Wayfinding - Development

Type Decisions: 

When considering the type that we would be using we took inspiration from the original logo, although when we thought about the use of it in the context that we would be putting it we felt as if the typeface was too traditional. Therefore we considered the other types that are used within the university brand. The 'Leeds Arts Union' logo is much more relevant to the audience and modern, thus we chose to use Futura which is the type that is featured in the logo.

Original Design Developments:

Taking into consideration the requirements that we identified in the last of the meetings we refined what was needed, which in the context we were creating would then lead to the wireframing of the app itself. 

What was needed:

• A branded home screen/loading page
• A language setting for international students. 
• Two options of either a map of the uni of a walkthrough, this would give the audience the chance to either follow the map or the live interactive augmented reality feature. 
• A search bar where the different courses can be found and put in where they want to go.

Hannah took on the role of creating the wireframes, which were then developed in the design process. 

Design Process: 

My role was heavily focused on the actual design of the app itself, with Charlotte. The process was successful in terms of creating something which began to come together in a professional way, that would work in the context needed. As can be seen in the images below, block colours were originally used to create an almost flat colour layout, which is a current trend within UX/UI design. Although white was retained to make the text and icons as clear as possible for the user eliminating any possibility of any confusion.

Within the initial design process, we were also experimenting with names for the application itself, the process saw the use of 'LAU where am I?','Leeds Arts University', and 'LAU-cation'. In the final design, we decided to keep the name to simply the university name, as it would be most concise and clear for the audience. 

The design was kept flat, blue was used to contrast against the pink background and was taken from the colours that the university is already identified with. The contrast makes the separation of elements clear, which would then hopefully eliminate any confusion when being directed around the building. As can be seen in the final image above a gradient was added to the background which allowed for a more comfortable viewing experience for the user, we also took away the clash of colours between the blue and pink which makes the information on each of the bars more clear. 

We also experiment with the use of a gradient between the two most used colours in the app design so far, purely to explore all of the options. The use of gradients was also currently trending in the UX and UI design industry at the time, showing that the university was staying relevant modern and on trend. 

Although, after various discussions with the rest of the group as the designer I decided that we were moving too far away from the original concept of the design, which was stripping back all the elements and taking inspiration from the directions solely. We also discovered that through the use of too many menu options the screen was beginning to become cluttered, there were too many decisions for the user to make before simply getting the directions to where they wanted.