Once finished my application I had more students test it out at my hostel. I received positive feedback so overall I am happy with my application and how it has turned out.
Some of their feedback included:
"The layout was very easy to navigate and the information provided was clear and simple" - Emma Holmes.
"The colour theme was good and simple. Easy on the eyes and overall good to look at" - Robert Kani.
I was very pleased with the feedback I received from my peers. It made me feel reassured about the amount of time that I had put into making sure my application perfect. Apart from not being able to get my light bulb to flash, I am happy about the work that I have produced.
Thursday 29 September 2011
Another change made to scene 4.
I am unable to make the light bulb flash when the user is looking at that particular scene. I have tried many different codes but it always comes up with many errors. I spent hours looking at tutorials online but for some reason I could not work it out.
I am quite disappointed that I couldn't add that one part in as it would have been very affective.
I am quite disappointed that I couldn't add that one part in as it would have been very affective.
Information going on scenes 9 - 12.
Scene 9 - Personal Profile:
This scene will have information such as name, address, power company, cost per kWh, size of household etc.
It will also have to goals of the user that they have set themselves.
Scene 10 - Contact Information:
Email: powersave@xtra.co.nz
Phone: 0800 (powersa)
Address: 7 Willis Street, Welling, New Zealand
Scene 11 - Share with facebook:
A statement that the user can post to their facebook wall stating that they are using powersave and their current ranking amongst their friends.
Scene 12 - Share with twitter:
A statement that the user can post to their twitter wall stating that they are using powersave and their current ranking amongst their friends.
This scene will have information such as name, address, power company, cost per kWh, size of household etc.
It will also have to goals of the user that they have set themselves.
Scene 10 - Contact Information:
Email: powersave@xtra.co.nz
Phone: 0800 (powersa)
Address: 7 Willis Street, Welling, New Zealand
Scene 11 - Share with facebook:
A statement that the user can post to their facebook wall stating that they are using powersave and their current ranking amongst their friends.
Scene 12 - Share with twitter:
A statement that the user can post to their twitter wall stating that they are using powersave and their current ranking amongst their friends.
Buttons
I originally has trouble trying to get buttons to work but once I had worked it out it was quite simple. I would do the following:
1. Convert the shape to a symbol > make it a button.
2. Give it an 'instance name'.
3. Add the following code to it in the actions panel -
savingtips.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, fl_ClickToGoToAndStopAtFrame);
function fl_ClickToGoToAndStopAtFrame(event:MouseEvent):void
{
gotoAndStop(1, "Scene 2");
}
I decided to make my application using different scenes rather than frames as I personally found this easier.
1. Convert the shape to a symbol > make it a button.
2. Give it an 'instance name'.
3. Add the following code to it in the actions panel -
savingtips.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, fl_ClickToGoToAndStopAtFrame);
function fl_ClickToGoToAndStopAtFrame(event:MouseEvent):void
{
gotoAndStop(1, "Scene 2");
}
I decided to make my application using different scenes rather than frames as I personally found this easier.
Information going on scenes 5 - 8.
Scene Five - Your Savings:
Since joining Power Save you have saved:
330 kWh = $83.16
That is equivalent to: 6 days worth of power.
5x 1kg blocks of cheese.
17 2Litre bottles of milk.
30 loaves of bread.
How much more can you save? Keep it up.
Scene Six - Your Weekly Readings:
These readings are taken from your homes Power Meter and shows the last 7 days readings.
Friday - 129164 kWh
Saturday - 129225 kWh
Sunday - 129284 kWh Your average Kwh
Monday - 129344 kWh used per day is
Tuesday - 129407 kWh 51.43 kWh.
Wednesday - 129463 kWh
Thursday - 129524 kWh
Can you save more in the next week? Remember to try your best to make New Zealands Top 5 Savers.
Scene Seven - Your Friends Leader Board:
This is will be similar to scene 3. It will contain 5 images / names of people and how much they have saved in the last week. It will be ranked from top to bottom.
Scene Eight - Your Power Save Friends:
Will contain picture of people with their names underneath. Will show between 10 - 15 friends, depending on how many I can fit.
- I had people from my hostel test what I had done so far on my application. They all gave me positive feedback. They felt that the information I was putting on each scene was easy to read and understand, the layout of my application was very easy to navigate and the colour choices I had used were appealing. They did notice a couple of spelling mistakes in which I fixed.
Names of those who tested it: Julie Russel, Maria Chan, Ryan Jones, Jarrod Dick.
Since joining Power Save you have saved:
330 kWh = $83.16
That is equivalent to: 6 days worth of power.
5x 1kg blocks of cheese.
17 2Litre bottles of milk.
30 loaves of bread.
How much more can you save? Keep it up.
Scene Six - Your Weekly Readings:
These readings are taken from your homes Power Meter and shows the last 7 days readings.
Friday - 129164 kWh
Saturday - 129225 kWh
Sunday - 129284 kWh Your average Kwh
Monday - 129344 kWh used per day is
Tuesday - 129407 kWh 51.43 kWh.
Wednesday - 129463 kWh
Thursday - 129524 kWh
Can you save more in the next week? Remember to try your best to make New Zealands Top 5 Savers.
Scene Seven - Your Friends Leader Board:
This is will be similar to scene 3. It will contain 5 images / names of people and how much they have saved in the last week. It will be ranked from top to bottom.
Scene Eight - Your Power Save Friends:
Will contain picture of people with their names underneath. Will show between 10 - 15 friends, depending on how many I can fit.
- I had people from my hostel test what I had done so far on my application. They all gave me positive feedback. They felt that the information I was putting on each scene was easy to read and understand, the layout of my application was very easy to navigate and the colour choices I had used were appealing. They did notice a couple of spelling mistakes in which I fixed.
Names of those who tested it: Julie Russel, Maria Chan, Ryan Jones, Jarrod Dick.
Change Made on Scene 4 - Profile
I have decided to get rid of the tab 'Past data' as I don't really see the point in having it as the application is about saving more than you did the day before so the user would only be thinking about completing this task. They would not need to look back at past data of theirs. Their focus would be on beating their friends and saving the most.
Information going on the first 4 scenes.
Scene One - About us: Power Save is an application that allows the user to interact with friends and family while competing against them to save the most power. The aim of the application is for the user to save more power than they did the day before and become the top saver amongst your friends over the week. Power Save also allows you to share your savings with Facebook and Twitter. ï¾
As an individual it may not feel like you are making much of a difference by saving small amounts of power, but as a nation we are capable of saving much more which will result in keeping our country beautiful. So do your bit and encourage your friends and family to join Power Save.
Scene Two - Saving Tips:
Is your monthly power bill high? Here is just a few simple tips on saving yourself a bit of extra money.
- Draw your curtains before sunset to keep warmth in the house.
- Swith to energy efficient light bulbs. They use 80% less power than standard bulbs.
- Use draft stoppers to keep the heat in a room quickly.
- Switch appliances off at the wall when you are not using them.
- Choose to buy energy efficient appliances. Look for products displaying the energy saving label.
- Use the sun to dry your clothes rather than a dryer.
- Turn off heaters and air conditioning in rooms or areas that aren’t occupied.
By using these simple saving tips you could really save a lot on your power bill.
Scene Three - NZ Top Savers:
For this scene I will have 5 images / names of people and the amount of kWh that they have saved over the last week. They will be ranked 1 to 5.
Scene Four - Profile:
This sceen will be the exact same to the prototype. Same tabs, layout etc.
As an individual it may not feel like you are making much of a difference by saving small amounts of power, but as a nation we are capable of saving much more which will result in keeping our country beautiful. So do your bit and encourage your friends and family to join Power Save.
Scene Two - Saving Tips:
Is your monthly power bill high? Here is just a few simple tips on saving yourself a bit of extra money.
- Draw your curtains before sunset to keep warmth in the house.
- Swith to energy efficient light bulbs. They use 80% less power than standard bulbs.
- Use draft stoppers to keep the heat in a room quickly.
- Switch appliances off at the wall when you are not using them.
- Choose to buy energy efficient appliances. Look for products displaying the energy saving label.
- Use the sun to dry your clothes rather than a dryer.
- Turn off heaters and air conditioning in rooms or areas that aren’t occupied.
By using these simple saving tips you could really save a lot on your power bill.
Scene Three - NZ Top Savers:
For this scene I will have 5 images / names of people and the amount of kWh that they have saved over the last week. They will be ranked 1 to 5.
Scene Four - Profile:
This sceen will be the exact same to the prototype. Same tabs, layout etc.
Wednesday 28 September 2011
Using Illustrator - Screen Shots
I have never used illustrator before so I have watched many tutorials in order to learn how to do specific things. Because I made my prototype hand-in in Microsoft Publisher, I have copied the file from publisher into illustrator.
Screen shots of illustrator files:
Getting the hang of using illustrator was quite difficult for me but once I started it became a lot simpler. As I was making the individual pages of my application I was copying them into Adobe Flash.
Screen shots of illustrator files:
Getting the hang of using illustrator was quite difficult for me but once I started it became a lot simpler. As I was making the individual pages of my application I was copying them into Adobe Flash.
Making my Prototype on Flash
Changes I am making so far:
Instead of having mine look like a website I am changing it to be more of an application. For example - instead of having to completely login with a username and password, the user will log in via facebook so all they will have to do is click on the button 'login with facebook' and it will immediately go to their profile.
Instead of having mine look like a website I am changing it to be more of an application. For example - instead of having to completely login with a username and password, the user will log in via facebook so all they will have to do is click on the button 'login with facebook' and it will immediately go to their profile.
Sunday 11 September 2011
Paper Prototype
Written Description Proposal
I plan on designing a social networking service that will encourage people to save on power as well as compete against their friends to be the top energy saver. The goal of my application is to save more power than you did the day before and each week it will reset itself. It will also show how the user how much money they have saved since joining the application, but the main incentive is to save more than your friends and be the top energy saver. They can also share their results via facebook and twitter.
My target audience is from anyone flatting to families. I have such a wide target audience because I feel anyone living in a household could use my application. I am going to have a simple design that is easy to navigate as there is nothing worse than not being able to find things you want. I have chosen to use a colour theme of blue, grey and white as they are simple colours yet appealing.
The technology I will be using is the programme adobe flash. I have used this programme before but will still use online tutorials to help my while making my application.
Final Idea Brainstorming
I want to design a social networking service that compares your energy usage to your friends.
The daily goal is to save more power than you did the day before - each week it resets itself.
There will be a light bulb which shows the user if they are using more or less energy that they were using at the same time the day before.
Inceptive is to beat your friends. Be the top saver amongst your friends then see where you stand in the countries ratings.
Will show you how much you are saving in money value, then compare that to daily things people buy. This will show them how much can be saved by putting in the effort.
The daily goal is to save more power than you did the day before - each week it resets itself.
There will be a light bulb which shows the user if they are using more or less energy that they were using at the same time the day before.
Inceptive is to beat your friends. Be the top saver amongst your friends then see where you stand in the countries ratings.
Will show you how much you are saving in money value, then compare that to daily things people buy. This will show them how much can be saved by putting in the effort.
Good Website Designing Tips
When designing my paper prototype I used Google to search for tips on designing a good web page. By doing this I thought it would help me to design the best possible prototype I could. One website that I found very helpful was: http://webdesign.about.com/od/webdesignbasics/tp/aa112497.htm
I found this one really helpful as all the tips are simple to understand and just generally really good. Choosing a simple colour theme has taken a lot of thinking as I don't want my page to be boring but I don't want it to be to busy either.
To design the best layout I will have to play around with different things on the computer until I get it perfect, which even then I will probably improve down the track.
I found this one really helpful as all the tips are simple to understand and just generally really good. Choosing a simple colour theme has taken a lot of thinking as I don't want my page to be boring but I don't want it to be to busy either.
To design the best layout I will have to play around with different things on the computer until I get it perfect, which even then I will probably improve down the track.
Research
When researching about New Zealands annual energy statistics, I came across the following website:
It is a Data file that was released on the 14th July 2011 showing the different types of supply, transmission and use of all types of fuel in New Zealand. One statistic that got me was that during 2010 the production of gas increased by 7%, which almost half of goes to generating electricity. This meant an overall 16% rise in the amount of gas used to generate energy, which clearly shows that the amount of power New Zealanders are using is increasing. As a country we need to work harder in saving power, in order to save fuels.
I also came across many websites that have tips on ways of saving power. If people took the time to look at these websites then I feel a lot could be saved.
The EECA EnergyWise website was probably the best. It had a simple layout, and was easy to navigate. It also had a lot of information about saving, why we should save, and about the different suppliers in New Zealand.
There are many different energy monitoring devices around that people can purchase. One website that shows all of these is: http://www.watthackers.com/wp/10-energy-saving-devices-to-put-your-house-on-a-diet/
Before researching, I never realised how many devices were out there for people to buy and use. However not many of them seem very easy to use and some are just not appealing to look at. With that aside, if people did install them into their homes then I’m sure people would become more curious as to how much energy and power they use.
For this project I could target many different groups.
· Children
· Students Flatting
· Businesses
· Family homes
· Adults
All of these groups would require different designs. Children would have to have a game based application that was colourful and fun, whereas students would require something easy to use and on a social networking basis.
Doing this different research about energy, its uses, and the devices we can use has really helped with deciding on what I want to do for this project. The research I did in class was also very helpful.
Monitoring my Power Usage
Unfortunately I could not work out how to use my electricity monitoring device. Once I thought I had the hang of it, I compared my readings to others and they were completely different. The readings for my laptop, tv and phone charger were extremely high and didn't make any sense.
Because I have no readings I am able to show, from trying this I have realized that the energy monitor devices are very difficult to use and navigate, and for this project I could maybe design something simpler for the public to use.
Because I have no readings I am able to show, from trying this I have realized that the energy monitor devices are very difficult to use and navigate, and for this project I could maybe design something simpler for the public to use.
Monday 5 September 2011
Studio Research
In studio I was given the topic 'Social Networks which compare power usage' to research. I found the following online:
- Consumer Power Switch gives the viewer tips on how to save power, compares price trends of main cities, includes a savings calculator and gives information about different power providers. Although it is not a social networking site, it contains very useful information about ways of saving.
- Wel Electricity is a social networking site where the user creates a profile, can invite friends/family and can set themselves goals. This website is also interlinked with facebook and twitter so the users can share all about their energy savings. The page compares your houses power consumption to others.
- EnergyWiz is a cellphone based application that the user connects to there smart meter at home. They can compare there results with friends, family and facebook. This application is available at your fingertips.
There were many other websites around but these three were the ones that seemed to have the best design to them. Some of the others were not appealing and just seemed to be difficult to navigate.
Project Two: Intelligent Energy Gadget
In this project you are asked to design an interactive application, service or tool that helps people to reduce their energy consumption. You can either decide to design the interface for an energy monitoring device for a certain user group, or you can design a social networking service that allows comparison of energy usage amongst specific users, or you can address the problem in a more visionary way and come up with your own ideas.
In this project you are asked to design an interactive application, service or tool that helps people to reduce their energy consumption. You can either decide to design the interface for an energy monitoring device for a certain user group, or you can design a social networking service that allows comparison of energy usage amongst specific users, or you can address the problem in a more visionary way and come up with your own ideas.
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