This week is FULL ON – the website and app are both underway and the filming and recording of footage and audio is happening later in the week/early next week. With the website I have gathered some of the content I need for the specific pages, gradually just teaching myself how to create a website. I have been experimenting with different designs and trying out their features, some that will work great for our story world. Those being – news feeds, social media feeds, google maps, contact us features, video components, audio components, interactivity and more.

I had this idea that would be great if we had more time – but it was to treat the user like they were the detective, finding clues about the different cases and putting it all together themselves, working out who did what and when. This would make it more interactive and more of an adventure, while still being truthful to the history components. It would be great to have them follow the map as if its a treasure map, going to the locations to find more clues to unlock further content. Actually allow the user to become invested into our story world, and to get a feel for what JMC did. The user could even follow a red dot on the map around the city, finding clues, going on a journey throughout the past. The red dot could even be JMC himself, telling the user where to go next or where he might have gone to. It is all about working out his character and learning about his history. When you go into a museum you are hammered with boards and boards of facts, sometimes it is overwhelming, and I hate to say it, but a little bit boring, just because you can get sick of reading the exact same text on every historical person or event. There are no elements of interactivity and nothing making you want to learn more. The idea for the app (to me) is to change the way history is told, not only for adults, but for all ages. You can connect with your past, move around the spaces, watch videos, listen to audio. However, due to the lack of time, it isn’t even an option.

With this still in mind, Brontae and I were brainstorming ways to make the content on the website less “boring”, and make different in some way. We came up with the idea to use case files for each of the stories. It is a way to document the story and facts without just typing them onto a page. With the approval of fellow group members, we went through the selected stories and Brontae took out the main components and wrote out the info, while I designed them. We went away and with this in mind, I was experimenting with WIX and found they had a book option, and I thought to myself, PERFECT! So I created the book covers in Illustrator along with the case files. I researched old case files from that time period and tried to mimic them. I had all of the info for each criminal on there, and with the help of Brontae she came up with the headings to include (e.g age, job, crime committed, etc). I used an old font, and to make it more realistic I found fingerprints and the Royal Stamp to put at the top of the page – making it look official. With all of components finished, I started creating the mini books for each story, each one with a cover, the case file and then the story. This idea means that the user is literally reading a story, and it is an interactive way of viewing information, which is more likely to be read.