Week 12: Developing Ideas and Designs for Launch of Authorial Artefact
Reflect on the future steps that would be required to bring your ‘Shop’ prototype to life.
In order to bring the 'pocketbook' prototype to life. The key steps would needs to include refining content, designing multiple layouts or templates of pages, editing, sourcing cost of production materials and printing. The distribution of the book, will this book be sold online or in a book shop?
The marketing and a successful launch are essential. Paid social media advertising is an area I feel would benefit the promotion of the product greatly and tap in to the younger audience age gap of 18-21 years old. The age of individuals just starting out their careers.
The main focus will be on delivering valuable content in an engaging format that will effectively reach the target audience.
2. Outline any potential usability issues with your artefact, how could these be improved upon?
It is important to note that the initial version of the pocket notebook is a prototype. This booklet will be constantly evolving since we are living in a constantly developing world. What is relevant now may not be in a few years’ time.
Millan (2019) states that it is important to find out what the user thinks of the product. This seems obvious to me. Unless the user is asked for an opinion, change will not take place and as I want the pocketbook to be an essential tool for new graphic designers, I need to find out their opinions. Therefore, I will be asking the following questions:
What did they think of the booklet?
Is it user friendly?
What did they like or dislike about it?
Importantly, when should I ask these questions? Should this be something that I can ask after 6 months? I anticipate that someone new to graphic design will be able to get to grips with the common problems addressed in the booklet after doing a task a couple of times, so I think that 6 -8 months use will be sufficient time for the user to give good feedback. I need to think of who will initially use my prototype so that I can get feedback from one source at one time. Ideally, the booklet will be donated to a college, university or higher education establishment at the start of a course in order to get feedback at the end of the term.
The booklet will likely be updated every couple of years, but of course this is dependant on sales. Sales of the book will be a measure of success.
A design artifact should be a delightful experience for the user (Millan 2019). It should be pleasing to the eye.
Arango (2017) says that “artifacts are communication tools”. We need to be asking people what they need and know when to change things. This fits in with my plan to evaluate the booklet after 6-8 months.
It is common knowledge that the brain processes images better that text. Images are more pleasing to the eye (Masterclass 2023)
Fundamental aspects of visual design include the organisation of shape, colour, space, form, line value and texture (Masterclass 2023).
I think my booklet has may elements essential to good design. It is colourful, simple to use, makes good use of images. However, the book has to stand up to frequent use. The outer covers might be prone to damage and tearing. Perhaps they should be coated in plastic? I initially decided to remove the tabs from my booklet but on second thoughts it might be worthwhile keeping them is so that sections can be sought easily. If this is the case, then these will also need to be coated in plastic for durability. The binding has given me a lot of thought. I think a wire ring binder will be too flimsy and tear the pages so it will need to be properly heat bound. All of these changes will ensure that the booklet is more user friendly, and the user will not end up with a load of torn pages.
Text size has to be readable therefore I need to make sure that pages are not swamped with text that is difficult on the eye.
References:
• Millan L (2019) Four UX design artifacts that will help you in design challenges. www.topcoder.com Accessed 16/08/2023@ 10.22
• Masterclass (2023) Understanding the 7 elements of design www.masterclass.com accessed 16/08/2023@ 13.36
