Device Final

Here is the link to my final version of the Device website:
http://myweb.students.wwu.edu/~jamese4/dsgn456/device/

Device ~ Logo Sketches

This post is a little late. These sketches were done a while ago before I created the page layout. I decided in the end to chose to create a cutout effect by having ‘device’ in a chunky font overlaid on top of an image. The image inside the word is chosen at random from an array of images to create interest.

Device ~ Usability Testing

I had my friend Kim take a look at my Device website and answer a few questions for me about it. Kim is a student at Western who generally spends around 2 hours a day on the internet. She said that the majority of her time on the internet was spent on gmail or facebook, but she also often uses google and has purchased items online before. She is also familiar with Western’s site, including myWestern and Blackboard. I have summarized our conversation below.

Q- What do you think this site is?

A- Design Department Newsletter. She saw it as a kind of extension to a school department. Basically, you learn a lot of information in classes, but she thought this website might have the kind of information that you can’t learn in a classroom environment. She mentioned the two featured articles, one being on ‘design for the public good’ and one about new technologies as two really good examples of this.

Q- What strikes you first?

A- The pictures. Curious about what they are of (many of them are close ups) but in a good way.

Q- What do you want to do first?

A- She always checks to see what is clickable on a site. She noticed immediately that the header was clickable and that clicking on it would load a different background picture, which she thought was cool. Also noticed that the Upcoming Events box was not clickable, which would be something I would want to fix.
The first page she went to was the forum page. She understood immediately what ‘forum’ means in the context of a website. As a side note, when I showed this site to my mom earlier in the day, she completely ignored the forum link and was much more interested in the news articles. Kim asked who was allowed to post on this forum, was it only open to design students? Unfortunately at this stage, my forum page has filler text where I plan on having a short blurb about how the forum works, but this is definitely something I would need to consider adding to that explanation.
Once Kim was done checking out the forum page, she was delighted to find a visible link back home. She later explained that she hates the back button and tries to use it as little as possible.

Q- Ok, now that you are back home, I want you to pretend like you have been to this site before, and a few months ago you saw a story that you really liked. How would you go about trying to find this article?

A- She paused for a minute before clicking on the News link. She said that articles seemed to be located here, so this might be a good place to start. When she got onto the news page, she paused for another minute, then noticed the archive links in the lower right hand corner. She told me she had not seen these the first time, but that is where she would probably look for an old article. She also noticed the search bar and said that she might try that as well.

I’m also posting a link to a ScreenToaster video that captures the computer screen as Kim was being asked these questions:
http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stV09dR0VIR1xZRV9bWF5dU1JX/device_usability_test

Overall, Kim seemed to easily navigate the site. She appreciated the photography and the easy to find link home. If I were to make edits to the site, I would make more of the items on the page directly clickable (many things are inactive because they simply do not go anywhere) and provide a more detailed forum page that included instructions and a login feature.

Device ~ Refinement

Device ~ Layout Option 3

Device ~ Layout Option 2

Device ~ Layout Option 1

Device ~ Concept and Content

I see the Device newsletter from WWU’s Design Department as being a direct reflection of its name: it should be utilized as a tool. My goal in translating this annual newsletter into a website is to make it as useful and helpful as possible to students, staff, faculty, and alumni. My hope is that the Device website would be a place for people to gather to discover news, find industry and school events, and discuss and share information with each other. Considering that the department already has a website that neatly explains curriculum, advising, and faculty information (among other things), I will attempt to repeat this information as little as possible. I will instead focus on new information that students and staff might have difficultly finding otherwise, such as current news and events, and user interactivity and involvement.

My site will focus on three main areas: news, events, and a bulletin.

• The news section will include articles on current design trends, information about the design department, interviews with important people in the industry, and student/staff opinion pieces. It will also have a section that keeps up with WWU alumni updates and it will have an archive of past articles.
• The events sections will include an interactive calendar that is updated regularly with both on campus and off campus design related events. It will also include information about the AIGA student chapter.
• The bulletin will work sort of like the WWU forum in that it will allow users to post a new thread and add comments to other users’ threads. Students/staff will be able to utilize it to post job opportunities, images of their work, ask for help or advice, and add links to a ‘pool’ of graphic design resources and interesting websites.

The site’s homepage, as well as including these three sections, will also have a spot for a ‘feature story’ to be displayed. Somewhere on the page will be a section for standard site utilities (contact, about, login, search ect.)

Device ~ Wireframes

Device ~ Site Map