Project concept - Wedding planner interface

A wedding is a once in a lifetime event that people would want to make as memorable as they could. There are many intrinsic details that need to be attended to and it could be confusing and messy to get everything organized. Thus we believe that every couple would definitely need help with planning such a massive event, especially if they have no clue as to how to go about it.

Interface

We have decided to implement our interface as a web-based information system. This is due to several reasons:

1. Weddings are a one-time event so users are unlikely to be motivated to specially search for and download an app to help them plan their wedding.

2. People tend to search for information using the internet, where vast amounts of information can be found. In addition, the internet allows many windows to be open at the same time, enabling users to make comparisons between different planners.

3. Fast broadband connections and mobile devices enable users to receive information in a timely manner anytime, anywhere so that they can plan as and when they wish to.

Inspiration

Browsing through many wedding planner websites we noticed they had a few things in common:

1) Most websites follow a general format of grouping functions into categories under a menu bar

2) Many photos or images are used to attract the attention of users

3) Simple but user friendly interfaces

Examples:

Functionalities

We have identified the following tasks as common tasks that users would need to perform.

1. Budget Calculator

The budget is a huge part in every wedding and the (soon to be) husband and wife needs to make sure sufficient amounts of money is allocated to each portion of the wedding while keeping to the budget.

The budget calculator will be implemented in a table format that is similar to an excel spreadsheet. The leftmost column would be for the categories and objects the couple are intending to include in their wedding. The rightmost column will contain the amounts of money the couple is planning to/have spent on each object, with a total sum at the bottom so that users would know if they are still within budget.

Descriptions of each object (e.g. vendor name, quantity etc.) could also be keyed in for easy reference.

2. Schedule Planner

There is many intrinsic details that need to be attended to so that no important things may slip the users’ minds

The schedule planner will be done in a monthly calendar format so that users can see all the events they have in a given month at a glance. In addition, the calendar will come with big boxes so that each event and all its relevant details will be visible to the users without them having to manually click on each individual day just to see all the details.

Users can record down any appointments or important dates regarding their wedding (e.g. Food tasting, Photo shoot etc.) so that they do not forget any important events.

3. Wedding Gowns & Suits; Rings

It can be very time consuming to visit bridal shops one by one...

This functionality provides users with a huge database of bridal and jewellery shops, including items and dresses with all designs and colours you can imagine. 

When users click on a bridal shops’ name, they will be shown the designs and colours of the gowns and suits, as well as their prices, offered by that particular bridal shop. A similar concept is used for wedding rings. In this way, users will be able to shortlist a selection of  gowns and suits before they make a trip down to the respective bridal shops for fittings.

4. Wedding Photos

A wedding is not complete without wedding photos

Here you can browse different styles of photo shoots provided by different photographers.

This functionality provides users with different styles of photo shoots (e.g. overseas shoots, scenic shoots, retro shoots etc.) which they can choose from. When a style is chosen, a list of photographers that provide the desired style of photos will be given along with the rates they charge. It also allows users to contact/book appointments with the individual photographers to discuss details.

5. Useful Tips/FAQs

Best way to have a perfect wedding is to get information/help from couples who have planned their weddings successfully

Here we gather some things that users may not be familiar with and/or might need some suggestions or help with.

This function serves to give tips to users on how to improve or avoid while planning their weddings. Information would be separated into 2 large categories namely Bride and Groom, under which each user could find the relevant tips and information they may need.

Design

Menu Bar 

The menu will need a few major categories such as Bookings, Programs, Budgets etc. And all the above mentioned functionalities will be categorized under these headings. Small images will be used to represent each functionality instead of words (more attention grabbing)

Homepage

Our goal is to make it visually appealing to the users and pique the interest and encourage them to continue exploring the page and one way to do that is to show a short video of photos of previous couples at their weddings: Example or see our design below

General Design

We were very inspired by the apple website and its clean design. One main thing that we agreed on is to use large photos to grab users’ attention and with short descriptions below each photo to give users an idea of what they are looking at and what to expect. 

Clicking on each large photo will bring the user to a page with detailed descriptions of the category and smaller photos of each alternative in that category. Example:

After some feedback from the seminar we might also include adds in our design

Key Challenges

1. Getting photos/images

We believe this would be a problem as we intend to implement a photo gallery of couples at their wedding ceremonies and this may infringe copyright issues.

2. Designing/Programming

As none of us have had any experiences with designing such interfaces with Flash or any other software tools, it could be time consuming for us to figure our way around these software.

3. Usability (Testing on people and getting feedback)

Although we already have a good idea of what would be included in our interface, we cannot be sure that the final product would turn out exactly as we’d like it and thus affect the usability of our interface. In addition, we hope to be able to get people to test out our interface and obtain feedback to improve on it before the final submission but it could be difficult to find the suitable target group to try it out.

HCI – the next decade

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers" said Thomas Watson (the chairman of IBM) back in 1943. This is a very good example on how hard it is for us to even imagine the future with all its possibilities. You have probably heard this before but technology is evolving really fast. Soon the only boundaries of what we can accomplish will be our own mindset of what is possible. Which of course in many ways is a good thing, but it makes it very hard to predict the distant future. Still we're boldly sticking our heads out of the train window, trying to figure out if the next turn is a left or a right, but the mist is getting thicker...

Here is a little prediction from Ericsson about how we will use and interact with computers in the future, they believe that more than 50 billion things, everything from cellphones to stuff in our home will be computers, connected to each other.

The movie shows, in a very clear way, how we might use the next decades technology and how it will improve our lives. If you don't believe this is possible very soon, just take a look at apples Iphone 5's new features:

References:

http://www.slideshare.net/chris_khalil/the-future-of-hci-intelligent-user-interfaces-as-agents-of-change

http://www.ericsson.com/thinkingahead

Interaction Devices

Interaction devices is a broad term used to cover a wide variety of devices which allows us to interact with the computer. They can be separated into 2 categories:

1. Input Devices
2. Output Devices

Today, I will focus on input devices, specifically pointing devices and how they have evolved with time.

What do Pointing Devices do?

Pointing devices have a specific set of tasks which allow users to directly manipulate items on the computer. These tasks include:

1. Selecting an item
2. Dragging and positioning an item
3. Orienting / rotating an item
4. Defining a path / curvature of an item
5. Text writing / editing

First known pointing devices

The first known pointing devices were those that required the movement of a physical object - a mouse or track ball.

Both of these devices are also known as indirect control devices as user interaction with the computer occur away from its screen surface.

Today's Mouse

With vast improvements in technology, people have left the old traditional mice and track balls behind and came up with optical mice.

Optical mice use light-emitting diode and photodiodes to detect movement and require little to no maintenance as compared to track ball mice as they do not possess any rolling parts which could become clogged with lint. Even optical mice themselves have gone through many changes since it was first introduced.

They evolved from the traditional wired mouse

to the wireless mouse that is more portable and convenient to bring around.

Other Pointing Devices of Today

Along with the invention of optical mice, many other pointing devices have also surfaced in the last decade. These devices include:

1. Joysticks
2. Stylus
3. Light pens
4. Touch screens

Joysticks are often preferred to a mouse when playing games due to their speed and accuracy. They also come in many different shapes and designs to suit the different needs, usages and preferences of users.

Direct Control Pointing Devices

Direct control pointing devices allow users to interact with a computer directly on its screen surface. The stylus, light pen and touch screen are all direct control devices as shown in the pictures below.

The stylus is commonly used together with small screens such as smart phones and PDAs as it usually comes with a sharp tip that allow users to point at specific small items on the screen.

The light pen is more commonly used when interacting with large screens as they tend to have larger and flatter tips than the stylus.

Lastly, the touch screen which has been becoming increasingly popular in recent years, is a devices that creates movement by tracing the paths of a finger on the computer screen. Many handheld devices in the market today are based on touch screen technology. These devices include popular Apple products such as the iPod touch and iPhone, and many other smart phones as well.

References:

1. http://www.tech-faq.com/pointing-devices.html
2. http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~frk/frank/da/hci/Input%20and%20Output%20Interaction%20Devices.pdf