#coca4

This week was dedicated to production. I spent Wednesday in Lower Hutt picking up paper from Paper Source, as well as picking up silver vinyl from Signs Limited in Petone. 

Thursday was spent learning how to use the vinyl cutter in Fab Lab, and getting all my quotes printed onto the vinyl, and practicing peeling and transferring onto the tape, preparing for the books to come back. 

The books were ready to be picked up from Wakefields around midday, so I was able to spend the afternoon transferring the vinyl onto the quote pages, and sorting out any back up prints I needed to complete. I found the process enjoable as I was able to have some time away from the screen, and have some hands on work as part of my hand in – very satisfying. I was able to finish 2/3 books, and will continue the rest on Friday. 

Second to last class! We got a finalised presentation time and location, as well as a quick check up with our Pastoral + groups. I checked in, and went back to my desk to continue working on the website prototype. At this point, I was super excited about the visual identity of the website, and it all started coming together really well. 

From the plan I had created, I made small journeys to showcase the different features of the website, and ones that I can showcase in my report and presentation. 

Journey ‘map’ in XD

 I also decided to film the journeys so I can remember the prototyping steps, as well as potentially using it within the video I will use to showcase the user journey. 

A pretty repetitive process that I will be aiming to complete over the weekend so I can start working on the final hand-in outputs.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/44796459/RiseThis week, after final edits and proof-readings, I sent ‘The Glory to be Revealed’ off to Wakefields for printing. Because of budget limitations, I needed to compromise with some of my design decisions, especially with the front cover. I had originally intended to have a linen book cloth for a more ‘home-made’ feel, as well as getting the cover typography debossed to give a subtle and classic feel to the book. Instead, I decided on a dark grey buckram with silver foiling to match the design elements on the inside.

Cover confirmed with hardcover binding.

I also got the end pages printed with an image of the rag rug that Grandad made, showing his handiwork, and the projects he involves himself in. It was important that I got the book section sewn so that I could lay the pages as flat as possible when I go to vinyl the pull quotes.

Once that was handed in and ready to go, I began developing the visual identity of The Memoir Project website, now that I had finalised the user-journeys through prototyping and testing. For a while I felt like I had hit a wall, and was feeling quite uninspired.

However, when scolling through Behance for some UX/UI inspiration, I came across this project: https://www.behance.net/gallery/44796459/Rise. I thought it had a perfect combination of simple navigation and elegant design, and would work well with a template design system. Inspired by some the design elements, I finally felt like I had found the visual identity of this project, and it didn’t stray too far from the design and tone of the book – it seemed cohesive enough to seem like a ‘product’ from the website.

I was able to design the journey of the sign up experience to test that these design elements would work with the content, and continued to plan what prototypes I would need to show for presentation, the goal to prove the concept.

Because of previously arranged events this weekend, I won’t be able to come to class on Friday, so I set up meetings with both Caroline and Annette who have been helping me with the editing process of the book. I plan to have the book ready for printing on Monday.

They both gave me great suggestions and nit-picking details to make the book as good as possible. These just included some type-setting, spelling checks, fixing spaces between numbers, capital letters, and brackets. 

After talking with both of them, I feel confident that I’ve covered everything in terms of editing, and will be sending it off to the printers asap!

To add some more creative, hand-written/drawn elements to the book, I decided to draw out some of the maps of the locations that Grandad has lived. This is a cool way of connecting the readers to Grandad and the life he has lived up until this point, and adds a break from all the writing in the book.

This week I had continued to finalise the design of my book, prioritising this over the visual identity of the website and starting the finalise the design of that – I think that will be best saved until next week when the book is getting printed. 

The Pit lecture was super helpful, it had completely escaped my mind that we would eventually have to write a report of our work. Also documentation is a funny thing, I have an assortment of messy photos, notes and sketches, as well as blog posts that I will need to compile somehow for hand in alongside our submission.

In class we have a final ‘crit’ combined with another pastoral + group – it was also great to see how the work of the students I have been working with over the past semester is developing.

For class I had printed out the draft of my book as is, to have others flick through to make sure Grandad’s ‘personality’ is showing through the design. Those who looked at it made comments that it was cohesive, however some more images would make the book pop more with who I think Grandad is – which is very important! I didn’t have much time to talk to Ant, however I plan to have a one on one with him sometime next week to get his thoughts on the book before it is sent off to print.

Before the end of class I also bumped in Annette, and she was able to have a quick flick through my book. Her feedback was pretty positive, which made me confident moving forward with drafting and printing. She made a few good points about the drafting process (see notes above).

This week will be pretty busy for me, but I am excited to be finalising the book and moving on to developing the website further! I have set up meetings with Ant, Annette, and Caroline to double check everything before moving forward. I am also getting multiple family members to check the book before print, including my Aunty and mum. 

This weekend I drove to Palmerston North to visit Grandad and take some pictures of him to include in the book to allow the reader to grasp is identity further – seems a bit dry/bland according to Annette.

Because Grandad is passionate about literature and writing, I thought the writing would suffice in establishing his identity, however I think it is important now to include images and textures related to him and his home. Artefacts are as important as words. Here are some of the favourite photos I took:

Picture of their dog Meg who passed away a few years ago.

Texture of rag rug that Grandad made, the back (work)

Grandad’s favourite books, Spurgeons Sermons.

Grandad’s writing (just notes, but I have images of the writing of the book).

Today we had a one on one/group chat with Ant – it was great that our group was so small, as we were able to dig deep into everyones project. At this point Ant is well acquainted with my project, and we are on the same page, which is super helpful when I get a bit stuck.

Following on from some of the advice I got from Ant at the super crit, I’ve dug into some research into the algorithms involved in template programs such a s Squarespace. I designed 10 templates, based on design influences from different decades that should correspond with the audience who is publishing through the system.

From this sketch I wanted to develop it further, so digitally rendered with the user journey would look like in terms of the algorithm figuring out what template would work for the user. This is what I came up with:

Questions would be asked to learn more about the ideals and life of the user, each question would correlate to points which would determine the template that they would be suggested. Eg. Grandad was born in 1930′s and had a traditional upbringing, so he would be suggested a traditional design. While Jessie seemed more creative, so that would make her design more modern. 

During class I updated the group on the book, and also the research I have done with the algorithm/template/system for publishing, and they brought up some great tips for moving forward with the website:

Think about AI that can calculate personality traits within the design – something can read key words within documents and create images/designs to suit that.

Look into face recognition software that can find faces in uploaded photos and start creating captions and location identifiers to save time for the user to input all the extra information.

This week I will be doing the following:

Finalising wireframes, and start an HQ prototype, starting to develop visual identity if system and creating logo etc.

Developing book design, and contacting bureaus to find out more info and book in my work to get done on time. 

Today I caught up with Annette to update her on my process with the book design. It was really helpful to talk through my concept, and figure out what I have left to do. 

After flicking through the whole book, we came to the realisation that all the text and information was there, but there was nothing personal about Grandad in the book, whether it be photos of Grandad, or anything that described who he is and his personality. 

Here are some of the deeper points she suggested:

Think about Grandad and introduce him through my point of view at the beginning of the book. This way it is clear that this artefact is my interpretation of who he is. 

Make the Steven section more intimate. It is information they rarely share, and should be more private and respectful. 

Include his handwriting! This is such a big part of my idea of him, and would look great as endpapers for the final book. 

Get some quotes/stories/ideas from other family members to include in the book. This will help to support the concept and build his identity further for the readers who don’t know who he is.