Interactive Product
Brief
Design an interactive product for either fictional or real worls use. The product should be suitable as a prototype for either a mobile, DVD/Interactive TV platform or as a kiosk piece.My Idea
I have decided to make the screen interface for an onsite touch screen interactive tourist information kiosk. The kiosk would be situated at a site of local/tourist interest providing information to interested parties 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
My Research
I have looked at touch screen technologies from basic versions through to multi touch technologies that are currently starting to become available on the consumer market. I have also looked at touch screen tills and kiosks to try and pick up some ideas for use in my project.
I have also researched historical information relevant to the subject my kiosk will be providing information on.
My Project
The onsite tourist information kiosk that I am designing will be situated at the Wilberforce Monument outside the Hull College building.
The branding of the product was something that I considered at a very early stage I chose the name
Info Mate
As it relates to the words information which is the products purpose and the word mate is used as a reference to the product being friendly and welcoming.
I placed the product brand name at the top of screen to make it noticeable while keeping it grey although a different shade to the background keeps it understated.
I started my project by looking at various font types and colour combinations, I decided to use Verdana as my font type as it is widely used around the world and it displays well on screens here is a link to a site I used when making my decision.
http://www.will-harris.com/verdana-georgia.htm
When designing the background for the interface I wanted it to be understated so as not to take the viewer’s attention away from the information they were trying to view. I decided to use different shades of the colour grey in the background with combinations of waved and straight edges to make it understated but still visually attractive.
The navigation buttons were a very important part in my consideration process for this product, I decide to use large square shaped buttons for ease of use, the rounded edges and thick outline help to give them a button style look making them stand out and the size of the buttons is quite large as this will be a touch screen product. The colour of the navigation buttons was also an important consideration I used the colour green as it is widely recognised as an indication to proceed. I used a lighter and brighter green on the next page button to try and entice the user to always go forward with the product but at the same time with the back button been green also there is still the option and indication that they may proceed in that direction as well. I also used triangles pointing from the sides of each button to show the user a direction of travel to convey the message they can move forwards or backwards. I also used text as part of my navigation to give a written indication of the action the button would take when pressed.
Below are some websites I viewed to help me with my decision process
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/green.htm
http://drawsketch.about.com/cs/tipsandideas/p/doodle_arrow.htm
I also added 3 national flags to show that this product would be capable of providing information to a number of nationalities. I chose Portuguese and Spanish as I have a friend who hopefully will be able to translate some of the information for me.
Project Review
I am very happy with the final piece of work that I have produced. At the start of this project I was worried that my limited knowledge of Adobe Flash (The Programe Used To Create The Interface) would make it hard for me to complete the task, I managed to create the interface with relatively few problems. I enjoyed the research about the Wilberforce Monument particularly as it give me an in depth look at a local historical artefact that I have seen ever since I was a child and I have never really known much about.
If I had more knowledge of not only the software I used but knowledge of other software and hardware available there are some other features I would have liked to integrate into the info mate product. A audible description in all featured languages added to the visual information provided on the screen would improve the product. I also would have liked to offer an option to transfer information on the product, the site and GPS location of other Info Mate sites through some sort of wireless technology i.e. Bluetooth, or touch screen device information transfer (watch this clip) to the users personal mobile device.