Design (Chapter 4)
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- Category: Level 3, CET300 Computing Project (Dissertation)
- Published: Tuesday, 09 February 2021 18:32
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4.1 Methodology and Procedure. 30
4.2 Android Design Principles. 30
4. Design
An essential part of the project is the design. Agile enabled the design of features at an early stage of the project. The design stages required a great deal of attention due to the age group of the users.
This chapter focuses on methodology and procedures, Android design principles, colours, layout, and functional architecture.
4.1 Methodology and Procedure
During the agile design process, you divide the functionality into small parts that can be shipped and started working on yourself, which facilitates faster design and quick feedback.
In addition to deliveries, the developer’s work constantly checks that the plan meets the requirements and the necessary changes to be made.
There is another advantage to the use of this methodology in the product design process, which is the need for close cooperation and frequent testing of the prototype with target users. This is due to the main priority being the creation of an UI system that will be easily adaptable for different functional situations, and that concentrates on understanding users to solve and satisfy their problems and needs.
4.2 Android Design Principles
The project has been implemented on the Android platform, so the Android design principles are the primary consideration.
They consist of three main parts: Enchant Me, Simplify My Life and Make Me Amazing.
Enchant Me is basically the nice interface, the subtle effects (animation, sounds) contribute to a positive feeling. Buttons and menus are less fun than real objects (graphical objects.), with optional customization that does not interfere with primary tasks and show previous options for easy repetition.
Simplify My Life: The use of short sentences and simple words as people are likely to skip sentences if they are long. Using pictures to explain ideas because pictures draw people's attention (use minimized text). Too many choices and decisions make people unhappy. Only in case you are mistaken, allow the undo (Recommendation). Must show what you need and when you need it. The user must always know where everything is (navigation). Save data and access for other apps (Never lose my stuff). Help people discern functional differences by making them visually distinct rather than subtle. Only interrupt me if it is important.
Make Me Amazing: Making it easier for the user to learn through visual patterns and muscle memory from other Android apps. For example, the swipe gesture may be a good navigational shortcut. Troubleshooting guide and exact description of errors. Break complicated tasks into smaller tasks and steps that can be easily accomplished. Simplify difficult tasks. Make important things, fast make it easy to find and fast to use. (Stuff.mit.edu. 2020.)
With three basic principles of Android design, the app had to be equipped with images and buttons. The application had to be simple, aesthetic, easy to use and more enjoyable. Planning and development are an important part of the guidelines for application. User-friendly, easy-to-use and simple design ensures successful application design.
4.3 Colours
In the world, in many cultures, colours have different associations. There are differences in the meaning of colours all over the world. ” It is important to understand how colour associations vary from culture to culture, and within different possible audiences, when planning a website”. (Cousins, 2012)
The project used green, red and blue colours. In the application, the use of red as a negative effect symbolizes unhealthy foods. In North America and Europe, red is the colour of passion and excitement, but Eastern and Asian cultures are the colour of happiness, joy and celebration.
The green colour, on the other hand, represents a positive effect during the project, thus symbolizing healthy food. In North America and Europe, green represents luck. Eastern and Asian cultures Green is the colour of nature and new life. Latin America In many Latin and South American cultures, green is the colour of death.
The blue colour is neutral, soothing and peaceful, and during the game the user has to decide whether the element of the cards is healthy or unhealthy, so this colour has been applied to the application. In Western cultures, blue represents trust and authority, but in Asian cultures, it represents immortality. In the Middle East, with security and protection, in Thailand it is the most positive and safest colour.
The use of colours in different cultures during the project is different and therefore it is important to consider the cultural habits of the area when planning.
4.4 Layout
Android also has a variety of layouts that are rather easy to use, that can be used to create more complex UIs to suit the needs of a wide variety of applications. Android provides a very flexible way to display layouts using XML-based layouts. This helps us create apps while keeping the layout and logic completely separate. This makes it very easy for us to change the layout even after the application is written, without having any changes in the programming logic.
Relative and Linear layouts were used in this application. Linear layout is used to place one element on each line. So, all the elements will be place in an orderly top-to-bottom fashion. This is a very widely-used layout for creating forms on Android. The relative layout is used to determine the positioning of elements within the view.
One of the criteria for the project is that it should work on both phone and tablet, including both vertical and horizontal orientation. During the project, the use of linear layout was best suited for the application to ensure its layout was flexible and adapted to different screen sizes. The linear layout is used to group elements in a single row. Linear Layout support different screen sizes by ensuring your layout can be adequately resized to fit the screen, providing appropriate UI layout according to screen configuration, ensuring the correct layout is applied to the correct screen and providing bitmaps that scale correctly.
4.5 Version
The project used Android Studio. In Android Studio, the APi is set up 19-29 and works on that.
Android studio version usage API runs 19-29. Android 4.4 KitKat (APi level 19) was released on October 2013 and runs on post-mobile devices such as March 2020 surveys: 7.0 Nougat 6.43%, 8.0 Oreo 7.62%, 6.0 Marshmallow 9.37%, 8.1 Oreo 11.82%, and 9.0 Pie 38.57%. However, it works on less than 4% of all mobile devices older than KitKat. (StatCounter Global Stats. 2020. Mobile & Tablet Android Version Market Share)
The above-mentioned data are illustrated in fig.22.
Fig. 22 Mobile and Tablet Android Version Market Share Worldwide
4.6 Structure Design
The user age group has been taken into deliberation in designing the application. The application is designed for simple user-friendliness and ease of use. The games contain three different levels, which gradually make it harder for the user to progress to the final goal.
First planning design Fig.1, Fig.2, Fig.3 can be found in E Appendix.
Final design of the application Fig.4, Fig.5, Fig.6, Fig.7 can be found in E Appendix.
The flow chart of the program is shown in fig. 23:
Fig. 23 The flow chart of the program