Monday, May 13, 2013

Week 14: Preparing Presentation

Presentation is just around the corner so here is the link to my mobile app:  Hawaiian Kajukenbo Association Mobile App

Adjust your browser window size to fit app.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Week 13: Time to test

For the testing of my app, I wanted to grab people who is my "Target Market" so the people that will be mostly using the app.  Since my app is geared towards my martial arts school, I wanted people from that club to test it; so the instructors and the students.

My initial plan was to record them actually using the app between the two different interfaces.  However as things don't always go as planned, I was unable to get my test subjects available and was not able to record them.  After talking with Sam he suggested using Google Forms so I was able to create the questions that I was planning on asking the subjects as if I was going to record them.  

The two different interfaces that the subjects used was the Calendar view and the Agenda (list) view.  

Use the links below to view the Evaluation Responses.
Agenda View

Month View

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Week 12: Evaluation Plan


Goals What do you want to learn? What concerns, questions, and goals is the test focusing on?
I want to know which interface is the most efficient and easiest to use for my events section.  Some of the concerns that I have are:  is it necessary to have both interfaces of the Events section (calendar view or list view).  The goals will be to see how fast the participants can navigate through the different interfaces and find certain events that I choose and give me details about the event. 

Participants Who will you recruit and how?
I will recruit students and instructors from my martial arts class; Hawaiian Kajukenbo Association.

Method Timing, Duration, Location, Process
I will give the participants a maximum duration of 3 minutes and I will time them to see how long it takes to find certain events for both of the view options.  The location of the test will be at the martial arts’ school. 
 
Tasks What will you ask participants to do? Make sure to align the tasks with your goals.
The tasks that I will have my participants perform will consist of them finding certain events that I created and also having them give me specific details of certain events that I select, such as: The name of the event, where the event takes place and what time the event takes place.

Measures Success criteria; Additional dependent variables; qualitative data (will you take pictures or record audio?) 
I will record each test with my video camera that will also provide audio. 

Which two interfaces are you going to test?
The two interfaces that I will be testing will be my Events section, a Calendar view and a List view.

What tasks are you going to have users perform?
The tasks that I will have my participants perform will consist of them finding certain events that I created and also having them give me specific details of certain events that I select, such as: The name of the event, where the event takes place and what time the event takes place.

What follow up questions will you ask them?
Some questions that I may ask when I test my app will be:  what did they like about the calendar view?  What did they like about the list view?  Which interface did they find to be easier to navigate through?  

Will you have all users try both prototypes?  If so in which order?  If not, how will you split them into two groups?
I think I will have all my participants tryout both of the prototypes.  The order will be:  The first participant will try out the calendar view then the list view, the second participant will try out the list view then the calendar view and so on.  I think I will split them into groups by having an adult participant and a child participant in each group. 

AGENDA VIEW
CALENDAR VIEW







Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Week 11: Implementation from week 1

This week I started kind of late with my alternate version of my app and finally got it to my programmer Makoto.  After chatting with Makoto via skype we have both decided that my alternate version looks better because it seems "cleaner".  Makoto and I have had a pairing session with our instructor on Saturday at 10am Hawaii time and discussed what the main plan for my Kajukenbo app.  After the pairing session I have realized that my main reason and its main use would be for the students and instructors to be kept in the loop with the upcoming events.

So far the alternate version is up but is currently in construction mode.  I am hoping by the end of this week I will have a 3rd party take a look and do some comparisons with the different versions of the designs.  I was busy this week working on the new graphics so the image below is what the new version will somewhat look like.

Week 11: Revealing More Information

For this week in the 4ourth Wiki Site our assignment was to look into the Revealing More Information section of the site to look for more patterns.  The patterns that I chose were the Returned Results and the Pop-up.

Returned Results
The 4ourth wiki site describes the Returned Results as a ,"list that will need to be selected, either as choices for another process, in order to view more details, or to start a process (such as navigating to the selection)."

Yelp on iOS

I love using yelp because it is a great app the lets you locate local business around your location.  This example shows my current location as a blue dot and in the search bar I typed in Sushi and the Returned Results shows other red dots with the nearest business that sells or serves sushi.
Yelp is available on iTunes here


Pop-Up
4ourth also describes Opening a Pop-Up, "can be allowed via a typical link, or as a result of other user or system actions.  There is no univerally-recognized design method to launch or make the user aware that the action will load a Pop-Up.


Seconds on iOS
To me this part of the app is annoying to me, everytime I open this app I always get this Pop-Up which is notifying me to turn my bluetooth on.  The first time I ran this app I canceled this notification but apparently this is the default notification.  I guess I could easily just go into the settings and turn on my bluetooth but I don't want to.  This is the free version of the app Seconds available on iTunes

Monday, April 8, 2013

Week: 10 Update on Hawaiian Kajukenbo App

The first 2 weeks of the app implementation seems to be going smooth so far *knocks on wood* dont want to jinx it.  So far Makoto and I seem to be in pretty good shape and seem to be on track.  The Home screen is up as well as the instructors page and I am very please with the quality of work that Makoto has been putting in.  Makoto and I have been in contact with each other almost everyday via skype and we are on the same page, though he has a lot of technical knowledge of programming that I am very very rusty with the terms and lingo.  Tomorrow I will get him an updated version of the banner in the home screen so the design matches the rest of the buttons throughout the app.

Here are Screen Shots of what we have so far:

HOME SCREEN


INSTRUCTORS PAGE

INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTOR PAGE

The Back and Home buttons will be changed for each page in the coming weeks but right now these will be used as place holders.




Week 08: Implementation

Late post:

For my mobile app I'm partnering up with Makoto and so far I am very pleased with the ideas that this guy has and I am very excited and can't wait for this app to be up and running.  Since he is the professional here, I have taken his decision to go with a web app which I'm totally fine with.

Here is what our work Schedule would be like:

Week 1:  3/24 - 3/31:  Review and discuss the details of the app (determine the resolution of the app to design towards.  Since it will be a web app the graphics will have have to accomodate different resolutions since every user doesn't have the same resolutions) so 1280 x 2560 is what I will design towards.

Week 2:  3/31 - 4/7:  Jump start on getting the Home Screen up (Layout/ Button Design), start on the instructors page with the button placement and button design.

Week 3:  4/7 - 4/14:  Get each individual instructor page up and start working on the events page with a list view that is clickable and able to add to default phones calendar

Week 4:  4/14 - 4/21:  Work on Photo gallery with a Cover Flow look (If there is time user able to upload own photos/ videos)

Week 5:  4/21 - 4/28:  Find a way to make the app work with facebook app to update status or post in Kajukenbo Facebook page

Week 6:  4/28 - 5/4:  Testing the app making sure everything works.

Week 7:  5/4:  Presentation day or Final app testing day.