#environmentsprojectone

[albert-does-e]

Heroes of CMU - A1 Reflection

The first project taught me a lot about how to approach creating an interface for a specific user and purpose. The first wireframes where I tried to show the current PACMU app demonstrated a new way of thinking that I usually didn’t do in other projects or classes. I created those wireframes while constantly thinking about not what I was thinking while using the app, but why I was doing whatever I was doing. For example, it might be just me but whenever I come across Google Maps, I almost immediately try to go into street view just to see what it’s like in first person. Understanding how I (and other users of the app) think was a major step forward in trying to figure out how I could go about improving the app.

I learned how to use wireframes to convey my ideas, but I’m still working on how to have enough depth to them that the story can be told clearly, yet not have too many paths or stories going on at the same time. In the beginning, I really struggled with how to do wireframes and make them understandable to not only myself, but other people as well. I’m more comfortable with wireframing after making drafts of the PACMU app, but there’s still a lot about it I have to work on, such as level of fidelity and annotating in a clear and concise matter.

I felt more comfortable with storyboarding than I did with wireframing, since it felt more based on reality than hypothetically speaking. I wish I took more photos of actual interaction of the app in my storyboard, because most of my photos were just the user having the app open and not really giving the illusion that it’s been used. I also aim to have a larger variety of photos in terms of app interactions and demonstrations, as I felt that a lot of my storyboard photos followed the same formula of the user just walking with the app.

Overall, the project was a bit of a struggle for me to get the hang of, since I got frustrated with my early wireframes and wasn’t that interested in the PACMU app. It wasn’t until I switched my focus to taking an aspect of my PACMU redesign and turning it into an interactive game that I started to have fun with the project. I think that this sort of helped me figure out what I’m interested in creating, but I’m still keeping my options open as to what I’d like to work on in the future. I’ve ultimately learned that I should really be interested in what I’m working on so I don’t want to get it over with as soon as possible.

For future projects, I’ll definitely tell myself to keep my thoughts more organized. I had a lot of different ideas going on during this project, but I don’t think I thought outside the box for a lot of them. Austin said that since we’re still in school, we’re able to make mistakes and do unexpected things, so I hope that I’ll be able to take that advice and apply it to future projects. Though I had a hard time with the project as a whole, I’m happy I got to experience wireframing and basic visual interface development for the first time.