Initiate Implementation

It's a bit late in the semester for me to be working on this... I originally had this blog entry first typed up on the 6th, but finals week took over and I never got to finish it.

IF I had the time to implement my app, going along with my When in the World app, I'd probably use Wikipedia to get facts. Although I was thinking about narrowing it down to Disney facts -- since I'm such a big Disney buff and former employee of the company. It would narrow down information by A LOT. But then I think I would run into copyright infringement problems or something, not that any of it is intentional. Another concern could be how/where to gather facts and would there be enough for every single day of the year. Would it only be movies? Or include the parks? etc. etc.

Then I would first figure out the basic layout of the app the first week. It's probably going to have 4 (or 5? 4.5?) basic screens

• General fact screen
• Change Date screen
• Only movie/studio fact screen
• Only park fact screen
• Share screen (or pop up)

Week two would consist of creating graphics for those screens. 

Week three and four would be gathering information. (as much as I could)

Five would be testing while week six would be correcting and tweaking final touches.

Again I actually don't have this time, so everything here is hypothetical.

Have another Heuristic

Looks like we're reviewing prototypes once again via Heuristic Evaluation and Severity Ratings just like Week 7 and Week 5.

Since I'm still a Designer, I'll be reviewing another Programmer's Balsamiq and this week I've chosen Jeff's. (7:58)

Aesthetic and minimalist design (I meant that instead of  Flexibility and efficiency of use in the video)

• Streamlining by eliminating extra functions that seem redundant such as keeping Requests under Friends, Trades under Marketplace, and Chat under Inbox. (Severity Rating: 1.5)

Match between system and the real world

•  I like that it's similar to what a previous version of Facebook looks like, so it's familiar and makes navigation easier. (Severity Rating: 0)

Consistency and standards

• Not really sure what the search bar is for in the profile unless it's ultimately for searching for specific shoes within the profile or the same search for the Marketplace? (Severity Rating: 2) 

User Control and Freedom

• Inbox needs a New Message, assuming right now the only way to start a new message is exiting out of the Inbox then going into the Friends list/Marketplace to get contact information then send a message. (Severity Rating: 3)

Particular Patterns

The first part of this week's assignment was to blog about patterns found in 4ourth.com's article on Composition for Mobile designs.

Advertising

 

On the left is a screenshot of an ad that popped up after the initial "PANDORA" screen during the start up of the app. The screenshot on the right is an ad that popped up during use-time of the app.  In order for the company to provide free music for their listeners, it heavily relies on advertising to fund their services (along with the Pandora One service that eliminates ads by asking users to pay every so often to use their product).

Not every app has an obnoxiously large ad space. Some rely on smaller banners or sponsored posts that end up in feeds. A few feature special add-ons that are based on/designed by the sponsor(s). Pandora also relies on audio and/or video ads they sprinkle throughout the use-time of their app (and website service).

Interstitial Screen

 

 

These are screenshots of the loading screen, the simpler name for "Intertsitial Screen", that pops up for the app LINE PLAY. The app itself is pretty memory heavy, so it usually needs the loading screen when starting up. This prevents the user from clicking anywhere else on the screen to stop the loading process... Well, save for the Home, Back, Options, and Search keys on an Android phone like my Droid 4. LINE PLAY also uses it as an opportunity to share tips on how to play the game, as shown in the screenshot on the right, and further social interactions between players in the game.