Speech Bubble Part 2: Execution

Part 2: Presentation and Validation

Contents Page

These are the key sections in this document.

1

Issue + Idea

Process I 2

Finalising the Brief

Process II 3

Reflection Process Development (Character Development)

Process III 4

Speech Bubble Explained

Process IV 5

User Journey Development

Process V 6

Getting Validation

7

Validation + Personal Evaluation

How to Use The Document

Throughout the document this key will be used.

Task Title

What I did and why I did it

Collaborator Feedback Justification

My Reflection These are my comments

on how the task has developed the overall project.

(

or

)

Collaborators

These are the people who have validated my project, throughout the document their name will be quoted where they have validated.

John C. Harrison, Author of ‘Redefining Stuttering’, Co-Founder of National Stuttering Association

Matthew Richardson, McGuire Programme, Head Instructor (UK North) Iain Mutch, McGuire Programme, Regional Director

Internal Validators:

David Parkinson Lecturer Neil Smith Lecturer Laura Warwick Lecturer James E Thomas Technician Hugo Glover Senior Lecturer in Motion Graphics and Animation

Anand Gilks, Generation Press Graphic Designer

John Dyer Paul Windle Creative Art Studio Director and Senior Creative Artist

Jim Blyth Alloy Design consultant & MD

A Focus Group Was set up on Facebook: These members are willing to share their thought in this document

Mandy Arthur Byron Shane

1

Issue + Idea

The Issue

A stammer affects the fluency of speech. However as someone who has suffered from a stammer I know speech is just the tip of the ice-berg.

“People think, oh you just can’t say certain words, for us it is this massive ordeal, our life is run by our stammer. In reality if someone can’t say their name, then how do you substitute, do you stop speaking? Stammering erodes our self confidence over time and can be isolating. It is a lifelong process.”

Matthew Richardson, McGuire Programme, Head Instructor (UK North)

“Stammering is not just about speech it is a system involving the whole person.”

John C. Harrison, Author of ‘Redefining Stuttering’, Co-Founder of National Stuttering Association

The Idea ‘Speech Bubble’ is a tool to help young people positively reflect on their stammer and realise that it’s not just about speech. The reflection process helps them think about their speech as well as the contributing factors such as their emotions, confidence and feelings of holding back. Going through this process generates them a personalised ‘Speech Bubble’ which is a visual representation of their stammer. This takes the stammer out of their mind and onto their screen making it easier to talk about it.

The on-line community provides a safe place to do this, where other users gather together, and share their ‘Speech Bubble’.

Available on... www.speechbubble.com

Self Reflection Process...

Reflection

On-line community

Users will go through the reflection process to generate their ‘Speech Bubble’.

Then with their ‘Speech Bubble’ they will have the option to join the wider on-line community, where they can share and talk about their stammer.

Target Market?

The target market is young adults (16-25) After talking to many people within the stammering community it became evident that a stammer does create a lack of confidence and a low self esteem.

The chosen target market is 16-25 because this is the stage where key life decisions are being made. These self beliefs building up due to their stammer may hold them back and hinder the aims and ambitions.

Iain Mutch shared a story about a young student...

“I knew a guy, he had just done his A-levels and wanted to do a particular course only done in Sheffield. He got his A-Level results and he got into Sheffield, ‘Yes I’m going to Sheffield’ he goes, ‘but Oh no I can’t say the word Sheffield! It’s one of my feared words’, In his mind he was basically committing himself to 3 years of saying Sheffield!

He couldn’t do it, instead he opted out and went for another course which he didn’t want to do and he went to University of Leicester. So this meant his whole path of life changed directions all because of his stammer. It’s incredible what people do.”

Iain Mutch, McGuire Programme, Regional Director (UK North)

‘Yes I’m going to Sheffield, :) but oh no I can’t say the word Sheffield!

I can say Leicester though :(

Who Would Run ‘Speech Bubble’?

Say Hello...

The BSA is the UK national organisation for adults and children who stammer, run by people who stammer. They help people and lobby for positive change.

The BSA seeks to achieve its vision of “A world that understands stammering”.

Why BSA run ‘Speech Bubble’ because It promotes awareness of stammering especially in young adults.

‘Speech Bubble’ provides a place where people who stammer can gather together and share their experiences.

Previously they were using social networks sites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’.

However unlike other social networks ‘Speech Bubble’ provides a platform for people with stammers to share their experiences in more meaningful ways.

User Journey

This journey map shows how ‘Speech Bubble’ will be advertised, used and how it will benefit users.

Other features...

2520 Combinations- There are many different ‘Speech Bubble’s’ so everyone will have a unique timeline however users will be able to find other ‘Speech Bubble’ user similar to them.

There is no hierarchy between the different ‘Speech Bubble’s’ none of them looks more important then any other. This is important when building an equal community.

There are only Subtle changes between character transitions this is representing the gradual progression that will take place per reflection

User’s ‘Speech Bubble’ develops overtime by completing more reflections. This helps the user understand their stammer better...

2

Process I

Finalising the Brief

?? ?

Analysing the Initial Brief...

The initial brief set was to design a...

System A self reflection method to help someone who stammers identify how the stammer affect them.

Product A physical model, as a way to visualise- a method to take the stammer out of the mind.

On-line Community An on-line community a place to be able to share the stammer- a problem shared is a problem halved.

Issues with the brief...

The three parts need to work together to create the whole service.

How do the many stakeholders benefit from the service: People who stammer: 1) those who hide it 2) those who have opened up 3)those acting on it

4) Therapists Former person who stammered

6) Charity involvement

5) Therapist Did not stammer

My Reflection I realised a thorou gh journey was needed, to see how the whole service wo uld work as a complete syste m plus see how the stakeho lders would all benefit.

User Journey Mapping

A simplified journey map was created and then sketched onto taking the different stake holders through the map The key points were highlighted on this journey map.

Each of the stakeholders was taken through the journey map, to see how they would benefit from the service.

BRAND

Physical Representation

Stammer Breakdown

Visualise Your Stammer

Everyday Progress

Track

Share & Connect

Identify (Product)

On-line Platform (Illustrator)

My Reflection This helped me vis ualise how people would use the service

Visualising the Stammer is the key Feature

After journey mapping, it became clear that the key feature was to get people positively reflecting on their stammer, by helping them visualise they would be taking the stammer out of their mind.

“I really do think If you can change the negative stigma around stammering your laughing. As you know as well as I do there is so much negativity around stammering. It makes you feel like shit but everyone is perfectly imperfect,I like the idea of visualising the positive sides of a stammer, it would really make us think about it. It’s harder to find good things about it than bad things.”

Byron Ford, age 25

“Reflecting using John C Harrison’s ‘Stammer hexagon’ would be a great place to start, this is a system which explains how other factors in the mind contribute to the build up of a stammer.”

Iain Mutch, McGuire Programme, Regional Director

The Stammer Hexagon

Physiological Responses “quick to react” Intentions “I need to speak”

Beliefs “I have no worth”

Emotions fear & embarrassment Behaviors e.g. Distorted articulators Perceptions “People are judging me”

My Reflection After talking to m y collaborators it wa s clear to me that the reflect ion process was the vital part where I could reall y make a difference. This is where I could get people thinking positively about th eir stammer.

Could a Product work?

A series of technologies were looked into to see if they would be suitable for a reflection tool An e-ink display could be used as an interactive display where individuals could reflect onto.

“An e-ink display would be very expensive, even if it is just for hacking into” James Thomas, Technician This made it evident that it was pointless creating a product that would be easily work on a phone screen as an app.

Pressure could be used in an interactive stress ball, however this would be making the assumption that squeezing something helps reduce a stammer, this may help some people but it is not right for everyone.

Another idea was to use Smart technology as a way to monitor the senses.

‘Sensors could be used and placed in daily products i.e a watch that could pick up heart rate...’

James Thomas, Technician However the thought of having someone having to wear a tracking device would make a stammer seem more negative

Asking the focus group about a product idea...

“Most people would want to forget it, not carry it around with them” Mandy Taylor

My Reflection I really wanted to design a product. Howeve r after looking into how products could work, I was struggling to find a suitable product idea.

Service Map

A summarised journey map was created to show tutors to get their input on what should be designed.

“I don’t think a product would really benefit your project, your product ideas are out dated and won’t offer anything that an app won’t. Plus if you design an app it would be free!”

Laura Warwick Lecturer

“Create a character you can interact with and have a fun way to track progress. That should be your focus. I know you want to design a product but that is not a suitable solution here” David Parkinson Lecturer

My Reflection Talking to Laura an d David gave me a reality check. I wanted to design a product, but it just didn’t m ake sense for my project. Ins tead I am designing an app with a character, that he lped people to reflect on their stammer.

The Character

This task was figuring out why a character was the suitable answer and how it allowed someone to reflect.

What does the Character need to do?

The ‘Stammer Hexagon’ will inform the character’s personification. As Iain Mutch described this theory explains the mind of a person that stammers.

The character will help people reflect on their stammer, allowing them to acknowledge what is happening Users are able to track their reflections overtime. By understanding their reflection they are able to understand themselves better overtime.

Why is it a character?

A character will offer people the chance to visualise their stammer. This will allow them to reflect and give life to the stammer that is in their mind, in a personal and therapeutic way.

The aim is that this personification of the stammer would help them create ownership of the stammer and eventually maybe accept or overcome it.

Visualising will also give people the chance to share something that was previously invisible (see next page for how it will be shared)

Sharing via the On-Line community

The on-line community will be a place where people can share their stammer and talk about it via their character. How will this affect the design of the character?

Everyone will be able to enter the on-line community via their character.

The character design will have to ensure that people can show different emotion but their must be no hierarchy.

The character has live up date so users can see how people are coping, users can then choose to offer personal support, live.

This will be a platform where users can safely ask questions and share advice, so it will have to be secure. The character won’t be able to leek any personal information.

A place where users can communicate anonymously and openly and be able to make friends. The character will need to be able to be as open and private as the user requires.

(‘Dunny’ doll vector used to represent the character-only for visulaisation purposes)

? ??

! !!

My Reflection I felt more excited about my project after map ping out the character. I wasn ’t designing a product but I fel t getting this character to work was going to be very challenging

Final Design Deliverables...

1 Brand Campaign This is to engage all potential users will be run by the BSA 2 Service-App + Website The Service will be split into 2 major sections The Reflection Process- using the character as a visualisation method On-line Community- a place where users can share their character

The BSA were contacted to see if they would want to support the project and allow themselves to be branded as the owners. They replied saying no. However for internal purposes the BSA will be used. A charity has to own this idea because they over see the whole community.

Attaching this idea to a therapy group such as ‘McGuire Programme’ would limit the market as the idea would be attached to certain method of therapy which isn’t right for everyone.

My Reflection I was gutted that the BSA didn’t want to take part in my project. I think I ne ed to access my emailing method. I should have been more direct. They must have thought I wanted more when all I needed was consent to use their logo.

Choosing a Software to build an App

After deciding that an App was the way forward, the next step was to see what software was available to build a working app.

As someone who had never done any coding, advice was needed.

James Thomas helped to explain coding software. He suggested to use ‘Processing’...

“In more visual programmes such as ‘Stencyl’ you are stuck in the systems limitations, programmes such as ‘Processing’ are more hardcore coding, harder to use but they are better in helping you built what you want” James E Thomas Technician

Experimenting with Processing-

Experimenting helped to see the complexity of the software, and helped with understanding how the system would limit the character design.

A few simple tasks were completed in ‘Processing’. Simply having a character appear on the screen. Then working out how to create a Dot Matrix skeleton, in order to have an interactive character on the screen.

Talking to ‘Alloy’ about building an App “Be very careful, if you plan on building a working app you have a very very steep learning curve ahead of you. By Looking at your skill set, I would say you have a strength in being a visual designer, I would focus on the visual side of your project, in industry someone else would do the coding...”

Jim Blyth Alloy Design consultant & MD

My Reflection I took Jim’s advic e and decided the idea of having a working app wa s not realistic. My stren gth lies in visualising. My aim is to design how the ch aracter will work and look.

3

Process II

Reflection Process Development (Character Development)

Who is a Stammer?

The chosen theme for the stammer character was ‘Cute but Trying to be Scary’.

Images were collected of baby animals, to help with personifying the character people in the class helped by allowing me take a photo of them pulling their favourite facial expression.

Facial Baby Hunting forAnimals Inspiration Inspiring in Books

Illustration Animals trying books to bewere scary looked but really atjust to see cute how artists portray emotions in characters, keeping an eye out for character that are ‘Cute and Trying to be Scary’.

My Reflection Collecting images helped to inspire how the ch aracter may look.

Creating a Reflection Process

The Stammer Hexagon was read and their was a question designed for each point of the Hexagon. These were the questions that formed the initial reflection process.

The framework created was tested in the facebook focus group via an on-line survey...

“I Controlled it”

“It Controlled me”

Physiological Responses

Who was in control this time?

“Completely”

“Unstoppable”

“Embarrassed”

Emotions

How did it make you feel today?

“Made me Influent”

“It got me”

“It helped me”

Behaviors

Intentions

How did it behave today?

Did the stammer let you say what you wanted to say?

Beliefs

How is your relationship?

“Couldn’t live without it.

Makes me feel special”

“Need to work on it”

Perceptions

Are you friends today?

“Made me Proud”

“It annoyed me”

My Reflection The questions wo rked well and got people th inking about their stammer. I th ought as a first step, this wa s a success.

Sketch Round 1

Using the inspiration gathered and the ‘Stammer Hexagon’ framework created the next step was sketching how a character could portray each of the highlighted emotions. 15 minutes was spent on each point of the hexagon.

In-Control

Out of Control

“I Controlled it”

“It Controlled me”

Physiological Responses

Who was in control this time?

Clear

“Completely”

Happy

Sad

“Unstoppable”

“Embarrassed”

Emotions

How did it make you feel today?

Naughty

Confused

“Made me Influent”

“It got me”

“It helped me”

Behaviors

Intentions

How did it behave today?

Did the stammer let you say what you wanted to say?

Beliefs

Perceptions

How is your relationship?

“Couldn’t live without it.

Makes me feel special”

Good Relationship

Kind

Are you friends today?

“Need to work on it”

Bad Relationship

“Made me Proud”

Good Day

“It annoyed me”

Bad Day

My Reflection I was struggling, to visualise each of the emot ional states.

I felt I needed to ask how they would illu others strate the character. Th e character needs to relate to many users so I must design it with user input.

In need of inspiration

This task was intended to see how others would visualise certain emotional states This blank canvas was handed out...

Character A is...

Character B is...

1) Confused

1) Clear minded

2) Out of control

2) In control

3) Sad

3) Happy

4) Naughty

4) Kind

5) Having a bad day

5) Having a good day

6) In a bad relationship with you

6) In a good relationship with you

What does character A look like?

What does character B look like?

(please draw something for each of the 6 characteristics and label them)

(please draw something for each of the 6 characteristics and label them)

Be as adventurous as you can!

Thank You!

Summarise results

All the character results were separated into single emotions and their was a character for each emotion.

My Reflection The task had a go od response. There were many responses I wasn ’t expecting!

Seeing all the differ ent emotions separa ted, allowed me to spot pattern s and understand what people associate certain emotions with.

Sketch Round 2

Using the new inspiration, more sketching was completed. Still not getting anywhere so a more refined theme was introduced. ‘Letters and Glyphs’, This is relevant as stammering is related to words.

My Reflection I thought introducin g Letters was smart, if exec uted correctly this will make the character more re lated to stammering.

Exploring with Letters and Glyphs

Quick illustrator ideas were mocked up to help to visualise how letters and glyphs could work together, then a series of sketches were done to help visualise how the character could look.

My Reflection I thought using th e head of the character as a speech mark was very eff ective plus it had the dir ect link to speech!

Concept 1

1st character was fully visualised. It was too complicated, looks very child-like. There is too much going on making it hard to understand the character.

A flat vectorised character

Research was undertaken to find a character style that would appeal to an older person. Using this as inspiration ‘Concept 1’ was visualised as simple vectors.

“the character has lost a lot of it’s character I agree you need to create a more mature character to suit your intended market but you need to not let this limit your character design” David Parkinson Lecturer

5) Perception > Bad day > The weather reflects how the Good day

3) Emotions > Sad

Happy

V

V

C

C

> The speech mark tips and

flops like a dog tail showing happiness

1) Intentions > Confused > If too confused ear fire full stops Clear

4) Behavior > Devil > Bad behavior turns into a devil Angel

V

day went

even though it doesn’t want to

6) Beliefs > Bad Relationship > Body forms into a love heart Good Relationship

emoticon depending how strong the relationship is.

2) Physiological > Out-of-Control > Legs show reactions.

In-Control Responses

5) Perception > Bad day > The weather reflects how the Good day

3) Emotions > Sad

Happy

day went

> The speech mark tips and

flops like a dog tail showing happiness

1) Intentions > Confused > If too confused ear fire full stops Clear

4) Behavior > Devil > Bad behavior turns into a devil Angel

even though it doesn’t want to

6) Beliefs > Bad Relationship > Body forms into a love heart Good Relationship

emoticon depending how strong the relationship is.

2) Physiological > Out-of-Control > Legs show reactions.

In-Control Responses

My Reflection The character ha d gone from arguably too much character to way too little.

I needed to find th e mid ground. But I wasn ’t sure how. I searched th e North East for a charac ter designer who was willing to help me.

An Afternoon with a Character Designer

This was a difficiult period in figuring out how the character was going to look, ‘John Dyer’ from ‘Paul Windle Creative Art Studio’ helped point out what was going wrong...

“I like it but you need to make it simpler there is too much going on...a few pointers Use the same type face abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ !@££%^&*()_-+={}[];:“‘\/|,.<>?±§# Don’t be afraid to use thicker lines, it makes the character stand out more.

Add a personal element- maybe you get a number when you join...

NO.135 Overall I like where it is going, keep working on it, I’ll give you feedback where I can” John Dyer Paul Windle Creative Art Studio Director and Senior Creative Artist

Building Characters with Gill Sans Font

The idea was to take on John’s advice of simplifying the character...

“It doesn’t look like a character yet. I think your character really does needs a body, the head is over complicated and its not clear whats going on. keep going...”

John Dyer Paul Windle Creative Art Studio Director and Senior Creative Artist

Building Characters Body

This task was following John’s advice and attempting to give the character a body

“Its still not popping! I don’t get a real connection with it, there’s still too much going on...”

John Dyer Paul Windle Creative Art Studio Director and Senior Creative Artist

My Reflection Even with Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help I still couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t figure ou t what I was doing wrong, I went on to ask special ist graphic designers...

Talking to Generation Press...

Generation Press replied to my email with interest on the idea. Generation Press are a collective of Graphic designers specialising in Print. Anand an in-house graphic designer offered his feedback...

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I like the fact you are building your character from letters and glyphs it makes total sense, but I think you are over complicating it. Take a look at Build, Anthony Burrill, Sergi Eggertsson, these are some of our clients who build graphics using simple geometric shapes, very effectiveâ&#x20AC;?

Anand Gilks Generation Press Graphic Designer

My Reflection Everyone was giv ing me the same advice, be more simple! Mastering this simple character style wa s much harder then it loo ked.

John Harrison Feedback

John Harrison the inventor of the Stammer Hexagon, arranged a Skype meeting, to discuss the reflection tool idea.

John’s Feedback was...

“You need to go back and analyse my hexagon. The points are much more integrated. You have separated the points which ignores the fact that the hexagon is an integrated system.

John C. Harrison, Author of ‘Redefining Stuttering’, Co-Founder of National Stuttering Association

Partners in Speaking

WORK TOGETHER

THERE IS NO I IN STAMMER MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR STAMMER! 100% POSITIVE INTENTIONS=PANICING OR RELAXED PHYSICAL= HEAVY OR LIGHT MENTAL=HAPPY OR SAD FRIENDS?= Did you work together to say what YOU wanted to say?

Did you work together to say what YOU wanted to say?

SAME QUESTION PUT DOWN EXCESS BAGGAGE (PHYSICAL QUESTION)

EMOTIONAL (MENTAL QUESTION) Did you work together to say what YOU wanted to say?

BLOCKED UP FULL

PERFORMANCE (TEAM QUESTION)

emotions affect responses

Physiological Responses

PANICING this

D RE

hin

t of

LA XE

HEAVY

em dri otio ve ns be ha vio

urs

...

Oh no its thinking, what did it do wrong??

Emotions

Intentions

Behaviours

G

LI

THE AIM

HT

Feels rewarded! did it’s job

+

Beliefs

th Mey Re br ief Perceptions wion flect as rather ambiTh tio er us e, is Beliefs anM dorI ecode ulpt dnh’ttose thee inform perceptions an hexa engo thal, d ngo en ho I hawdev prer eviou I sly ac kngh owtled thou Thag ereinisataio usge ind. g im n m uc h ge as a sestr linpo k between cronfriends wrea n to imAreint youet today? the po s prove self-confide nce was Starting to bond or not?? a unique approach Next I wanted to speak to stammerers to ga ther their opinions on my di rection.

Refining the Questions

Reflecting on John’s Feedback, the reflection process were condensed down to 3 questions. It became obvious that questions needed to be more open ended so anyone can relate to them.

This also helped to create a persona for the character. The persona for the character was a team player, that works with user to help them speak.

It’s more about creating a better partnership with their speech.

Empty

Full

Rough

Smooth

1. SUCCESS

2. PERFORMANCE

Low

Panic + Sad

:)

:(

3. TEAM SPIRIT

High

Relaxed + Happy

DID YOU SAY EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO SAY? Not this time

partly

pretty much everything

yes everything!

DID YOU SAY EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO SAY? Not this time SAYpartly pretty much everything!

DID YOU EVERYTHING YOUeverything WANTED TOyesSAY? DID YOU WORK WELL TOGETHER TODAY? Not this time

partly

It was a very bumpy

pretty much everything

rough in patches

yes everything!

almost completely smooth

We are a perfectly smooth team!

DID YOU WORK WELL TOGETHER TODAY? It was aYOU very bumpy DID WORK It was a very bumpy

rough in patches almost completely smooth WELL TOGETHER TODAY? rough in patches

ARE YOU FRIENDS TODAY? It needs work (panic)

We got through

almost completely smooth

friends

We are a perfectly smooth team!

We are a perfectly smooth team!

Best friends (Relaxed)

:D :D:D :):):) :(:(:(

:( :(:( :( :(:( :( :( :(

ARE YOU FRIENDS TODAY?

It needs work (panic) got through ARE YOU FRIENDSWeTODAY?

friends

Best friends (Relaxed)

It needs work (panic)

friends

Best friends (Relaxed)

We got through

th e Re brief My flew ctas ionrather ambitio This ushe , an lpedd Im co e ul sim dnpliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;tfysethee charen an acdtego r . al, Befo horewIev haer d to Io man fac th ouygh t to ich usrs, ingwh ov er ion im ag in at com thea as e de apli secacrteetd w posig n n. to improve self-confide nce was a unique approach Next I wanted to speak to stammerers to ga ther their opinions on my di rection.

Question 1- Success

Illustrating ways empty and full could be characterised...

“In my opinion the highlighted section is going in my preferred direction. It is more simple & geometric. If you limit the shapes like this, it becomes instant in terms of understanding, you don’t have to think to much. In my opinion this is where you need to be. This style will also make the interface & other parts of the app design more in keeping & look Clean simple & visually appealing. Therefore will appeal to a wider market.”

Anand Gilks Generation Press Graphic Designer

It was a very bumpy

rough in patches

almost completely smooth

We are a perfectly smooth team!

ARE YOU FRIENDS TODAY? It needs work (panic)

We got through

friends

:D :)

:(

:( :( :(

Empty

Full

Rough

Smooth

Best friends (Relaxed)

1. SUCCESS

2. PERFORMANCE

Low

Panic + Sad

:)

:(

3. TEAM SPIRIT

High

Relaxed + Happy

M thye Re flect brief ionrather was ambiItio unus de,rst oo d whul atdn and I co An’tanse d wa s te g me, I did like the an endllingo al, ho w ev way the speech bu er I e thou t using im bble was agination full orgh empty depend ing on as cr et w ea the a po pese rson’s successnofto impr ov e speechse covenfi holfwe r Ide felnc t meywas a un iqte uer did ch arac apn’ prtoa ch show Neot em xtion I ws an tootewe d to ll, Ispeak to co stam ntinu med erer itesrato tinga g fo thr er thetheir ot ophe quon inrio2ns estio mns y directio

n.

Question 2- Performance

Initially there was a struggle with this question, This question was all about the physical behaviours. This brainstorm was intended to highlight the key behaviours of someone who stammers. The challenge was how was this going to be characterised. (see next page)

:D :)

:(

:( :( :(

1. SUCCESS

Rough

Smooth

2. PERFORMANCE

Low

Panic + Sad

:)

:(

3. TEAM SPIRIT

High

Relaxed + Happy

Experimenting with rough and smooth

Experimenting with rough and smooth textures to show rough and smooth performance

JJ

JJ

JJ

questions questions

status status Tip

Tip

:D :)

:(

:( :( :(

1. SUCCESS

Rough

Smooth

2. PERFORMANCE

Low

Panic + Sad

Reflect

The Community

Stage

:)

:(

3. TEAM SPIRIT

High

Relaxed + Happy

th e Re brief My flew ctas ionrather ambitio I deus cid , ed andtoI po cortr ulay dnth â&#x20AC;&#x2122;t issee ques an entiodngo usal, ingho haw ir,ev fac erialI hair orou longh g ha th ir. in Thgisim t us wa s in toatad d ag hum toetthe character. ion as aou ser cr weapon to improve self-confide nce was a unique approach Next I wanted to speak to stammerers to ga ther their opinions on my di rection.

Question 3- Team Spirit

This question is all about emotions so this was experimenting ways to display emotions, Legs and arms were introduced to humanise the character and show-off emotions.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The character really has come on, the arms and legs really do make the character look like it could walk out of the screen! Well done, it really is getting thereâ&#x20AC;?

John Dyer Paul Windle Creative Art Studio Director and Senior Creative Artist

2. PERFORMANCE

Low

Panic + Sad

:)

:(

3. TEAM SPIRIT

High

Relaxed + Happy

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Next I wanted to speak to stammerers to ga ther their opinions on my di rection.

Story Boarding

Visualising the story board made it possible to see how the character would look like on a screen

Character Split into Body Parts

After storyboarding this is a checklist of what elements need designing.

1 5 4 3 6

1-Eyes-Speech Marks 2-Speech Bubbles 3- Cap 4- Male Mouth 5- Male Hair 6- Arms 7- Legs 8-Female Mouth 9- Female Hair

2

7

9

8

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Designing the elements...

This is a series of illustrations done for each of the different body parts...

1-Eyes-alternative eye positions

2+3-Speech Bubble + Cap- alternatives, each, the person gets to choose their own speech bubble

l

4+8-Male + Female Mouth- the user has the choice of gender, these are alternatives how the mouths change due to emotions and their gender

ll

ll

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5-Male Hair- the hair changes depending on how rough or smooth the day was,adds humour

9-Female Hair- the hair changes depending on how rough or smooth the day was, adds humour

6+7-Arms + Legs- â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Richard Williamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Animation book was looked at to get tips on how to show emotions through arms and legs

My Reflection The character wa s getting over complicated again, getting all the parts to work together, was prov ing to be a struggle...

Another morning with John Dyer

John knew there was panic in the air so he rescued the situation with his words of wisdom

“Don’t Panic! When vectorising you should use simple and minimal shape, the less the better...Have a go vectorising this Hugglemonster CGI model... to animate someone walking all you need is one frame reversed!”

John Dyer Paul Windle Creative Art Studio Director and Senior Creative Artist

Body tilts when walking

Flip to animate walking

same width on whole arm

The illustration Process...

1. Disney CGI render

2. Use render as a template

â&#x20AC;&#x153;well done, have a go vectorising my sketch...

John Dyer Paul Windle Creative Art Studio Director and Senior Creative Artist

3. Blank linework

4. Illustrator coloured

Meeting an Animator- Hugo Glover

Hugo agreed to meet to give his feedback on the character.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;your most recent character is ugly! I prefer you previous vector work it was much easier to get. Your missing a trick, color should be more integrated into the emotions as well.â&#x20AC;?

Hugo Glover Senior Lecturer in Motion Graphics and Animation

Refining the character into 3 simple steps

Once the character was refined more feedback was received, on both the theory and the design.

“Instead of saying how did the speech make you feel say, How were YOU feeling today? Don’t forget the character is a reflection of YOU . Your speech is part of you!

Instead of asking abstract questions such as how was your team spirit and how you worked well together ask more direct questions such as...

How confident were YOU today?

Did YOU notice YOU were holding back any other way?

So it becomes not about speech but a more of universal thing asking about you as a whole” John C. Harrison, Author of ‘Redefining Stuttering’, Co-Founder of National Stuttering Association

“I don’t think genderising and picking your own speech bubble really add anything, that’s just customisation for the sake of it...

The interesting part is customising via reflecting don’t just have choices for the sake of having choices, it washes out the actual idea” Hugo Glover Senior Lecturer in Motion Graphics and Animation

Connect with it customise it the 1st time using

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

Female Voice

What is the Hair colour?

Female legs pop out

i

Carrier

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

100%

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

What shape is your speech bubble?

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

Is it a Male or female voice

What colour is it?

Male Voice

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

What is the Hair colour?

What is your speech called?

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

Eddy

Male i

i

Intentions

Female

Reflect i

i

i

Emotions

i

Physical Behaviors Name it-(Own it)

Reflect on it Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

Did you say everything you wanted to say?

How is your team spirit?

Eddy

Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

Eddy

1

How did you work together today?

Eddy

4

Share it Ed Lewis’ Speech Bubble

How is your team spirit?

Eddy

Any comments...

Submit + Share

submit

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4

Process III

Speech Bubble Explained

Why is it called Speech Bubble?

the whole service is called ‘Speech Bubble’ because living with a stammer can be isolating and very private like living in a bubble. Speech Bubble opens up to a wider community. the tagline is: stammering is not just about speech... this is get people interested, asking the question ‘what is it about then’...

Speech Bu le

Speech Bu le Speech Bu le

Speech Bu le

S peech Speech p h B ue lee Speech Bu Bubble

Speech Bu le

Speech Bubble

looks like a water company

Speech Bu le

Speech Bubble

Speech Bubble

SpeechBubble

SpeechBubble

SpeechBubble ...

Speech Bubble

SpeechBubble ...

SpeechBubble ...

SpeechBubble ...

Speech Bubble ...

Speech

Bubble ...

The Speech Bubble Character

This page justifies why the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Speech Bubbleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; character is designed the way it is.

Speech Body

The main body is a speech bubble.

Eye

The eyes are speech marks representing speech.

Mouth

speech bubble has a mouth.

Arms + Legs

The arms and leg give speech bubble more character so it is more playful!

The Reflection Process

This is the final design of the reflection process, with justification for each of the questions.

Identify the Situation + Time This allows the person to log exactly what they are reflecting on, so they can remember when looking back in the future

Q1 Emotion This is about how they are feeling. Many factors can affect people’s emotions not just speech. This questions allows them to think about their emotions in general.

Q2 Confidence This is about how confident they are feeling? Many factors can affect someone’s confidence not just speech. This questions allows them to think about their confidence level in general.

Q3 Holding Back This is about whether they think they held back or not. Many factors can cause someone to hold back not just speech. This question allows them to think about where they held back in general.

Q4 Speech This is about if they feel like they said everything they wanted to say.

Having a question about speech allows them to see how the other factors have impacted their speech.

Speech Bubble Generated Once and only when all the questions are answered the user’s ‘Speech Bubble’ is generated, this is their reflection. The character only appears at the end of the reflection process, so users don’t chose just chose the look based on aesthetics.

Timeline Over-time as more reflections are completed, the time-line grows on a micro scales helping spot patterns in weekly routine and on a macro scale helping spot patterns over the years.

What speaking situation are you reflecting on today

:

Q1 How were you feeling?

Q2 How confident were you feeling? my least

Q3 Did you feel yourself holding back?

Q4 Did you say everything you intended to say?

Q1 Emotions

How were you feeling? “ Stammering can be frustrating, making people feel nervous to speak. Being relaxed can sometime help the situation” Iain Mutch, McGuire Programme Regional Director,

“How are you feeling what a great question to open the reflection!”

John C. Harrison, Author of ‘Redefining Stuttering’, Co-Founder of National Stuttering Association

As Hugo advised colours are used to portray emotions using ‘Goethe’s’ Colour theory. On the screen you will have the option to select which emotion you are feeling...

The colours work together and there is no hierarchy.

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Q2 Confidence

How confident were you feeling?

“How confident were you feeling? you are making conversation with the person.”

John C. Harrison, Author of ‘Redefining Stuttering’, Co-Founder of National Stuttering Association

On the screen you will have the option to chose how confident you were feeling in the situation the scale is really obvious, so people understand how to use it ...

The confidence increasing the size of the ‘Speech Bubble’. Lack of confidence decrease the size of the ‘Speech Bubble’.

The middle ‘Speech Bubble’ is not selectable, this is to ensure no one is sitting on the fence and not choosing a direction. (It is on this page just to demonstrate the transitions.)

my least

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Q3 Holding Back

Did you feel yourself holding back?

“This is the key question, the trick is not to hold back at all in the situation, just let it happen. Holding back leads to tension and avoidance. People need to become aware of when they hold back” John C. Harrison, Author of ‘Redefining Stuttering’, Co-Founder of National Stuttering Association

On the screen you will be able to choose how much you felt yourself holding back. This question could be quite hard to answer therefore answers are given for users to chose from. The answers are designed so they are all equal within reason.

The spots increase depending on the spots selected on the question screen.

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Next I wanted to speak to stammerers to ga ther their opinions on my di rection.

Q4 Speech

Did you say everything you intended to say?

“You need that one question in there that is about speech, this allows the person to see how the contributing factors have affected the speech” John C. Harrison, Author of ‘Redefining Stuttering’, Co-Founder of National Stuttering Association

On the screen you will be able to gauge how much you spoke from what you intended. The scale is made to be really obvious so users get it.

The level of speech goes down in equal steps.

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Designing the UI for the Questions The example used is Question 3...

Take 1

Take 2

This question gives the character spots a blank set of spots was used instead, however therefore spots was used as basis for the scale. this also doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean no spots as there is 3 However this is not obvious there is the option blank spots. of having no spots, but this scale did not have this feature.

Take 3

A circle was used instead to mean 0 spots, however again this isn’t obvious...

Final one!

It was decided that the previous scale didn’t work so the final design is a scale with words making the question super obvious.

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5

Process IV

User Journey Development

Mapping out the whole User Journey

This was to map out how to bring in users and how they would interact with the tool

Study UI Design- on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Snapchatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was looked at to look at the very fine detail of transition between pages etc see how UI is done professionally.

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Visualising the Whole User Map

Mapping out the whole user journey including every screen and how to bring people into service. This map was used as a way to communicate with collaborators.

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Simplifying the User Journey

This was the refined user journey with the essential parts. This included how to bring people into the service how they would use it and what they would gain from it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You need to identify what happens at each of these 4 categoriesAware, Join, Use, Feedbackâ&#x20AC;?

Laura Warwick, Lecturer

Final User Journey Map

This is an in depth description of what happens at each stage of the user journey.

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Next I wanted to speak to stammerers to ga ther their opinions on my di rection.

Advertisement Poster designs

Stammering is not just about speech...

Stammering is not just about speech...

Stammering is not just about speech...

Stammering is not just about speech...

Join

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Next I wanted to speak to stammerers to ga ther their opinions on my di rection.

‘Speech Bubble’ is a tool which helps you reflect on your stammer. By reflecting you create a ‘Speech Bubble’ which takes the stammer out of your mind and onto your screen making it easier for you to talk about it. The on-line community provides a safe place to do this, a platform where other ‘Speech Bubble’ users gather together and help each other build a personal ‘To Do List’. ‘Speech Bubble’ allows you to positively re-think how you can achieve your ambitions and take control of your stammer.

Available on... www.speechbubble.com

6

Process V

Getting Validation

what do you think?

Industry Professional Collaborators

All the people that helped throughout the project on the idea side were contacted.

John, C Harrison, Iain Mutch, Anand Gilks & John Dyer, contacted me and gave their validation...Also the BSA shared their interest.

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People who Stammer Collaborators

All the people in the focus group were contacted. To reach more people their was a Twitter call out, Facebook posts.

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Animating with After Effects

With no experience on ‘After Effect’ it would be a risk creating an animation on new software.

Animating with Final Cut Pro

Alternatively â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Final Cut Proâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was used, a much simpler platform which would allow for making a short stop frame animation.

Advertisement Video

People were very supportive on Facebook, a selection of people arranged ‘Skype’ calls to talk about ‘Speech Bubble’.

The video is using Byron talking about ‘Speech Bubble’ he is explaining the key parts. An animation is playing alongside his voice.

User Video Speech Video cover.indd 1

14/05/2014 10:27

Final Deliverables

Board-Explaining the whole idea

A Promotional Video-An advertisement which will be releases to promote â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Speech Bubbleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Promotional Leaflets- Hand outs in waiting rooms

Explanation Book-Explanation why the character is designed the way it is

Framework-All the different character combinations

7

Validation + Personal Evaluation

Collaborator Validation

Validation for the theory behind “I admire Asis’s ambition for jumping into this complex issue. He has acknowledged that stammering is a system with contributing factors and his solution shows this. It will be a great way to help people reflect on the bigger picture of stammering.”

John C. Harrison Author of ‘Redefining Stuttering’, Wrote the renowned ‘Stutter Hexagon’ theory Co-Founder of National Stuttering Association

“Throughout the whole process of this project Asis has been very open to finding out the true depths of stammering, I think ‘Speech Bubble’ is a true reflection of his thorough research. He understands stammering is a confusing issue thats affects everyone uniquely. Asis’ way to help people visually reflect, would really work in helping people understand what is happening!”

Iain Mutch The McGuire Programme, Regional Director

“I think it all looks great - very professional, colourful and appealing.

Anything to get people talking and opening up about their stammers is to be commended.”

Stephen Halliday The British Stammering Association Social Media Officer

Validation for the Design of “After reams of reams of paper filled with characters, I think Asis really has got his character spot on. The emotions really come through. He visualised over 2500 of them, just Wow! He really has created a community!”

John Dyer Director and Senior Creative Artist Paul Windle Creative Art Studio

“The character works really well, just the right balance between simple and complex. The most impressive thing is the framework built to generate the characters. Asis has shown his ability to push illustrator to it’s limit!”

Anand Gilks Graphic Designer Generation Press

User Validation “I am a very private person, ‘Speech Bubble’ would really help me open up and talk about what is happening inside my mind” Shane

“I really like ‘Speech bubble, it really does help breakdown the negative stigma of a stammer, by being able to talk about the bigger picture it’s helped me realise that it’s not all about speech, I would really benefit from a service like ‘Speech Bubble’.”

Byron

“I appreciate how much work you have put into this project, ‘Speech Bubble’ is amazing, I wish this was around when I was growing up, it would have really helped me come out of my shell and talk about my stammer ” Arthur

Thank You I would like to say a thank for all the staff at Northumbria University who have supported me through this challenging project.

A special thank you goes to David Parkinson and Neil Smith who in particular have been there for me in times of struggle.

James Thomas coded the reflection process for my app, He coded it once, twice and many more times to make sure it worked for me. He got it to work, amazing help! Thank you so much James!

Personal Evaluation I started this year wanting to design a product and have finished the year designing a community of characters, I couldn’t have gone more opposite to what I initially intended.

However in the process I feel I have matured and the fact that I designed what was right for the issue not right for me proves maturity.

Throughout this project I have learnt a lot of things about myself. Even though I tried to find a product opportunity, I am glad I went in the direction I did as the validation I have received has been positive.

I thoroughly enjoyed the research side of my project, and a highlight for me was meeting people in the stammering community.

I have always enjoyed creating characters so doing a whole project dedicated to character design has been very enjoyable. It has been extremely hard at times however I am happy with the result of my final idea.

If I was to do this project again, I wouldn’t be as hesitant when making decisions. I have a habit of over-thinking and this has hindered my progress at times.

If I had more time I would focus on developing the user interface for ‘Speech Bubble’, even though I designed how everything would work and how the character was used for reflection, I feel the UI would of added the finishing touch.

However I am happy with the huge help of James that I managed to make the reflection process work on a Tablet!

I am happy with my character and the best part for me was creating the framework, which generated 2520 character combinations. I worked very hard to get the character right so to have it fully designed is a personal achievement.

To conclude I have enjoyed the project, it has allowed me to use the skill set I have gathered from my time at Northumbria, through past projects and placements.

by Asis Patel