MS Capstone

The past few days, I have been on hiatus with Christmas shopping and all.  Even though I didn’t do that much work on my capstone, I have been doing some.  I’ve been reading and figuring out what books to buy.  Why?  Well, they have to be returned to the library.  I’ve already received a request to return “Beautiful Evidence” by Edward Tufte by the end of the month.   So now I am currently reading the book.

Two books that I’ve been reading/skimming called “Information Dashboard Design” by Stephen Few and “The Elements of Graphic Design”by Alex W. White seems to share a common theme which involves the presentation of information to the user.  Both authors talk about (in their own way) about how people view information and that it should be (essentiall) scannable.

This idea is very important to me and I personally use this idea.  When I am looking at information, I scan quickly and I despise having to spend unnecessary time to filter the unnecessary data.

One of the reasons, I chose to work with the calendar is to improve the presentation of information quickly to the user.  I like using my Google Calendar but often find it frustrating due to not being able to easily scan and absorb the necessary information that I need.  There are certain information that I need which is different from the information that someone that I am sharing a calendar may need.

For an example, I only need to view events that are non recurring.  But someone else may need to see that to see if I am busy/available.

One key aspect that I will be designing in my metaphor and in the prototype, is the ability to view various types of events.  For example, you can see all types of events, see only recurring events, or just view birthdays.  I believe that by offering this option, the user can quickly view and absorb the information that is most important to him/her.