Slight Visual Language Refinement & User-Test Methods
This week, based on instructor feedback and personal sentiments, I refined the visual language to eliminate the cutouts on the images and refine the crayon illustrations. The instructor, who is also within my target audience, felt that the original visual language was too chaotic and created too much anxiety for her. I expressed that I felt the same, especially when seeing everything together on the Toy Page.
Therefore, this week, my task was to focus on just one deliverable (the magazine) so that I can solidify my visual language and typographic system. I was able to find an illustrator that could help me with the illustration doodles. He has an iPad Pro and Procreate, so he was able to help me with the task of refining the system.
You can view the refined visual system in the magazine below.
User-Testing Methods that may be best for my thesis project:
Think-Aloud Protocol - I think this method will work for all deliverables. The participant will be able to tell me everything he/she is thinking about the magazine, packaging, website, swag, etc. I can record the audio and session to capture the participant's thoughts as he/she is interacting with each item. I think with this, I will have to ask questions from time to time to get their thoughts flowing, but I have a feeling my participants will be quite vocal.
Creative ToolKits - With this method, I am thinking specifically for the packaging and toys. I think this method will definitely be able to let me know if the packaging fits with the toys and vice versa. Mainly for packaging — I want to know if the packaging is something that parents will be frustrated with, as most toy packagings are such a pain to get into.
Questionnaire - With this method, I think it will be most beneficial to me because I will be able to sit down and think of all the questions beforehand and have the participants fill it out. This method will be more sterile because I won't be able to get thoughts and body language, but this will be the most basic way to get the basic answers to the overall project as a whole.