From day one until now, I really enjoyed my time completing IXD501. I enjoyed the idea of having to create a brand from scratch, deciding what type of product to create and the research it entails. I never thought that I would have been creating another VR app if I was asked 4 months ago, but here I am. I would be lying if I said that this module didn’t come without its difficulties, it definitely did. When I look back now at what my initial idea was for my brand, it is completely different to what it is now. I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing, as it is proof that the app is going in the right direction, this is evident in all the drafts I created over these past three months.
It won’t be a critical awareness and debate without having to honestly assess all the work I’ve done so far. So for the following categories below, I will discuss the positives and negatives associated with each. Be mindful that this is my first proper completion of these designs and it is still early days if any designs need to be edited.
For my logo, I am quite contented with the design of it for now anyway. Even when this module is completed, I still plan on creating a few more possible ideas during the month of January, to see if I can come up with a different approach for the logo. My journey in designing my logo has been a crazy one. If you look at the drafts I created on my other blog posts, you’ll see that my logo designs have been quite inconsistent. I began by incorporating the name Arcadia into the logo, which was the first name I had in mind until I eventually changed it to MY MRI. At one stage, I went from having many logo ideas to being advised not to even have a logo, as my app will only really be an application that will be used once by users to prepare them for their MRI scan. This didn’t last too long however as I felt for my brand guidelines, a logo should ideally be present, even if it is only used once. This resulted in me creating my current logo. Although I don’t mind the logo, I can’t help but think it doesn’t really fit in with the brand and the colours. That’s just my own opinion. I like the idea that it both incorporates a VR headset and and MRI scanner, if you ever happen to look at an MRI from the side. I feel that an icon like this needs to be present to help the font and name of the app stand out.
I didn’t get the chance to really share my logo with any peers or lecturers as of now. I was suggested by my tutor to look at illustrations that are relevant to my topic of MRI or reassurance, but sadly I didn’t come across any that I could use. So this could be a starting point on my journey to find another logo, if this logo turns out to be a failure. I will only find this out by user testing and advice from fellow designers when I return in semester two. In the end, I am two minded about this logo. I feel that what could really help me with this is to talk to my lecturers and ask for their input, which I will next semester.
For the colour scheme of my brand, I decided to play is safe by sticking with neutral colours, which include a few shades of greys, close to both black and white, but at the same time not as dark and bright as that, as I have been advised from designers at Oculus Rift when completing research to use neutral colours the best as you can and to stay away from very bright and dark colours, which can make text hard to read for the user. I have to say that I actually don’t mind the colour scheme I chose, considering I never really choose neutral colours for any brand I create, as they are quite plain, but in this case I feel its the best option. I can’t help but feel I could maybe add a primary colour into the mix, but this is something I will need to discuss with my tutors. As I have stated in previous pages, I got my inspiration from the Oculus Rift colour scheme. I am fortunate to have a Meta Quest 2 VR headset I purchased two months ago and I feel exploring it has gave me a better understanding of VR itself and has provided me with great design ideas I hope to use in my app. So this was a great place to start. Only time will tell if this colour scheme is suitable for my brand.
