Here's the the thesis summary video, as I prepare for final review, that will be used as a commercial for Aura.
The full swag set and Brand Book are in!
The umbrella is in!
Sunglasses and backpack are in! Still waiting on the umbrella. All Items shot in a cove coming soon.
I refined Aura's visual language, website, and brand book. I also designed business cards and swag for the launch party (including a balloon, tote bag, and sunglasses). To see the progression of the brand book with these elements…
With final review ahead next semester, here's what I intend to complete:
- split Kiss & Tell into two research books: First Date and Honeymoon.
- refine current video into a technical "how it works" video
- make a commercial for Aura that will serve as the presentation summary video
- produce tote bag, sunglasses, umbrella, and splash boards for launch party
- shoot own photography for visual language
- add press page to website
- complete brand book
- create PDF presentation
I finally shot a video that is clear and looks good. They key: studio lighting. Now I have to do some video editing so it has some quick zoom ins and focused shots as well as add music and sound. I could also put an animated logo at the end with the tag, turning this into a commercial. I want it to be like this app's video.
I am continuing to refine my research book and seeking ways to make it more emphatic and consolidated. It's 274 pages right now! Sheesh. I also started working my the brand book and came up with 4 visual language options (how type, image, and illustration integrate to communicate the brand). Which do you like best? To see my first round of visual language ideas and the beginning of the brand book…
I experimented with a mockup video for my demo conversation but the free version places a watermark on top. I then tried shooting another video with my DSLR but it ended up coming out grainy with a black background. I plan to do more series of tests. In addition I worked on my process book to get it ready to print, as this app is coming to a close. Branding and marketing are next!
Rather than making the conversation seem live, requiring me to build out every step taken to send a text message in this string, I made it a review of texts sent and received and then a response. This allowed me to be time efficient which still showing the majority of the auras and creating a new text. The above video is a rough cut of me demonstrating this prototype. I plan to record with a member of my target audience with better lighting. To experience this for yourself…
Please keep in mind that this prototype has a very specific path of behaviors because the goal was not to user-test, but rather demonstrate a sample conversation.
Now that the tutorial is in a good place, I am moving on to creating another prototype: an example conversation. This prototype will be designed, animated, and made interactive like the tutorial but with very specific actions and not intended to be user-tested. I will have someone learn the actions to create the messages and time the incoming messages. Filming this interaction will make the app seem like it's being used in real-time.
I wrote the full conversation and designed how it would look in Aura. To view the conversation…
I started to design the steps the user needs to go through to create the messages and marked up the PDF so it makes sense. To view the conversation that I began to be broken down…
I designed a brief overview of Aura that has seven sections: anatomy of the app, writing and sending a message, replaying a message, accessing the main menu and adding an aura, how the app forecasts auras, styling text, and how to access the interactive tutorial. This overview automatically walks through the steps and allows the user to proceed to the next section on or replay at the end of each section.
I user-tested eight users, four of whom were new to prototyping this app. All users reported finding the tutorial helpful, easy to understand, and quick. One major insight to consider is that are many apps with three to five page, super simple tutorials that you scroll through and understand quickly. Perhaps this something to consider when creating an ad for Facebook. To see the user-testing of the overview…