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.