#techstuff

TL;DR: New cleanup pass, clearly hearing Man I Need in there, but that track is from 2025, so… wtf? Ok so… Update-time because this just got weirder.

Ran another cleanup pass on that file tonight. More of the voice-y stuff came through this time (check around 0:26, a bit clearer).

Played it to my girlfriend again and she IMMEDIATELY went: “isn’t that Man I Need?”

And yeah, that’s exactly what it sounds like actually. So I figured ok, maybe it’s some older version, since the directory this file was sitting in hasn’t been touched since the 90s.

BUT THEN

I googled the song just to check… and uhhh… it’s from 2025

Like, brand new. As in: just released.

So now I’m sitting here confused as hell because this file absolutely should NOT contain anything even remotely current. Either someone put a modern track inside a bunch of old archive junk for… reasons?? or someone wrote Man i Need waaay back.

I’m way too tired to be doing this lol

At the end of week 11, I received feedback from Aldo, the Emerging Technologies technician and Mairi, my stream supervisor, regarding my solution. In the figure below, I have displayed their feedback with possible solutions and mitigations I could make to develop my prototype further.

fig. 1 Feedback Session Notes

With the time I have, however, I feel that I may not be able to achieve some of the objectives listed above to its full extent.

The images displayed below illustrate the current visuals of the prototype. Although the minimalist and brutalist aesthetics that I've incorporated are visually appealing to those belonging to my target demographic, I also think that further research and justification as to why these aesthetics are the strongest in conveying my message and reaching my objective is needed.

fig. 2 Visuals of 'MONA'

I reformatted the ratio and sizing of my Figma prototype from an iPhone 11 sizing to an iPad 11.2". This was done due to realising that my physical prototype for the ReDesign exhibition would be displayed on an iPad screen and not a phone. I must admit that doing this had taken some time due to already having a previous wireframe and having to re-do it. However, it was also relatively straightforward in that I already had something to refer to.

fig. 3 & 4 Current State of 'MONA' Prototype

Lastly, I revised and evaluated the current state of my prototype. Even with the short time I have left, a time to step back and reflect on what I have produced so far was necessary. In the image below, I have further described why I had done this task.

fig. 5 Revision & Evaluation

The program I am using to wireframe is Figma. My skills and experience in Figma are solid. My current knowledge in creating my application will allow me to produce a prototype, allowing user testers to understand how the application will be used. However, the weakness of this program is that I won't be able to produce a fully working application. The extent to which the users will be able to interact with the application will be very minimal, and the prototype won't be able to fully fulfil its properties in being an application that would enable users to complete tasks and activities and achieve the objective of gaining a calming and meditative mental state.

fig. 1 Possible Activities/Tasks

Above, I have iterated the tasks that will be featured on the application. The properties and functions of the activity/task have been illustrated. The challenge with this function is how I'd be implementing this on my prototype. Whether this be through a working prototype or not. My current options involve integrating a video of how an active task would look like or linking an existing application/plug-in as a substitute. With this being said, my current challenge is conveying my objective of providing calming and meditative services through art-based tasks and activities. As Figma will only enable me to produce a semi-working prototype, I won't be able to provide a fully working application.

To resolve these challenges, I will research how to reach my objective and properly convey my solution through the application to a high standard. Furthermore, my next steps will be to look at all my objectives and see how I may prioritise them to properly and successfully showcase my solution.