, we decided to go for it. After reading a more in-depth description about WAYE, there were a few areas here and there that needed to be clarified in terms of the price point, how the whole WAYE system would function, privacy etc. I was also a little confused as to how to approach this project as I am yet to know what are our roles as a design student in this given task.
After a discussion was held with our clients and along with the computing students, we were a little confused about what our position is as the design team. I had an idea that we were to design the UX and UI of the WAYE app however that was not the case. We were told that our clients haven’t really thought of what our roles will be and the only thing we were told to focus on was the aesthetics of the app. However, after a consultation with our lecturer, we were told to focus on branding WAYE. With that consultation, I understood our positions much better. As a leader of this group, it all seems overwhelming and fairly new to me as I’ve rarely been a leader. Its really outside of my comfort zone. Although it's pressuring, I’m trying my best to do so and I’ll take it as a challenge.
Week 3
After completing the SWOT, we were to create a creative brief based on the SWOT. With the lack of knowledge of what a creative brief is, my groupmates discussed and did some research on how to establish a creative brief. The organisation was key however, we kept going in circles with. But in the end, after a detailed discussion, we were back on the right track.
Week 4
With the consultation with Mr Mike this week, the big idea and tagline that was generated were strong. However, in terms of our art direction, we were told that each component that is chosen has to be connected with the brand’s values. With that, I’m pretty satisfied for now, knowing that we are in the right direction
This week we were told to focus back on what we originally proposed. I honestly felt much more relief with the workload being lightened and that we can focus more on what we have originally planned to do.
Week 7
This week, the script was shown and it was changed according to the feedback given. The character was also approved based on the design. Besides the infographics, the graphic team also revised the logos according to the feedback and a set of logos was chosen out of a few that were made.
Week 8
The infographic team has completed the storyboard and we were to tweak the storyboard so that it matches the time/script of the actual infographic video. We were also given the part of the UI from SOCIT as it was a more appropriate decision to avoid any clashes in art direction between SOCIT and the Design team of WAYE. We were also asked to make a Gant chart for easier tracking of our tasks. With that, our tasks are equally divided and we all know our roles in this team, making it much easier to work without any miscommunications.
Week 9
A logo was finally selected by the clients from a selection of logos done by the graphic team so the next step was to create social media posts. A set of low fidelity social media posts were generated to meet this week’s consultations which include, Instagram posts, stories along with Facebook posts. For the infographics team, the turnaround of characters was finished and we started illustrating the scenes according to the storyboard. With that, we tested out the colours as well as the fitting of the characters with the background. However, the colours between the objects and characters were not contrasted enough so changes would need to be made to that. Besides that, we got feedback the background was not localized enough to be recognizable by locals and it looked more western than Malaysian.
This week, our animation team showed our revised script along with the complete storyboard. The animatics were also done along with the voice-over of the script to match along with the animatics. However, we were told that the animatics should give a very clear idea of how the final infographics would look like. The graphic team has proceeded to with all the social media posts. However, our lecturer commented that the colours of the post were a little bit too soft and as contrasted. It has given the impression that it looks rather maternity-ish and it doesn't really reflect with one of the brand personalities of WAYE which is boldness. It looks rather introverted rather than being extroverted. We were rather frustrated as there was a tad bit of miscommunication between the design team and the client. We were told to deliver all of our deliverables by Week 12 which isn’t sufficient time for us.
This week, the collaterals for the social media posts were completed and were approved by our lecturer. The graphic team was told to transfer all of the posts into the final presentation slides. For the animation team, we have generated the scripts for the 5 short ads. The illustrations were all done and now we just have to proceed with the animation. We were to finish the animation as soon as possible so that it can be put in the final presentation as well. We then showed our final presentation slides. Our lecturer commented that all of the posts should be enlarged so that it can be seen clearly during the day of our presentation and to also include the business goal of each stage so that it gives the client a better understanding. We were to also update our blogs according to the work that we have produced throughout the weeks.
Week 14
This week, the main infographics along with the 5 short ads were completed. There were not many changes needed to be made except for the voice-over along with the arrangement of the typography in one of the scenes in the infographics. The voiceover should have a better pitch to it and any background sound should be removed. Changes were then made the following day according to the feedback. For our final presentation slides, we were told to enlarge our pictures so it's much more visible when presenting. Prior to the final pitch, our team has rehearsed multiple times to ensure that there were no hiccups during the final presentation. We then presented our pitch on week 15 and it went quite smoothly and we were quite happy with the outcome of the presentation. We got some good feedback from Dr Sothees, Ms Yen Mei and Mr Mike which were over the moon for. I’ve got to say this project has been a rollercoaster of a ride. However, despite the ups and downs, I’m really happy that I've got experience working on this project. It was a real eye-opener. I would also like to thank Mr Mike for the aid and patience he has given to us throughout these 14 weeks. Finally, I would also like to thank my groupmates Joanna, Yameen, Angeline and Nicole for being the best teammates that I could ever ask for. As a leader, I’ve never been the best at it. However, my group mates have given me a lot of encouragement and motivation which in turn made me much more confident which I’m really thankful for. It was truly a great experience working with them throughout this project and I hope I get to work with them as a team again in the near future.
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