Project Three Process Post #7

Hello there!

Since I've been home for break, I've made quite a bit of progress on my project. I've finished all my screens, did some user testing, made two storyboards, and did a little bit of filming as well.

Here are the two storyboard ideas I have for the video:

I'm planning on doing three 30 second videos to show each of the the different types of games you can play: trace, unscramble, and spell. The trace and unscramble will be one player, and then the spell will be two player. So each of these will start off a little differently depending on the scenario. But all three of them will either start off with text/typography or zoomed in stock photos (shown in my storyboards) to set up the scene.


Here is documentation of the user testing (my parents' printer wasn't working, so we had to do this on the computer):

After doing the user testing, my user brought to my attention that there was no way to return to the previous screen. DUH, how did I not think of that? So after getting her feedback, I added a back arrow to all the screens so you can always go back a screen if you need to during the process. Other than that, she navigated through the screens really smoothly!

I bought a white ball to use as the Sphero during the video (too poor to afford an actual sphero), and I think I have it all figured out how to make it move the way I want during the video. I attached fishing line through the ball, and I'm planning on rolling it by pulling on the string. Hopefully, I can have the video zoomed out far enough that you can't see the fishing line. I'll also turn up the brightness on the video too, so that it's harder to see the string. I started the filming the movements of the ball too.

Project Three Process Post #6

Hello again, friends!

I made some mood boards over the weekend to explore some design directions to go in for this project. Here's what I ended up with:

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After talking it over in class today and playing around on my own, I definitely think the first option fits my subject matter the best. The second option is fun, but the first uses a more idealized typeface for those learning to read and write. The second option also seemed to have a lot more room to explore and extend design-wise when I played around with it on my own.

I decided on the name "sphell" because it's a combination of the two most important aspects of the game: spelling and the sphero. I think it has a fun ring to it, and it'll stick!

I went ahead and got a head start before Thanksgiving, and here are some screenshots of a few screens I made. I would show them all, but it would get pretty repetitive. 

These are in order:

 

Project Three Process Post #5

Hey again!

I revised my app and made some wireframes for screens. Here they are:

zoomed out, wow lots of screens!

First two screens, the stacks are separated into different types
of words. For example, long a/e words or words that start with sh.

First game: trace letters and watch the sphero move along with your finger. The top is for one player the bottom is for two.

The second game: unscramble letters using the sphero to select and drag letters around. Top: 1 player, Bottom: 2 players

The third game: spelling the words using the sphero like a marker on the floor. Top: 1 player, Bottom: 2 players

Project Three Process Post #4

Hello there!

So, as I talked about in my previous post, here are my three revised storyboards using my new device in three different environments:

After discussing these in class today, I think I have a few ideas on how to revise them. 

-I plan on creating stacks, or genres, to organize many different types of words. 

-I want to make different levels, so that it isn't too easy or too hard for Astrid

-I also plan on creating other ways to learn spelling, instead of just tracing

-I also need to work out the kinks in the process between one player and two players

Project Three Process Post #3

Hello again!

So I've updated my storyboards. This time, I added some sort of device or "thing" that brings the story to a solution, and it satisfies the mother's worries of spelling.


From there, I added this function into 5 of the storyboards that I had from last class:

The three storyboards that I'm going to continue with for the weekend are the following: the last one, the 2nd one, and the 3rd one.

I researched technology quite a bit, and  I see a lot of possibilities and potential in the sphero interactive rolling ball toy. I think there's a lot of things I could do with that spelling wise, and it seems that it would be great for kids! I'm excited to get the ball rolling and see what I come up with (lol see what I did there?) I'm going to revise those three storyboards using the sphero ball toy for next class.


So after thinking on the idea of the Spero, I think I have an idea that I want to carry through to the wireframes/storboards over the weekend. So what I'm thinking I'll do is design an app that goes with the Sphero. This app will be a spelling game. You will login to your account, and from there you can either play alone, play with one other person, and practice spelling words that you put into your journal.

Playing Alone: 
-So what you do is say the word into the device, the device will then pop up the letters that go along with that word. Here is how it would go,

1) I would say the word Cat into the device
2) The device would register the word, and then the letter C would pop up.
3) From there, I would trace the letter C and the sphero would move along with my hand as I trace the letter on the device's screen
4) I would continue to trace the letters until the word was completed, and then I would trace the entire word together with all of the letters.
5) From there I can either add that word to my journal of words, or continue playing with a new word.

Playing with one other person:
1) The person holding the device would say the Cat into the device
2) The device would register the word, and then the letter C would pop up.
3) From there, the person would trace the letter C and the sphero would move along with their hand as they trace the letter on the device's screen
4) The other player, would then try to guess what letter the sphero is making
5) The process would continue until the entire word is made

Opening up your journal:
-After doing all these words, you can record these words in your journal and revisit them whenever you would like.
-So I could open up the app again in two hours, and practice the word cat over and over again, since I put it in my journal.


The reason I want to go with the idea of tracing is because after researching good ways to practice spelling, a lot of it was just spelling words over and over again to really get that in your memory. Of course, making it fun (with the sphero) will make the experience the act of tracing even more memorable, and hopefully that helps these experiences stick kids even better. This is just a fun way to practice spelling words, and I think it's more effective than simply practicing words on a sheet of paper.

I think I'm going to do wireframes/storyboards of these three different ways to maneuver around the app for next class. I'm very open to suggestions of new things, ideas, anything!

Project Three Process Post #2

Hello there!


So over the weekend, we were asked to make 10 storyboards about the child's life that we chose. After going through this, I definitely feel like I have a good idea of what an average day in Astrid's life is like. Here are my storyboards (hope you enjoy my lovely drawings):

I also decided to make two extra storyboards for the mom, Lauren. I think understanding an average day in her life is also an important aspect to the project. So here are the two that I came up with:

Project Three Process Post #1

Hello there!

So, project three has begun! For the beginning of this project, we were asked to read user profiles as well as an article. I took notes for each of those things.

User Profiles:

Psychological Sense of Community Notes:

After reading about all the user profiles, we were asked to make mind maps about one specific user profile. I found Astrid and her mom, Lauren, to be the most interesting. I just thought there was a lot to work with because of the way both Astrid and Lauren answered the questions. Astrid seems like an interesting kid, and there seems to be a lot of possibilities within her user profile. I also saw a little bit of myself in Astrid, which really drew me to her immediately. I used to love American Girl Dolls, and I'm still to this day terrified of storms! I was drawn to Astrid from the beginning. 

I made mind maps of people, places, activities, and objects that are all in relation to Astrid. I also made a mind map for Lauren, Astrid's mother, to get out everything I knew about her onto paper, just in case that might help me later on.