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Author Archives: kendelmcfarland

Augmented Reality App Proposal

By
March 25, 2013
Uncategorized

It’s safe to say no one likes waiting in lines at amusement parks. Whether it be opening day, middle of summer or the last weekend, there’s no avoiding the time wasted waiting in line for rides. So why not make an app that helps make the best of the park goer’s time?

The app I’d like to create would be based off of a few existing apps that
would then be applied to the amusement park experience. Like the Wikitude World
Browser app, my app would allow riders to pull up the app on their smart phone to
see things like line wait times, atm locations, connect with friends who may be in the
park using the person’s existing contacts, provide info on rides, menus, and check in
with facebook, twitter, and foursquare. Another component to the app would be
based off the “Bump” app, where riders could touch base with other users to share
their experience, then also connect with bump stations in line to learn about the ride
they’re waiting for, pick up games to play while waiting, and possibly even include
charging stations since the whole experience would be draining on the phone’s
battery. It would make the amusement park experience more exciting as most of
the day is spent waiting in line. I’d like to make this app unique in the fact that not
only can you be connected to other people but physically to the park itself.
The app will use the smart phone’s gps, camera, data and if available park
wifi to help save battery life and data usage. It would preform on the iOS platform and eventually Google Glasses and other devices suitable  for AR programs.  I’d like this app to be free and able to be used by any age group. Everyone should be able to navigate through the app to find the best way to make the most of wait time at amusement parks.

 

MAPUsers

 

Tumblr App Review

By
March 6, 2013
Project write up, student responces

Tumblr’s mobile app functions much in the same way that their site does, which is very specific and well known among Tumblr users. Tumblr makes use of a monochromatic color scheme, making all buttons, backgrounds and links a variation of blue. Navigation is simple as the app uses infinite scroll. Users can like or reblog from each photo with one tap or long press from the dashboard button. He or she can proceed to the previous poster’s blog from each post as well. Further navigation can be done from the nav bar at the base of the app. Users can sift through tags from the tag page, and see personal stats, reblogs and likes, and find users from the account page. To post he or she can press the new post button, and a menu is brought up where the user can choose from a text, photo, quote, link, chat or video post. To reload or refresh any page, all the user must do is swipe down from the top of the smart phone, or if they would like to return to the top of the queue, double tap the button for whichever page they are on. The app is aesthetically clean and relatively simple, which accents Tumblr’s ease of use. For a 4.5 star app as Tumblr is rated by 10,500 users, it is need of repair. Often glitch ridden, users are frequently frustrated with the app. The dashboard often freezes up, sending the user to the top of the page, which becomes frustrating with infinite scroll, as he or she is not able to get to the point that they previously left off. Gif’s do not load correctly often times, which in many cases causes the app to slow down, crash, and in the worst case lock up the screen, causing the user to restart their phone and waste battery life. In a scenario where the user frequents both the site and the app, he or she will notice that with increased use from Tumblr’s site, the app will fail to recognize any posts that have been reblogged or liked until the app has been completely shut down multiple times. Other common reviews show that users have issues with loading past the blue screen and slow scrolling. All of these issues are somewhat minor, and if resolved the app would attract more users to tumblr on both the site and app.

Week 1 – What is new media? Response

By
January 23, 2013
Disscussion, student responces

To knock things off lets first try to define what new media is and what is it we are designing for. Then introduce yourself by posting to the class blog, and describe how you currently view what new media is.

 

New media is the emergence of new technology combined and improved upon from past technology. Information is readily available at any moment, so designing for these interfaces must constantly be updated. Its hard to find any business or company that isn’t involved in some sort of social media site, has an app, blog, or commercial. In order to project the voice of a company, new media must be utilized to increase the reach of their message.

 

Questions from homework:

What are the goals of Apple’s website? How does Apple’s website address the needs of a user who has just purchased their first MacBook? (pp. 41-56)

Apple wants to leave a good impression on the customers that use their site. By keeping the home page navigation simple and to the point, even a first time user can find the right path to the content they wish to read. Apple tries to keep in mind the fact that not everyone who uses their site or products are as tech savvy as most people are.

What are the functional specifications of Facebook’s wall? If you are not on Facebook what are the specs for the signup page? (pp. 72-75)

From your facebook wall, you can post a status, photo, tell where you are, or add a life event to the timeline. Nothing can be published without hitting the post button, and even before that decide who can see the post.  The user has the option of tagging other members in photos before posting. All aspects of anything posted to Facebook are editable, and privacy is always an option with everything the user can post.

What are four architectural approaches to information structure? Find one example of each. (pp. 94-106)

A site with hierarchial structure has a main page where all other pages branch off of the homepage. Sites like netflix.com use this structure. Sites like modcloth.com that use the matrix structure allow for the user to navigate to other nodes from the one they are currently on, making it easier to find what they are searching for.  Organically structured sites like tumblr.com allow users to flow throughout content with seemingly no pattern. Sequential structures are one of the most familiar site patterns, allowing the user to read through the material as they would a book. Sites like issuu.com that allow the creation of sequentially ordered ebooks would be an example.

What percentage of The Huffington Post index page is navigation, and what percentage is content? What about Google, Wikipedia, and Etsy? (pp. 116-134)

Most of the huffington post index page is content, as there is a small navigation bar that borders the top edge of the top stories. the same follows for Google and Etsy. Wikipedia on the other hand, forces the user to navigate through many pages before reaching any content.

How does http://www.landor.com guide the readers’ eyes and focus their attention on what is important? (pp. 144-155 )

The site first of all is bright and doesn’t seem to rely on any set color scheme. To navigate the site the user must mouse over each square, which seem to have no order at all. This encourages the user to browse the site as they wish. The navigation bar at the top of the page is the only source of order for the site and is really key in understanding what is going on within the site and what the company has to offer.