OUGD503 / STUDIO BRIEF 02 / CARDS

After finalising our concept, basic digital mock ups of how the cards would look were created, in order to see which structure would be the most appropriate and user friendly. News stories would be somehow placed within these cards to give the user a quick view of the article, and efficiently swiped depending on if they choose to read the article, save it for later or pass it.

This idea actually resembles a hand of cards, further reinforcing the concept of the news being in your hand, and controlled by the user. This structure looks visually quite messy and uncoordinated, and would have to be tidied up if it was to be used within the application. Since the news stories would be on the card, this idea would be difficult to pull off, as there would be a lot of information on the screen at each point; for example the card at the front would have a visable article, yet the other two behind it would also have potential articles on their face. This would overface the user with too much information at once. 

This idea similarly resembles a deck of cards, again linking to our concept. The overall visuals of this design look clean and organised, and would not give too much information up at once, like the previous idea. However, the shapes form a diagonal structure which compromises on a lot of space on the screen. The article would have to be quite small, and fitting in an appropriate amount of text and imagery could prove difficult.

This idea utilises potential space well, however it does not have as strong of a link to the concept as the others. It would have to be thought out how to incorporate the 'swipe' actions, as this idea is on a vertical loop. This loop would be useful for easily going backwards and forwards between news stories. With this idea there is a large amount of cards visable all the time, which could be unnecessary.

 This version is on a horizontal loop. It looks organised visually and would not overwhelm the user with too much information and image. Experimentation with the alignment of the cards behind could be beneficial to ensure that the card in the forefront can hold maximum information and not appear squished. 

It was also discussed that we could simply have one card on the screen at a time whilst the user is browsing through articles. This way, there is nothing distracting, and animations (passing an article, saving one and reading one) can be smoother and more of a focal point. 

The next step is to start thinking about how we can put the information on the cards in the most user friendly manner, ensuring that they are not bombarded with too much text, and begin to think of ways we can implement article previews, the option to save said articles and read them in a slick and efficient way.