OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Throughout this project my research skills have improve drastically. I chose to focus on a topic that is fairly new within the design industry and therefore the tutors were not fully aware of the practice of User Experience or User Experience Design. By working with a UX specialist (Lowri from Rental Cars) I was able to gain the knowledge I needed to be able to understand what I was writing about. I would therefore say that my primary research skills have improved massively as I would not have been as successful otherwise. I also feel that my website design skills have improved. During my placement at Numiko I was introduced into the professional practice of website design, using Photoshop and Axure Pro to make wireframes. By using these two programs I was able to create a professional outcome that was informed by prototypes. I therefore propose to continue to work in this way and avoid using other programs such as Illustrator to create websites.

What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they ­­

As I focussed on User Experience Design it was imperative that I change the way I think about design. As a UX Designer it can be difficult to detach your own personal design aesthetic choices, as the user is the most important aspect of the design. It is therefore very important to ensure that no matter what is produced, it must be usable. I am also more aware of the psychological aspects of UX Design and I was able to use some of the core human motivations to ensure that my website would have the basic outlines of a UX project.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

My strengths within this project would be research and design, I do feel that my writing has improved massively also as I have had difficulty in the past with essay writing. I think that I enjoyed this project more than CoP1 or CoP2 because I was able to focus my entire project around a topic that I am very interested in and hope to build a career around. I hope to be able to use the knowledge I have gained from this project to form a baseline for the rest of my time on the course and also past that time.

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

My weaknesses within this project lie within time management, I do feel that I could have left myself more time to design the final website and therefore would have been able to produce more pages. I would also have liked to learn how to animate my website using Adobe After Effects to properly showcase how a user would use the site. I did manage to create GIF files that show the site but I would have preferred to create something slightly more in depth. I also feel that my topic was not be suited for the tutors on the course. Unfortunately, due to the content of my dissertation I was unable to get the best feedback as user experience design is not a topic known by most of the tutors. I feel that I was given the best tutor for my topic but I would have felt more supported if I had been assigned a tutor with more web experience. However, I was given some guidance by Lowri which helped me to gain understanding and knowledge of how users react to certain features within a website. With this knowledge I was then able to make informed decisions regarding my website re-design.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1.     Leave more time for the final designs

2.     Set up my own user testing facility to test the final design

3.     Seek out more people within the industry to gain more appropriate information

4.     Take the time to animate the website in a professional manner

I would expect to gain more understanding UX as it is a large topic with a lot of factors. I would also expect my practical element to have more breadth to it and feedback to confirm that the site is usable and has a good UX.

How would you grade yourself in the following areas;
Attendance: 5
Punctuality: 5
Motivation: 4
Commitment: 4
Quantity of work: 5
Quality of work: 4