Mood Boarding

Ideas and inspiration may come out of the blue and it is possible to create something amazing straight away but in the words of Louis Pasteur

“Fortune favours the prepared mind”

It is important to consider many possibilities whilst designing and the value of using mind maps, research and mood boards cannot be underestimated. I am still researching many areas as part of this assignment and I have already shown the way in which I have used mind maps so far within my design process but today’s post is all about Mood boards.

I have created a number of mood boards so far during this assignment and they will probably not be the last to appear as the process continues, I have created mood boards to show visual reference material that will hopefully help to inspire me throughout this project.

See mood boards below:

These mood boards have been a new experience for me not because I have not used them before, in fact I use them regularly as part of my design process but the difference this time has been the way in which I have created my mood boards. I usually place copies of images I have acquired digitally directly into my drawing software where I can arrange, rearrange and resize images, I can also add text and colours directly on to the sheet which I then print out. I understand that not all content that you may wish place on a mood board can be acquired digitally and in that situation you can cut out bits from magazine or use swatches of material or wall paper by sticking them to your mood board. I have had the opinion expressed to me by a number of my peers and by my superiors that my process is not the correct one, they have expressed their belief that you should print out digital imagery cut it out and then stick it to another piece of paper and this is the correct process for mood boarding, this confuses me as the method they describe takes longer to do, uses more paper and involves the use of glue which can be messy and once you have placed a piece it is very hard to change your mind afterwards, the process they describe does not seem to offer anything that my process does not and seems to be less efficient.

I am always open to trying out new methods of working in the hope of improved efficiency and success. I have printed, cut and stuck and I must say I have realised a couple of things, cutting and sticking printed image leaves you with a lot of mess, wasted paper and ink transfers to your hands and smudges across the paper when you are trying to stick it down, so ultimately in the future I will continue with my previous digital process unless the content required cannot be sourced digitally in which case I will cut and stick with the best of them.

Days Out

Over the past couple of weeks I have had two family days out that I believe will be of great use to me in my project.

I had a nice trip to three of Hulls local museums; I visited the Hull and East Riding museum, the Streetlife Museum and Wilberforce House. None of these museums had any exhibits or information that is directly of use within my project but it was interesting to look at the different ways in which each museum and sometimes each exhibit tried to communicate their information to their public audience. I was particularly interested by the interactive exhibits like the touch screens used at Wilberforce House as they fit a theme that I seem to have adopted within my project research and development

” Views of the past in a modern way”

The use of technology in its many forms as a tool to tell a story of the past is fascinating to me as people usually seem to think of new technology as a step into an uncertain but amazing future but technology can also help us to look backwards and show not only where we’re going to but where we’re coming from.

The actual exhibits were not relevant to the same subject or time period but I still could look at the way in which the design of the interfaces matched the topics they were displaying or not as it appeared in some cases. Overall my trip to the museums of Hull did not provide me with anything that I did not already know but it was a useful experience all the same. Sometime in the future I hope to visit the recently opened Hull History Centre as I hope to find useful information for my project.

I also had an interesting day with my family in London, I attempted to borrow an Iphone in the hope of being able to test the Street Museum application, unfortunately it seems that my Iphone using friends cannot bare to be separated from their devices for a day and thus not unexpectedly I could not procure an Iphone and I was unable to see the app working.

My technological woes did not end there though, I attempted to use the only augmented reality app currently available for my own handset, Nokia’s Point and Find application. I have attempted use this app in Hull but I have not been able to find any local info so I hoped London would be a more fruitful testing ground, the app seemed unable to configure the GPS coordinates so it would not work, I tried my devices GPS within another app and it seemed to be working fine so it seems I was destined to failure with my app testing that day.

The day was not entirely useless though as I was surprised at how many older buildings still stand tall in London considering that as a city it was bombed more than Hull, I have been to London before but never compared the loss of architectural heritage to that of my own city. This confirmed to me the loss my home city had suffered and the need for my application.

Target Audience

Establishing a target audience for my project is not easy, the audience are the users of your product and I hope to have a wide and varied audience.

For my application my target audience will need to be able use my product and by that I mean have the right mobile device.

Different mobile platforms cannot run the same applications so my target audience will be owners of android mobile devices. A wider audience could have been reached by developing my application for Apple’s Iphone as that is currently the leading mobile device on the market, however 7 of the top smart phones in the world run on the android platform.

AdMob Mobile Metrics, May 2010

It is frustrating that some of the best apps only seem to be available for the Iphone but the new functionality on the android platform makes this a perfect time to create something specifically for android users.

My application is also specific to my local area the city of Kingston Upon Hull as the content is based around aspects of the city itself, so my target audience will be people living in or visiting Kingston Upon Hull.

The genre of my application is suited towards people with an interest in local heritage and history; I will target local heritage groups with my advertising.

I do not wish to limit my target audience to those with a current interest in its subject, I also hope to educate and inform other local people from the ages of 16 – 100 years old, in particular the lower end of the age bracket 16 – 25 year olds where there is a good chance the information my application delivers will most likely be fresh.

The opportunity to try and deliver your message to the desired reciprocates has not always been available but with the technology currently available I believe I have a great chance of delivering my message.

PROJECT GOALS

To establish my goals for this project I mind mapped my goals splitting them into three specific categories.

Personal Goals

Professional Goals

Commercial Goals

These are the things I hope to achieve during the production of my application:

Personal Goals

On a personal level I hope to develop my design skills in general, as this is a good opportunity for me to put into practice some of the skills I have learnt during my time at university and to try out new methods that I have learnt through my own individual research.

I particularly want to learn the principles and best practices of 3D design as I believe this will be a useful skill in my future development and working practice.

I hope to complete this project to prove to myself that I can, I was unable to finish my previous mobile application within the timescale and I hope to improve upon that this time.

My project’s rationale is to provide information about Hull’s heritage and I personally hope that I can educate or at least inform one person with my application.

The ultimate aim for my project is to produce an assignment worthy of getting the best possible grade available to me.

Professional Goals

I hope to create a usable, desirable product that interests and informs its potential users.

During this project I hope to develop and display my knowledge, abilities and working practices. I hope show that I have skills that may be desirable to potential employers, whether it is my technical prowess or my attitude and ethics as this will be a good opportunity to display my professional qualities.

Commercial Goals

I will market my application in order to create interest in my product but my commercial goals revolve around marketing myself rather than my application.

I intend to distribute my application as a service for local people with an interest in Hull’s heritage and as an information product. I do not wish to receive any financial reward from this project directly.

The real commercial assets that I hope to promote within this project are my design skills and ethics. A successful project will help me to market myself as an employable asset, or as a potential freelance operative with skills that may be of use for relevant companies or individuals in their future endeavors.

Naming My Application

I did not have a clear idea for a name for my application so I decided to try mind mapping words to give me more options and inspiration.

View mind map below

I chose words from my mind map that I liked and developed them further by a similar process to mind mapping but this time I also added emotional feelings towards words in order to try and analyse them

View development below

After the previous parts of the process I came up with four combinations of the words that I felt could be appropriate and then analysed them as combinations in order to make a decision.

View combinations below

I have finally settled on a name that I feel is appropriate, the name I have chosen feels right to me on all levels, it is simple, it describes where the application is relevant to and indicates the apps genre and purpose, so my application will be called:

Hull History Viewer