OUGD405 - Brief 04 Design Process - Designing a Product - TIMEPOINT

For this brief i will be identifying a problem from my individual research and then to provide an answer though the identification, packaging and look of a product. When creating my product i will also be taking target audience and the way i present my work into account. 

My research is all about how the use of photography has changed over time, from something that was used as a very personal ability when sharing memories to photography to something that is both used and discarded on a daily basis, and ability which is taken for granted. 
So the problem that is need to resolve is 'how the original fashion of taking photos and sharing them is being lost, and how i am going tore incorporate the style back into the more modern way of using photography and sharing it, e.g. social media, countless digital copies  of photos and digital versions'. I want to re incorporate the physical limited use of photography when using is to pass down or share memories.

I began to think about what product i could create that would help me resolve this problem, after some time i thought about creating design work for a small business which provides a solution to the overuse of digital software and new technology that has made us obsessed with constantly using photography along side editing software, social media saving and the general use of using it to perfect our identity online. The small business will provide software that works along side all of the latest technology and social media, to create something physical which will be so much more personal and beneficial for ourselves and the generations after us, it is a way to keep the physical, non edited, non false, personal way of sharing memories through photography.
I started thinking about a how i could design a product that would make this 'business' successful So I thought about creating the design work for an app. An app that can be used to slowly over time e.g. (a year) upload photos to a collection with no effort from the user of the app at all. The app will work with finalized photos that the user takes and the photos that are already hidden away on their social media. The over time collection of these photos will then be arranged in a physical photo album which can then be ordered with a click of a button and sent strait to you.
I feel this is a simple way to create something personal and physical using the idea of sharing memories through photos. Whilst working with modern day technology like social media, filters, instagram, blogging. Everything digital. 
I feel that i can create a professional but personal design for this business and its product.

I had been given some questions to think about during the design process of this brief:

The audience i need to be targeting with my idea and product is everyone who over uses the social media and editing software to alter their photos, also people who no longer see photos as the ability to share memories in a physical way, instead people who use it as a tool to enhance their image or loose countless photos digitally.

People need to know this because i would hate to see the original fashion of using physical photo albums and non altered photos by just accepting them for what they are, a point in time that should be taken care of and kept safe, not lost in a sea of digitally saved photos that will probably never be seen again.

The product would probably be communicated to the public advertisements, since the product is something digital with the purpose to bring back the age of something physical and personal.

The point of this product and my design is to attract, inform and re educate people.

I started off with creating the business image, First I needed a name that would quickly give the correct impression and idea of what the business and the app will be about.
So i played around with words until i came up with 'TIMEPOINT', The word 'time' responds to the business idea of creating an unedited physical photo album over time e.g. a year. The word 'point' responds to each photo being a 'point' in time that is being saved and not forgotten by the creation of something physical. 

For the name i designed it will 'Helvetia Bold' which gives a sense of importance to the name, the small definition text below the name made with 'Helvetica light' is a subtle way of describing the business in just a few short words.

I then started to think about creating a logo for the business which can will also be used in what ever else I design. 

I played around with the letters 'T' and 'P', (T)IME(P)OINT. With the a font called 'Amata' which I had come across and downloaded.

I carried out some research into logo's that have been created with typography, just to give me some ideas for what i could maybe do with my two letters:

http://www.designer-daily.com/logo-design-17487

http://goodlogo.com/tags/letter

After carrying out some research i had a much better idea on how to design the logo, I applied both letters together until i came up with the finished pieces below.

By using the font Amarta i achieved the professional yet personal look i was going for, I had the idea of completing the letter 'T' in the logo by typing in the rest of the word T(IME) which I think makes the logo look a lot more personalized. I used black and white to keep the design professional. I experimented with the outer shape just to see if it had any effect on the general look from a far. The logo does look different when it is presented in either a square or circle. 

However I decided to choose the square design just because it appeals to me most.

I then started to think about designing a website for the company, so there was something to base everything from apart from the actual idea itself.

So I looked online for website that would allow me to create my own with my own design work and visualized look in my mind.

I found the website 'http://www.wix.com/' which allowed me to completely create and design my own website from scratch.

The website had to connect to the constant theme i wanted of being professional yet personal. The website won't be the main point of my design work for this brief because it is not the product, only the base of my design. I want to create the website in a way that it can be used to check on the progress of the users photo album. Where the user can view what photos are coming from where, either social media or photos from their mobile album. 

The website below:

I designed the website to be very personal to the user, whilst trying the keep the same color theme going. At the same time from a glance from the images above i think my work looks very professional and clean. I made the website easy to navigate on every page i created and kept a similar them but for every page a different layout. 

My favorite part about the website is probably the background i made for every page. I wanted to give a very personal impression when the user logged on so the idea is that the photos that have been uploaded to the users album over time will create a faint, black and white background behind all of the elements on each page, which gives a nostalgic feel to the website.

I used some of my own personal photography when designing the website to give an example.

I was Then ready to create my product which would bring a solution to the problem i was trying to fix.

I started off by searching for software that would allow me to design and create my own app. After some looking around i did come across free APK creating software online from 

'http://www.appsbar.com/' 

This site is very useful for new users to start designing their own application based from their image and what the creator wants to make.

I thought this website was really good because there were so many options to do what what I wanted and to literally apply my design work anywhere until i got the right image.
Basing the website loosely on my website I began working on my application until i had developed the final design below:

After completing the app and publishing it, i then took a moment to download it myself and have a go navigating through the pages and swiping through the images.

I then started thinking about other things I could create that would demonstrate my design in a promotional method so I made an App Card, using the same design theme, where people would just be able to pick up the small card and use it to download the app and start their on going photo album. 

So I carried out some research of business card templates and examples to get an idea of what design would be most effective with what i have created.

http://uk.moo.com/design-templates/business-cards/ 

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/business-card-design-100-creative-examples-useful-tutorials-and-templates/

After some research i then had a better idea of how I wanted to apply my own design into the form of a business card, i wanted to keep the theme that i had done in all of my previous work but still keep it looking professional.

So using what i had already created i played around with a couple of elements for a short while until i had something i was happy with.

Below is the front of the App Card:

The back of the App Card:

I am very happy with my solution to the problem i took forward from the last brief. How i have designed it and what i have created. I Think my favorite pieces out of the collection is probably my logo and mobile app. I enjoyed making those the most.