Week 15: Final Client Meeting

This week, we finished the client instructions. These will basically show Audrey and Jeremy how to edit the website, in addition to the training we gave them on Thursday.

During the client meeting, we showed Audrey the finished website, and trained her on how to edit it. We ran in to a bit of a road block when we went to edit the open times on the main page so that the "open" "closed" mug would change, the website started glitching and freaking out. Luckily, Mike, Chris J., and Chris S. fixed it while Audrey was there. She seemed very pleased with how the website turned out and found it rather easy to edit it. We need to add a few more details and e-mail them as a PDF to Audrey.

We are very pleased to say that the website for our client is finished, with some minor changes that need to be made to accommodate the needs of our client. The site can be seen here: http://166.66.64.179/client/

Week 14

This week was a shortened week due to Thanksgiving break, all we really did was listen to a speaker discuss SEO (search engine optimization) so that our website can be easily found on a search engine such as Google or Bing. I also turned in my final Case Study, even though I ran into some issues with the images becoming pixelated in the PDF version even though they were perfectly clear on InDesign. I even problem-solved by inserting the direct .ai and .psd files in hopes that it would fix the problem,  but alas, it didn't. The images are also perfectly clear in the Content Viewer on Adobe, so I am still confused as to why it is doing that. Over break, Alyssa and I plan on working on the client instructions so that they know how to operate and edit their website.

Week 13

This week, the designers worked on their case studies, and the computer science folks continued coding away in order to make the clients' websites top quality. I decided to change the theme from the modern coffee-shop theme that is relevant to the website, I decided to go a different route and branch off of the theme of our team's website. I give you...

It is obviously still a work in progress, but now that I am satisfied with my theme and established the design, I can begin to add the content. Since we used comic book-themed photos for our team website, I decided to use those for the team page and do some magic with our clients' photos and give them a comic book-type look in photoshop. So far I got Jeremy's photo edited, and followed the tutorial that I found on Youtube.

BEFORE

AFTER

Client page in-progress

We also learned about how to assemble instructions for the client in order for them to understand their website. In order to get a feel of how we should implement this, Alyssa, Jamie, and I followed instructions on a board game called "Bookworm."

We found the instructions to be rather wordy, but nonetheless gave every detail of how to play the game. However, the instructions were so wordy that several times we were confused on what to do.

 Either way, we had fun playing, despite how bad we were at answering the questions on the cards!

Team Geek: Epilogue

The epilogue of this book pretty much summed up the whole book, and came to the conclusion to why companies end up failing, which is HRT (humility, respect, trust). If an industry is lacking one of these skills, it can severely harm the production of the workers. This book taught me a lot about working together in a team. I feel like I could utilize some of the advice and information given in this book in the future when I start my career as a designer to help ensure a productive, well-mannered, hard working group of people who work together to successfully get the job done.

Off Campus Event: Coffee and Critique

Today Jamie, Raechel, and I went to the AIGA Coffee and Critique at the Midtown Scholar library in Harrisburg. There was a good group of working professionals and other students like us, who showed their work and received comments suggestions on their work. It was overall a great experience and the president of Central PA AIGA, Tim McKenna made us feel very welcome. We might go back to the next one in December to actually show our work.

Week 12 and Client Meeting!

This week in class Alyssa and I looked at images on the iStock website, and chose more finalized images that we would like to use for our website. So far we bought one image for the homepage and another for the 404 error page. We are going to purchase them this weekend with the credits provided by our client, Audrey and share them with the Computer Science guys so that they can be applied to the actual website for Sven's. Currently, they are finishing up the actual content blocks, which is harder coding, and will add all of the physical content in within the next few weeks. We decided to not do online ordering at all, simply because Audrey and Jeremy aren't really sure if they will have the capabilities of providing that service with how small their potential cafe space will be, and the CS guys faced difficulties with implementing it since nothing was ever set in stone on how it would be implemented. We also got rid of the catering for the same reason of Audrey and Jeremy not being big enough to carry through with it quite yet. We are on a great path, and the website is looking great!

Client Meeting:

     During our client meeting with Audrey she looked over the website that the CS guys have coded so far, and she seemed very pleased with it. She agreed on the fact that they are not big enough yet for the catering and online ordering options yet, given that they are just starting out and have a very small space. We are however leaving the catering option there, but the CS guys are turning it "off" for now so that it is not visible to the user, but can be activated when Audrey and Jeremy decide to begin their catering service.



 Mobile Homepage (new background image from before):


- Alyssa and I felt that this image is much better for the mobile home page in terms of readability. It also has a warm, welcoming feeling with out being too heavy in the dark color of the coffee beans. After all, first impressions are very important, and we want users to Sven's Cafe's website to want to explore and see what they have to offer.

In-progress website:

Case Study:

I also began my case study this week, and finished the list of content that I would like to use. My idea is to tell a story of the process, and present the deliverables and other information in chronological order, as it was a roller coaster ride with Audrey and Jeremy with finding space to officially begin their business. It is obviously still a work in progress in terms of design, but I am trying to tie in the theme of our creative brief.

Team Geek Chapter 6 Reflection: Users are People Too

Chapter six emphasized the importance of the user when creating a website or application. In order to initially attract the user, you must manage the public perception of it. It is best to try not to distort the truth with flashy advertisements. You must also pay attention to first impressions, because they will determine whether or not the user will stick with your website or app. It is very important to have a fast loading time as well, because it is easy to get impatient. Usability is important as well, because if the user gets frustrated navigating your program they are likely to not come back to it again. A lot of these points that were discussed pertain to the design field as well, especially in the User Experience/ Interaction field, because their main focus is to design for the user in order to provide them with an enjoyable experience.