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Final Major Project: Proposal Document
Final Major Project: Proposal Document
Proposal Document
Sam Topham
Web Design 2010
sam.topham@hotmail.co.uk
Table of Contents
1. Abstract
2. Project Goals
3. User experience
3.1 Audience
3.2 Competitive Analysis
3.3 The Graffiti Database Project – flickr
3.4 StreetArtLocator.com
4. Critical Analysis
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Research sources
5. Project Content
5.1 Content
5.2 Application interface
5.3 iPhone/Android application
5.4 Marketing site
5.5 Functional Requirements
5.6 Development
5.7 End user
6. Project Structure
7. Visual Design
7.1 Design Sketches
7.2 Screen Mock-ups
7.3 Prototypes
8. Development Schedule
9. Appendix
9.1 Reference & research material
9.2 Development schedule
Abstract
Through my life, I have developed a keen interest and passion for art and design, I love
design, and designing things myself, mainly out of choice because it is enjoyable to me.
Of all of the various types of art & design one area which has always been of particular
interest to me is street art or graffiti. The term graffiti referred to the inscriptions, figure
drawings, etc., found on the walls of ancient tombs or ruins, as in the Catacombs of
Rome or at Pompeii. Usage of the word today has evolved to include any graphics
applied to surfaces in a manner that constitutes vandalism, usually in public locations.
In my opinion street art constitutes some of the finest art in existence, for example, the
world famous street artist Banksy, creates satirical and subversive epigrams which are
undoubtedly thought-provoking and intelligent pieces of art, which are designed to
challenge the way we view certain aspects of society and politics. This type of modern
art is appealing due to its provocative content, I believe people love Banksy's work
because it makes sense, people understand it and probably agree with what he's saying.
Since graffiti, unlike classic art found in gallery's etc., is classed as vandalism and
classed as a somewhat 'underground' movement of artists working in secret, it has
always been a problem to source the latest and best pieces of graffiti, mainly due to the
obscure nature of the locations they are created. It is this problem which sparked the
idea to create an application which is connected to an online database that can be
accessed anywhere and any time, either through an website or mobile application
running on an iPhone or Android platform.
The idea is to create an online environment where users can upload a photo of the graffiti
along with GPS coordinates or 'geo-tag' which is then uploaded to the database and
onto Google Earth for other users to look and find using there GPS enabled smart-
phone. Their should also be an option to add notes about the graffiti, including an
appropriate title and the name of the street artist if known, if this is not known, then the
options for other users to update the information will be available. The 'geotagged' graffiti
can then be viewed on Google Earth. The purpose of the application is not only to allow
users to upload GPS locations of graffiti, but also offer a place for people who are new to
the graffiti scene to be able to login and find pieces of graffiti that are nearest to their
location. An mobile based version of the application, designed for any Android-based
mobile platform, would allow the user to access all the features of the desktop-browser
version.
Project Goals
Eventually, I would like to produce a professional, usable and accessible web application
which could realistically be deployed onto the web for users to access and contribute to.
It should conform to information architecture rules as well as having an eye catching
design. The application, both on browsers and mobile platform should allow users to
upload, geotag, and view graffiti online within a mapping environment such as Google
Maps.
The application must conform to the standard guidelines for modern websites:
- Conform to web standards such as HTML5, CSS3, PHP, MySQL & DOM.
- Completely usable and efficient in what it aims to do.
- Contain applicable and relevant functionality for the target audience.
- Ability to be accessed from certain mobile platforms.
- Accessible according to the WAI guidelines.
Furthermore, there are some goals which I would like to achieve personally, such as:
- Researching and building an application for the Android mobile platform.
- Conduct relevant user testing on a one-on-one basis to further my project
- Improve my knowledge in various technologies (HTML5, CSS, jQuery, Flash)
User Experience
Audience
The website and application that I propose to build is targeted at users who are roughly
aged between 16-25 years, also people with an interest in modern and street art, more
specifically graffiti artists themselves. Since the project involves users uploading and
geotagging the photos, the primary target audience should also be comfortable with
existing and upcoming web technologies, mobile applications, and the use of these.
Scenarios
There are various scenarios in which I imagine the application will be used, firstly as an
upload-user, these will be users who have, for example, just seen/found a piece of street
art which they feel is particularly good and worthy to document, the user can then, using
their GPS smart-phone, take a picture of the graffiti, add notes including a title and the
name of the street artist if known, and then upload the content into database.
Secondly, there would be users who mainly use the site for finding out the various
locations of graffiti. These users could log onto the website/access the application, enter
their postcode and then be presented with the GPS coordinates and locations, as well
as the proximity to the street art. This would be particularly useful once the database has
a greater amount of information uploaded because then the user could essentially use
the application as a GPS tour guide to the various works of street art closest to them.
Competitive Analysis
The idea which I propose to develop, is fairly unique, though not entirely. There are some
solutions available online for tracking locations of street art, though these have yet to be
included within a mobile platform application which I intent to build. At the time of writing,
there are only a handful of sites which provide information on the locations and photos of
street art.
Research Sources
Steve Krug's “Dont Make Me Think” is an invaluable resource
when creating accessible design, aswell as for avoiding and
solving usability problems when designing for on the web.
The most important books that I shall be reading are the following:
Functional Requirements
Development
I will be developing the project using various software packages and applications. These
will include:
- Dreamweaver CS4 (Win7), for coding, and front-end scripting such as HTML5, CSS3 and
jQuery.
- MySQL, for creating the database which the images are fed from onto the Google Maps.
- Fireworks CS4 (Win7), for designing any graphics for the site and applications.
- Flash CS4 (Win7), for developing the mobile platform application.
- Adobe AIR, deployment and testing for mobile platform.
End-user
The end user will require:
A modern web browser, with active internet connection such as:
- Firefox 3.6
- Safari 5
- Google Chrome 7.0
- An Android-based, GPS enabled smartphone for geotagging option. (optional)
- Facebook application, in order to use the 'like' options. (optional)
Project Structure
Architectural Blueprints
The main part of the application, the map will be contained on its own page, all the input
boxes for selecting the photo of the street art to upload as well as the artists name and
the box to enter the longitude and latitude will pop up within the page, so it is self
contained, this reduces page refreshes and gives the user the information they want in a
quicker manner. Though the site will include other sections as shown below, using a
basic, single level navigation.
Websites:
• W3Schools – HTML5 and CSS tutorials (http://www.w3schools.com)
• PHP Documentation and tutorials (http://uk.php.net/)
• Android Developers Site (http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html)