Democratic Design or Design Democracy

Another brand leaflet...Open for comments and discussions...

The Trunk Test for Web Users

People won't use your web site if they can't find their way around it. Whether you call it usability, ease-of-use, or just good design, companies staking their fortunes and their futures on their Web sites are starting to recognize that it's a bottom-line issue. In Don't Make Me Think, usability expert Steve Krug distills his years of experience and observation into clear, practical - and often amusing - common sense advice for the people in the trenches (the designers, programmers, writers, editors, and Webmasters), the people who tell them what to do (project managers, business planners, and marketing people), and even the people who sign the checks.

I find his method "The trunk test" rather useful and entertaining:

step 1 - choose a page anywhere in the site at random, and print it

step 2 - hold it at arm´s length or squint so you can't really study it

step 3 - As quickly as possible try to find: site ID, page name, sections/ subsections, navigation, search...

Although our designed youcanplan site already looked visually clear, it missed another important  web function - call to action and feedback. By making the site ID/ brand stronger, changing the strap line and adding calls to action, I hope visitors find the site more clear and user friendly.

ESP - leaflet print

ESP printed flyers, part of Slider´s growing leaflet package...

YouCanPlan brand - exhibition photos

Photos made in Harrogate in CIH Housing exhibition 2009.

YouCanPlan brand - stand assembly movies

It took our team of 7 people 6 hours to put pieces together and 1.5 hours to assemble the exhibition at first time. I used remote capture photography to record the process. It basically is a software that allows a computer to remotely fire a digital camera connected to it and images can be stored directly onto the computer's hard disk. There are several programs one can use for remote photography the only problem being your camera battery running out...

YouCanPlan brand - exhibition assembly

Important part of the design process was technology - we decided to use cnc-cutting. Although it is super precise, it puts more work on your shoulders. For this exhibition we ended up cutting 17 sheets of plywood and 7 sheets of MDF... altogether it is around 300 pieces that need to become one big puzzle. How easy it is to make a mistake... I am convinced that using cnc-cutting in that kind of size, one needs to do prototypes. We were lucky that there were only few pieces that needed resizing (with hand saw and sanding of course). The following are the examples of sheet layouts when they went into the cutting machine, and instructions for team to put pieces together.

YouCanPlan brand - exhibition

After setting the rules for YouCanPlan brand (mostly still in 2D) I tried to come up with concept that would become exhibition design - a 3D brand. These first images are from chosen design 3D model that we later on realised in SPRUCE plywood with CNC-cutting technology.

YouCanPlan brand - printed

Printed material for CIH Housing exhibition in Harrogate, UK

YouCanPlan brand

YouCanPlan is a creative development service from Slider Studio. It provides community consultation and engagement services and tools for the built environment.
It is important that every brand had a consistent personality that everybody understands and remembers. In spring 2009 we tried to re-think the YouCanPlan brand - to present a strong unified brand that builds up reputation and helps us achieve goals.
www.youcanplan.co.uk

PORTFOLIO 2006 - Monton

MONTON RETAIL ENVIRONMENT UPGRADE, EE
brandbook/ interior project for shop in Moscow: 2006
in collabrotion with Oliver Soomets

completed shops:
2006 - Monton Ülemiste in Tallinn, EE
2007 - Monton Europe centre in Moscow, RU