frutti.gummi

This project is for UI design class and there are four members including myself. We're working on the flash prototype of our application and we split our tasks such that the only person who knows Flash in our group does the Flash. The rest of us do the user inteviews, testing, documentation, etc. My group members are all fresh from undergrad and coming from a technical background, it's really tough for them to come up with good design. We did the initial layout and all on paper before the first flash prototype. When I first ran through the initial flash prototype last week, I immediately noticed all the little inconsistencies in the UI; font type, font size, color, alignment, etc. I guess work habit kicked in. The overall design and layout is just like the design on paper but I'm not able to just overlook these little stuff. Well, I tried not be too picky because then it would seem like I'm criticizing his work. But alas, I succumbed. Our task this week is to evaluate the prototype with the design rules and I ended up giving him a long list. He didn't understand why the labels for input need to look the same (even though there are in different section like search and login) or why the title of a subsection on the right need to be aligned with the left, etc. Sigh! Well, at first he was using funky fonts, different fonts with different sizes for all the different sections too. At least that I could explain that we should use font types that people are familiar with looking at so that it's easier for them to read. I also feel a bit frustrated that my suggestions are being "challenged" with no substanstial backing; because at work, I usually get the last say. Furthermore, as we only need to implement the UI and not the engine, we can just assume the application can work wonders. As such, most of my ideas for this application are novel and they just don't "see" it because it was not implemented elsewhere so it's hard time for me to explain and convince to them it's a good idea. We have a website to document our project progress and the flash guy chose to do it in flash and it has horrible UI but none of the other two members have problem with it. Sigh! I guess I need to confront him soon. Well, it's difficult when they don't see anything wrong with it. Plus, final exams starts in about a week. And flash isn't exactly easy to change. I should've offered to do the website earlier.