Book

Book

Bibliography

Books
Holly, M and Moxey, K (1999), The Subjects of Art History, Columbia University, New York
Lawrence, D (2004) A Logo for London, unknown, London

Websites
Unknown, 'Spanish Words', date unknown, [accessed January 10th 2011]
http://www.indybel.com/images/P/spanishwords.jpg

Unknown, 'Entershop', date unknown, [accessed January 10th 2011]
http://www.entershop.co.uk/early-learning-posters/entershop/2d&3d.jpg
http://www.entershop.co.uk/images/alphabet.bmp
http://www.entershop.co.uk/images/welshcal.JPG

Colour Lovers, 'Contrasting Type', date unknown, [accessed January 28th 2011]
http://www.colourlovers.com/web/blog/2010/03/11/calculating-color-contrast-for-legible-text


Applied Information Group, 'Legible London', date unknown, [accessed January 28th 2011]
http://www.appliedinformationgroup.com/projects/legible-london-pedestrian-wayfinding


Places
'The Leeds Story', Leeds City Museum, Leeds
'Northern Art Prize', Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds

Interviews
Josh Mellor, 6 February 2010
Hannah Robb, 6 February 2010
John Carter, 5 February 2010
Jonathan (unknown), 5 February 2010
Xinzhe Wang, 27 January 2010
Tracy Tao, 27 January 2010
Wing Deng, 27 January 2010
Xie Kalling, 27 January 2010
Olga Maksimenko, 1 February 2010

Research and Data Collection: Appendix 2

Research and Data Collection: Appendix 1

Appendix 1
The collection of words and phrases below was composed by talking to two groups of Russian speaking and Mandarin speaking international students in Leeds. It was done in two phases; the first question was asking if they could think of any words they learnt while here that they didn't know before. The second phase was to take them round their flat and test them on a number of awkward words that I suspected they might not know. They learnt many words in this process, and all of these have been included below.

Evaluation

Visual Language Evaluation

Exhibition Piece Analysis

I am very happy with my exhibition piece. The video for The Gospel According to Coldplay took a huge amount of work that covered planning, shooting and editing. It was the first video I've made entirely on my own, and the first (and probably the only) time I've picked up a video camera since Comm Tech in first year.

In one sense I wish I had made this my Visual Language project, but it has worked well to tie up Visual Language and introduce my project next semester where I want to make videos.

There were three services, the first on Saturday 5th February. I spent all day Saturday at church to plan shots at the rehearsal. I got a good idea of the sort of shots I wanted to get, but it was hard to remember many of them or put them into practice... so this taught me my first lesson- write everything down. This later was reiterated as I forgot which songs I had recorded in full and which I only had clips of.

The second lesson came in the 2nd service on Sunday where I ran out of memory right in the middle of filming. I was well prepared in terms of having a back up battery, but I needed to make sure I went into every service with an empty card.

I found it exceptionally difficult to get a good range of good shots. I got some great ones from my tripod, but as this was a fixed position I could only get relatively similar pans/zooms. I tried to get good shots with dingle where possible, but with difficulty. In total, I filmed around 100 clips; some were several minute long buzz tracks, others cutaways. I also filmed around 15 interviews, although the quality of the sound generally dictated which ones were usable. I only worked out how to increase the brightness on the last shoot too, which was rather frustrating.

Having said all this, I am happy I'm able to watch the video back and see where errors lie.
Improvements:

1. Remember which way is focus and 'unfocus' as the first clip is part out of focus
2. Use separate audio tracks to ensure maximum sound quality- the entire clip could have better sound (although it's not bad to say it's straight from the camera).
3. At 0:37, I would like to have some more cutaways rather than going straight to an interview
4. At 1:18, I would ideally have a smooth pan up. I considered setting up the tripod here on Sunday to get this, but this would have been very restricting in getting any other shots for the sake of one shot.
5. The way I ended 'Fix You'. There was little choice here as I couldn't find a full buzz track of it (although I thought I'd filmed one). Better organisation and planning could have prevented this.
6. I would have generally made the clip longer with more footage of music. I would need better planning of shots to enable this.

Things I'm pleased with:

1. The introduction. I think the way the music starts while the title slide is on works well.
2. The pan at 0:30 works really well I think, and captures the atmosphere perfectly.
3. The shots between 1:13 and 1:26. These pans work with the song.
4. The cutaways at 1:32 and the following pan that enforces the social aspect of it.
5. Interviews were great- loved speaking with people and being able to get good quality shots on those.
6. The ending where it goes out of focus, zooms out and fades to black.
7. Most of all I'm happy I remembered how to use Final Cut Pro ...and that I got a bottle of wine of thanks out of it!

Exhibition Piece

Welcome Screen

A final touch is the necessary welcome screen. I've kept it friendly and simple with the lack of capitalisation in the title text, and the use of 'hello' instead of a more serious introduction.

The lighter coloured belt separates the interactive menu area from the instructions, but shows the user where they must pick a language from.

The enter button uses the same blue as the 'next scene' button to introduce the user to the concept on the first screen.

The first image shows an expanded menu, the second shows a selected menu.

Final Crit

On the whole this crit brought out few comments other than I need to get better at presenting... In terms of the project itself though, the only suggestion was a search option.

I've added a search box, although it would have a limited vocabulary as expected from any self-contained application. Considering this disadvantage, I enabled the user to expand their search externally via a series of hyperlinks to much larger online language databases.

Pictish to Punjabi

I decided to make my postcard based on languages of the British Isles. Most of my project has been focused on foreign languages, but I thought it might be interesting to note the languages we have here that many people are ignorant of. These are languages, not dialects or accents.

A quick bit of research found that the below native languages are currently spoken in the British Isles:

English (59,600,000)
Scots
Lowland Scots
Irish Gaelic
Welsh
Scottish Gaelic
Cornish
Manx Gaelic
Jersey French
Jerriais
Guernesiais
BSL

These are the major immigrant languages spoken in the British Isles:

Bengali
Punjabi
Urdu
Welsh Romani
Romani
Sylheti
Cantonese
Greek
Italian
SW Caribbean Creole
Gujrati
Kashmiri

These are the extinct languages of the British Isles:

British
Cumbric
Galwegian Gaelic
Old English
Yola
Middle English
Norn
Manx
Auregrais
Pictish

..and finally languages that once existed in the UK but are now only spoken abroad:

Breton
French

Notebook Scans: Postcard Development

Interface Development: Label Design

The font, Myriad Pro, was chosen for a few reasons.

The first and most important is that it was one of the few fonts that supported Cyrillic and Eastern Scripts.

The second is that it is a friendly font, and the sans serif element means it can be read easily on screen.

I have tried a few different sizes out, and have decided to go for the middle one. The largest would create problems for any long words, and doesn't look great visually either while the smallest is too hard to read.

Interface Development

I realised that each page needed a 'context'; a sort of 'introduction'. This not only gave the opportunity to learn an extra word (if not already known), but facilitates the inclusion of the language picker on every screen, as well as a navigation bar.

I chose to use white and yellow on translucent blue in the end as it provides the best balance between good contrast and good aesthetic. This design is widely used when legibility is of prime concern- Network Rail are notable for using this combination on their station signage.

Alternative Label Design

After Graham's comments regarding the typography, I tried some new designs out. The first was yellow and white on black. This creates the greatest possible contrast, but is also rather garish.

The second is easier on the eye, but I feel does not provide enough contrast against the background. The use of Helvetica Ultralight also makes it appear more 'serious' and takes away the enjoyable and friendly approach I am trying to convey.

Research and Data Collection

Today was a pivotal day for the project. I met up with a group of international students who I am working with for Send & Receive to discuss this with them, as well as collect data for the project of a typical student flat.

The quality of the photos isn't great, but it demonstrates what I want to do at least.

I started by asking if there were any English words that they have learnt while being here. All of these were documented and can be found in the appendix.

Secondly, I toured the flat with them then picked out awkward words to see if they knew them. All the words they did not know in English I wrote down and got the translations for. In this image, it was all the things with red dots on.

I later met Olga to translate more words into Russian. Because I was working with international students who already had an understanding of language, Graham pointed out that the project should have fun element and include some less obvious words and scenes. I thus decided to include a red light district.

Animated Scene

Another idea I had was to use animated scenes instead of photos. This has the advantage of being staged as I can design it around the words rather than the words being designed around the environment. However, this makes it less realistic and also results in a huge amount of work. More importantly, I felt that a graphic look like the one here is more suitable for a younger demographic such as high school students.

Mock Up 2

This is a mock up of how the pub scene might look. The blue dots identify 'next scene', while red dots identify a label. The font is Myriad Pro. A listen option is available. The type was criticised by Graham for being hard to read, although in hindsight I want the English to be hard to read so that the user is encouraged to learn the foreign language.

Project Brief

Brief

Crit Feedback

The crit was generally positive; most agreeing that a visual Web 2.0 language learning app was a good idea that would be useful.

It was clear that an audience needed to be pinned down though, so I decided to focus on international students. This seemed the most sensible option for a number of reasons. The first is that there are already tools for simple language learning, but not that many in existence for international students wanting to expand their already broad vocabulary. The second is that through Send & Receive, as well as on the course itself, I have access to a network of international students who I conduct research with.

It becomes clear that once the audience is identified, the project writes itself. A pub/bar, as shown above, is the sort of image I need if it is to be aimed at that age group. I'm sceptical to pin down the audience too much though because ideally, I would have a broad audience.

Working in the realms of what is realistically possible in the time available, and with the resources at my disposal, I will pin down the audience to produce a specific project. It is my intention though that the bigger picture will allow for something much larger in terms of a user-based database in which anything can be labelled like other Web 2.0 services.

Mock Up

From the initial research I have conducted, I have identified an opportunity. There are an increasing number of tourists going abroad- short haul package holidays have boomed in the last 10 years. Equally, more students are travelling abroad to study than ever before.

Despite this, the level of language learning in the UK is still shameful compared to its European counterparts. An addictive application to encourage language learning seems like an obvious idea.

I created a mock up of what the app might look like in preparation for the first crit.

The image was randomly picked from Street View to show how the programme could link in with Street View if technically possible as this would allow the widest possible database.

The things labelled here are aimed at tourists though, although zooming into more visual detail would allow for more detailed words. For example zooming into the bottom right of the car would make the 'car' label disappear, but a label for 'exhaust' could appear.

Visual Language: Language Learning Posters

Futurefarmers

'Cultivating consciousness since 1995'


Christian informed me about Future Farmers, although I think I may have heard about them before through a documentary called the Virtual Revolution based in the area Futurefarmers work.

They have a very impressive HTML5 website that I'm still trying to get my head around.

The collection of creatives is quite something; one of their projects particularly interests me. Transportationtown builds on the idea of SimCity but as an educational tool. It gives me an element of inspiration for what I might do in terms of building an interactive app.

What is a Book: Wikipedia

I come to Wikipedia to give an example of a database, which can be justified as a form of book.

What is really interesting about Wikipedia is the continuous network of hyperlinks, allowing the brain to learn on a natural linear basis; although can result in some serious tangents. In fact, this is so central to Wikipedia that a game has even been invented where one must try to reach a randomly selected page from another random page before his/her rival, forcing the player to think where links can be made.

This concept is central to Wikipedia and is what interests me. Unlike a predictable physical book, Wikipedia allows the book to take whatever form the user is interested in. Many have experienced it first hand- learning lots of things (often useless) from the intention of just visiting one page to learn one thing.

What is a Book: Virtual Springfield

Here's another example of a virtual environment; this time animated.

In this, the user basically clicks and it leads them to another scene. Within one scene, some limited options are available such as activating a character or opening a door/window.

What is a Book: Google Street View

Google Street View

Street View as a Book
Google Street View is a book; a narrative that leads you through a virtual experience of life. The real environment in this case can be compared to the 'spoken' when referring to language. This is the time based, present and fast-moving reality. Street View is a written book of the real; it requires equipment, is static and organised and exists only in preserved realms.

Street View is Addictive
Users are encouraged to explore cities around the world, and people can end up wasting a lot of time exploring their cities in street view. What if this time-wasting, yet interesting, experience could be captured for educational purposes?

Notebook Scans: Development of Main Piece

Examples of Visual Communication: Gallery Task

Museums & Galleries are some of the best examples of visual communication, having to effectively communicate a range of visual stimulants to a wide audience. I have assessed three venues in Central Leeds on how they communicate.

Leeds City Art Gallery
Leeds City Art Gallery hosts one of the best collections of 20th century art in the UK outside London. To make the most of this, the gallery keeps each room spacious to enable space for the art to breathe, and space for the viewer to roam. A small space typically only has 2 pieces (such as the first room in the Northern Art Prize Exhibition), although other spaces pack more in. The greatest anomaly here is the 20th century painting room where large paintings are clustered on the walls and mounted on a dark blue background. I can only assume blue has been chosen to create the image of royalty against the elaborate golden frames. In most galleries, the work is aligned horizontal and centrally.

All labels use Helvetica in 14pt. There is no hierarchy- the viewer must determine the order based on the spacing as a blank line is left between the title and the body text. All text is left aligned and mounted on foamboard.

Direction signposts are often on glass totems. An employee of the gallery was unable to tell me the font used on the signs themselves, but it is similar to Franklin Gothic Demi. I suspect the font has been specifically edited for use by the City Council (who run the gallery).

In the Northern Art Prize exhibition, vinyl text had been applied directly to the walls. It was at an adult's eye level. Some objects were on aqua coloured plinths- I'm not sure why; I personally disliked them.

I am not afraid to criticise Leeds City Art Gallery. The building is not suitable for a modern art gallery- which is of course not the fault of the art gallery. Unfortunately the building, which is currently being renovated, is small and is an awkward layout. It results in a few awkward arrangements having to be made in a rather piecemeal way.

The art gallery is clearly aiming at an adult audience on the whole, although a specifically designed kids area demonstrates their open attitude to families too.

Henry Moore Institute
The Henry Moore Institute is much better curated than the art gallery. There are two important differences between this and the art gallery. The first is that the institute has been specifically designed for the display of modern art sculptures. While small, it is much better laid out. The second is that it is privately owned and so does not adhere to the uniform design standards of council venues.

I'm not sure of the typeface used, but it looked very similar to Futura- and again in 14pt. The pieces were aligned centrally, and everything displayed upon brilliant white surfaces.

The institute had a block of introductory text on arrival on the left wall. It was arranged in two columns with typically ten words per column.

Leeds City Museum
Leeds City Museum was converted into a museum from the former Civic Theatre. It houses some great exhibitions, although I feel the central arena space is hugely wasted at the moment.

I focused on the Leeds Story though. This is the largest exhibition- and probably the one of most interest to most visitors to the museum. Walking round, it was clear that the exhibition was aimed at people who knew little about the city of Leeds. Some extra details in place would have been of local interest though.

The way one is led through the exhibition has been swapped since I last went when it opened. The type in the city museum was identical to the directional signage in the City Art Gallery- they are both owned by the council. Text was however displayed on boards that typically were white on dark blue. A light blue strip was provided on the top or left of the boards (whichever was shorter on that board). Most labels were relatively low down, enabling children to read them. Some panels were displayed in cabinets.

A huge amount of information is hidden in mock exhibits, meaning the museum is very hands-on. There are a range of touch screens, although the design of them is poor and confusing. There are large images such as the 'Mapping Leeds' image that are of interest to adults and children alike.

Legible Type

http://www.colourlovers.com/web/blog/2010/03/11/calculating-color-contrast-for-legible-text

Colour Lovers, a organisation I follow on Twitter, did a report on contrasting colours and what is best for text. The text helped to inform me of the colour choice for the application.

My decision has partly been based on other examples of visual communication. I looked at two of the most high profile examples of visual communication, in scenarios where the information needs to be conveyed quickly and easily.

Legible London (which has also come to Leeds) was designed by the Applied Information Group and implemented by Transport for London. It features deep yellow headings in uppercase on a navy blue background. Striking yellow tops catch the eye, similar to those on the totems at Leeds City Museum. The font is in uniform with the rest of TfL, New Johnston. Less important information is in white.

Another example that informed me was Network Rail signage. Network Rail own all stations in the UK, but manage/operate the 18 busiest. They have adopted a very similar signage to Legible London, based on their own research that showed the majority of people responded fastest to yellow on dark blue signage. The example on the right at Leeds City Station demonstrates: