Peer Crit Feedback

Blue highlight = essay research influence

PEER CRIT PRESENTATION:

FEEDBACK:

• Peers preferred the full colour design for the chapter pages, said it broke up the book well.
  - Mentioned if I were to use this design the small text would need to be in a heavier weight to make it stand out against the background colour. 
  
  
• Discussing serifs and they all said they didn't know if they found sans serif or serif text easier to read. They said they don't really notice it.
  - Georgia suggested I ask people who don't do design to tell me which is easier, then they won't be as likely to have opinions on the typeface and will be more objective.
  
  
• Cover, they liked the traffic light idea but reinforced the fact that it needed more work and development.
  - Georgia said she liked the one o the far left where the circles when off the page slightly, Ryan suggested it could be a wrap around, so it goes over the spine as well. 
  - Mehroosa suggested the typeface could be elongated, more like the text that's painted on the roads (like 'bus stop' etc). 
  
  
• Overall feedback was it was clear and communicated easily. 
  - Really liked the navigation dots on the side and the use of colour as a navigation tool as well as for aesthetics. 
  
  
  

REFLECTIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS:

Full Colour or select colour pages?

• Peers all said they preferred the full colour pages compared to the white background with colour text, said it added a sense of difference between the pages in a more obvious way. - What does research say about this?
• User journey found full colour pages can distract the audience (Crook, 2020) but the overarching principles are to be used at the designer’s discretion and anticipate the needs of the user to be most effective (Interaction Design Foundation, n.d).
• Colour can be used to develop code by labelling, or provide clarity between items (Olurinola and Tayo, 2015) helping the learner through the text.
  - The use of full colour matches the navigational colours developing a system throughout the publication.
• Full colour pages creates a strong landmark for the reader so when flicking the pages are obvious, is the difference in page layout enough? Does full colour add anything? 
  Full colour is quite garish with the use of bring colours, think they could be muted slightly to not appear as childlike? 
  - How would this impact the side colours? 
• Think about how the publication isn't being read in a linear fashion, it can be but it's normally used as a drop in drop out. So colour "distractions" might not be as impactful as the reader only has to retain small pieces of info at a time? 

Developments:

Thinking of using side colour to differentiate the chapter page (thinking back to highway code book)

Something like this?

Is this the same as having navigational dots though? How would it work differently? 

• White
  - Used so far, simple, incorporates colour, isn't distracting along the page edges
  
  
• Full Colour
  - Peers preferred this, giving a visual break from the rest of the publication, adding interest.
  - May be problematic in terms of psychology and colour choice (like points mentioned above).
  
  
• Side Colour
  - Thinking this could be a happy medium, create enough of a change compared to the rest of the design. Would help with showcasing a difference in chapter when flicking (do the navigational dots do this enough?).
  - Still have the issue of the side of pages presenting colour making a potential distraction.