Hi everyone. I want to update you on my current status of my Design and Research Blog Entries. As you remember I want to examine if there is a possibility for young people to get realistic insights into apprenticeships. In the first semester I researched the status-quo and numbers of apprenticeships in Austria as well as the formats and communication tools which are already out there. I had an interview with my nephew about his situation and what he learns at school. At the end of my last blog entry I also talked about that I might include new formats into my research for instance Virtual Reality.
I had a meeting with Birgit last week and it was really inspiring to talk about my chosen topic.
This semester I’ll focus on creating a concept for a possible game.
After the excursion in Barcelona, I already started thinking of further steps for my design and research topic. I still need to figure out wheter this is going to be a realsitic approach, but anyway I’ll just tell you my ideas.
I thought about creating two scenarios both taking place in VR.
First scenario: VR Game
I thought of creating a VR-Game inspired by the “job-simulator”. Maybe creating one scenario where the player is working for instance in an garage as a mechanic. The supervisior will give the user simple task which need to be fulfilled e.g. changing a tyre and therefore the user has to go to the drawer and take out a screwdriver or something similar and then the user goes back to the car and changes the tyre. The art style should be comic-like but also more serious than it is in the job simulator game (the game is a bit dorky).
Second scenario: Real life 360° View
For the second scenario I thought of filming a young person following their typical tasks for their work. Therefore the user is in the position of an observer and can look over the trainees shoulder and watch them.
Either way, I need to check out how both of my ideas are feasbile.
I also told Birgit my ideas and she supervised me to start creating a storyboard and a concept and also think about possible interactions for those scenarios. This will be my task for the next blogpost where I will guide you through my process.
Vitaly Fridman has published several books and articles in Smashing Magazine. He is currently the editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine. His masterclass is about complex UI design. He starts with a big question: How do you measure design? You measure design with design KPI’s. You have a set of performance indicators to measure the quality of the design. Before the designer starts his work, he has to know the goals. Fridman distinguishes between art and design with a simple statement: design solves a problem. Therefore, one can judge whether a design is good or not by evaluating which design solves the problem better. In his opinion, design is a matter of effectiveness, not taste. He explained the KPI workflow with a list of possible KPIs. Depending on the project, there will be different KPIs, and different KPIs will matter. Does the time to task completion need to be improved? Or are other KPIs more relevant? Like, for example, how accurate is the data?
The four most important KPI´s, which define the experience of the user.
Time on task
Task success rates
Error Frequency
How quickly people recover from errors
Everything the system and user environment must be taken seriously, and everything must be measured. A designer should talk to marketing and sales about customer complaints, consider technical problems and so on. Because all these insights lead to better problem solving. If you improve search, you need less money for advertising, or you make more money because people find the product faster. These KPI’s should be measured continuously.
Before it comes to the evaluation, the designer has to decide which design pattern is most suitable for this product. Again, you decide on the list of KPIs, and you can prioritise certain KPIs, and you also need to consider the type of user. For example: Do we have more new users or users who revisit the site? Do we have beginners or more experienced users.
Based on this KPS and the user analysis, you select the pattern that meets the requirements. Like the Hover navigation. A mega-menu can be complex and difficult to digest, but on the other hand, offering a mega-menu with a hover path is a big hassle if you have more than two levels. At some point the mouse pointer leaves the hover area and the sub navigation is closed. The user then has to hover through the submenus again. A mega-menu slows the user down at first, but leads to a faster result. Hover menus are not suitable for mobile phones.
Navigation patterns on mobile devices with more than one level have often come from patterns that do not fit the KPI. Slide-in navigation may look good, but an accordion menu is faster to navigate because you see all the information at once and don’t have to jump back and forth. (Alliance) A good solution would be to split the screen and show the first and second level on one screen. If you have a long list, the A-Z pattern works very well. Breadcrumbs are also an important navigational element, but if you break the pattern, it can get confusing like arrows pointing in the wrong direction or disabled breadcrumbs. The disabled breadcrumbs are due to the hover menu, where certain entries don´t have a single page.
The navigation should move visitors forward, if they need to go back, you provide breadcrumbs. The ADAC shows a dropdown within the breadcrumbs, which should replace a sidebar. On the Swiss government website, the main navigation is within the breadcrumbs. This concept also works for mobile devices.
Interestingly, this behaviour was also found on other Swiss websites, while the reverse breadcrumb error was found on websites in Denmark and the Netherlands. It only showed up on a few websites, so it needs to be further investigated whether there is a behaviour of using certain patterns for certain regions – which could make sense as the designers might know the websites in their own country better.
The choice of pattern is closely related to what the user wants and needs to do to complete their task. Dropdowns, for example, are the slowest element of interaction, while buttons are the fastest. But not in every case is the time to complete the task the most important KPI. If certain interactions are too fast, they can lead to more errors, which is not in the user’s interest. Sometimes the fastest way is not the best experience either. Having fun can lead to a much better experience. If it’s exciting, people will remember the website. For a playful approach, you can use micro-interactions or unusual loading spinners.
This blogpost is about my first setup for experimenting with camera-based object tracking. I want to explore different tools and technics to get in-depth experience for real time object tracking in 2D and 3D-space.
For my examples I have chosen the following setup:
Hardware:
Apple iPad Pro
Laptop (Windows 10)
Software:
ZigSim Pro (iOS only)
vvvv (Windows only)
OpenFrameworks
Example: Tracking Marker in ZigSim
As ZigSim uses the inbuild iOS ARKit and calculates the coordinates within the app, we need to follow the documentation on the developer’s homepage.
ARKit in ZigSim has 4 different modes (DEVICE, FACE, MARKER and BODY) – for the moment we are only interested into MARKER-Tracking which can track up to 4 markers.
In this example we want to establish a connection via the OSC Protocol between ZigSim (OSC sender) and a laptop running vvvv (OSC receiver) which is a visual live-programming environment.
Here you can see the vvvv patch which is a modification of the inbuild OSC example:
Tracking the marker
In our next step we will track the location of four marker via ZigSim, transfer the coordinates to vvvv and draw a rectangle for each marker.
Example: OpenFrameworks
In our last step we will compare the workflow of the node-based environment vvvv with the one from OpenFrameworks which builds on top of the C++ programming language and is being programmed in Visual Studio or Xcode.
Note: While both tools (vvvv and OpenFrameworks) have their own advantages and disadvantages, I am curious exploring both approaches to find the best workflow.
I could put a few of the many pictures I took during the conference or during the time before and after, but non of them can express my thoughts and my learnings I had as well as the thoughts I will try to put down now:
Many impressions and a lot of knowledge is for sure what I take away from the talks and the over all experience of the OFFF festival in Barcelona. But while many things will go into my subconscious library of information and experiences, a few things will definitely be stuck in my head for a while and – to follow up on the analogy – will be presented at the window front so people can profit from them as well.
Something I definitely will remember and keep in mind for a long time is the amount of practice it takes to reach your goals, but the practice that is necessary isn’t only to become proficient but mainly to discover what one really wants to do and what they want to express with their work. It isn’t the work we get hired for or we do in classes – sure, we learn a lot from those projects, but the work where you can run wild and try out weird stuff is where we actually find something unique that makes our work valuable. I will definitely try to explore more and work on the weird stuff that people might not see purpose in right away but that will eventually become something where people look at it and go “wow, I wish I would come up with something like that”. If I achieve a point where people think like that when looking at what I created I can call myself successful.
Another important note I take away thanks to Carla Molin is that you can be proud of any project you do. No matter how low level or small it might seem, as long as you learn something in the process it was worth it for sure. Also, while the big projects are for sure impressive, the small projects are worth just the same as it is easy to get lost in big projects that might never be finished – especially if I am working on those projects alone. It has happened a lot in the past that I have had great ideas where I had a great start into the design and development but lost myself half way in because I lost interest or motivation in the project.
While those two main take aways are positive inputs I also want to focus on one of the negative things I noticed at the OFFF conference. Of course it is to keep in mind that the talks I watched are mostly more on the technical side, but I still want to point out that in general the majority of the speakers were male and at least 40, if not a lot older. It is out of discussion that those speakers definitely have proven to be worth of presenting their work it felt a little discouraging to see little to no people I could relate to as a 22 year old female designer who wants to work with code as well. I would have loved to see more women in this field to see that they do exist and are seen in this male dominated area.
I definitely have a lot of inspiration and motivation for new projects and already started working on a few of them right away after the trip. Hopefully, trips like that will not be an exception and I will be able to go on trips like that in the future again!
What do I want to focus on in school, what do I want to do after graduation? Am I good enough? Do I have to do what I choose now for the rest of my life? What if I don’t want to do it at all? Am I studying the right thing? Is it okay not to always enjoy my studies? Is it okay to be bored? Which courses should I choose? I can’t decide! Oh Bachelor is already over, what now? Do I do a master? Am I ready for the world out there? I don’t think so… so Master. What kind? Am I good enough? Oh yeah, how glaring. What courses do I choose now though? Oh, that sounds exciting too, it’s so much at once. Who am I supposed to become? What defines me? Does anything have to define me? Isn’t it okay to be interested in many things and to fail sometimes?
With these thoughts I run through life every day for the last few years, or rather sometimes I run, sometimes I crawl, sometimes I plod along, sometimes I sleepwalk. It always seems to me as if all great designers know exactly who they are, what they can do, what they want, and as if all of this had been laid in their cradle. How frustrating!
Not so Ruben Alvarez, he started his talk with an introduction about himself that finally went beyond the usual “I’m a star designer and have been since I was handed a pen at 4 and since then I’ve known I was predestined to do animated design”. Rrrrube, as he calls himself in the media, showed himself as a person like you and me, who has many likes, dislikes and idiosyncrasies. This made him seem so approachable and human. He told his story, in which he tried for 3 years with all his strength and effort to become a professional musician, only to finally become a designer with what his teacher called ugly handwriting.
His witty and upbeat way of storytelling captured me and motivated me for my own future. It’s not about knowing who you want to be, because that changes all the time anyway. There are so many external circumstances that act on it and end up producing something completely different than you might have planned. Failure is an important part of the journey and often brings out things you never expected, but sometimes it doesn’t and that’s okay. It’s okay to struggle, it’s important to try new things and most importantly to remain human. This talk gave me so much motivation to just try, you don’t have to be perfect everywhere and it can be worthwhile to look right and left. Making mistakes can help or be a funny story at the next party. Being human, making mistakes, bouncing back and forth, looking around a bit and getting lost is what makes a person and in the end it all connects. These were exactly the closing words of Ruben’s talk. The only thing he wants to do his whole life.
That is to connect with myself, the people that I praise and the things that make me feel alive.
Ruben Alvarez
I think those are very good closing words that I’m happy to take with me on my future journey and live by. Wherever my own journey may lead, I think interaction design is not a bad start for Connection ;).
Last week, from March 23rd-25th, we had the opportunity to attend the OFFF Conference in Barcelona. The conference included a wide variety of speakers on topics from graphic and media design, entrepreneurship and business, to UX and interaction design. My colleagues and I had a great experience in a beautiful and welcoming setting. As a group, we also discussed many of the talks after, and found that quite a few had evoked strong reactions. I often found that the following discussion with my colleagues was almost more impactful that the talk itself.
In one of these discussions, it was brought up that what was shared between many of the speakers was their insistence on the importance of experimentation. No matter how “successful” the designer was, they made sure to touch on past mistakes, moments of “selling out” in order to make ends meet, and their journey in trying everything and anything. They often also highlighted that they still don’t necessarily “know exactly what they’re doing”. Personally, I found these points very comforting. I really enjoyed the disarming transparency, particularly from Mexican designer and entrepreneur Rubén Alvarez. Alvarez began his presentation by sharing his “True Bio”, which included things like “I write about what I feel” and “Sometimes I get angry if things don’t go my way”. Alvarez then used his life story to explain to us how he came to be the designer he is today, including all the mistakes and failed ventures. This candor made Alvarez’s talk the most impactful for me. Some of the other posts discuss the disappointment many of us felt at talks given by more well known designers, who arguably abused the time and attention we gave them. In contrast, Alvarez was a human first and designer second.
I was very inspired by the honesty shown by many of the speakers at the OFFF Conference. It’s comforting when people share their mistakes and failures, as it makes us all less afraid to try and fail and try again. I would like to carry that thought with me as I move forward in my studies and career.
Almost all the talks I saw started with glimpses into the personal background from early childhood and the beginnings of their careers. While this is good for building an emotional connection with the audience, it also leaves a a bit of despair for those who haven’t found their thing yet. And although they all talked about working hard and improving over time, it gave the impression that they were born like that. With this passion for something. But what if you can’t decide which passion you want to follow and if you would be good at everything but are mediocre at some things because you don’t follow just that one path? At some point, all those speakers stopped doing other things to do only what they enjoy, and that worked out quite well for them. But apart from making me feel like they were born geniuses, they all gave two good pieces of advice: Experimenting and Perfect is not the goal.
I was really impressed by Rik Ostenbroek and Gemma O’Brien. Both followed the call of their passion, both just did what they loved, both are amazing artists. Gemma was really inspiring and encouraging. She showed her sketchbook and what inspires her, which gave an amazing personal insight into her thinking and creative working process. Rik also gave a very personal insight into his early days. He was really the one who always just did what he wanted, up to the point where he stopped going to school. For both of them, social media and spreading their work on the internet were important factors for their success.
A more practical approach came from the studio The Mals and Gab Bois. The Mals are filmmakers and showed us behind the scenes and explained their working process. Everything they show in their videos is homemade from scratch. They don’t work with 3D software or Photoshop, they build everything by hand. One video was about orange juice and how you should shake it before drinking it, so they built a mini roller coaster and sent the juice through the loop. Gab Bois also works exclusively with real things when making her work. She explained that she only uses Photoshop to clean up the images, not to create them.
David Carson’s speech was very polarising. Most people I spoke to after the talk thought he was just an arrogant, rich, white man who wasted their time. Those who studied graphic design knew him but were not very impressed either, I think. In fact, he should not have dwelled so much on life in the Caribbean but otherwise it was an entertaining interesting lecture about not taking life too seriously.
I appreciate people who don’t care about other people’s opinions or what you should or shouldn’t do and therefore I liked his wee bit sarcastic attitude towards public opinion. I also think that if the world saw Carson as an artist rather than a graphic designer, he wouldn’t polarise so much. Because graphic design still serves a purpose in our minds, so it’s hard for us to accept that graphic design should be so experimental.
Carson started his career with being different and he didn’t and doesn’t care if people like what he does. His career is about breaking the rules of traditional graphic design. From today’s perspective, that may be outdated, but it used to bring a more artistic vibe to the field of graphic design. I think, Carson is to the design world what Duchamp was to the art world. Carson satirised the self-absorbed design world by flouting its conventions of rules and beauty. Whereas Duchamp took his readymades very seriously (at least I haven’t heard otherwise), I get the feeling from Carson’s work and behaviour that he is mocking the industry a bit. And just as Duchamp questioned the definition of art, he questioned the definition of graphic design. I think the idea was also that this artistic rather than functional approach should make recipients question their view and thinking of graphic design. At some point, it is more attractive to break with conventions, to be different and unique, than to do a good job and stick to the rules. Just as in the art world today the Impressionists are far better known than the Salon artists in the wake of Jacques-Louis David, even though they were not very respected by the public at the time. The same is true of many artists of more recent art history. What distinguished them was their break with tradition. So, in the end, maybe the best way IS to just do what you love and stick with it and success will follow.
Last week my fellow students and I traveled to Barcelona to visit the OFFF Barcelona fair from March 23rd to 25th. It was a lot of fun to explore the fair and Barcelona together with my colleagues and to reflect on our experiences together. I gained some positive new experiences and insights.
The venue of the OFFF was the design Museum of Barcelona. It was very cool to see so many creative minds in one place. There were some interesting talks. Unfortunately some of them overlapped or were in smaller rooms that were quickly overcrowded. In the area of interaction design there were a couple of interesting talks which I personally found the most inspiring like the one by Jjosue Ibanez and Iregular. Some of these speakers gave insights into their working methods.
Joshua Davis, an American designer and technologist, for example, talked about the development of his current design style. He showed his very beginnings and that he tried a lot of things in his development process, many of which didn’t look good. He talked about how around 2010 he realized he was too stuck in the same patterns. So he decided to move out of his comfort zone and try something new. My take away from his talk was that you always have to stay in the uncomfortable to work creatively in new ways.
Another topic about which many speakers talked about was, of course, AI. Artificial intelligence is also a worrying topic for the creative industry, as there is the idea that AI could take over creative professions. Some speakers had similar opinions on this: we should not see AI as an adversary but use it and cooperate with it, this way we can expand our skills and stay up to date with the latest developments.
We also had the opportunity to attend workshops by ZetaFonts, an independent type foundry from Florence. The workshop was a really fun and exciting experience where we learned a lot about the emotional importance of fonts. At the end of the workshop, a font for Barcelona was created from all our sketches.
Even though there were some inspiring talks at the OFFF, there were still things to criticize about the fair. For one thing, there were far too few female speakers at this fair, which I found disturbing. Some talks were more like a portfolio presentation than inspirational or impulse giving. In my opinion, the talk we got from Marta Handenawer at the agency Domestic Data Streamer was one of the best, most educational and inspiring I have seen in Barcalona.
A Creative Journey with Joshua Davis at the OFF Conference in Barcelona
Attending the OFF Conference in Barcelona on 23rd-25th March 2023 was an inspiring experience for me. One of the highlights was the talk by Joshua Davis, a renowned web designer, who presented his design work and the firm he collaborated with. What struck me most about Joshua’s presentation was his innovative use of code to design creatively. He emphasized that learning from what he designs, the process, and the struggle, has helped him improve his creativity in his work. This is an essential lesson for all creatives who seek to excel in their work. Joshua’s talk inspired me to explore new ways of using technology in my creative work.
The Beauty of Intended and Unintended Design, with to Brian Collins of Collins Studio Another inspiring speaker at the OFF Conference in Barcelona was Brian Collins, from the studio Collins. Brian gave a talk on the beauty of intended and unintended design, using the example of a famous library in Dublin, Ireland. The library was built as part of a project that should not exist in the center of Dublin. The library, known as the Book of Kells, is a book where they take the parable from the New Testament and create page after page of stories from it. What is unique about this library is the way the ink itself is integrated into the paper.
The ink came from all over the world, and they found a way to integrate it into the work. However, mistakes were made during the process, and they could not replace the people who made the mistakes. Instead, they had to turn the mistakes into something new, like a dog, a dragon, or a giant. This process created a sense of unity and a beautiful story that was integrated into the design. Brian’s talk emphasized the importance of embracing mistakes in the design process and integrating them into the final work. He showed us how great craft and incredible technology can come together to create something truly unique and beautiful.
Typescripting with Zetafonts
One of the most enjoyable workshops we attended was with Zetafonts on typescripting. During the workshop, we reflected together with the presenter on how the font used in design can affect the customer’s perception of a product or service. We also discussed whether fonts have gender and how we can make our designs more attractive. It was fascinating to learn about the psychology behind font choices and how they can influence a person’s perception of a brand. For example, serif fonts can convey a sense of tradition and elegance, while sans-serif fonts can create a more modern and streamlined look.
We also discussed the gendered connotations of certain fonts, such as script fonts being associated with femininity and bold, blocky fonts being associated with masculinity. This led to an interesting discussion on how we can challenge gendered stereotypes in design and create more inclusive and diverse visuals.
Overall, the workshop was a thought-provoking and enjoyable experience. It highlighted the importance of font choices in design and how they can impact the customer’s perception of a brand. We left with a renewed appreciation for the art of typography and a desire to continue exploring the many possibilities it offers.
Aside from the conference, I also had the opportunity to explore Barcelona’s architecture and design. Barcelona is known for its rich history and unique architectural style. The city’s design is a perfect blend of Gothic, Art Nouveau, and Modernism, with a focus on creating open spaces for public use. The streets are adorned with beautiful sculptures and intricate facades that give the city a distinctive character. One of the most breathtaking views of the city is from the Tibidabo hilltop. From there, one can see the city’s beautiful architecture, the Mediterranean Sea, and the surrounding mountains. The view is simply stunning, and it’s a must-visit for anyone traveling to Barcelona.
In conclusion, attending the OFF Conference in Barcelona was a genuinely amazing experience. I gained many great insights from Joshua Davis’s talk on utilising code creatively to Brian Collins’s talk on intended and unexpected design. Barcelona’s wonderful architecture and design were also a visual pleasure, and I strongly advise anyone visiting the city to explore its distinct character.
I listened to many interesting people at the OFFF Barcelona 2023. They all were successful in their own right and had worked on really cool projects. But the most important thing I take with me from this experience, is how people treat and portray their success.
Jamhot and Rubén Alvarez for example showed so much humility and grace when it came to their success. They were open about their struggles and failures and it was obvious that their intention was to connect with the audience. Rubén Alvarez even set up his whole presentation so that the people would get to know him and what shaped him as a person. He talked about the positive and negative sides of his home country Mexico, his struggles as a kid, his studies that were unrelated to design, his attempt to break into the music industry, and his failed barber shop, just to name a few. Alvarez described how his design style evolved and how an accidental viral post on Instagram made him realize that his goal in life is to connect with people. This goal was so obvious throughout his whole talk and everyone I spoke to afterwards really enjoyed the talk for the same reasons I did.
Joshua Davis was also really honest in his talk. He outright said that he did certain things just for the money in order to keep making the art that he enjoyed and felt fulfilled by. He experimented a lot and one could tell that he really enjoyed what he was doing. This transparency was really refreshing, especially after listening to some people who were just showing the highlights of their careers. What i disliked about Davis’ talk though was the structure. He went through each year of his entire career which was a bit exhausting to listen to especially the first half where a lot of the things he showed were very similar.
Lastly, i also want to touch on how David Carson presented himself and how he portrayed his success. This was a talk we discussed for a long time afterwards because we were so negatively surprised by what we witnessed. The beginning felt like someone was showing you their screenshot folder of funny things they see on the internet and when Carson finally started to talk about his work it felt like he didn’t really want to be there and that we should be grateful for all crumbs he was giving us. Maybe I feel this way because I wasn’t familiar with him as a person but to me this was very disrespectful towards the audience. I don’t like how he treated his success and how entitled he felt to do and say whatever he wanted because people were accepting it.
