Peer and Stakeholder Feedback… and Some Final Touchups: Workshop Challenge
We just had the final crit session for this module, where we presented our projects for this second brief of the module, to each other and to John Stack, the Digital Strategist of the Science Museum, which is the key stakeholder in this project.
Peer and Lecturer Feedback
Starting off with the peer and lecturer feedback, at first I thought that I went completely off-track with the project, as I was asked what sort of feedback am I searching, but thankfully the pause was relatively short. The feedback I was looking for was more of a general nature, meaning that I wanted to see if the app was indeed engaging as I believed it was, and hopefully whether this sort of project was something the Science Museum would invest in. After that brief pause, the main feedback was positive. I totally agree with the lecturer and the peers, I should work for on some of the functionalities of the app, not in terms of prototyping, but rather on different ideas on which they can be implemented. Following up on this feedback, I have come to realise that I may have dedicated a lot of time in making the app look like an MVP as much as possible. That being said, I am still happy with the result so far, although I should spend a bit more time with adding more functionalities in the app and possibly work on some more captivating visuals for the final presentation.
Everyone seemed to like the Great Eight spinning wheel. I was very happy that they did. It was one of the very first ideas, yet I did not know how I was going to implement it and what kind of options was I going to include. In addition to that, overall, everyone liked the layout design of the app, which is a good sign. Some of the comments included that of considering a different typeface or else change the text case to reflect more the Science Museum’s Brand. Surprisingly, people liked the colour scheme too. I was quite concerned about it. Very often I tend to overlook colours till the very last minute, thinking that deciding on colours should not take me that long, and more often than not, I end up spending a whole day deciding on a swatch.
Another particular point that was arisen in the crit was data protection issues. I was not intending to take any particular data, however, I wanted the user to include the name, age and also choose a few images from a selection in order for the app to generate relevant content according to the user’s tastes. According to the lecturer (and also by Stack), the use of these data inputs and selections should be clearer in the beginning of the app for the users’ peace of mind.
Stakeholder Feedback
John Stack’s feedback was similar to what the lecturer and peers had to say. His suggestions were very constructive and definitely something that I would have looked at if I had more time to produce a better more functional app.
Making better use of the phone as a physical device was also an idea that I have not thought off. I was focused on the UI of the app to the point where I probably did not give myself time to explore further ideas. Once again, the concern of not making it to the finish line with a ‘presentable’ product go the best of me. Stack suggested that I can also incorporate audio inputs – like voice search or “sound” search. As an idea it sounds interesting, although coming to think of it, this last part, a separate project should take place – that of reviewing the archive catalog and linking it to audio search ‘keywords’. Beside the sound search, he also mentioned gesture actions, like shaking the phone to generate content and the popular ‘pinch to zoom’. That is something that I would like to include in fact.
Personalisation was something that was also discussed. My idea for the app is in fact to be personalised for the users’ tastes, although I should probably make it more evident. The idea of ‘my’ – ‘my phone’, ‘my app’, ‘my stuff’ – is really a thing. People are really hooked up to their devices, so I should definitely tap into that sector.
The Way Ahead…
As the last week of the module approaches, I will be focusing on the final touches of the project and also devise a way of presenting it adequately. That said, I will be including a ‘future plans’ section as part of the project reflection in the presentation. I would like to include some of the suggestions discussed in the last crit session, or at least have a ‘plan-of-action; on how such ideas can be implemented should this project be developed further. This was one intense module indeed. I enjoyed working on this project looking back. I was finding it stressful in the beginning simply because I did not know where to begin, but it was worth the time. As an eight-week project, it definitely kept me busy.
