Testing, 1 2 3...

After getting my buckle at Outdoor Innovations, I met with my mentor at the VPL. Richard kindly listened to my phase 3 presentation and gave me lots of valuable feedback and supported me for my position on my argument for some questions that have been brought up, mainly the issue about sticking with the English-only versionfor my resource guide as a starting point.

He shared with me his experience and the rationale behind sticking to the English-only service for the Skilled Immigrants InfoCentre. Two main reasons for the service to be English only are:

1. For immigrants to work, they need to be open to intergrate themselves into the official language they will be working in. Of course, there are information on helping the immigrants to get help and be trained with professional English classes.
2. The reality of funding and the budget is limited. In order to accommodate the various cultural groups, it is hard to get all the information translated into all possible languages for immigrants coming from different parts of the world.

Along with these rationale behind the Skilled Immigrant InfoCentre, my ultimate goal for this project is to encourage the immigrants to get out of their comfort zone and be introduced to other cultures and local activities.

The last thing I want to do is feed the immigrants information in their own language and keep them in their own cultural bubble. As long as the language and word choice on the guide is concise and clear, it would do the job.

I got to test my new prototype at 100% scale to a few immigrants who are in my targeted demographic. I quickly approched them after an info session was conducted on the 4th floor at the VPL in the afternoon (I know, Richard told me not to because the security might not be happy, but I took a chance anyways...and it was fine).

The immigrants who I spoke to were quite excited about the idea, and my argument for sticking to the English-only content is approved! They're able to read the English I've edited on the cards and they also really like the idea of being able to read some fun facts about other cultures on the back of the cards.

One thing Magnes, a pharmicist from Iran (on of the people I tested my prototype on) said that she actually likes the fact that this information is provided in simple and straigh-forward English because she gains a sense of accomplishment to be able to read something in her second language and feels like she's learning but not overwhelmed. That was really nice and reassuring to hear.

Having said that, I will intergrate translations for more content-heavy materials to be distributed later on in various cultural centres or public immigrant service facilities.

Happy-Go-Lucky!

I discovered this new British film called "Happy-Go-Lucky" and decided to see it last Thursday after school and sushi with Hana. It was a spur of the moment kind of decision... Definitely something great to see after a long day. A great film with some great insights. Anyone who's stressed, go see this film.

It recharged me to have more energy to go back to my project and worked more efficiently (Please see my next blog). It helped.

Progress this week

A very considerate e-mail from my mentor.
And yes, I'm still meeting with him tomorrow.

A tally of the fun facts from different cultures I've received.

A test for my organization skills of the
directory information I've gathered for my project.
What would anyone do without Post-Its?!

Daiso, a design student's heaven. I can never walk out of that store...
Different plastic sheets I thought would be

good for the casing of my box.

The kind of buckle I'm looking for.

My messy, messy desk...

Where Vancouver is a magazine which is targeted at tourists around
the age of 45-55, the same age group for my project.
So I looked at the type size they use as
a standard for the type size I base mine on.
Heading at 9 pt, text at 7.5pt.
A lot smaller than I imagined for that age group.

Some things I got done this week.

1. Presented my phase 3 presentation to people at work on Monday and got some constructive design feedback and support. Some of them are immigrants from Britain and find that this project would be useful to them and answers some problems they've faced when they landed. Hearing that definitely made this all worthwhile! They gave me a bit more push to go further.

• Test my prototype at 100% scale for immigrants (going to VPL and ask random immigrants to get objective feedback)
• Naming ( "Colours" is a good metaphoric word to sum it up, but maybe something like a "Survival Kit" is more straight-forward)
• Cut down on the amount of information (need more spacing)
• Include an event calendar for local events in Greater Vancouver (to go along my position of pushing the immigrants to get more involved in the community as opposed to staying in their own cultural bubble)
  
• And more...
  

1. Finalizing on all micro elements (ie. typesetting, colours, leading, information hierarchy, etc...)
2. Typing down information, stripping down the information I've collective and SIMPLIFY. (this guide should be a guide to peak the immigrants' interests and acts as an introduction for the immigrants and encourage them to explore on their own)
3. Make a 100% scaled prototype to see the type size, box size, folder size, etc...
4. Call print shops to find matte laminating services
   
5. I'm meeting with my mentor tomorrow and get more pointers on the practicality of the cards (specifically on the kind of info provided). Since he's met a lot of new immigrants I'll be able to get some valuable input from him about the things they need. My mentor has been really helpful and understanding. He voluntarily checks my blog periodically to make sure I'm on the right track and see how I'm doing. He's always prepared on our meetings, I don't need to go over what I've already updated on my blog because he's been reading. I really appreciate it. :o)
6. Tracking down a buckle for a secure closure...I've been going around and asked almost anyone I saw on Thursday about where I can find this particular buckled they've used on existing accordion folders. (Answer from ID students: MEC, Outdoor Innovations) Going tomorrow... Please! Let me find them!!
7. Went to Daiso and looked for buckles, no luck! So much for the long drive to Richmond...But I got stocked up on cleaning supplies from Daiso and had the BEST creme puff from Beard Papa's...YUM! :-)
   

That's pretty much it for this week. More to come later... I might be concentrating on the production and will have less postings for the following few weeks....I'll try my best. Bye for now.

Progress Tonight

I just wanted to crash and sleep right went I got home with the lack of sleep from last night... But having a mental image of Marie's slide on how little time we have left. I got off my lazy bum and just did some brainless work for my project.

YEAH! Some brainless printing. I printed out those Fun Facts I've been given and highlight the ones I can make innovative and strong graphics out of. Also, printing out this "New Comer's Guide" issued by the BC government for new immigrants and highlight some of the primary information I want to cover. Not completely finished with the process of highlighting, but getting there.

Seriously, it's bed time.

Great Feedback!

Great suggestions and feedback today. Thanks to Don + everyone!

I think I can definitely improve my presenting skills (more relax and not be rushing through or repeat myself) after seeing many great presenters today... Work on getting over my nerves before my final presentation would be a challenge I set for myself. Practice. Practice. Practice. I'll just practice and talk to people about it until I'm numb. Also, my mouth was dry as hell. Gotta remember to have water nearby for my final presentation.

For my final presentaion:
BREATHE + DRINK (H2O) + BE COMPOSED

Anyways, here are the things I've taken away from my critique:

1. Macro: Address immigrants' ESL problems (new immigrants with zero English)?! Valid problem Don pointed out. I need take a hard look at this even though that every immigrant (or the main applicant for the Cdn PR status) needs to pass a language exam in order to obtain a Permanent Residence status. Most new immigrants in the age group will have the fundamental English skills (Richard from VPL). But the level of their English skills would vary from one another. So, I'm taking Don's advice and address this issue. I've thought about a potential solution of making the bilingual cards a spread with a perforated spine (so there's the option for people to tear it after they don't need the card in one language or the other).
2. Closure of my box (I will be going to Daiso and Dressew to look at closure device)... Anyone else know a good place for me to find a locking device used on accordion folders?
3. Incorporate a legend on the back of the lid (for people to read it while navigating through the folders)
4. Revisit some of the similar tints of colours (even though the colours on the projected screen today was quite off, I'll still do test prints to see if the colours are in fact too close after being printed)
5. TABS=HIGHLY VISIBLE: need to be easily pulled out. (Connie: maybe cut the dividers corresconding to the tabs? Craig: cut a slit at the fold of the folder so it doesn't get caught in the box.)
   
6. My box need to be bigger in order for the people to pull out the folders with ease and essetntially make room for growth. (thank god for the prototype)
7. Work on logo more. YES! for the idea illustrating diffrent culture and customs.
   
8. Micro: Typography and layout on cards. I will be settling down with the finalized typeface decision tomorrow and get to work on the layout and structure. There are the things I need to consider:

• Amount of info on the card (a system of listing contact info throughout)
  
• Typeface combinations
  
• Visual cues for each section (ie. Pricing metre)
  
• Simplified Content

Ok, now that I've flushed these out of my brian, it's time to finally sleep...

Too Busy to Post

Alright. This week was crunch time again. Having a shortened time frame for Phase 3 wasn't easy. But, I've got some things I wanted to get done finished. I'm happy with where I am with the project finally. It was really helpful to work with Hana outside of class and really indulge on boucing ideas off of each other. I just haven't been having the time to post anything up here lately due to the short amount of time.

Designing!

After struggling with gathering the materials (still in progress), I get to finally start on the fun part. This is what I've been looking forward to, the designing part of the project. After some research on binding, I've found some alternative ways to put my resource guide together....

Here are some options:

1. Binder (Yikes! The ones I can found out there are hideous.) I did spot one that I like, the menu from Milestones is done in the binder format. I did more research on the production behind that binder, but it's way too expensive to custom made just one...so I quickly brainstormed for other ideas...
2. Chicago screws (yeah! I can do this) Gives me more freedom and room to change my design around. There's one problem though... I want to make my guide in the vertical format for portability, but in the size I'm looking at (5"x8") it's going to be hard to flip the pages.
   
3. Use two posts and make the guide like a calendar! (fun! I'm trying this out and going to track down the posts) *see photos
4. No binding at all! One of the feature of this guide is the versatility of adding the pages and customizing it. Maybe they're organized in an accordion folder-type thing...
   

I'm just getting started. Looking at format and typefaces. Got some tests done for combining typefaces to convey the friendliness of this "book."