With a successful mid-semester review behind us, we began the second half of the design process this week. Build is an exciting step, as it marks the first point in which we begin to get our hands dirty in materializing the concept we have spent the first few months deliberating over. We decided that our low fidelity prototype would focus on the content, rather than the form, of the wayfinding sign we were designing. We wanted to make sure that what was actually being presented was solid and coherent, before we began diving into the specifics of the medium for … Continue reading BUILD: Open Arch Wayfinding

Mid-Semester Review was a great time for our team to pause, reflect, and consolidate all the work that has been put into our project. In our presentation, we were focused on conveying the narrative of our project and how we reached this point in our design proposal. Throughout this project, our team faced a lot of ambiguities. Some initial questions we had included who our users were, what our interpretation of wayfinding was, and what our specific role within this larger project would be. After visiting the site, and attending the town hall meeting, we finally gained a better understanding … Continue reading MID-SEMESTER REVIEW: Open Arch

After our visit to the Northside, we had a better understanding of the neighbourhood we were working in, which allowed us to move onto ideate. During this step of the design phase, we began to think about the project in two parts: content and aesthetics. For content, we were particularly interested in the exact information that would appear on the sign. What points of interest are we trying to target? Is the purpose of the sign for going from point A to B directly? Or for wandering and enjoying the area? These were some questions that came to mind when … Continue reading IDEATE: Open Arch

This week, we dove headfirst into the first stages of the design process, and began to challenge our assumptions about the problem we are trying to solve. Given that our problem revolves around a specific space in Houston, we began by defining the logistics of the space and doing some basic research about the neighborhoods we were assisting. This research consisted of reading relevant articles, searching census data, and spending time looking at online maps. We discovered that the our target area is incredibly diverse, and rapidly changing. Many new businesses are being developed, dramatically impacting the character and personality … Continue reading Identify: Team OpenArch

After meeting with our community sponsor and other members of the Northside community at the charette, we decided to shift our focus to having the sign outside of St. Arnold’s.  With this change in setting, we also decided that our user entity could be re-narrowed back to a user persona – a young, caucasian professional. This allows us to safely assume that our users will have access to smartphones and the internet, which heavily influences what content needs to be present in our final design.  Regarding our design, we have decided on three main goals: it must be a clean … Continue reading Week 6 Reframe: Open Arch