Low+Behold

This week we received a talk by Connor McCann and Matthew McLaughlin from Low + Behold regarding the placement position at their company was truly insightful. They provided a comprehensive background on themselves and the company, offering a clear understanding of their journey and the ethos driving Low + Behold.

They delved into the day-to-day operations within the company, providing a glimpse into the routine and tasks one might encounter in the role. Additionally, the discussion on a recent case study shed light on their projects and the practical applications of the skills one could develop during the placement.

The insights into what to expect when joining Low + Behold for a year were particularly beneficial. Learning about their expectations and the environment one could anticipate highlighted the value they place on incoming talent and the opportunities available within the company. Overall, Matthew and Connor's talk provided a holistic view of the placement position at Low + Behold. Their comprehensive overview, coupled with real-life examples and expectations, was invaluable in understanding the role and considering it as a potential opportunity.

SDG Project Development

Sketches & Digital Development

This week we were given time for independent study. I used this time to create some sketches of my UI. For the home page I wanted a simple layout using cards to display the image of the character and the name of the story below. I experimented with a grid layout with 2/3 in each row and also tried listing them. In the end I decided to go with the 2 in each row grid as I felt this was the best for accessibility and looked the best visually.

When I took this to Figma I ran into a few problems as I had jumped straight into creating the UI without any branding. One of my lecturers had mentioned using one of the colours I had used to wireframe as a colour in my brand. I decided to go along with this, as it was a dark blue colour it worked well as this would help prevent fatigue and eye strain in kids. It was also visually appealing and didn’t clash with the colours of the characters. I used different shades of this to create the cards which made the character stand out. I will learn from this mistake and work on branding beforehand in the future.

When trying to find a layout for my stories I initially thought to have the illustration and text side by side and include a scroll feature instead of clicking through pages, however this would leave the illustrations and text quite small especially for a 10 year old target audience. I was given advice to try landscape for this section of my app. I sketched this out with the text and illustration side by side however this approach included clicking through the pages which I was fine with.

I took this to Figma to begin digital development. I created the first few screens of my first story and asked advice from one of my lecturers. They mentioned that having this section landscape and my home screen portrait caused a delay in the usability, which when I thought about it I agreed with them. I then went back to create some sketches for this to be portrait but avoiding small text and illustrations. I accomplished this my having the text being the main focus of the screen at the top with an illustration at the bottom, with the click feature to go to the next page. I then rejigged my previous screens to this layout and this removed the delay of having to rotate your phone to read a story.

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