My major project this year was the longest running project I have every been apart of. This made it even more rewarding seeing the final outcome and being able to hand in all my submissions. Seeing the development from September to May has been amazing, from concept to final outcome. For me, the personal side makes it even more rewarding, being able to dedicated my project to my Nanny and uncle Neil. This did motivate me throughout the year, as I did face challenges along the way. I did struggle with mental block and indecisiveness over the course of the project. This resulted in a redesign across the way, which I do feel like was the correct decision looking back, but at the time it did feel like wasted time. However, I took learnings from this that sometimes I need to follow through with an idea, and other times go back and rethink. Also, I had to have a lot of patience with the repetitiveness of my prototype process, in word highlights and keyboard interactions. This was a challenge at times, but I found taking a break and working on something else in my project helped.

One element that I wish I could’ve done better was adding more components to my prototype. I took a very simplistic approach, as I wanted the words people were speaking to be the main feature. I think I thought this limited me, however reflecting now, I would’ve liked to add more micro interactions. I did include some, but if I had more time I would have added more. Additionally, I was limited in the software and my knowledge in how I could make my prototype fully functional. This would have meant having a way users could type whatever they wanted, and this would be translated into speaknow. Similar with the voicebank, in saving progress of groups completed. I tried to think of ways to make this possible, and the ‘mini-demos’ and example flows were the best solution I could think of. I feel like they reflect the functions of the app and how the user would use them. It is as close to fully functional as I believe I could get due to the nature of my project.

While there are elements I would change, overall I am very pleased and proud of my final outcome. I believe my idea really is something that could positively impact people’s lives and has the ability to be expanded further. I am pleased with the parts of my project beyond the final prototype, including my development work, printed work and branding.