First Prototypes- Word Choice and Purpose

 Blog Post 9.25

First Prototypes

In our critique on Wednesday, I showed my design process so far for the wayfinding system for undergraduate students living in the dorms to get to their polling place. I showed 2 iterations of my banner design, an example of how I intend to transfer that to a corresponding poster at the polling location, and a draft of a possible map design. None of these iterations are very finalized or near to completion yet in terms of design, but I was mostly playing around with layout of information and what the language/information will actually look like.

Looking back at what I presented, I understand Hannah’s point about the importance of the language I use. I was really focused on keeping all the text very informational and to the point, but I think with this mentality I became too concrete and didn’t think enough about the significance of my word choice and how that relates to the viewer. I was coming from the mindset of strictly necessary information and what that would entail without thinking about the emotional aspect behind the words. For example, I have the phrase “Find your AA Polling Place” however this statement is very bland and I now see how this wouldn’t resonate with a viewer who is very excited about voting. It doesn’t account for the excitement students have as first-time voters to go to the polls IN-PERSON. I need to think more about the power of word choice and what certain words and phrases would evoke in students- this will also come from research as I test it on freshmen.

Moving forward I am excited to keep developing this system. I do like the idea of having a linkable map from a QR code that was in my original idea, but one thing I really want to focus on moving forward is making sure this map adds meaning and purpose to my system. Right now my map looks like something that already exists on Google maps. Hannah’s point which made a lot of sense to me stresses the fact that this map doesn’t add anything to my system if students can access the same thing on Google. I need to evaluate if a map is even a useful addition or if maybe it doesn’t add any new information. If I do choose to move forward with a map, I need to make sure that it adds a sense of purpose and intent to my system where students will want to use the map and have it make sense to them. The map needs to also make students excited to go vote as this is the whole purpose of creating this system. This is what I want to focus on moving forward with the project for next week- I want to do more work and development to finalize my system in this way.