Calculator Project Workbook

8/12/2019 Calculator Project Workbook

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Calculator ProjectAmanda Wallis

Fall Semester 2013



(Paste process blog post here)

P R O J E C T 01 S T E P 0 0 | P R O C E S S B L O G P O S T

Table of Contents

2 Part 1: Presentation

8 Part 2: Process

9 Research and Brainstorming

10 Research and Brainstorming: Learning Summary

11 Visual Research

15 Visual Research: Learning Summary

16 Sketches

18 Sketches: Learning Summary

19 Digital Sketches

20 User Testing

21 Digital Sketches and User Testing: Learning Summary

22 Final Sketches23 Final Sketches: Learning Summary



Part 1 | Presentation



Time Duration Calculator Apps





Time Sincex +

x

OFF

Monday, March 12, 2012

Time Sincex +

x

OFF


Time Sincex +

x

OFF


Last oil change



Time Sincex +

x

OFF


Time Sincex +

x

OFF


Time Sincex +

x

OFF


Last oil change

Add Title...

OFF

Set Date...

Add Entry

+ Finals

done

OFF

Set Date...

Add Entry

+

ON

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Monday, October 7, 2013

Add Entry

+

+ ++

-- -10

Today Set

07 13

Finals

No indication

Unclear what is active

Gray/black showactive/inactive

More Direction



Add Title...

OFF

Set Date...

Add Entry

+ Finals

done

OFF

Set Date...

Add Entry

+

ON



Add Entry

+

+ + +

-- -10

Today Set

07 13

Finals



Part 2 | Process



Calculator Brainstorm

-Sleep cycle calculator-Regular 4 unction calculator-Food calculator-Sodium calculator-Time duration calculator

ime Duration Calculator

My reason or choosing a time duration calculatoror my project is because I always want to knowhow long something is going to take or how longit has been since a certain event. For example Ialways like to calculate how many hours o sleepI will get at night or know how much time I haveor a project or until my birthday etc.

Features I want to include

-time since-time until-alarm?-title-month-days-hours-min-Sec?

-option to delete-catagorize in order o importance

itles

-From time to time-Time Span-How long

-Time Tracker

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My Experience

When I first started thinking about what kind of calculator I wanted

to do I thought of just sticking with the basic 4 function calculator for

simplicity and because it was really th e only calculator I could really

think of. It wasn’t until I went onto itunes and searched for calculator

apps that I could see jus t what kinds of different calculators there

are. I then started loo king at what was interesting to me and thoug ht

about a sleep cycle calculator first. I knew I was getting close to what I

wanted then, but I wanted it to be less complicated than that, but with

the same kind of idea. I thought about why the sleep calculator was

interesting to me and it was because I was thinking about the i dea that

I like to count how many hours of sleep I get at night right before I go

to bed. I then decided that I wanted to do some kind of a countdown/

time calculator and that’s how I came up with the time duration

calculator. As I did further research on my chosen calculator idea I only

found a couple that were nicely designed and that f unctioned well in

the itunes app store. I found one I really liked called ‘Time (Duration

Calculator)’ shown in my visual research. I ended up purchasing it for

99 cents so I could get inside and see the functionality for myself. This

was the nicest of the T ime Duration calculators I could find and I made

my own designs based off of this model.

Challenges

Some challenges I found at the beginning of this project was justgetting started. At first I wasn’t set on even knowing what I wanted

to do until I just started doing some research to get ideas and then I

found out what I was really interested in and it came together nicely.

Thoughts

After coming up with my calculator idea and finding some good

research for my designs I started think ing about what I wanted my

calculator to include. It was helpful for me to see other examples so

that I knew all the basic functionalities I would end up needing in the

end.

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Other ime Duration Calculators

Date & Time Calculator (9 in 1)

Days Until

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FromToDatedate duration calculator

Time (Duration Calculator)




Time Diff









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My Experience

For my paper sketches it was difficult for me to practice drawing each

state of my calculator app. I found that the workings of an app are

more complicated than they might seem. It really made me think abouteach little thing that I needed to pay attention to and the constraints I

wanted to make sure to have for my own app.

Challenges

Not only was it difficult to realize all th e different states that are needed

for a calculator to function, but I also realized that the design and

layout is just as important as the content and functions.

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Time Sincex +

x

OFF


Time Sincex +

x

OFF


Time Sincex +

x

ON


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Last oil change x

Time Sincex +

ON


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Time Sincex +

x

OFF


Last oil change

Time Sincex +

x

OFF


Last oil change

Time Duration

Calculator

Time Since

Time Until

+

+

Last oil change

Time DurationCalculator

Time Since

Time Until

+

+

01 28 02YEAR WEEKS DAYS

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C A L C U L A T O R P R O J E C T | U S E R T E S T I N G

User esting Notes:

-Switch time since/until-Speciy ‘start’ date-Speciy alarm

Ask, “How would a countdown app be useul to you?”

-Add times as well as dates-Have option to delete-Add title to start page

-Click anywhere on ‘time until’-Calendar -scroll -pick date-Option or ‘now’ ‘today’-Scroll through list when builds up?-Notification center-consider changing to a check mark instead o a +

Tings to fix:

-Find way to edit entrys-Find way to delete things-Do ‘time until’ walk through-Find way to minimize amount o variables--Color scheme-Placement-Type-Date entry -Indicate title

-What you do afer done adding entry



My Experience

Digital sketches were easier for me because I am used to working with

designs on the computer. I used Adobe Illustrator to make my digital

sketches and it was much easier than my paper sketches to movethings around, create new artboards and make a good layout. For my

first digital sketches I didn’t worry too much about the design because

I knew I could g o in and touch it up later. I mostly focused on the basic

functions that I wanted my calculator to perform. I created enough

sketches to go through a walk through of my app for user testing. I put

pictures of my digital sketches into the P.O.P. (Prototyping on Paper)

App. In class I did user testing on my calulator and found that althoug h

I thought I had provided enough visual information, my user was

confused because there was a lack of direction in my prototype. I took

notes on the things that I knew I needed to fix for my calculator app so

that I could go back and apply them for my final digital version.

Challenges

One challenge I had with making a prototype was the hastle of

downloading the images onto my phone to use for the P.O.P. app. I

ended up just taking pictures of my computer screen that had my

digital sketches on them and that ended up working just fine, although

it didn’t look near as clean as it could have.

Thoughts

It really helped me to see the screenshots of the different apps when

I did my visual research and I realized that showing any particular

screen should convince me that any app I’m looking at is a good one.

The fact that I did not feel that way about most of the time duration

calculator apps that I looked at told me that the creators must not

have payed attention to the design as well. I realized that in whatever

screen is being presented for my own app, it should look professional

and credible enough for someone to be interested in getting it for

themselves.

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Time Since

+Time Until +

Time Calculator

Add Title...

OFF

Set Date...

Add Entry

+

done

OFF

Set Date...

Add Entry

+ Finals

done

OFF

Set Date...

Add Entry

+

OFF


Add Entry

+

+ ++10 07 13

Finals

ON



Add Entry

+

+ ++10 07 13

Finals

ON



Add Entry

+ FinalsTime Since +Time Until +

Time Calculator

Finals 71DAYS

- - --- -

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My Experience

The user testing was very helpful for me to touch up my digital

sketches because I was able to go back and add things in that I needed

to. One of the things I changed was the title/entry label. I put thewords, ‘Add Title’ as an indicator for the user to put a title instead

of just leaving it b lank. I did that for adding a date as well. These

indicators were important in my calculator app, but I didn’t notice

them before I had someone try it out. I changed the + sign in the top

right corner of the entrys to a check mark instead to indicate when it

is finished. I changed a lot with the overall design as well. The color

scheme I changed to blue because it’s light and inviting. I changed the

font to ‘Edmonsans’ and used both ‘regular’ and ‘medium’ weights.

Instead of the standard scroll wheel for the dates I made my own

version with + and - buttons to scroll through the dates. I liked this

better because I was able to keep my overall look and theme. Although

the default for entering the dates will be the current date I also added

a ‘Today’ button in case the user scrolls through the dates and then

instead wants the dates to revert back to the current date.

Challenges

The challenge I had with my final sketches was to make sure that I had

all the buttons I needed as well as the changes I needed to make from

my original digital sketches. I wrote down most of the things I needed

to change so that I could refer back to it, but I still wanted to make surethat the overall design looked nice and that I payed attention to the

things that I needed to make more clear.

Thoughts

Overall I’m happy about the way my time duration calculator turned

out. I learned a lot in making sure that I provide all the necessary

constraints and affordances so that users will be able to easily navigatearound the application without confusion.

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Calculator Project Workbook

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