Today was our first lesson back, and it was a really enjoyable one. Kyle told us about our project for this semester which is a music player app, and we started looking at how images are used to convey various narratives in interaction design.
we discussed how we can actually ‘read’ a picture, and how useful they are to provide context within interfaces. By combining multiple pictures, we create the narrative. Kyle used a really cool example of juxtaposition, where he put a picture of a child beside a picture of Disneyland, which created the narrative of a happy childhood. He then changed the image of Disney to a war photo, which completely switched the narrative.
my favourite part of today was looking at the diagrams as a form of visual communication, such as Nicholas Felton's annual reports he tracked years of his own life, like where he travelled, his habits and time. These diagrams or images guide interpretation by using scale, colour and hierarchy to turn abstract data into something which is not only readable but creates a narrative. I think this is what Kyle meant when he said we can read a picture, an image can really communicate without words.
This led me to briefly explore data visualisation outside of the lecture, particularly designers who use data in more personal and experimental ways.
Im really excited to begin this project, as im someone who rarely doesnt have headphones on. Ive always felt music streaming apps like Spotify could be made better, and this is the perfect oppertunity to put my ideas into action. The streaming market is already quite competitive, and this made me want to lean into creating a bespoke app that weaves in all of the positive features of music apps, and leaves out the negative/unnecessary. My main 3 aims for this project will be: