Chapter 3 !Planning and Design!

© 2012 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.

Road Map The time and effort you put into planning a multimedia project will determine how well (or not) the project hits its mark.!!!Pre-planning is CRUCIAL!!!!

Target Market A target audience or target market is a group of consumers that a company has strategically identified as having potential to purchase and use its goods and services.

Creativity

Multimedia projects, however, need structure to be viable. !

Creativity is a process that involves the production of novel, useful products…to communicate a message or idea.!

The Three Ps

Preproduction

Preproduction is the preparation phase and includes many steps meant to establish the scope, direction, timeframe, and cost of a project before spending one dollar on the actual production.!

Production

Production is the acquisition or design phase of a project. In film & video production, this includes: !1)  All the work that goes into preparing for a shoot or recording session!

2)  The actual recording of shots, scenes, and tracks that will be edited together to tell the story!

3)  Striking the set, packing up the equipment, and vacating the premises!

Postproduction

Postproduction is the assembly phase of a project.!It includes: !•  video and audio editing!

•  creation of images, titles, and graphics!

•  authoring and coding of network components!

•  visual effects!

Demographics Demographic variables!such as age, gender,!and ethnicity are used!to describe the shared!traits of a user group!or target audience.!!Content is often designed for a target demographic. !

What’s Your Idea? Idea generation or ideation is the creative process of developing approaches and solutions for solving a communications problem. !

Write down all of your ideas – even the ones you don’t like. !

Problem-solving Think outside the box !is a popular expression used by creative people to encourage the imagination to think beyond the obvious, familiar, and conventional.!

Previsualization Putting an idea or concept into a visual form that can be better understood by the author of the idea and shared with others. !!Six previsualization tools used in multimedia design: !!

1)  Treatment !

2)  Storyboard!

3)  Script!

4)  Wireframe!

5)  Mockup!

6)  Prototype!

Treatment A treatment is a short narrative description of a project.!

•  It should include sufficient details to address the basic who, what, when, where, and why types of questions.!

•  It’s often used for pitching the project!

Storyboard A storyboard combines words and pictures to communicate an idea. !•  Resembles a comic book!

•  Made up of a series of boxlike frames depicting the visual portion of a story!

•  Text can be descriptive, or include spoken voiceover copy or dialogue!

Storyboard

Script A script is a written narrative framework for organizing the visual and audio portions of a multimedia presentation. !•  Scripts are most often used for time-based media projects

and increasingly for interactive narratives.!

AV Script Format The 2-column AV script is one of the most common and versatile script formats used in commercial production today. !•  Left column: info about the

video portion of the program!!•  Right column: audio information

such as music cues, voiceover copy, or actor dialogue!

More Script Formats •  There are lots of script

formatting software programs available!

•  Script formats vary widely depending on the program genre, company, or industry!

•  The script on the left was formatted into single-column using Final Draft AV!

Yet more script formats Screenplay format!

•  Screenplays follow an industry-standard scripting convention that is used widely throughout the motion picture and TV industries. !

•  In this single-column format, each page usually translates to 1-minute of screen-time.!

•  The formatting is highly prescriptive – mess it up, and your screenplay will often be rejected!

Wireframes •  Wireframes are used often for

previsualizing the layout and structure of a website or visual interface!

•  It shows the skeletal structure of a web page!

•  Wireframes are a great tool for honing in on the aesthetic needs and preferences of the client !

Mockup The mockup provides the client and design team with a detailed visual model of what the web page or interface component will look like when finished.!

•  May contain actual or placeholder artwork!

•  Shows the color scheme and style elements!

From Wireframe to Mockup

This mockup shows the placement of content, color

scheme, and temporary text!

Prototype A prototype is a paper or working model of the project designed for simulation and testing.!

•  Can be constructed using simple sketches or drawings!

•  Can be physical (paper) or computer-generated!

•  Can be used to simulate the multimedia experience for the end-user!

•  Once the prototype is approved, the actual full production or building phase begins!

!

The Design Process Multimedia design is a complex process involving many steps and sub-steps. !!There are at least 4 steps that must be completed: !

1)  Specify requirements!

2)  Analyze users!

3)  Design and produce a working prototype!

4)  Evaluate and revise based on feedback!

Specify Requirements •  Identify business needs and requirements, existing

problems, and potential users!

•  Develop functional solutions!

•  Determine the scope of the project!

•  Look at similar projects (benchmarking)!

!

Analyze Users •  Conduct research to define your target users by

demographic characteristics, technology skills, and other relevant variables!

•  Determine what kind of user interface is best suited to the targeted users!

•  Ask questions and solicit feedback from actual users.!

Design and Production •  Plan your design and layout with a wireframe, mockup, or paper

prototype!

•  Develop a conceptual model of the interface !

•  Get initial feedback and create a working prototype!

•  Choose how much space is devoted to various components!

•  Create 3 or more options for the client to evaluate!

•  Consult with the client and get feedback!

Evaluation and Revision •  Before turning the prototype into the actual interface, your

team needs to evaluate and refine it!

•  Identify and fix any problems!