Evaluation

Throughout the design process I checked with several others in my class who helped guide me towards my final design, colour scheme and typography.

 

The majority of the people I asked preferred the bottom right hand option that has NUEVA FONT written above it. They also favoured that font as well as the GARAMOND PREMIER font. I did not like the top left hand colour as I thought it would look too much.

When I asked the others in my class about my hi-fi prototypes they preferred the final design option that I chose to develop further for the larger screen althought some mentioned that I could have maybe used some icons but I liked the simplicity of no icons and thought this worked well. I initially set out to create a design that was simplistic and accessible to all. Easy to read and bright so many students would want to come back and use the facility more than once. I think I achieved this.

I asked my class members to rate my final design from 1 – 5, 5 being the best. On average the results were 4/5 for my design. I was pleased with this as although I like my design I could have maybe came up with several other options at the beginning instead of setting on one design near the start of the design process to diversify.

I believe my strengths were working with different colours and typography but I could have worked on my time-keeping a little more. In future I would try and get on with more work at the time instead of leaving work til near the end of a deadline.

I chose my final design because it ticks off all the areas that I initially set out to create, bright and fresh, easy to read and navigate and nothing too complicated so all students can use with no trouble. Overall, I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

Big screen design

bigger screen 1024 x 768

Hi-fi prototype

     Hi – fi prototype 1

        Hi – fi prototype 2

My preferred design is prototype 1, this is the one I am going to develop further for a Big screen.

Lo-fi prototype

Typography

colour templates

Screen types

LCD vs LED vs Plasma Debate Point #1: Contrast Ratio

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A contrast ratio is the ability of the TV to show the high-contrast areas on the screen. The high contrast areas are the blacks and the whites in the picture. If a TV has a good contrast ratio, it means that it shows the differences between the darker and lighter areas of the screen remarkably well. The acid test of a TV’s contrast ratio is in the dark scenes, where it needs to differentiate the shades of black.

Its a well accepted fact that plasma TVs generally have better contrast ratios than LCD and LED TVs. This is because plasma TVs have individual plasma cells, which automatically turn themselves off on the darker parts of the screen. LCD TVs on the other hand have a single liquid crystal and when the TV has to show the dark pictures, the CCFL back-light of the LCD only dims itself and hence the blacks aren’t very convincing. On the other hand, LCD TVs powered with an LED back-light have a slight edge as the individual LEDs twist themselves into an ‘off’ position in the dark parts of the screen thus giving a more convincing black than the LCD TVs.

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Verdict: On the contrast ratio parameter, the plasma TV clearly has the upper hand. The LED TV comes next in the race and the LCD TV comes last.

Scenario of use

A new student is attending the college campus for the first time and has their timetable in a leaflet form but doesn’t know where their first class is situated in the college and how to get there. They would like to know a little bit about their tutor before hand as well as the class they have.

They can then use the interactive timetable situated in the college to find out all this information. It is easy to access and navigate. It has big buttons and is bright so everyone has the opportunity to use it with no difficulties.

screen research

clipped from: nwn.blogs.com

Real World Navigation System For Japanese Hospital Created With OpenSim Metaverse Technology

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Anyone who’s gotten lost on a sprawling college campus or another kind of large complex knows the frustrations with trying to read those 2D directory maps with a “You are here” red dot, because it’s difficult to discern where “here” is in relation to everything else. In Japan’s Kanazawa Medical University Hospital, however, you can find your way with a 3D mapping display that uses an OpenSimulator virtual world server to depict the hospital layout, connected to a touchscreen monitor. (Here’s a Japanese language article on the technology.)

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It’s called the 3D Communication Navi System, a product created by partner metaverse developers Ableseed and Metabirds, which has an extended write-up of the system on its site. The hospital paid the developers 1,500,000 Yen (about USD$ 16,000) to implement it. “Kanazawa Medical University Hospital is using a standalone version so far,” Metabirds’ Naoyoshi Shimaya tells me by email. “One PC, with OpenSim standalone server, and viewer.” He believes the hospital is considering an extended, networked version.

Interactive Music using a Multi-Touch Cellular Automata

Presented is an interactive audio-visual work using a Cellular Automata and tangible interface. The piece is widely accessible and encourages playful, creative interaction.

Introduction This project uses a Multi-Touch screen as the platform for an interactive artwork. A Multi-Touch (MT) sensor is a computer input device that allows a user (or users) to interact using one or more points of simultaneous physical contact, such as multiple fingertips. When combined with visual display a MT sensor becomes a powerful tool for presenting and interacting with visual information. The system applies the technique described by Han, taking advantage of the TouchLib gesture tracking library and TUIO communication protocol.

Musical interaction based on MT technology is a highly active research field encompassing new tools for music production and performance, musical games and interactive artwork. A comparison of this project with the work of other parties is beyond the scope of this paper; however the reader is referred to for an overview of field.