Studio Brief 2 - Initial Crit

This morning we had our first crit for this studio brief (Design for Print). I presented two ideas which I thought were the better ones that I had in mind, which was the food shazam app and the english translation app.  In the crit people thought the english to english translation app was much better and interesting that the food shazam app which I also agreed with. They thought I could do a lot more with what information I can include in the app in order to increase and improve the user experience. In addition, they also said that it would be really good for using it on standard English's like American English that is quite different to British English. They also added how it will be quite useful for students who just moved to another city; which I thought was good because that is literally what I'd like the app to do and function as. And, due to this we also started to talk about possibly adding slangs from different areas which I thought might be a good addition to my original idea.

Feedback from crit:

• Add 'slangs' - They suggested I could add slangs as well and modified words into it. Whilst in the crit I thought it would be a nice add on and option in the app; so I thought it was quite a good idea and suggestion that I thought I could use in my app. However, after reevaluating itI feel like it would be quite hard for me to implement this idea, as I feel like it could be it's whole own app itself as there are also so much slangs in different cities and countries therefore I feel like if I was to incorporate this in my app it would just make it quite complicated and hard to use. I do think it's a good idea though however, it might overlap with my idea and would make the UI complicated therefore making the UX complicated as well. In addition, this is also too similar to Urban Dictionary, therefore it might not be as effective and useful as there's already another website dedicated to it.
• Put the language options as a list - In the crit someone suggested to put the language options in list so that it's easier to use and navigate around. I think navigation wise, it would be quite handy as a phone screen has a longer height than width. In addition, for this idea I thought may be I can put the first language option box on the top of the screen in order for users to put their main english language as their default language; and below is other language box with the the list other english languages standards used. 
• Add the 'context' the word/phrase can be used in, in the definition - Someone suggested that should also include the context in which the word/phrase can be used it. I was actually thinking about including this as well, as I am trying to inform the users where and how they can use them. I think I can probably do this by creating and using example sentences to give a scenario and by doing this I am also giving the users the context behind the sentence and use of the word/phrase.

I also asked a question in the crit that hopefully I could get opinions from:

• Should it be an app or an add on to an existing app or website? - majority of the people said I should keep it separate as it already have a lot of content and enough to explore from that it will stand well on it's own already. If I was to have it as an add on, it may just make the whole website too confusing or complicated and end up giving the users bad UX for it's complicated UI.

Thoughts & Reflections:

Overall, I think it was a pretty good crit and the people in the crit also gave me really good suggestions that I could think about to include in my app. In addition, I also thought that people in the crit had some really good ideas e.g. someone thought of creating a site which students can sign up on where they can collaborate and possibly exchange skills with each other; someone else had an idea of having an app which lets new university students to communicate together and meet people with similar hobbies as them to meet up in real life and do activities together. I thought these ideas where really good and they pinpointed their target audiences perfectly and an idea which will be effective for their target audience, giving them good UX and possible long term benefits as well e.g. gaining experience and bulking up student portfolio and gaining new friends and settle in the new city quickly. I think this crit was very good and beneficial as the people in my group gave me good feedback that I can work with whilst I also saw their ideas giving me a good sense of how I should also think about my app - the users don't only need to have good UX through good UI but also give them good benefits in general in order for them to keep using the app in the long term.

Refinements to Final Publication Layout

Today, I made the final refinements to my publication which I am scheduling to print out by Wednesday next week. Before, the publication was supposed to be 64 pages however, I have reduced it down to 48, the reason being is that after looking through the publication - evaluating it and letting my peers try it as well I thought that some pages were redundant and did not have to be in the publication. Some of the changes I made were taking away the individual 'WAIT' pages and have one DPS of it instead. As per peer critique in the last sessions, they didn't really get this page and why I put them twice in different layouts. I thought if I decreased it and slightly amended the layout instead so it reads the way we normally read the readers won't be confused to what the word is and understand the content. 

In addition, I also changed some of the typesetting to some content. Instead of having these content (Faster) from bottom to top of each page, I've made them all centred however, their kerning increases. By increasing their kerning, it opposes the hurried and hastened tone of the content giving it a sense of ambiguity to the readers in which may challenge them to follow the sign or not. Although, the readers may not know that by flipping the pages more they will finish quicker, the ay still have doubts and confusion as to why the sign feels to be down pacing them and intrigue them to not flip the pages faster in the first place. This links back to the idea of how signs can be altered and changed in order to allure different tones and messages to the readers in which they may interpret in various ways. Wide typesetting for example, has a characteristics of being 'slow' 'relaxed' - linking it back to semiotics and how signs and symbols have different uses and interpretations in relation to society and culture.Furthermore, it also highlights the subjective view the readers will have while reading the content, which is what I'm trying to achieve and relay in the publication. I think having this type setting is much more effective as it's very subtle however it has various undertones in which the readers may or may not pick up while the book. It may be that they will look at it differently when they read the book again or wonder why it's designs the way it is. It makes them question their actions and why they do them while reading the signs in the publication.

I also took away pages which I thought didn't really have strong relations and meaning for my content. such as the ellipsis page, 'Did you stop at green/Did you go at red?' and paragraph. I feel like when I was putting them in the publication along with my content, they just came as fillers for the pages and don't have much strong meaning. My peers also said the same thing and I think this just shows that these pages aren't effective but rather they may confuse the readers and dilute the message that I'm trying to relay in the publication.

After, refining and reevaluating the content and pages of my publication. These are the final pages and form of the publication. 

Number of pages: 48 

Paper Stock: Satin 160 gsm, 135 & 270 gsm White Frost Colourplan

Production wise, I think the paper stock that I have chosen works much better and fits the look of the publication better than my previous attempts. As suggested by my peers during crit the Cylus Offset paper felt a bit cheap and made the publication look a bit rough, therefore changing to a smoother much brighter paper stock would be better as it not only changes the look of the publication but it also has a nicer  printing quality and printing finish which highlights the content in the book especially as my content is only text and illustrations it's important for it to look high quality in order draw attention from readers as well as make the overall publication look and feel high value and worth it to buy form the customers point of view. In addition, some of the pages will be in a different paper stock (135 and 270 gsm White Frost Colorplan) in order to enhance the experience of the readers will flipping through the book and the paritcular section it's on ('STOP' and 'GO) having the different weights of paper there may make the readers stop and feel the difference or it may disrupt their flow while reading making them confused or startled. Furthermore, because I'm also thinking of having a hard cover for my book, this will also make the publication look refined and desirable to look at, touch and read, which may give the readers a better experience of reading and handling the boo which in turn ma help them retain information more and understand the content and context of the book. Cost wise, because the number of pages have decreased the printing cost also decreases, which may mean that if the publication was to be sold commercially the price of it may decrease as well in relation to its production cost. Having it more affordable for the target audience to buy mean they may be more willing to buy it and read it, hence also making the publication commercially successful and effective in targeting its demographic audience.

Research: Existing Design For Screen

I've researched similar applications and websites to my application in order to get a better understanding of how their UI works and the UX that users have while using the application/website.

Google Translate

I've researched Google Translate as it's the most prominent and used translation application/website with 500 million users daily as of May 2017. Google Translate is a translation machine serviced developed by Google. It supports 100 languages around the world at various levels. In addition to text, it can also translate: speech, images, sites, or real-time video. It can also pronounce translated text for most of the languages, highlight certain words/phrases and acts as a dictionary for single-word input. Not only that, but if can also 'Detect Language' when an unknown text is inputted it can be automatically identified. Website URL's can also be inputted where Google translate will create a hyperlink to a machine translation of the website. Users can also save words and phrases they've translated in a 'phrasebook' which is quite helpful if they'd like to use it later.

How it works? 

Google Translate works by looking through millions of translated documents in which the machine will decide on the best translation of the word/phrase/sentence; not on traditional rule-based analysis - (*statistical machine translation). However, because the translations are based on intelligent guessing some languages produce better translations than others e.g. English to any other EU language works the best, because of the large amount of EU transcripts translated. On the other hand, English to Chinese (or other languages that uses characters instead of Latin characters) vary as the languages aren't edited as sentences but with characters, therefore changing a character form will change the whole meaning of the word, however Google Translate isn't able to recognise this. In addition, for large texts etc. the translations are grammatically inaccurate and doesn't make sense in general therefore may not be as useful for larger texts like essays etc.

Benefits

• Good for single word or short phrases translations 
• Additional features are helpful e.g. speech feature, website translation, wide range of languages (100+) therefore can be used worldwide
• can be used on any phone models e.g. Android or iOS.
• Multiple UI types e.g. App or website

Disadvantages

• Because it's based on algorithms and patterns it can produce grammatically inaccurate translations
• Only works best for English to EU languages. 
• In general wrong translations.

Instead of websites I also decided to research applications which work in similar ways to the application that I am intending to create.

Scan&Translate 

How it works?

Just like its name, Scan&Translate will let the users Scan or take a picture of a word/phrase/sentence in the application. As well as this it also allows the users to type in and speak the word/phrase or sentence that they want to translate. I found that when I opened the app, it prompt to ask me if I want the app to access my camera to take photos which I thought was quite redundant as I feel like it should already give access to use your camera in the first place anyways. Also, instead of setting a default language it asked you if it can access your location in order to locate the local language spoken, which I thought was quite clever as this means that you don't have to keep changing the language that you want to translate as it automatically does it for you. This is particularly helpful for tourists as they often may move from country to country therefore it may become a hassle to keep changing the language option on the app. I tried to translate something, however, for some reason it didn't actually translate as you had to buy the application first before fully being able to use all of its features, which was quite disappointing as this means that it may not be accessible to people on a low budget or just couldn't afford to buy the app. Another thing that annoyed me was the amount of adverts that kept popping up as I was trying to use the app. There were so many ads that it felt like I was using an app about adverts; it became really frustrating and made me not use the app anymore, which may be their marketing strategy in order for the users to buy the application to use all the features and avoid the ads.

Benefits

• Very visual (flags of countries used)
• Geolocating feature is clever and will speed up language selection process

Disadvantages

• Actually have to buy the app to use all the features.
• Too many adverts

Translate Now

How it works?

This application was the best out of the three that I've tried and I had a good UX whilst navigating through the app program. The aesthetic of the app itself is very simple and minimal whilst still including minimal illustrations to indicate certain parts of the application to navigate the users through. I found the 'Conversation' option to be quite interesting as it lets you speak through which can then be translated to the language of your choice. I could imagine this option to be used, when a tourist may ask something on the street from a local, which is so much faster than typing out simple sentences or finding it through a translation book. Having the conversation option will make the questioning quicker and more efficient. It also has a 'History' option showing you all the translations that you've done, however, they can be a bit confusing and I feel like it isn't really that useful as a 'Save' button could be much more useful making it kind of redundant. I also has modes for taking a picture and speaking through the microphone, giving the user other methods of access of the app according to their convenience. Another thing is the 'Offline Mode' where you can still use the app with the languages that you've downloaded, however it's not available to all the languages and not as global. The only thing is, you also had to be subscribed and pay for the app to keep using it, therefore it may put off some users from using it (although it is free for 3 days).

Benefits

• Simple minimal interface that doesn't overwhelm the users
• Very easy to navigate
• Less adverts
• Good details like 'Voice Gender' and 'Speech Speed'.

Disadvantages

• Have to be a paid subscription
• Offline Mode not as global 

Thoughts & Reflection:

Overall, researching through these applications and website I've found they all mostly have the same features which help the user get the information they'd like to obtain. I think with my application some of the features will also be quite similar but at the same time I don't want to have it identical or the same as these apps as my main point is giving the context and use of the translation fro the users to use in everyday life. Therefore, I feel like my application will have extra add on features in which the translations will be highlighted better and give informed and detailed information to the users in which they can understand and learn from in order for my application to be effective and successful. In addition, I didn't really like how the apps where a subscription thing as i feel like it would restrict the amount of people that use it. For my application, I'd most likely want it to be free- or at the least be paid but not subscribed to. The reason being, I don't want users to just use it for free trials and delete it, but rather have it with them for a long time as I believe it can be useful wherever they may go, therefore it'll beneficial for them and for me as the designer. 

Additional Initial Idea - Lost In Translation Translation

I've been trying to generate more ideas for what I could do for my DFS as we also have a crit tomorrow. I found it really think of new and innovative ideas as there's literally so many apps out there that have already been done and every time I would think of an idea I remember an app or device which already works the same way.

As a way to start generating ideas, I thought of things that affect me in everyday life and I thought of LANGUAGE as an area which I could explore. Coming to the UK from a different country, the standard 'English' that I learnt was quite different to the British English that I am used to now. I wasn't quite able to communicate with people and certain English words, have been adapted and standardised in my own language therefore to me they were the 'right' English terms. e.g. British English - toilet / Filipino English - CR/ Comfort Room. Therefore with this idea in mind, I thought of creating an app similar to Shazam which records a voice or even makes you type in certain adapted English terms used in a certain country and translate it back to your own 'Standard English' language. The application will essentially be a translation device about adapted/ standardised English around the globe, which displays what it means and how and when the word can be used.

Why this idea?

I thought an app like this would be quite be quite beneficial as even though English is quite a universal language there are still misunderstanding that can happen therefore eliminating problems like this using an app can gradually increase someone's quality of life and communication with locals or other people. Not only that, but through the app, the can also learn about a country social and cultural movement through their usage of language, helping them navigate through society better. Unlike me who had to gradually learn British English and British expressions, having an app can rapidly speed up this process and can even be learnt without actually having to communicate with locals or be in the country.

Target Audience 

The application will mostly be aimed at people moving to another country or long term stays e.g. migrants, international students etc. which may have trouble settling in at first. The app may help them familiarised themselves with the language as well as the culture and social scene in the country. In addition, having it as an application will be more convenient, quicker and more accurate than 'google translate'. As the application will specialise on niche, adapted English words and not general English terms, it will give the target audience a better understanding of communication and speech within context.

Hard Cover Experiments

I experimented right away with the hard cover idea that I was suggested to do. I think the hard cover idea is actually not that bad and I feel like it would actually make my publication look a lot better as it looks quite polished and well done. After, making one attempt I felt like the mount board was actually too thin (a). I thought maybe it wouldn't stand out and feel like much of a cover when put over the pages of the publication therefore I decided to create another one, this time I stuck together three mount boards to make it thicker (0.5 cm) appropriate enough to be a 'hard cover'. (b) I actually like this thickness a lot better because as I was handling it it felt much better on my hand and felt much more firm and would probably help my publication pages to be more compact. It's also much heavier therefore it would properly hold up the publication very well. Overall, as well I feel like it will give my publication a balanced look and make it look very professional.

a)

b)

Hard Cover for Publication?

After doing my mock up I've asked my peers for suggestions and crit about what I could improve on my publication. I've asked them if I should include a hard cover to my publication and if it's appropriate to my design. My peers suggested that I should have a hard cover to it and cover it with something at it looks a bit rough and cheap even with just the card cover to it. They suggested maybe having buck rum as the cover to it, giving the cover a professional finish and enhance the feel and sturdy function to the publication overall.

Thoughts & Reflections:

After reevaluating my publication, I do feel like it looks a bit rough and unfinished because the cover doesn't really look professional at all. The cover looks a bit flimsy as well now that I think about it and doesn't make the publication appealing at all. Coming back to my mount board idea which I did say I won't use; I think maybe using it again will actually be beneficial for my publication now as the mount board material itself is quite thick however not too thick that I won't be able to punch holes into it to thread it with my publication. In addition, functionality wise it is a strong and sturdy material that will keep the publication intact as well and will keep the contents in place and protect them from damage at least. Also, I think having that hard cover on my publication will also enhance its aesthetics and will hopefully make attract audience as it may look more appealing to read and have in general.

Thinking further with this idea, I thought maybe having black buck rum on the hardcover adds to the aesthetic and uniformity with the black and white pages that I have in the publication, making the publication complete and consistent from the cover to the contents pages. Also, I've thought of maybe laser cutting the title on the cover, however I don't know if it'll actually work because it might burn like plastic as buck rum has similar qualities to it as well. Maybe I could try kiss-cutting it instead? I will have to test this out first. In addition to this, I was thinking of putting the title on the back cover, relating to the content of the publication. I thought having the title on the back cover will possibly make the readers question which way to read it, giving it that sense of uncertainty and how the sign (title) is making you think of the opposite and question your actions. Why do you always think that the cover with the tittle is the front? Is it because the information is there? There are words on it? Does that mean it's automatically where you should start? This are the kind of questions I'd like the audience to think of when they pick up the book.

Visiting Professional: Adam Griffiths

Today Adam Griffiths gave us a talk about his professional practice and how he uses and translates design from screen to print and print to screen.

https://www.ra-bear.com/

*Curio Curia - Google Vision - using algorithms and how Google sees and presents objects. Sculptures and designs where made and scanned through google in order to see what google comes up with -> Misrepresentation of the work

*Capturing the screen (loading Instagram picture screenshots) - the loading pictures themselves are recognisable but at the same time still very abstract which is really interesting and you can't really tell what it is but at the same time you do.

*Transient Space - usage of 'boring' spaces and turning it into something visually attracting -> a digital gallery exploring the concept of time space and the culture of the transient screen

• adopting the screens 
• disrupting non space and non gallery
• Logo - not set and transient in itself which is quite versatile and flexible in a way.

Digital screens can be helpful for the well-being or a crisis - it may also be used in a purposeful way to help people e.g. digital screen to show sunrise in Beijing.

Clickbait Workshop:

After his, talk we were given a workshop brief that we were to do for the afternoon. I teamed up as a four with Jocel, Koyni and Kristen and started dropping down ideas for the brief. At first, we started thinking about disruptions that we encounter in our everyday lives like walking on the sidewalk etc. We then got onto the idea of speaking different languages and how you can get stuck with trying to remember a word in another language, disrupting your thought track and speech altogether. As all of us speak at least one or two languages we decided to use this idea as it was relatable to all of us and something that we thought not just applies to different language but also to normal everyday speech as well. 

We came up with a transcript of a scenario I encountered with my mum, where I suddenly forgot the word 'stair' in language (Bisaya) and proceeded to long wind-idly explain what and how a stair works to my mum until I remembered the word. We thought of making the gif quite funny and meme like as we thought it would be quite engaging and entertaining to to the audience as it's something that's quite relatable with everyone and it's a structure that we are quite familiar with, especially with memes- you'd expect something funny will happen, therefore it may make the audience watch the gif till the end. To elevate the experience for the audience we also added some sounded for auditory experience, because as we were creating the gif, we thought added music would balance out the time the words pop up the page as it felt like it was taking to long without it, adding the music made it more entertaining and made you expect what was coming. Furthermore, we also added a meme in our video making it more entertaining and fun to look at. Overall, I think we were quite satisfied with the video that we created as it was simple and relatable but at the same time can also attract the audience's attention and answer the brief on disruption. I think our approach to it is also quite effective as we took a lighter and humorous approach to it that people will be more willing to watch it that just walk pass it. 

Thoughts & Reflection:

Overall, it was a very good talk and workshop from Adam Griffiths and I think that I may submit my own response to the brief for January. In addition, I've also understood the intentions of the transient space exhibition that we saw in Manchester much better now and have a clear understanding of it now than when I saw it. In addition, the talk was also very insightful as we got to know how Adam works and how he works and the design processes that he does in order to create and curate work. The workshop was also very fun and very productive. As the brief was quite broad and we could do pretty much anything we wanted, we were able to be more free and come up with processes and ideas that we were willing to spend time on. Looking at everyone else's work, I enjoyed how their work also came up from very simple ideas but worked really well and was really eye catching and grab people's attention. Especially, with the hacking gif, it was really simple but worked really well as it was really short and snappy and you get the message from it which was really effective. I've also noticed that we were the only group that used audio, maybe we got too into the fact that we were making a video instead of a gif, but maybe when if I will submit a design in January I'll need to reconsider some elements such as audio if it will actually be necessary or not in my design. 

Linking this back to, studio brief 2, I think having a really simple idea and how the processes such as timing and spacing between each movement on the screen is something that I can consider because they are very important aspects when making a DFS, in order to be appropriate and effective for the target audience. As of now, I still don't really feel like I have a strong idea for my DFS but I will continue to draft ideas down until I am satisfied of an idea that I know I can work well with and have lots to do with as well.