#initialdesigns

After creating storyboards, the next stage of the design phase was to create some initial design ideas. These were drawn on life size Android template paper, to better envision what the designs will look like. As the design space is restricted to a mobile size, this forced me to take into account Androids mobile user interace guidelines. I used the guidelines to understand where different features should be placed, such as the navigation bar, based on design norms and expectations. 

A simplified scenario was used for these initial designs that was constantly referred to throughout the initial design process. This ensured that the designs made successfully accomplished the scenario.

The Scenario:

To book a 2 hour time slot to complete assignment work, based on the free time you hace available.

Initial Design 1:

The first 3 screens show the schedule aspect of the app. The schedule can be viewed by day or week, with filter options to only show specific activities or free time. Each activity bubble can be clicked on to add/edit/delete an activity.

As you can see the user has filtered by free time and selected the 1:30 - 3:30 free time slot to book.

The next 3 screens show the time slot booking process, providing the user with an option to select the activity they would like to book. These have been split up based on common activities identified in the requirements gathering stage. As the design demonstrates, the user has selected the assignment option and now has to choose the assignment they would like to work on. Various important options are then specified and the user completes the booking.

The final screen of this initial design shows the updated schedule with the booked assignment work included.

Initial Design 2:

This design takes a completely different approach to successfully achieve the same scenario. Rather than using the schedule screen, this design focusses on the free time screen, completing the booking through this. A notification feature has also been designed to encourage the user to book free time. 

Screen 1 displays a notification of the amount of free time the user has available today. Once the 'book task' button has been clicked it takes the user directly to screen 2. This shows the free time the user, has split into AM and PM. The white parts on the clocks indicate free time, and the remaining colours indicate different activities. Activities can be booked in free time slots by clicking on the desired slot. Screen 3 shows the time slot booking screen using the same clock feature to indicate the amount of time you want to book the activity for. Once the assignment item has been clicked on, this expands to reveal all the user's assignments. An assignment is then selected and hitting save completes the booking.

The final screen shows a totally different design of the schedule page. I've decided to experiment with a kind of diary look and feel, whilst still displaying the tasks the user has for the day. Different days can be viewed by swiping either left or right to turn the interactive page. Colour shades have again been used to differentiate between the different activities. As you can see the newly added assignment activity is included in the schedule, successfully completing the scenario.