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Here’s the progress I’ve made so far. Compositions have been tweaked, and every screen in the scenario exists now! Hooray!

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The family I was paired with was an energetic bunch of people, to say the least. I worked with a brother/sister pair and their mother. They were so much fun!

The kids loved my map and coloring cards, and they even fought over who found the sculptures first and would get its coloring card. (Luckily, I had two copies, so they each got one, although that didn’t really stop them from fighting. Haha.)

My kids were older (around 8-9), so their map skills were pretty darn good. They actually used the map as a navigation tool, instead of leaving it to their mom to figure out. They followed the map well, and they found every sculpture they needed to find! Hooray!

Coloring the cards at the art table went over really well with the girl, as she’s a bit of an artist, but her gamer-geek brother didn’t seem too interested in coloring.

As always, there are some issues that need to be addressed:

• Numbering the sculptures makes the kids want to do them all in order, from 1 to 6.
• They didn’t notice Artie until they were sitting down at the art table and looked closer.
• The coloring cards were fun to collect, but only one of the kids actually colored them.

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So, I’ve obviously moved forward with the zen garden theme. The scenario I’m showing is a user (Sarah, a yoga teacher) going through the app to create and save a new sequence of poses.

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Here’s our feedback from our classmates. We’ve got some good feedback to work from, so I’m confident that we’ll end up with a really awesome map.

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I recently read an article on TechCrunch about user experience and what it takes to succeed in the competitive world of tailored/targeted apps. While the article specifically talks about the digital/interactive realm, this same thinking can be applied to other design problems.

Jamie described this issue last year as “skeleton vs. skin,” where the skeleton is the structural, functional side of a project, and the skin is the styling and aesthetics (and content is the guts that make it all viable in the first place). A skeleton can stand on its own if it needs to, but a pile of skin is an empty, shallow, lump. (However, a bare-bones [pun intended] design can get boring and feel naked or unfinished if left skinless.) Structure gives design a way to cater to a user’s needs without collapsing under the pressure of user interaction. A “pile of skin” may be well-groomed and sexy, but no skeleton means a lifeless experience. A skeleton and skin together provide a beautiful balance of structure and beauty, where a user can enjoy a smooth experience while having something sexy to look at.

So, let’s break it down… … Continue reading

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Idea 1: Yoga Class Management app

• allow yoga teachers to keep track of their class schedule
• plan/manage yoga class curriculum
• manage student subscriptions and take payments
• timer to keep track of class duration and individual pose durations

Idea 2: Yoga Routine Planner

• choose from different types of yoga (ashtanga, hatha, kundalini, bikram, vinyasa, etc.)
• select poses and durations
• save routines for later
• create custom types of yoga (like “newbie yoga,” “fast & furious,” etc.)
• gives the user something to follow during practice

Idea 3: Pose Corrector

• augmented reality app recognizes when students have bad form
• points out problem areas (like if a student’s back isn’t straight)
• teaches anatomy and physical benefits of yoga
• suggests modifications when traditional poses aren’t working (to either make the practice easier or more challenging)

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This full-page magazine ad for yoga mat cleaner ties in to yoga teachers’ values and goals of being physically active and keeping their studio clean for their students. A dirty mat can be an obstacle, as it does not provide sufficient friction for practicing yoga.

The lotus is a symbol of purity and transcendence, and the green color is earthy and natural to appeal to yogis’ sense of oneness with the earth. The hand-drawn yoga practitioner also feels organic and down to earth. She doesn’t mind having her face so close to the mat because the it smells great! It’s clean and fresh, thanks to Gaiam Yoga Mat Wash.

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…and it can be found here.

And here’s what it looks like. I think I’ve at least gotten closer to resolving the composition issue.

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