Over the last week I created a proposal based on the issues and discussions that I mentioned in the previous blog post. I spoke with James over the direction of where I would like to take the app, its working name & the target audience I shall be marketing to.
Here is the 1st proposal which will be improved upon:
We discussed a lot of things which I will change and improve on in my final proposal which will be handed in but here are the main issues:
‘StudentConnected’ is a very good working title however more should looked at and given to my target audience to receive feedback on the best option.
A few words that may be taken as slander if the proposal was to be released to the public, such as blackboard being classed as appalling with bad its design. However much I believe this to be true it is not professional to deem a service unworthy of use. This is why words will be changed to still show the distasteful, sluggish design but in a more convoluted manner. Myself and James also discussed the notion that it would be very beneficial to have created an education app in my current position as a student, giving me access to feedback whenever I needed it. It was also mentioned that it would be best to receive feedback constantly throughout the production of the app/website – I initially had my feedback stage towards the end of production however James felt this was counter-intuitive.
There was also talk by James on the issue that this service may come across as a portal rather than its own individual application – this problem had already crossed my mind and I was quite wary of staying away from that territory. James suggested that it was probably best if I was to eliminate some of the utilities within the app and to focus on creating specific features to allow the project to stand on its own two feet away from competitors. He went on to mention how Design is Key in a service like this and that I should spent a long time using wire frame to design the initial early stages of the concept before moving on variations of the apps final design.
I gained a lot of knowledge from this meeting with James, he has helped me understand what I need to create and what I need to do to create an exciting, attractive app. He left me with two questions to ponder on which I will talk indepth on in my next blog post alongside the other topics mentioned. These questions were:
This product/service/app should be what Blackboard isn’t – how could I make this more friendly and engaging for university students?
Why would they find it engaging?