DAT203: Interface for interactive kiosk part II: the pages

Designed with ease of use in mind, the interface is inspired by mobile tablet devices, namely the iPad, and also, some of the principles of the Metro interface used in the upcoming Windows 8 operating system, which is optimised for use on touchscreens. In addition, some pages use a concertina design, where the contents are displayed once the menu item is pressed, and information is expanded below. When the item is pressed again, the information retracts, and other menu items are displayed once again. Here are the pages from the interactive kiosk:

The map's overlays are provided by the Urban API, which provides information about where the points of interest are, your location, and zones, such as pedestrianised areas.

The Travel Information page is split into 3 different colour schemes: green for buses, red for rail, and blue for ferries. Data would provided via a central source, or a dynamic source, e.g. rail information would be provided by the station and National Rail, whilst bus information would be provided by real-time GPS tracking.

 Here, the Early History section is expanded. Although the user can go back to the History menu by pressing the header, the user can also advance to the next section by pressing the button on the bottom right-hand corner, and vice versa.

The Tourist Information Page, like the Travel Information, is split into different colour schemes.

The colour of the day highs and night lows vary according to the temperature: hottest is brighter, coldest is darker.

DAT203: Interface for interactive kiosk

Whilst we were planning on how we're going to implement the interface, the idea we had was to design the interface like a tablet computer. Tablet computers like the iPad, for example, is known for its usage of icons laid out like a grid, which makes it perfect for the environment and context the kiosks are going to be used in.

Because of this, I had to design the interface with large and easy-to-read text, in case of people with visual impairments, as large icons are regarded as being easy to understand, even if only part of the icon can be seen, and also, with metaphors, which helps people, even those that may not speak English very well, still understand the basic meaning of each section of the kiosk interface:

The weather, news, information, events and the time are updated in real time, meaning that whenever each is updated, it will be reflected in the kiosk. Also, the weather icon will be dynamic, which will update according to the weather, like for example: when it's clear and sunny, the weather icon will display just that. Transport information will be picked up from each respective source; bus information will displayed real-time, train information will be relayed from National Rail, and ferry times will be relayed from the main ferry port.

DAT204: background and asset design for Blue November HTML5 canvas game groupwork

As part of our groupwork for HTML5 canvas game development, I was commissioned by the team to design a background for the game, Blue November (link: http://giantkiwi.co.uk/sites/aotbn/). I've designed the background using Adobe Illustrator, and made use of Bézier curves to emulate the waves, as our game takes place in the sea:

In addition, I've also vectorised an existing asset that will be used in the game's introduction page. Because the carrier needed to be simplified, I've toned down the details:

DAT203: Idea for kiosk platform: Raspberry Pi

Since the release of the miniature Raspberry Pi system last week, this has given an idea of cutting down the footprint and cost for the information kiosk systems. Costing only £22 each for the Model B variant (with Ethernet), Raspberry Pi reduces the need to build large housings for the touchscreen terminals, and due to the open nature of the platform, it also doesn't require licensing, unlike the Windows-based embedded systems.