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by on April 15, 2015

Mock-Ups and Storyboards

This is the post for the Wednesday, April 15, 2015 class meeting.

coolstoryboardToday’s reading is about moving to the organization and planning stage for your projects. Your goal today is to organize the content portion of your project, using whatever works best for you.

Mock-up Tools

Mock-ups are usually used for websites, projects that are “static” (like posters or brochures), and texts that are primarily linguistic or visual in nature. Wireframes (if you’re familiar with the term) fall into this category. Be sure to use the Mock-up guidelines on p. 95 of Writer/Designer to guide your process.

Here are some possible tools:

Storyboarding Tools

Storyboarding is usually used for projects that move through a series of pieces, places, or points in time—like a video, comic book, or graphic novel. Be sure to use the storyboard guidelines on p. 97–98 of Writer/Designer to guide your process.

Storyboarding is, essentially, visual outlining your text, so you may be happy with creating a simple outline in Google Docs. For online tools I’ve made, I created storyboards with PowerPoint, because it was simple and I had a copy. If you do go this route, Google Slides would work too.

If you want to try something specifically created for storyboarding, take at look at these resources for creating and organizing storyboards:

Old-Fashioned Tools

Good, old paper and pencil can work for mock-ups and storyboards. There’s no reason that these planning tools have to be digitally produced. Sketch them out if you want to, but then scan them or take a photo so that you can add them to your blog on Monday.

Writing Schedule and Homework

  • Wednesday, 4/15: We’ll go over the highlights of Chapter 6, looking at mock-ups and storyboards. Write a blog post with with the usual headings: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. Include whatever work you have done since your last post. Include a link to your storyboard or mockup (or embed it) in your blog. If you are already past the mock-up or storyboard stage, include whatever notes/outline you already had or add a screen shot of your project as is.

  • Friday, 4/17: Class will work online. You will read about how to include documentation in your projects and the requirements for your presentations. You will continue working on your project and write a blog post.

  • Monday, 4/20: Presentation sign-up and discussion of drafts for peer feedback.

  • Wednesday, 4/22: Peer Feedback Day. Have a rough version ready to share in class.

  • Friday, 4/24: In-class work day.

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by on April 12, 2015

Tools & Timelines

This is the post for the Monday, April 13, 2015 class meeting.

kkkkkkkkkkI will point out some key points from the textbook, but you will spend most of your time trying out tools and planning a timeline for your project today.

lynda.com Resources

Look for support for the tools you are using on the lynda.com site, which is free with your vt.edu login. Here are some examples, based on tools you mentioned in your pitches:

Other Tools You Can Use

There are lots of tools that you can use as you work on your remix. Use the skills you developed in the Interrogate the Interface project to decide which of these tools might be right for you. Remember that your work needs to published in a public space online, so one criteria is that the tool has to provide something you can link to or that you can upload to your WordPress site.

These tools can help if you need to fake social media updates, just don’t use them to prank people:

These web-based tools can help you publish or build your project:

We also talked about using Storify to publish a collection of social media updates as a webpage in class on Friday.

Key Points from Chapter 5

As you read and use information from Chapter 5 of Writer/Designer, pay particular attention to these details:

  1. Table of Technology Choices on page 78.

  2. The book explains that a multimodal project doesn’t have to be digital; however, what you make for Project 4 does have to be digital.

  3. As you firm up your decision on what tool(s) to use, keep in mind the same questions you used to evaluate an interface in Project 3. There’s also a case study that starts on page 79 and a technology review on page 81.

  4. Pay attention to the tips on organizing and naming your files on pages 88–89.

  5. Consider making a short style guide for your work to ensure consistency, following the suggestions on page 89.

Dates for Your Timeline

As part of your work in the next 24 hours, sketch out a timeline (page 91) for yourself so that you get all your work done. Please incorporate the dates on the class calendar into your timeline for the following:

  • Mock-up or Storyboard on 4/15.
  • Presentation Sign-up on 4/20.
  • Peer Feedback on 4/22.
  • In-class Presentations on 4/29 to 5/6.
  • Project Due by 11:55 PM on 5/6.

Writing Schedule and Homework

  • Today, 4/13: Create a timeline for your project, setting up a work schedule for yourself. Write a blog post with with the usual headings: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. Include whatever work you have done since your last post. Also include your timeline in your blog post.

  • Wednesday, 4/15: We’ll go over the highlights of Chapter 6, looking at mock-ups and storyboards.

  • Friday, 4/17: Class will work online. You will read about how to include documentation in your projects and the requirements for your presentations. You will continue working on your project and write a blog post.

  • Monday, 4/20: Presentation sign-up and discussion of drafts for peer feedback.

  • Wednesday, 4/22: Peer Feedback Day. Have a rough version ready to share in class.

Filed Under: Class Notes Tagged With: , , , , ,