Category Archives: Design

Bittersweet, Like an Apple Removed from My Heart

So guess what? This is it. It’s a bittersweet moment as I sit here typing out my final blog post. I had so many goals and aspirations to achieve this semester and reached some while never thinking twice about some others. Then there are the goals that I achieved without intending to. You may be wondering what some of those goals are, but I’ve decided to not tell you. If you’re reading this, then let me tell you that you have been blessed with a magnificent brain that can come up with ideas that I could never dream of—don’t let me hold you back.

 

There is one thing that I learned this semester that I really think you should keep in mind. It’s all about people.

All of this. School, technology, families, the postal service, all of our communities, everything. Don’t take people for granted, but in turn, don’t take yourself for granted either. You’ve fought half the battle by just taking the moment to read this. It proves that you not only want to, but can do it. If you’re having this read to you, guess what, you still can.

 

After school special aside, this has been a great semester. It’s one of the first courses where I felt like whatever I put in I got in return. I definitely appreciated that it was taught and attended by university administrators–not to have an outlet to vent, but it was encouraging to see that the people behind so many emails care about improving the school and are motivated to do it with students in mind.

As you should know by now if you’ve been keeping up with this blog and course, we had iPads all semester. Needless to say that all my plots to keep mine have been thwarted by that nifty ID number on the back. Oh well. I must say that I don’t know if this semester could have been possible without them. They established a baseline technology that we could implement in whichever ways we saw fit to be successful in school. I frequently caught myself panicking if I left my iPad at home (moreso than if I left my phone). It has been everything this semester–never leaving my side. It took some getting used to, but wasn’t unbearable, and since it was new, it forced me to begin thinking out of the box in general. In essence, it was disruptive. Knowing that I would be giving the iPad back, I can speak honestly and say that I failed and didn’t push it as far as I could. As a broke college kid, I refused to spend money on it. If I had brought my own, or purchased it in the beginning, I think my selection of apps and utilities would have been much more in depth (would have had an external keyboard too). Do I think iPads should be implemented in education? Definitely. Will something new need to be added eventually? Definitely. Is that okay and natural? Definitely.

 

I bid you adieu, and may the dreams of a back button forever rest with you, my dear Future People.

Technically Yours,

Richard.

Closing Remarks Chris W.

This class has been a great experience. Coming into this class I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Honestly, I enrolled in the class because I heard we’d get to use an iPad for a semester. While the iPad was nice, I’d say the best thing about this class were the excellent discussion we had in class and how fluid the syllabus was. This class has really opened my eyes to the subtle complexities of community development and really helped me define who I am as a person. The guest we had in class pushed me to do what I want in life (which is to work in the gaming industry). The last section, Design, helped me take a new approach to the creative process that I will definitely use later on in life.

This class has shown me a few apps that I really enjoyed using. In no particular order SwiftKey, Adaptxt, Evernote, and POP.

Adaptxt: If you want swept functionality on your iOS device I would definitely recommend this app. The user interface is clean and is very responsive.
SwiftKey: This is another third party keyboard that has the swipe functionality. From my experience sometimes the keyboard wouldn’t appear and you’d have to tap on the lobe icon more than once. Otherwise it is a great app to use.

Evernote: This app is a powerhouse! From presentations to website layouts Evernote can do it all!

POP: In the design section of the course both teams used this to make the layout of our apps which were our a part of our Final Synthesis.

Lastly, the iPad was really useful this entire semester. Slowly substituted paper with the iPad and it became an integral part of my day to day. This device is useful beyond belief and after this semester is over I will seriously consider buying one for myself.

Cheers to a great semester!

Week 13: Time to Decide on Design

This week I want to give you ample time to complete your research and start actually prototyping a couple key interactions within your proposed app. We will start with you sharing the results of last week’s Team Post assignment. Let’s discuss what you have learned so far from your research and what has been effective.

Start with a peek at something I’ve been working on.

Brainstorming

We need to start with learning how to appropriately brainstorm … let’s do something together to illustrate how to best construct opportunities to arrive at ideas together.

Now it is your turn, I want you to brainstorm a set of scenarios or case studies that you can use as the basis to develop set of prototype interactions within your app. Work together to imagine:

  • A set of scenarios (3-5) where your app would be the tool people would use to solve their problem
  • How the app would be used in those scenarios by creating a work flow, a diagram, a process map, or other visual ways of articulating how the app addresses your audiences’ challenges
  • Create a set of opportunity areas to focus on within the scenarios — the team should construct a series of “How Might We …” statements to address the challenges illustrated in the frameworks from the previous step
    Spend time brainstorming each opportunity area …
  • Decide if your app truly does overcome the problems that people are trying to solve with your app
  • Choose at least two scenarios to prototype

Begin to Design your Interactions

Paper prototyping is a great way to do this … let’s explore some options. Here is a fantastic PDF template of the iPad you are designing for available for free to print (I even printed some for you). Here is an app that automates your paper prototypes — and it works perfectly with the template I just linked to.

Out of Class

  • Watch the Paper Prototyping course on Lynda.com.
  • Come to class next week with your interactions ready to paper prototype … it is a good idea to play with some of the tools we looked at.
  • Bring your iPad paper templates to class with some ideas sketched out.
  • Start working on your final synthesis — due in two weeks!
  • Remember you can now start doing your class evaluation.

Right Shark's CritQue

Design a mobile app that supports peer critiquing using gamification elements.

No change
Our approach to our design challenge is constantly evolving while the challenge remains the same.

After discussion with students some of their concerns were:
1: How to stop possible plagiarism?
2: What are the specific perks of being a Master in a category?
3: They felt feedback on prose is done better in person.

 

We sent out surveys and conducted group interviews with the population we are looking to connect with.
Stats from survey coming soon…

iPad – Shady – Week 12

In the theme of design, this week I had to be a companion at the hospital.  While I was there, I saw nurses scooting around computers on wheels.  The entire setup must cost thousands; big frames, bumpers, wiring, batteries, monitor cradle, etc.  The nurse goes from room to room asking patients a series of questions before surgery, and she clicks the appropriate boxes.

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Being in the field of IT, this interests me, and now, having been exposed to an iPad, I couldn’t help but thinking, how much easier would it be for this nurse to carry an iPad mini on her pocket.  The same software could be setup as an iOS app.  A fraction of the cost, and a simpler tool to carry.

 

 

Weekly iPad Reflection Chris W

After almost a full semester of occupying the iPad, I don’t know how I am going to live without this thing.  All my assignments and a majority of my internet browsing are done using the iPad.

Stony brook University uses a website called Blackboard to distribute assignments, post grades and weekly reminders, and have the students interact with one another. I navigate blackboard exclusively form my iPad. The layout is nicer. The design is nicer. Everything is nicer on the app end of Blackboard.

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Web version of Blackboard

imageApp version of Blackboard

The main difference between the two is the active panel the app version has. It is easy to navigate the different tabs as well as see exactly where you are.

Week 12: Design Challenges and Research

We may have a visitor in class this week … Eric Kunz, developer of LiveBlend.

I’m impressed by your Design Challenges and how far you’ve come in a week. Let’s review:

Slides for today are here. Let’s start by writing your Design Challenges back on the board. Using your sticky notes expand a bit on the things you know and don’t know and update your team’s post from last week.

I will ask you to work through your research questions and methods to be ready to come to class next week to start thinking about creating your app experience.

  • Read pages 79-109 of the Design Kit
  • iPad Reflection: Due 5 PM on 4/2/2015
  • Team Post … see instructions below: Due 10 PM on 4/22/2015

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Too Disruptive Design Challenge for InteGreat App

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Too Disruptive Design Challenge:
How can we create an engaging social media platform / campaign called InteGreat, which will promote cross cultural events and activities at Stony Brook that encourage the diverse community at the university to develop an easy appreciation of, and deep respect for cultural differences within the community?

We are convinced that through social interaction, people from different socioeconomic backgrounds can get to know each other and at the same time participate in a nationwide movement to increase awareness that communities across America need to engage in activities that improve race relations.

We decided to focus on this app after discussing the pros and cons of the other app ideas put forward by:
Richard – Educational App to replace Blackboard
Katherine – App to airdrop notes to other students in close proximity
Chris – Task manager app that allows delegation and progress reports

One reason we decided on InteGreat was that the other three apps have certain areas that overlap, but we could not figure out how to combine these common features to create a compelling design challenge phrase. InteGreat seems like the most feasible app to create, and it has practical applications that are needed in the SBU community and in American society on a large scale.

Regarding INTEGRATION at Stony Brook, this is what we think we know:
SBU is an extremely diverse campus (but not necessarily integrated).
The diversity extends beyond each category into tons of sub-categories.
Students at SBU come from a wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds:
– Variety of ethnicities – the percentage of each ethnicity that attends SBU.
– Variety of countries.
– Variety of places within those countries.
There are dozens of USG-funded clubs / groups based on religion, origin, interests, music, sports, art, academic areas, gender issues, politics, etc.
Number of members and funding that each club has and which clubs are most popular.
Integration is different than inclusion.

Here’s what we DON’T KNOW:
What efforts to increase integration at SBU already exist?
Do students, teachers, staff at SBU perceive a problem with integration?
What is Student Activities doing? Office of Cross Cultural Affairs? Study Abroad? International Students Services? Faculty? Advising (undergrad. colleges, ATAS, Honors, WISE, Scholars, Athletes)?
Are certain academic departments more aware of the state of the integration situation? Sociology? African Studies? Philosophy? History? Etc?
What is EOP doing (Educational Opportunity Program)?
What events have gone on in the last year at SBU to promote improve race relations?
What events are planned?
Have these events had an impact on individuals/communities and their integration within the community?
What is the general feeling of the SBU population to how different groups interact and work together?
What is the actual turnout from these events and is there any follow-up built into these types of meetings?
Do people want to break out of their shells and meet others?
Is the problem segregation or exclusion? These are two very different, but somewhat related terms.

This discussion and brainstorming is guiding us as we develop specific research questions, goals, and methodology.