Sustainable Gaming Company Task
The first stage of the group work, in developing a website promoting sustainable gaming practices for teenagers, was brainstorming ideas on paper. We decided to have every person contribute a different idea for each element – this way we could cover various topics and consider other perspectives. An important thing to consider is ensuring that initial research is being done so that the entire idea doesn’t rely on assumptions.
We have come up with the thought that it would be difficult to make an environmental brand designed for our target audience (teenagers) because we thought that most of them would not care about the cause, therefore we have added an element of “gamification” (ref needed) which would motivate them to get involved with the environmental cause and make a change. In addition, the thought that we had about teenagers not caring was an assumption – we have decided to not use assumptions in the future as they might be ill-informed and inaccurate.
A mood board has been created on Figma in order for us to begin to bring visual and influential ideas to the table as well as being able to focus on research (statistics on sustainable gaming, etc.) At the end of each session, each group shared their ideas and what conclusion they had arrived at – this can be helpful if a group of people isn’t feeling inspired collectively at that moment and also you can take subtle inspiration from others’ ideas and alter it slightly to fit your own work as a way to expand your ideas. One thing that could be improved is to try and think outside of the brief and not stick to one idea from the beginning, which was one of the mistakes we have committed as a group.
Each member of the group sought out different websites to use as a reference point on what is trending in the web industry as well as expanding our ideas beyond what we originally had in mind. We have compiled everything using Padlet as an alternative to Figma. We have come up with a new idea which is that the website should tell an engaging story through visual effects (parallax, animations, illustrations, etc.) and that it should apply design which is trendy amongst the teenage demographic (retro gaming, digital style, nostalgic elements).
Sustainable Gaming Padlet
https://padlet.com/j_hayhurst/breakout-link/gx604eeDMojW4YGo-lg9yzRyK1GQ4b74L
OSHI Analysis Task
During the second groupwork task, we were assigned a local non-profit organisation website to analyze and find elements that could be improved. This time, we have used an evaluation structure to help us evaluate the details of the website without putting too much focus on only one topic. The website that we were looking at was OSHI, a Hull-based addiction support group. Since this is a small-scale local NPO, the website did not have as many branches and if we were to create a hierarchal task analysis, it would be rather shallow compared to massive organisations such as WWF.
Through doing this task, we have realized that splitting different tasks across the team can help greatly, however if multiple people focus on one thing, it can be beneficial too because it would provide mutliple perspectives and it would end in a more in-depth analysis. However, the former way of doing the groupwork is effective if the deadline is closer and balance needs to be struck so that every point of the task gets equal coverage.
References
OSHI (2024) OSHI – Open source healing initiative in Hull UK. Oshi.org.uk. Available at: https://www.oshi.org.uk/ [Accessed 9/11/24].