New Assignment! - AF106 Interaction Design (Wonders of Nature)

After having been off University for a week from halfterm i was refreshed and ready to get back into the groove of Uni work and we have recently been given our next project which is called 'Wonders of Nature'.

Our teacher before we left for the week of Uni stated briefly what our next project was going to be so i had a small idea of what the assignment would be rooted around and what tasks we would have to follow as well as the process of this assignment.

The brief states that the 'Wonders of Nature' project is rooted towards interaction design and our objective is to produce an iBook for the iPad. It also states that this iBook has to be like a 'interactive documentary' meaning that people who use it can interact with the iBook and participate, this could be:

Videos

Rollover Images

Games

etc (Things to click on)

With this assignment we've got to make sure that the iBook we create is interactive as well as making sure the interface and layout is visually pleasing, as well as having successful usability and navigation through the iBook we create.

The other part to this brief is the iBook has to be related to Nature and these were the following topics we could choose from, or had a chance of getting one of these topics

Mountains

Rivers

Glaciers

Deserts

Forests

Antarctica

The Arctic

Canyons

Volcanoes

Earthquakes

Storms

Monsoons 

Reefs

Oceans

Migration 

Plains & Grasslands

I ended up getting Plains & Grasslands from the lucky pick of the draw, however because there was a couple left that weren't picked, i decided to change mine as i felt the core topic was slightly uninteresting and changed it to earthquakes. This topic is more interesting and has a lot to be researched and talked about. Generally in nature its quite an interesting topic and a topic i think I'll have with when designing a iBook as well as researching the topics based around earthquakes.

Something that is required for this project is research which involves us researching the topic we got and looking in-depth about the topic and separating the key title and expanding on aspects related to the core topic. For example because i got earthquakes i could break it down like this:

Earthquakes:

- What are they

- What Cause them

- Tectonic Plates - What are they

- Unpredictability of Earthquakes

- How Earthquakes are measured

- Richter Scale

- The Outcomes to Earthquakes

- Ripple effect of Earthquakes 

- People's Experiences

- Famous Earthquakes

- The Impact it had

See here you can tell that the main topic can be broadened out a lot and there are many things and sub-topics to consider when researching like, what content we want in etc and this is why researching is key as well we know we've done our research when we've produced the iBook rather than trying to do it based off common knowledge and that would make the iBook look and sound really basic and unknowledgeable when trying to discuss the topics. So researching is an important part to this assignment and is something i will do a lot for this project to gather my information. And obviously we'll have to reference where we got the information from but that shouldn't be a problem.

Something we also need to do is make sure that the topic really comes to life, meaning its not just a block of text, that its got not only the information but imagery and mixed media in the iBook, which will help to make the iBook much more enjoyable for people who read it. Mixed media would be images,videos, games etc that help to enhance the iBook and are relevant to the certain parts of the topic. This would help make the information seem more real with images and make the iBook more interesting and using games or rollover images etc will help enhance the interactivity thus making the usability fully applied and giving the user a better user experience when using the iBook.

This is what we have to focus on achieving and also what our iBook must contain:

Learning Outcomes for the Assessment:

AF106 Interaction Design Learning Outcomes

•  Develop proposals for interactive digital media products based on visual, content and contextual research
•  Develop interactive digital media products that are suitable in content, technology and design.
•  Demonstrate an understanding of interactive design principles and practice.
•  Produce evidence of testing.
•  Manage time and resources effectively through project planning.

You will follow a project planning and design process, which will be reflected in your blog and sketchbook.

This will include at least the following:

• Plan your time and the different phases of the project with a detailed production schedule
•  Find and analyse examples of iBooks which use media content
•  Find and analyse examples of animated elements used as part of an interactive navigation structure.
•  Visual research, which contributes to devising the look and feel that is consistent to all of your finished output.
•   Design the graphical style, interactivity and elements of visual language that will be consistent to all of your finished output.
•  Undertake design and technology research into developing media rich content for the iPad.
•   Produce an Asset Register, detailing and referencing the source of all text and graphic content of your products.

The iBook must contain at least the following

• A robust and user-friendly navigation system.
• Content to include: text, images/illustrations, sounds and moving image.
• Animated elements to accompany the content and enhance the user experience.

So its obvious from all this that there is a lot of work as well as research that needs to be done for this assignment, which is something i'm worried about as it seems like a lot to do, however i'm up for the challenge and i look forward to starting this project and can't wait to get into designing and finishing this iBook!