Weekly Recap 11/7-11/13

What I did:

Worked on refining dialogue language within my process maps:  1 hour
Worked on new process maps:  2.5 hours
Worked on grant proposal:  3.5 hours
Flash tutorials:  1 hour
Gathered printing and other material quotes:  .5 hours
Thinking/Looking at Design for Democracy book for inspiration about how to layout my booklet kits:  .5 hours.

What I discovered/encountered/.....I forget the last word:

1)  I need to continue looking for additional funding.
2)  Breaking down the more detailed and specific information is a hell of a lot harder than I thought it would be.
3)  Flow charts work fabulously for the "Big Picture" and holistic things but not so well for listing specifics.  They could potentially work but I have a lot more exploring and configuring to do.

For the above two charts I was trying to take the 4 pages I printed out specifically about U.S. Citizens petitioning their spouses and condensing it into easier to understand language.  I also tried to break it down into more manageable segments.  I don't feel good about it yet but I think the top one is starting to head in the right direction.  I think I could use color fields to my advantage to help differentiate different parts of the information.  I am continually torn with trying to find an aesthetic that fits my objective but still trying to map out the information.  I don't know if finding a color palate or "templates" of layouts would be more helpful to establish first or later on.  Who ever is reading this week, I would really like some feedback on the language and "dialogue" of the information I'm using.  I'm trying to make it simple, to the point, and in the viewers point of view.

These are some of the things I was taking into consideration with the Design for Democracy book.

All of these pages have to do with either layouts and templates, colors, how to give instructional cues, or printed items in a series.  I particularly like the page with the form and it gives the instructional "zooms" of important aspects.  I know they were trying to point out aspects of the form from a design point of view but I think something like that could be useful for the users too.

Whats Next:

Solidify my objectives for the kits as far as specific information goes.  I need to have a clear start to finish for each kit and decide what is essential for each one as well as the order of the information.

Decide on a layout for the booklets.  I think this will help me move forward.  I feel like I'm in limbo between aesthetic and information and can't move forward without the other, which is probably untrue but it's a difficult tension.

Produce something in flash for the digital format of these kits.