CHAPTER 5

MULTIMEDIA
DESIGN

TOPICS
Multimedia project development phases
Production team and responsibility
Storyboard

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DEVELOPMENT PHASES

The three phases of multimedia development and the steps they involve
are outlined below :

phase1- planning
Step 1 : Developing the concept
Step 2 : Stating the purpose
Step 3 : Identifying the target audience
Step 4 : Determining the treatment
Step 5 : Developing the specifications
Step 6 : Storyboard and navigation

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The three phases of multimedia development and the steps they involve
are outlined below :

Phase2- creating
Step 7 : Developing the content
Step 8 : Authoring the title

phase3-testing
Step 9 : Testing the title

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STEP 1 : Developing The Concept

What, in general, do we want to do?
Every multimedia project originates as an idea.
The process for generating ideas can be as unstructured as
brainstorming sessions or as formal as checklists with evaluation
criteria which is based on current line.

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STEP 1 : Developing The Concept

Such a series of questions might consists of the following:
How can we improve it (make it faster, use better- quality
graphics or updated content)?
How can we change the content to appeal to a different market
(consumer, education, corporate)?
How can we take advantage of new technologies (virtual reality,
speech recognition)?
How can we repackage or repurpose our content (books, movies,
games, reference materials, brochures, magazines)?

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STEP 2 : Stating the purpose

What, specifically, do we want to accomplish?
Once a concept has been developed, project goals and objectives need
to be specified.
Goals are broad statements of what the project will accomplish,
whereas objectives are more precise statements.
Goals and objectives help direct the development process and provide
a way to evaluate the title both during and after its development.

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STEP 2 : Stating the purpose

What, specifically, do we want to accomplish?
Once a concept has been developed, project goals and objectives need
to be specified.
Goals are broad statements of what the project will accomplish,
whereas objectives are more precise statements.
Goals and objectives help direct the development process and provide
a way to evaluate the title both during and after its development.

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STEP 2 : Stating the purpose

Because multimedia development is a team process, objectives are
necessary to keep the team focused, on-track, on budget, and on time.
They need to be stated in measurable terms, and they need to provide
for a timeline.

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STEP 3 : Identifying The Target Audience

Who will use the title?
Audiences can be described in many ways, in terms of demographics
(location, age, sex, marital status, education, income, and so on) as
well as lifestyle and attitudes.
Developers must determine what information is needed and how
specifically to define the audience.
There is a trade-off between the size of an audience an a precise
definition of it.
The larger the audience, the more diverse its needs and the more
difficult it is to give them what they want.

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STEP 4 : Determining The Treatment

What is the look and feel?
Taken together the concept, objectives and especially the audience will
help determine how the title will be presented to the user.
Look and feel can include such things as the titles tone, approach,
metaphor and emphasis.
Tone Will the title be humorous, serious, light, formal?
Many multimedia titles intended for home use, such as games and
recreational titles, include humor, whereas those intended for business
use are more serious in their tone.

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STEP 4 : Determining The Treatment

Approach How much direction will be provided to the user?
Some titles, especially childrens games and interactive books, focus
on exploration. The child is presented with a scene, with little or no
instructions.
Other titles, especially adult-education applications, provide a big
deal of direction.
Another aspect of approach is deciding how much help to provide and
in what form.

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STEP 4 : Determining The Treatment

Metaphor Will a metaphor be used to provide interest or to aid in
understanding the title?
Examples of metaphor:
File cabinet
Books with chapters
Encyclopedia with articles
Television with channels
Shopping mall with stores
Museum with exhibits

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Example of metaphor
Nandos

Interactive resume

Big apple

Classroom - blackboard

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STEP 4 : Determining The Treatment

Emphasis How much emphasis will be placed on the various
multimedia elements?
It is important to consider the significance of each element based on
the concept, objectives, and audience for the title.
Budget and time constraints, however, may ultimately dictate the
relative weight placed on text, sound, animation, graphics, and video.

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STEP 5 : Developing The Specifications

What precisely does the title include and how does it work?
The specifications, list what will be included on each screen, including
the arrangement of each element and the functionality of each object
(e.g. : what happens when you click on the button labeled Next).
Specifications should be detailed as possible.

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STEP 5 : Developing The Specifications

There are certain elements that should be included in the
specifications for all titles.
These are listed below :
target playback system
element to be included
Functuality
user interface ( home , next button)

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STEP 5 : Developing The Specifications

Target playback systems The decision of what computers to target
for playback is usually not difficult.
For example, an instructor who is developing a multimedia
presentation would be confined to
the playback system set up in the classroom;
a sales representative might be restricted by the model of laptop
computer that she carries;
or a person developing a title that runs on a kiosk would be
restricted to the kiosk hardware.

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STEP 5 : Developing The Specifications

Element to be included The specifications should include, as much
as possible, details about the various elements that are to be included
in the title.
For examples:
what are the sizes of various objects such as photos, buttons, text
blocks?
what fonts, point sizes and type styles are to be used?
what are the colors for various objects

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STEP 5 : Developing The Specifications

Functionality objects such as text graphics, buttons and hypertext
are often part of multimedia title
The specification should include how the program reacts to an action
by the user, such as a mouse click.
The user needs feedback that the button has been selected. If no
feedback is given, the user might click on the button again, resulting
in the undesirable effect of jumping to the wrong screen.

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STEP 5 : Developing The Specifications

User interface The user interface involves designing the appearance
how each object is arranged on the screen and the interactivity
how the user navigates through the title.

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STEP 6 : Storyboard and Navigation

What do the screens look like and how are they linked?
A storyboard is a representation (often in the form of hand-drawn
sketches) of what each screen will look like and how the screens are
linked.
The storyboard serve multiple purposes:
To provide an overview of the project
To provide a guide ( read map) for the programmer
To illustrate the links among screens
To illustare the functionlity of objects

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STEP 6 : Storyboard and Navigation

Another important feature of the storyboard is the navigation scheme.
The linking of screens through the use of buttons, hypertext, and hot
spots allows the user to jump from one screen to another.
The multimedia developer decides how the various screens will be
linked, and this is represented on the storyboard.

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STEP 6 : Storyboard and Navigation

In some cases, the linking is too complex to land itself well to a
storyboard display, the programmer would rely on the specifications
to indicate the navigation scheme.
Navigation structure :
Linear
Hierachical
Non- Linear
Composite

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STEP 6 : Storyboard and Navigation

In some cases, the linking is too complex to land itself well to a storyboard
display, the programmer would rely on the specifications to indicate the
navigation scheme.
Navigation structure :
Linear - Users navigate sequentiatly, from one frame of information to
another.

Hierarchical - users navigate along the branches of a three structur that is

shape by the natural logic of the content. It is also called linear with
branching.

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Non-linear users navigate freely through the content, unbound
by predettermined routes.

Composite - users may nagivate non-linearly, but are occasionally

constrained to linear presentations

Type of Navigation Structure:

Linear

Hierarchical

Nonlinear

Composite

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STEP 7 : Developing the content

Creating the pieces
The specifications, including any scripts, indicate the content to be
incorporated into the multimedia title.
There are numerous content issues that need to be addressed :
What is the level of quality for the content (photorealistic
graphics, stereo sound)?
How will the content be generated (repurposed existing content,
hire content experts to write text, employ graphic artist and other
professionals)?

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Who will be responsible for acquiring copyrights and licensing
agreements?
How will the content be archived and documented?

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STEP 8 : Authoring the Title

Bringing it all together
In determining which authoring system to use, a developer would
consider the following points:
The playback system (Macintosh and/or Windows based
computers) some authoring programs work with only one
platform.
The emphasis placed on animation certain programs have fairly
sophisticated 2D animation tools.
The expertise of the programmer programs differ greatly in the
approach they use (metaphor) and their scripting language.

 a program which has pre-programmed

elements for the development of interactive
multimedia software titles. Authoring
systems can be defined as software which
allows its user to create multimedia
applications for manipulating multimedia
objects

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STEP 9 : Testing the Title

Does it work the way it was planned?
Although it is listed as the final step in the development process,
testing should be ongoing.
Testing can start at the very beginning during the concept stage.
Throughout the creation phase of the title, it is important to test the
design and the function.

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STEP 9 : Testing the Title

Testing the design involves how the user interacts with the title and
asks questions such as:
Does the user understand the navigation scheme, terminology,
icons and metaphors?
Does he or she get stuck, confused, or lose interest?
Usability testing is a formal process in which potential users are
videotaped as they interact with a title and asked to verbalize what
they are thinking.

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STEP 9 : Testing the Title

There are two formal processes : alpha testing and beta testing.
Alpha testing
usually conducted in house and is not restincted to the development team
The idea is to try to make it crash, and every cinceivable action
(point and click) and navigation path should be explored.

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STEP 9 : Testing the Title

Beta testing
is the final functional test before release
it invovle selected potential users that could number in the
thousands
Because the users are outside the company, they are often
required to sign nondisclosure agreements to prevent them from
revealing information about the title before it is release.

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A goal of beta testing is to get feedback from as wide a variety of
potential users as possible.
Another goal is to have the test done on as many different
computer configurations as possible.

STORYBOARD

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