Isolation and Pandemics: Digital Tales from 2020
2020 has proven to be anything but ordinary. We began the year with news of a far away health crisis, a world away from our own. We carried on as normal. But the alarm bells began ringing and few of us wanted to hear. Quickly, we began to find our world changing beyond recognition. Shortages of essential goods .... toilet paper, cleaning products, even flour .... dominated conversations and were high on our agendas. Before the end of winter we were instructed to shelter-in-place, our work-life was disrupted, we moved indoors and became experts on Zoom. The news stories of daily infection rates and death tolls became prime time viewing. Businesses shuttered and closed, unemployment rose, we learnt what furlough meant, and then we wanted it to go away and return to some kind of normal. SO our governments began to reopen fearing an economic crisis so deep we'd never recover. And slowly, or not so slowly, things began to reopen, we ventured out, we wore masks, some didn't, and the infections rose again.
So here we are. This Pandemic has affected everyone, we have all been touched in some way. We may know of those infected, we have been infected and recovered. We've certainly felt the isolation and the anxiety of staying indoors, of a lack of certainty. Everyone has a story to tell. And there are plenty of stories out there.
Your Task
Over the following weeks you will create a series of digital stories that will communicate the impact of COVID-19 to you personally, or in your neighborhood, family, city, community, or the country as a whole, or the world, globally.
These stories can be from firsthand experience, they can be collated from secondary sources, or they may combine the two. The stories could be about the human condition, about resilience in the face of adversity. They could make political points, offer advice, or simply observe and relate.
The choice is yours. Whatever approach you take, however, you will need to build a digital platform or platforms that will serve as your means of communication. You may choose to design a website or a mobile app. Perhaps a game or other experience. Your stories must be consumed by a specific user group that you will select. By the end of the course you will prototype the platform, you will create augmented reality elements that add value to the digital experience and you will document your process from initial user research all the way to the end-point.
Along the way, you will learn to conduct user research and identify useful insights about your target and the product, you will learn to create personas that help you navigate the project, you will learn to ideate and wireframe. And then you will learn about building prototypes using Adobe XD, about creating augmented reality experiences using Adobe Aero, and documenting the UX and UI process by using Adobe Spark.
The Deliverables
The assignment is in 2 distinctive parts:
#1: The UX Phase Deliverables:
Use Adobe Spark Page to create a document detailing the Human Centered Design Research stages of your project. Include the following:
- Ethnographic Research: Write-up your findings and insights that emerged from interviewing, fly-on-the-wall observation, contextual inquiry, walk-a-mile immersion.
- User Personas: 1 set of minimum 5 user persona profiles
- Problem Framing: Present a Problem Tree Analysis
- Concept Ideation: Thumbnail sketches, a creative matrix and an alternative world
You will need to link to your Adobe Spark Page in the Canvas submission box and upload to the #UXUI Slack Channel. Comment on the other teams' projects in a supportive manner.
#2: The UI Phase
Deliverables:
Create a Spark Page detailing the UI Design phase of your project. Include the following:
- Wireframes: You should present lo-fi renditions, ideally thumbnails, detailing the messy process of figuring out a user journey. Also include the hi-fi iterations.
- User Journey: Remember your personas? Take one of them through your product.
- Style Guide: Present a style guide detailing typography, colors, iconography, UX writing examples, art direction and any other system components that are necessary
- Prototype: Create and embed a prototype on Adobe XD as well as an AR feature on Adobe Aero.
You will need to link to your Spark Page in the Canvas submission box. and upload to the #UXUI Slack Channel. Comment supportively on the other teams' projects.
Credits:
Created with images by freestocks - "medicine, blood sample vials" • United Nations COVID-19 Response - "SOAP = HOPE, wash those hands! Image created by Dylan Morang. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives - help stop the spread of COVID-19." • United Nations COVID-19 Response - "Spread Positivity. Image created by Alissa Azureen. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives - help stop the spread of COVID-19." • Mika Baumeister - "A woman with face mask checking out the offerings of a local store." • United Nations COVID-19 Response - "Frontline. Inspired by images of exhausted doctors and nurses. Image created by Kevin Kobsic. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives - help stop the spread of COVID-19." • United Nations COVID-19 Response - "A fun way to avoid hand shakes and any contact greetings. It's time to show off your feet styles to the world. Image created by Lívia Koreeda. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives - help stop the spread of COVID-19. " • United Nations COVID-19 Response - "NEW RULES: DON'T PLAY. Image created by Ileana Da Rin. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives - help stop the spread of COVID-19." • Matt Seymour - "untitled image" • Jon Tyson - "untitled image" • Andrew Winkler - "COVID-19 Quarantine Shutdown Sign" • Isaac Quesada - "Confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the world 03/15/2020" • Jon Tyson - "untitled image" • Nicholas Bartos - "'Thank you' sign nailed to a telephone pole, celebrating ICU nurses during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2019/2020." • Graham Ruttan - "COVID-19 Screening Checkpoint at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, Alberta" • Tai's Captures - "untitled image"