02/05

DevLog 3

//Developing a Visual Identity With Internal Principles

Picking up from where i left off before the last test, next up was developing an identity for the project, that informs the design of the website and rest of project. And to then later translate the graphics i came up with back into the application. 

Here a selection of snippets from the initial scribbling for a logo:

The idea connecting these approaches was to mirror the memory journey somehow by incorporating connected nodes, playfulness or principles of logic progression. Already in the back of my head was to put the logo into the space of the VR world somehow, to maybe use the logo itself as a supporting mnemonic device. Every letter could be connected to one of the pillars, so every block of three Objects/Memories could be associated to one letter.

The cut made a logo variant using the font “Hangier”, with basic geometric shapes layered between the letters. The font is playful and has slight retro chic, the shapes follow a logical per-letter progression of five: Dot, Line, Triangle, square, pentagon, just add one point each time. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. This then is folded back into the application: The platforms would have the shape and arrangement like the shapes in the logo, this might also help with telling them apart, which was a problem mentioned by a tester.

I put the logo prominently as the first thing the users see into the scene, and adjusted the surrounding text and tutorials in a way that guides the gaze more from the beginning towards the rest of the tutorial. Also, i added the letters of the logo to the pillars, so they are visible from the starting point at the first platform before starting to build, adding additional guidance for the order in which to connect the platforms. 

Hangier

First Shot

Final Logo

Early visual identity sketching

Pan over a memory palace, with the logo faded in

Sketching process in Illustrator

//Memory Identifiaction Methodology

One of the parts, that thus far was also a bit under-developed was the (lack of) methodology for the memory identification. To improve this, i talked to a friend of mine who is a therapist in training and she offered to take over that aspect for the next testing from a professional perspective, since enriching memories is a technique commonly used in various schools of psychotherapy. I was hoping to be able to distill some of her questioning techniques into the memory identification form on the website later, and also to gain general insight on how to improve this part of the protocol.