Jack:
What progress was made?
Throughout the whole project I think me and Dom worked very well together. The ability to bounce ideas off each other and being able to get an honest responses really helped. There was no sugar coating as we both wanted the best outcome for the project.
Overall, I think we took on a lot of work designing and making 3 applications. It was tough to try and keep to our deadlines, but we managed to work as a team and get any issues sorted quickly. We both managed to put a big input in to all aspects of the design, trying not to make it one sided on each person.
Working with UX Pin on the prototypes was a big help for me as I think it was the best application for the job.
On the side of research and user testing, I have learnt a lot. I now know the importance of testing a product numerous times to get the best outcome possible. A product can look amazing, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
Were the desired outcomes achieved?
I feel the outcomes were definitely achieved on this brief. I think that we have created a great set of apps that will work perfectly for a small business. A huge help to achieving these goals was being able to play the project to our own strengths. I took a big lead on the design front and being able to churn out lots of design in a quick time, whereas Dom took a big lead on the video, desktop prototype and the a lot of the user research.
What would be changed or approached differently in the future?
In the future I would like to look at the specifics in the design and take in to consideration of any accessibility issues. For example, Luke from Sage mentioned the contrasting colour, so that would be something I would revisit.
Dominic:
What progress was made?
Considering the timeframe, I couldn't be prouder of our progress throughout this project. Jack and I collaborated effectively and respected each other's opinions a lot when it came to the design stage of the project. We were honest about likes and dislikes with each others contributions, to the point where we were both happy with the final outcomes.
Personally, it was challenging to create the prototype to meet the deadlines with presentation preparation alongside the promotional work. I feel like I have again developed my knowledge of prototype software as well as a more complex look into After Effects Animations, and how to express ideas in an entertaining and engaging way.
I have also learned a lot about user research and testing. I was able to identify trends and user needs of real work staff and implement these ideas in our system. I feel like I can respect why user testing is a vital part of the process, and how feedback has turned three strong concepts into one inter-connected design.
Were the desired outcomes achieved?
I feel the were, and this was down to the shared workload. Jack tackled the development of the mobile applications, whilst I worked on the dashboard. I feel we played to our strengths based on Part 1 of this module. I definitely utilised my knowledge of material design I learned in Part One and translated it for this design. I feel this resulted in a usable and visually powerful design.
What would be changed or approached differently in the future?
If we were given a longer timeframe, I would like to revisit some other feedback we received from Sage and act upon this. We developed mock ups for a simple on-boarding process, however I would like to implement this in the prototype, as well as act on some other small bits of feedback we were given.
