Bekira's Design Reflections

After playing many games of I-Spy and looking online for versions, I was bewildered at the lack of options for playing this classic game. I knew I wanted there to be several different gaming options, so that you could play multiplayer style or by yourself. One of the things I noticed while researching, is that adult versions of the game had boxes on the screen for the user to pick the right square. I expanded upon this technique for my ‘Classroom’ style game.

My friends in particular liked this style game specifically when they were testing my app. They said it reminded them of the classic I-Spy books in which you had to search for the correct answer. Since this version is a bit more basic and visual based, I created two other style games for people to play. One is called ’21 Questions’ in which you pick an item and the AI named “Skylar” has 21 questions for you in order to try and guess the item. This is a bit more challenging and therefore can be utilized by older children. The last of the three games is called ‘Guessing Game’ in which the user has to guess what Skylar the AI is thinking of! Similar to the 21 Questions game, the item is narrowed down by series of questions in order to determine what it is.

I was very pleased with the theme of my app as well as the color scheme. I started with some clouds and a beautiful sky blue. After I created that first home screen, I needed to pick some complimentary colors to use throughout the app. I decided to go opposite the color wheel and utilize some bright yellows. Yellow and blue often go together, creating a happy, yet calm color scheme. The colors are also very reminiscent of the outdoors and the sky which sticks with the name and theme of the app.

I feel like if I had more time and skills, I would add a component in which the user could take photos as well, but that was becoming to complicated to complete. After my Maze test, I realized that the users were very satisfied with what the app had to offer. I learned that adding more components can actually have a real negative effect on your app usability.

Overall, I am happy with the child friendly app I created. I think the colors and font styles are happy and inviting and would be great for students. Since children are not able to spend as much time in the classroom or with friends this past year, this app would allow them to engage, learn, and have fun! I would like to see an app like this in action with the children I work with at the zoo, I think it would be a great resource for teachers!

While being confined in quarantine, I wondered about a way to make an app in which you could play games with your friends and neighbors, while keeping within our safety guidelines. I was inspired by a local mom group page in which the members have been placing stars on the sides of their houses or windows, so when the other moms take their children for walks, they look for the stars as a type of I-Spy. The app I want to make will be a way to play I-Spy with your surroundings, no matter if you are inside or outside.

The app will feature a variety of ways to play the classic game of I-Spy. There will be a player vs player feature, where the two of you race to find an item first with your camera. The items will not be specific like a blue crayon, but it will have guidelines instead, like find something round or purple. By not having specific items listed, this allows for more people to use the app successfully.

Not everyone has a working camera or is able to use their phone’s camera, so there will be an option on the app to not use the camera feature. This instead will have an option in which there is a list of items and you go off and find them yourself. You will be able to check off the items on your app as you continue to play.

As many adults worry their children are not receiving the same level of stimulation during quarantine, I want to ensure parents that the app will help motivate the children to learn. The app features many qualities that will help promote your child’s development, like the ABC I-Spy in which the children find items alphabetically. The descriptive words used to describe items also helps children develop their vocabulary and learn how to use descriptive language.

As an adult, I want to have different levels of difficulty so that the app is not just intended for children. By having an easy, medium, and hard setting, you can adjust the app to your liking and even advance as you continue to use the app.

In case you are solitary or not interested in looking for the objects yourself, there will be another option on the app. There will be a sort of 21 questions feature in which a user can ask the app to guess what they are spying. The app will ask a series of questions until it guesses the object.

However, if you are interested in connecting with others, the app will feature a way for you to add friends. If you do not have people to add from your contact list, then there is an option to be randomly paired against another user or AI if there are no available users.

For my first Interactive Design Project, I decided to create a CRM that was focused on people who wanted to share, comment, and post different recipes. Throughout this process I learned both how easy it is to design a prototype for an app and how hard it is to design a successful app. There are so many factors that have to be considered when designing an app. Most people are right handed, using their right thumb to tap the screen, so having the submit buttons and the search icons on the right made the most sense. Designing the layout and color scheme was the easiest for me, because I could already envision what I wanted the app to look like. I picked a sea-foam green color for my base and then built my color scheme around that, using complementary colors as well as different tints and shades.

The most challenging part came when I was testing the prototype. Before I could release it for my friends to test it, I had to test it myself. During this process, I kept finding different problems where I had forgotten to code part of the page or you were unable to go back. It was very frustrating to constantly have to go back and retry the link to see if it was working now. This was obviously beneficial to me, because I discovered many bugs that needed to be fixed. If I had more time, I would add even more features to the recipe sharing aspect of this app. I would love a way where you could geotag the recipes, so that another way you could filter recipes is by what is local.

After I did my testing, I was satisfied to learn that most people enjoyed my app and that more than 50% said they would be very likely to use it. There were a few more bugs that were pointed out, that I needed to fix. One tester pointed out that they were unable to go back from the successful registration screen, so I needed to fix that. It was very cool to use Maze, the testing website, because I had never seen something like that before. It was very helpful for me to be able to see the very steps and clicks the testers were making while trying to complete my questions. In the future, I will have them try more interactive questions in which they are asked to preform a task.

Although this whole process was very difficult for me, I’m glad I was able to use a new software, Figma. I now can tell future employers that I am familiar with designing basic prototypes for phone apps or desktops on Figma. I have learned that I am much more comfortable with the design aspect of web design, rather than creating the actual interactive part of the design. It is very hard to correctly link all of your icons. I am very glad that both Figma and Maze have options for you to test the functionality of your prototype.

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