Blog 5
Ⅰ Reflection of the mid-term presentation
After the mid-term presentation, we found that most of the groups choose use an App as a digital tool to solve the problems. App is more popular among the young people, so our group thinking about create an extra App which can be linked to our website. In this App, we try to provide an implementation of design process and create a more direct contact between the customers and the self-built housing Co-op.
Ⅱ Sketches / concept ideas
APP Design:
To involve self-build organizations with the design concepts. This includes a multi login page, with 3 types of login. These include people already registered, sign in with Facebook and also a register.
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Include images of geographically located areas with ease of understanding for multi-generational use. We get this idea from the seminar, and try to add this into our APP. This section will link to the Google Map and help people to know the distance between their houses and the nearby services.
As well as this, having individual pages for other aesthetic principles including galleries of self builds and furniture buffers.
The program section will involve pictures of local self builds, which basic descriptions and more information too.
When it comes to the design page, we decided to take inspiration from a catalogue portfolio. The dimensions, materials and colors also, so people really can feel like they are making a different when it comes to design principles.
In the galleries section, there will be pages or present self-build homes, and potential blueprints for an individual to use also. There will also be a number of bedrooms’ slider, this is so the individual will be able to see designs that fit their criteria a lot better. – As well as this, we have thought about the audition of an advance settings page so again, people can very detailed, specific recommendations giving them more control over the process.
When it comes to feedback, we feel this is going to be one of the most important sectors of the whole process. Recommendations from people who have used the site and have had a gain in their knowledge and participation, are the key for this service to keep going. Perhaps a rating system could help to see if there are any connections with self builds and see if any certain principle is more popular.
Include a real time chart of people interaction and their views also. This would enable the architects and the people who are involved with the self-build to be more active in what they need to do. This would be a great way to link the online website and the application as well.
The potential weakness & limitations:
We feel that a limitation for our idea is simply getting the publicity for people to use our app/site in the first place. Perhaps if self-build organizations in the area where prompted to actually promote it then there wouldn’t be an issue.
Another limitation is the actual size of the application. With such an expansive gallery and many features that we would like to offer, we don’t want this to take up significant space on our client devices.
Hi team, thanks for this post. So it seems that the presentations have given you the incentive to focus on designing an app. You also mentioned that apps are more likely to be popular with the younger people. Could you find some demographics for individuals interested in self-building their own home? For organisations involved in self-building how would they like to gather feedback from residents on their development proposals. Perhaps revisit who the target audiences for your service are (this came out of W1 to W3 — stakeholder mapping) and reflect on who and when your app may be used. Perhaps here it would be good to refer to what exactly you choose to propose as possible solution to your challenge (or point to a previous blog post where you stated what you are going to do, e.g. “we propose to design an app for (audiences) to (what to achieve)” etc. Also, you sometimes speak of an “app” and a “site” that you would design. It seems this is quite a substantial development in your thinking. Could you explain this a bit further…
In terms of the review of examples and use of inspirations for your designs you have mentioned a few sources of inspirations, such as a portfolio catalogue. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to discuss your example search in a separate blog post and expand your argument. For your final design log, could you explain in greater detail which portfolio catalogue you looked at and what about it was helpful for you to inspire your designs? It would also be interested to hear from you what you made out of the examples and discussion we used in the seminar of week 5. In your final design log, ideally clearly reference the examples, how you discussed those in the team, and how you made final decisions.
As for the sketches and ideas you described. They seem like a very good seed for your design project. The purpose of example search is to note interesting design features that may be relevant/inspiring for your solution. It seems that 3D model of potential developments as well as a rating and collaboration feature are amongst the core elements of your solution. As a reader I wonder what inspired your sketches? Note that it would be worthwhile to explain further what and where similar techniques and solutions have been used in the past that you’d be repurposed here. In conclusion, it may be helpful to differentiate between the search for inspirations and the conclusions you draw for your own design inspirations.