Week 3
Week of Feb. 15th
This week we worked on designing and creating an interactive prototype that would convey our idea more concretely to the client. We had another brainstorming session, worked on storyboards and finally a mockup prototype that could be interacted with.
Our idea was to have the HistoryMakers appear as stars in the sky, so constellations could be formed between those that shared specific connections, such as their favorite color. This seemed like a good theme because it had universal appeal. The selection of available stars was personalized based on a quick emoji quiz the user would take before entering the experience.
The client reacted very negatively to the theme because it was not as universal as we had thought it was. Namely, it was actively not related to the African American community. We did not have time to specifically discuss the design separate from the visuals, but this was a good lesson in how to communicate effectively with the client.
Besides realizing we needed to improve our client communication, we also realized we needed to do more cultural research to understand the African American community more, so that we could present the HistoryMakers interviews in a respectful, meaningful way, while keeping it universally appealing.
Our next steps are to present our current situation and challenges at the quarters feedback session, where faculty will cycle through all the project groups and offer advice and criticism. We also need to create a more concrete plan for the rest of the semester, and ramp up in production intensity, since it has become clear that many prototypes will be required to satisfy client preferences and properly address user needs.