Multimedia Team and Process Explained

Multimedia Design & ProductionInstructor: C. Michael Sturgeon

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Multimedia Design ProcessIntroduction

For the purposes of these guidelines, the multimedia design process has beenbroken down into the following principal phases: planning, design, productionand validation. A schematic representation of the process is shown below asfigure 1.

Figure 1

This section provides information on each of these phases, breaking them downinto a number of sub-tasks. Tasks are listed sequentially, in the order theywould often be tackled in the actual development process. Depending onproject requirements, however, the exact nature of tasks and the order inwhich they are carried out will vary between projects and according to team


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preferences. For instance, not all projects will require support materials orpackaging, or a destination-site study, and end-user models may be carriedover between projects, as long as the assumptions built into the model areexplicit and may be reviewed and revised as a result of user-feedbackgenerated in the course of product testing and validation. Equally, delaysusually require creative project management decisions to bring tasks intoparallel which might ideally be best completed in series.

Table of Contents

Planning a Working Environment Putting together a development team Planning

Sufficient care and time should be given to ensuring that aims andobjectives are clarified, that the material and human resourcerequirements of the project have been identified, that roles andresponsibilities are clear, that the best procedures to realize project aimsand objectives have been discussed and agreed and that difficulties areanticipated and allowed for. Good planning is essential to the successfuloutcome of any project. Starting projects & Exploratory meetings Costs Feasibility Studies Test of Concept Models Written Agreements Documentation

DesignOnce the team is in place and the strategy for tacking the project has beenplanned, designing the look and feel of the interactive program and writingthe content can take place. Brainstorming Flowcharts Modeling the End-user Report on Destination Site Product Specification Storyboarding Human-computer Interface Design Content definition: writing scripts and captions Asset research, copyright clearance and acquisition Inputting text File management Designing Support Materials and Packaging


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Production Prototyping Graphics Programming Support Materials and Packaging Integration Mastering

ValidationValidation (or testing) is a painstaking procedure but an essential part ofthe total quality assurance process. It is the study of the effectiveness ofdesign prototypes, acknowledging any weaknesses encountered. Thepurpose of validation is to check to see if the program meets its specifiedobjectives. Realizing the objectives of the validation process requires cleartesting procedures to be devised. In-house debugging is the testing of aprogram's functionality: do all the buttons and effects operate as intendedwithout causing the system to crash? It will also cover performance testingunder different hardware and operating system configurations. Trialingrefers to testing the program's end-user objectives in a simulated or realend-user environment -- field testing. The process of testing, trialing andrevision is cyclical. Program revision sends the team back to the debuggingprocess and on to field testing again. One of the big problems in the processis that exhaustive testing is usually impossible, given the limited time andresources available for the project's lifetime and the pressures todemonstrate working models to clients prematurely. Quality and Task Completion Checking In-house debugging Content Testing Trialing Revising

Post Development Support and MaintenanceBuilt into any project should be an overhead to cover the post-developmentsupport and maintenance of deliverables. One should not underestimate theamount of time that can be consumed handling technical support queries ona product for which there is no longer a budget.

Putting Together a Suitable Team

What are the qualities required by a good production team? They are ofparticular interest to employers in drafting job advertisements and toproducers in putting together teams. The following material is the result ofpreliminary research into job advertisements in each design area, publishedmaterials, and from contacts with multimedia employers and designers, eitherin face-to-face interviews or by means of letter, Internet E-mail, bulletin boardand discussion forums.


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Joining the TeamMost employers, of course, want to employ someone who can step into the joband be productive immediately, rather than have to undergo an expensive six-months training program. They tend to look for candidates who already haveprofessional multimedia skills, exhibiting a sound understanding of technologyand design issues and have flexibility in working with different softwarepackages. Usually the possession of strong interpersonal social skills, the abilityto write fluently and legibly, the ability to relate to clients, a creative andenthusiastic approach and the possession of project management skills willhave employers anxious to take on a person. They look for artists who can drawand design, new from Art school, and are not put off by endlessly retouching inimage-processing packages such as Photoshop, who also have experience in 3D-modelling and animation. They look for programmers who work in C, visualbasic, and a variety of authoring packages such as Director. And at all timesthey will expect the ability to demonstrate the possession of professed skills.However, they do not look for all of these skills in one individual, it would befutile. If they DID find one with all of these skills, they would have to bewilling to pay this person very well and keep the competition from hiring himor her out from under the company.

Development-team structureClear roles and responsibilities for team members will result in a good teamstructure and effective team working. Roles may overlap but responsibilitiesshould not. Here is a list of those generally involved in putting together amultimedia title. Further in this document, there will be detailed explanationsof roles and skills profiles.

Team Positions / Titles Project manager Researcher

Producer Artistic Director

Production assistant Graphic designers

Creative director Sound engineer

Interactive designer Video crew

Instructional designer Photographer

Copywriter/editor File-transfer/network manager

Content specialist Programmer


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It is, perhaps, more appropriate to consider these as roles rather than asindividuals since the same individual, depending on their expertise andavailability, might appropriately carry out several roles. For instance, in anextreme case (not so extreme, perhaps, in the early days of multimediadevelopment), a single individual might be responsible for putting together atitle: writing the program structure and content, designing interface screensand iconography, gathering, creating and integrating assets, programming, andeven producing the design disc labels and support materials. A more usualteam-size is five to seven people:

1. The interactive / designer-director

2. The instructional designer / copywriter

3. The project manager

4. The graphic artist director / layout designer / animator / 3D modeler

5. Photographer / Video Expert

6. Audio / Sound recordings person

7. The programmer and network manager

In general, the smaller the team the more efficient the unit, since everyonehas an intimate understanding of the project's objectives and can react moreflexibly to the unanticipated need for changes later in the projects life. Also,team communications are much less of a problem in smaller teams. With biggerproductions, the size of the team may need to be increased and this can makeproject planning and management more problematic. With the class size wehave, some of these issues may come up and being problematic can occur if wedo not anticipate ahead of time. It is my opinion that a class of twelvestudents from Lee University can work together and make astoundingaccomplishments. This is how it is done in the real world where you willultimately be working. We can make this work !!!

Attitude, Ideology and CommunicationFrom its mix of personnel, policies and environment, every organizationrepresents a unique working culture which will affect the design process.Designer's personal skills and qualities significantly affect team-working andmay be explored by an examination of individual team-member profiles above.

Additional factors influencing development-team dynamics include teammembers' attitudes and professional ideology. As far as attitude goes,excitement and enthusiasm are valuable commodities and can be encouragedthrough praise and appreciation. Praise where it's due costs very little. Being


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overly critical and cynical towards other's work can lead to a dulling of thecritical faculty by blocking one's openness to alternative ideas, reducing thewill to experiment. Studying the worth and the limitations of other people'swork is an obvious source of inspiration. History is not necessarily progressiveand the past contains many avenues which, due to limitations of resources ortechnical possibilities, have not been fully explored. The team should bealways looking for ideas that are fresh, fun and effective. Having found suchideas, studying and copying the methods of their realization can lead to thedevelopment of new ones. In the end, it is also important to hang on to theidea that there is no guideline that cannot be contradicted to produce gooddesign. Contradiction itself can be used to good effect. Challenging a user'sexpectations gets attention; it can, however, be overused.

Good communications between team members and with the outsidedevelopment community, if only to keep abreast of developments, are alsoimportant for success. This applies to communications in drawing up initialproject plans, in keeping good documentation and in problem solving.Acknowledging and talking through problems can be helpful in lifting mind-blocks, even with team members who do not specialize in the particular areayou do. Sometimes a suggestion from a completely different direction can bejust what is needed in reengaging one's creative thought processes. The moredevelopment team members understand the various languages of design, themore effective and efficient will be the team.

Project Manager

The executive producer / project manager spends the largest part of their timenetworking with individuals and organizations outside the development house,attracting contracts and future funding partners and operating at a strategiclevel to ensure the team is profitably employed and competitively wellpositioned. Frequently, the executive producer is in a favorable position toidentify market opportunities and talk to potential clients.

In the development process, the role of the executive producer is to liaise withthe client at executive level, agreeing a contract and ensuring that, withintheir own organization, the development team works to meet their contractualobligations and provide value for money. The executive producer also acts tofacilitate the producer in matters of executive authorization (signing for thepurchase or hire of additional resources required by the project). Havingdelegated authority to the producer and project manager, and approved theproject plan, the role of the executive producer then becomes minimal.Determining points of detail with the client is usually left to the producer orproduction assistant.

The role of the Project ManagerIt is in the nature of projects that no two are ever identical and managing them


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means making decisions on the basis of very uncertain information. The moreexperienced the project team, the more reliable will be projections as to thecapabilities of the team and how quickly specified objectives can be met.Essentially, however, every project means breaking new ground and predictionsare never 100% reliable. The role of the project manager is to minimise therisks involved in the development process by careful planning and monitoring.This involves building time, cost and resource safety margins into estimates anddevising alternative emergency strategies.

While project management is an inexact science, the role of the projectmanager is nevertheless capable of definition. In general, it is theresponsibility of the project manager to:

clarify project objectives in terms of the constraints on the project: time,costs and deliverables;

identify the tasks that have to be done; determine the operational parameters such as

organizational structure team members operational procedures for contracting, reporting and financing production values (the standards and/or performance levels the project

is working toward)

In the planning stage, the project manager, after discussion with all teammembers, draws up a plan which includes:

tasks to be completed time scales and schedules resources required scheduled discussions during project estimated cost of each task

Sufficient safety margin has to be built into the plan to allow for such things asrise in costs, rise in salaries, holidays, illness, unforeseen technical problems,and additional expenses over the lifetime of the project.

In the production / designing stage, the project manager

monitors the plans implementation reviews progress in relation to the plan revises the plan

As a team leader, it is the project manager's role to clarify the roles andresponsibilities of each team member. In doing so, the project manager should


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first listen to the ideas of team members as to where they can best contributeaccording to their talent and experience. Resolving conflicts will involveensuring that all team members feel that their points have been listened toand weighed, and that the final decision is fair. A good team leader must alsobe able to delegate authority where appropriate and not over-direct.

It is the role of the project manager to ensure good team communicationsthrough regular individual and group meetings, and the circulation of memosand other documentation. Keeping the team informed about the project'sprogress and regularly consulting and involving all members in decision-makingwill ensure that everyone retains a feeling of ownership in, and commitmentto, the project.

It is advisable that each team member keep a log of procedures, task progressand checks completed. It is the responsibility of the project manager to ensurethat procedures are adhered to and revised if necessary, and to draw up orcollate new procedures when required, to be given to all team members.Tracking progress in this way will benefit not just the project in hand butfuture projects by generate a bank of data of use in making more reliablepredictions as to the cost, time and resources required by similar projects inthe future.

The project manager should be advised immediately about any problems thatlook as though they could have resource availability, deadline or product-quality implications.

Timetabling can be critical. The timings of tasks should be negotiated withthose involved to enable realistic targets for the team and individual membersto be set. A timetable for the completion of tasks and team meetings can thenbe drawn up and given to all team members by the project manager. Projectmanagement software comes in handy, such as Microsoft Project. Suchsoftware can be invaluable in identifying conflicts in the allocations ofresources both within a project and between projects and in trying outalternative solutions in seeking a solution. See the network chart of thedevelopment process shown as Figure 1 on the first page of this document.

It is the role of the project manager to support team members, motivating theteam, praising individual and team contributions, and pushing for the tools andother resources required to realize the project's aim within reason.

Because project management is a very practical skill, learned best by actuallymanaging, experience is vital. Inexperienced project managers need to workwith experienced managers as mentors. This is often the relationship betweenthe producer and the project manager, where the producer has moreexperience of projects and acts as a mentor to the less experienced project


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manager. Often, however, the roles of producer and project manager areplayed by the same person.

Personal Skills and Qualities of the Project managerThe project manager must be a good team leader and team player,participative, non-threatening, open-minded, a good listener, fair minded, ableto see things from competing points of view, a problem solver with the abilityto steer not simply a middle course but a winning course in terms of theproject's objectives and see decisions through.

The CD-I Production Handbook describes the CD-I producer (or projectmanager) as "a jack of all trades -- someone whose knowledge has toencompass a variety of areas, from sound-recording to software engineering,and from animation to video techniques, with project management and public-relations skills thrown in for good measure.

Planning a Working Environment

An early task in the setting up of a multimedia studio is the planning of theworking environment. Here multimedia visualization tools prove particularlyeffective in arriving at optimum ergonomic solutions to fit available space andwork patterns.

Where dimensions were known, elements were constructed with an accuracy ofa fraction of an inch. This allowed the best use of studio space available to beconsidered and helped identify how much shelving was necessary and where itshould go. Where additional storage space was required for discs and tapes,this was addressed by introducing mobile units beneath desks.

Furniture, equipment and viewing position could be easily repositioned withinthe room, allowing alternative arrangements to be tried out. And virtual figureswere introduced to study the design ergonomics, to ensure that the most-often-used items were most accessible and permit greatest freedom ofmovement and comfort.


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The project also had quite a bit of added value.

For example, still images from the model were used to enhance a paperto the centre's management committee, requesting funding for thestudio. Undoubtedly, good visuals were persuasive in communicating thenature and need for the proposed facility.

And the model itself has been used in a number of client presentations,to illustrate practically the concept of virtual walkthroughs, as well as tointroduce newcomers to the working environment.

Finally, once created the elements of the model can be, and have been,recycled for other purposes, in constructing other environments.

Starting the Project

Projects usually arise as a result of perceiving a need, or identifying a problemwhich can be considered interesting enough to be worth solving. Startingusually involves coming up with an idea and discussing it with all those involvedin a series of exploratory meetings. Note that the way a project is started canhave an important influence of the types of questions asked and who asks themin the course of exploring the feasibility of an idea.

At the very beginning of the project, it is the project manager who is involvedmainly with the client, if there is one. Not every project has a commissioningclient; some projects arise from ideas within the design team itself and arefunded internally. In the case of projects which arise without a commissioningclient, the matter of funding needs to be settled very quickly. If the idea issufficiently interesting, the project manager may decide the project should befunded entirely internally. Alternatively, the decision might be to investsufficient time and resources to develop the concept to a prototype form whichcan then be used to secure funding from outside for its commercialexploitation.

Exploratory Meetings

Starting a project usually involves coming up with an idea and discussing it withall those involved in a series of exploratory meetings. In these meeting, it maybe the producer who is involved mainly with the client, taking account of awide range of client considerations in order to construct a profile of the client.

At these meetings it will be important to establish the aims and objectives ofthe proposed project. Doing so involves identifying and clarifying what theproblem or need is: carrying out a "user needs analysis", always bearing inmind that the commissioning client is not necessarily the end-user of theproduct. Such an analysis involves doing market research, modeling the end-user (asking questions about their age, skills, background experiences and


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knowledge, etc.) and the user environment (where is the resource to be used:home, classroom, workplace, public space? What is the expected contact timewith the resource?); then asking whether or not the proposed resource /project is feasible or not.

Cost, resource and time constraints

An often-quoted estimate of the ratio of development time to run-time forcomputer-based training materials is 100:1, i.e., 100 person hours are requiredto develop a 1 hour of computer-based training user experience. This couldvary between as much as 217:1 and, for long-term projects producing over 75hours user time, 50:1.

If the title requires development on a new platform sufficient time should beleft for the programmer to become familiar within the new equipment and forsorting out hardware and software teething problems. Costs should allow, also,for adequate support, for development tool software updates and fordistribution licenses that may be required to bundle tool libraries or utilitiesdeveloped out of house.

Budgets for the development of commercial interactive software titles aretypically:

Leading edge, prestige, high content: $100,000+Middle range with high production values: $50,000 - $75,000Cheaper titles: $25,000 – 50,000Canale and Wills (above) quote 1 hour of CBT costs between $2500 and$5000 depending on complexity. A project at this time, of 10 hours ofinteractive multimedia commercial training, would be within a budget of$50,000. Estimate for three current titles in the order of $7500 to$12500 per run-time hour for a 4-6 hour title.

Economies come from developing a series of titles. Once you have developedan engine it can be incredibly quick to create the next title in the series. Thesecond title may take 6 weeks, the third 2-3 weeks. Finally, it may take notime at all if what one is distributing is the tools to allow authors to build titlesfor themselves.

Costs may be broken down in a number of ways:

1. Labor costs/Salaries2. Design workshops3. Production4. Copyright and license fees5. Post-production6. Software7. Hardware (specific to the project)


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8. Piloting9. Support documentation10. Mastering & replication

Note that project management costs may be as much as 15% total projectcosts. (R. Canale and S. Wills, "Producing professional interactive multimedia:project management issues", British Journal of Educational Technology, vol.26,no.2, 1995, pp.84-93)

GuidelinesThe following points related to cost are worth considering:

The project manager should be notified immediately anything that mayaffect project costs, scheduling or production values becomes apparent.

It takes time to get things done right. It takes a lot of time to make things simple. Product quality will relate to project budget. Generally, the client gets

what they paid for. Generally, small design and production teams are more efficient than

larger ones. Bigger and better hardware and software will not necessarily result in

quality productions. There is no substitute for talented and professionaldesign work.

The right tools in the hands of the right designer; everyone has their ownway of working.

Given the limitations of cost, resources and time, it is seldom the casethat end-products completely fulfill the aspirations of the design team.Usually the end-product represents a compromise or series ofcompromises.

Feasibility

At some point in planning, the question of feasibility has to be answered.Having established earlier, through market research or otherwise, that theproject is worth doing, the question then is can it be done. Will it be possibleto realize the declared aims and objectives of the project within the agreedcritical constraints of time, budget/resources and production values? Afterteam consultation, a feasibility report may be drawn up by the projectmanager detailing exactly what needs to be done to realize the projectobjectives. As a result of this report and further discussion, either the projectaims and objectives may end up being modified or adjustments may be made


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to the project's critical constraints or the project is decided not to be feasibleand is dropped.

The Test-of-concept Model

The test-of-concept model could be totally paper-based -- a sketch treatment,indicating program structure and the sort of features (interactive andotherwise) to be included. I favor building interactive sketch models(prototypes if you will) and, for this, I find Macromedia Flash an ideal program.With Flash (or other similar authoring programs), interactive models can bequickly constructed in a form that is easily adjusted and gives more concreteexpression to the way those involved in the initial design process are thinking.In this way, decisions about what works are easier to make. Working in this waycan also make later phases like content-writing a lot easier

Written Agreements / Contracts

Written agreements, or contracts, between client and developer are importantin making clear the obligations of each party. The written agreement limits theconsequences of settling any disagreement at a later stage which could affectthe project in terms of time lost, cost and loss of good will.

If the client is commissioning an original piece of work, then the writtenagreement should deal with

what the client will supply in terms of assets, resources the product specification the ownership of the product the development time is the contractor assigning any rights? or retaining copyright? the contract price which may be fixed or in staged payments depending

on satisfactory progress or supply of materials (so that, if as the result ofa feasibility study the client decides not to proceed with the project,the developer may be paid for work done to that point)

future maintenance and support whether commissioning company gets the object code (or machine code)

and/or source code (unusual since more a problem since can be used toedit/re-write software)

license for existing software

If the client is licensing an existing work, then the written agreement (orlicense) should deal with

duration whether restricted to a particular place or equipment


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fee exclusive or non-exclusive (same rights grantable to others) assignable (to company which purchases the business)

Covering how the work will be used: to shop and play in public, to broadcast,to transmit across a network

Turner Kenneth Brown, Solicitors (1994) recommend a period of acceptancetesting for the client to test the product's performance (approximately 30 daysis usual). Failure to test promptly or using the software for anything other thantesting could be taken as a client's acceptance by implication. The contractshould also specify the consequences if the software does not work as it should.

Documentation

Documenting development procedures is an important technique in qualityassurance. The process of documentation can be time-consuming and is oftenregarded as unexciting but the potential advantages are significant:

Documents supply everyone with a common point of reference, enablingthe design team (which includes the client) to say, 'Yes, that is what Imeant', or 'No, we've a problem here'.

Problems may be spotted which may have proven more costly to correctat a later stage.

The types of document which are typically produced in the course of productdevelopment are:

Draft Outline Agreement / contract Project management: critical constraints & planning charts Flowchart of project process Storyboard Product specifications Testing procedures

Documentation is only of use if it is in a form which is readable and accessibleby those to whom it is addressed. It is important for the development team tohave a clear understanding of the content of these documents and this isfacilitated by good channels for communication within the team and for thecirculation of documents. For specifics on each item on the above list, refer toAppendix A, titled “documentation.”

Often document production is an after-the-event affair, produced to conceal amore craft-oriented or tacit approach to design behind a methodologicalveneer. The extent to which project documentation actually serves its purposerequires much further research.


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Brainstorming

A brainstorming session will bring together as a working group all those whomay have a creative input in shaping the content and design structure for theprogram. Possible models and approaches to program design will be discussedand eventually one approach will be favored for further design work. The groupneeds to discuss the audience for the program and their needs, as a steptowards modeling the end-user. From the final report of the working group, amodel will be flowcharted, revised and a storyboard for production will then beproduced.

Modeling the End-user

Modeling the End-User means creating a profile of the target audience for theresource being developed. Unless the resource maintains the user's interest andinvolvement in meeting user needs, it cannot succeed. And being able todemonstrate that user needs are met provides essential performanceindicators, critical to the evaluation process. Incorporating in a project planmethodological procedures to measure these performance indicators is alsovaluable in securing project funding by minimizing the risk of failure (and manyprojects do fail! -- Mention, or link to piece based on, the paper Julius gave meabout the software crisis.)

Successful design results from a sensitive approach to one's subject: trying tosee things from the point of view of the end-user, taking into considerationtheir needs, expectations and motivations, and communicating in languageappropriate to the target user(s). The problem is a complex one, made moredifficult by the fact that different people learn best in different ways. If thedesigner proceeds with the aim of trying to make life simpler and easier for theend-user, even though that means extra design work, the result should begreater user motivation and more effective learning and use of the interactivesystem. There is an important need, then to accurately model or profile of theend-user, refining the model as the design process proceeds and feedback isobtained through the process of testing and evaluation.

Questions to be answered about the target audience which help in building amodel of the user (or user profile) include the following.

Age: what is the average age or age-range of anticipated users? Background: Is information available about the backgrounds of the user

which might help in answering further questions? Interests: what are the interests of potential users. Skills: what are the background skills and level of knowledge of users

regarding the proposed content of the resource?


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Media sophistication: what are the background skills and level ofknowledge of users regarding the proposed medium -- multimedia andthe use of computers?

Special Needs: Does the user have any special needs which may affectthe presentation of information, and any input-output resulting fromuser interactions?

Site: Where is the resource to be used: home, classroom, workplace,public space?

Contact Time: What is the expected contact time with the resource? Learning context: Is there to be only one type of end-user or will there

be several? How will the system be used: by one user or by several userssimultaneously? Is the resource to be used as a presentation device by ateacher/trainer, as an aid to group discussion, in single-user standalonemode, or across a network?

Diagnostics: is diagnostic feedback about user performance desirable? Password protection: Are interactions by the user to be stored and

monitored? Confidentiality: If interactions are to stored, is it likely that materials

will be of a confidential variety and will this come under the provisionsof the Data Protection Act?

Distribution medium: will the materials be stored and accessed instandalone fashion or across a network?

Support Materials: Is the resource to be used alongside other learningmaterials and, if it is, is its role supplementary or central to the learningexperience?

Will the needs of each user-type change over time, either as a result ofinteracting with the system or independently of the system?

Answers to these questions may be arrived at in a number of ways:

In discussion with the commissioning client, if there is one. By interview with, or questionnaire to, end-users. By a survey of relevant professional/academic research literature. By interview with, or questionnaire to, relevant professionals (teachers

or trainers, say) By interview with, or questionnaire to, advisers from professional bodies

(councils or other agencies) By interview with, or questionnaire to, other interactive/instructional

designers in the field.

Note the limitations involved in such strategies, however. Questionnaire designis an art (or science) that requires careful study. The same is true of phone andpersonal interview techniques. The process of asking questions may direct orlead whoever is being questioned in selective directions. As a result, importantcontributions that were not planned for by the interviewer may be missed. Alsodeliberate distortion and falsification of results is not unusual in the


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professional and academic communities. The reasons behind such distortionsare varied and complex, resulting from career politics and commercialsensitivities. Often such distortions are impossible to detect, becausedevelopers and evaluators either are the same organization or are closelyrelated. Understandably, the subject is a controversial one. (See alsoEvaluation project evaluation.)


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Report on Destination Site

In designing any interactive system, consideration should be given to thephysical environment within which the system is to be used. At the mostfundamental level, any health and safety legal requirements must berecognized and observed. Here are some recommendations as to the sorts ofquestions to address.

Where will the system be used: within the home, at work, in a publicgallery or arena, or in a dedicated learning environment such as aclassroom?

Will it be a fixed or portable system? Will the user be standing, or sitting or lying down? Will it be used by one or several users simultaneously? Will it be observed by one or several users simultaneously? Is ambient lighting a problem in the sense that screen reflections may

prove distracting and uncomfortable? Can ambient lighting be adjusted by the user? Ambient lighting

problems, such as reflections on the monitor, may be overcome byappropriate positioning of a monitor which conforms to today's healthand safety standards, -- that is, one which is flicker-free, can swivel andtilt, has a low-reflectance screen, and, incidentally, which conforms tolow UV-radiation emission standards.

Is ambient sound a problem in the sense that may distracts or annoy theuser?

Can ambient sound be adjusted by the user? In certain environments,user headphones may be required.

Can the user would be free to control ambient sound and lightingconditions. In a classroom setting, however, ambient sound could be aproblem. Noise produced outside the program may interfere with theuser's enjoyment of it; equally, the sounds produced by the programitself may interfere with non-users in the same room.

Will the space be sufficiently ventilated to prevent the equipment fromoverheating and to ensure the comfort of the user?

Will the system require maintenance on a regular basis or for fault-finding? Does this type of access require special design features to beincorporated? For instance, in a touch-screen system, a keyboard maystill need to be accessible by the system maintainer who needs to beable to see the computer screen while using the keyboard.

Are there design features in the environment which might be picked upon in the system design so that one might complement or harmonizewith the other, or just to avoid clashes? This might involve the contentof local information panels as much as local color schemes.


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Further recommendations to enhance the user's comfort and ensure their safetyare as follows:

Monitors should be flicker-free, swivel and tilt, low-reflectance andconform to low UV-radiation emission standards.

Cables should be securely connected, undamaged, and not left trailing. There should be no risk of liquids being spilt near the equipment The work chair should be comfortable and stable, with a back which is

adjustable in height and tilt. Sufficient space and legroom should be left around a workstation to

permit a seated user to change position and vary their movements. Keyboards should have the ability to be tilted. There should be sufficient space to allow the user to support their hands

and arms when using the mouse. Rest periods should be scheduled every couple of hours. To reduce eye-strain, the user should focus off-screen on a distance

object several times an hour. The screen should be at a comfortable height and angle. The mouse should be at a height which allows the user to maintain an

approximately horizontal forearm position. Computer equipment can cause dry heat. Ventilation and humidity

should be controlled to prevent discomfort and sore eyes which mayresult.

Product Specification Document

Early in the project, before the origination of assets has begun, a productspecification needs to be drawn up by the interactive designer whichflowcharts and itemizes every screen image, every instance of screen text andevery consequence of user events. Part of any specification must be a file-naming convention which should be agreed between the interactive designerand the programmers. The product specification should contain a specificationfor graphics to serve as a check list for the artistic director, the file transfermanager, and programming. The specification for sound should serve as achecklist for the sound engineer, the file transfer manager and programming.Included in the product specification document should be notes on file formats,parameters (such as dimensions, duration, and resolution) and projected filesizes (in kilobytes, say).

The product specification document should be designed to cross-reference withother documents produced, such as flowcharts and storyboards.


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It may contain the following:

Software BriefThe product specification document should contain the software designbrief which results from meetings between the interactive designer andthe programmer. It will be based on information supplied by theinteractive designer about file lists, file names, formats and sizes,screen text, voice-over scripts, audio-visual sequence scripts, titles,captions. It is useful also to illustrate the brief with flowcharts toexplain program functionality and user interactions.

Hardware BriefThe product specification document should contain the hardware designbrief which results from meetings between the interactive designer andthe programmer. It will be based on...

Industrial Design BriefThe product specification document should contain any industrial designbrief which results from meetings between the interactive designer andthe programmer. It will be based on...

Guidelines

A good product specification will result in better product design, clear taskgoals, and a greater likelihood of working to schedule and within budget.Poor product specification can result in team 'drift', with goals being hard toset, and problems emerging late in the production process affecting all stages,causing delays and extra expense.

Multimedia Interface Design

Links to explore which have direct relevance to this subject are:

Hardware playback platform Screen layout The use of color The use of sound Input device

There are numerous factors affecting interface design, quite apart from theclient and end-user requirements that need to be identified in the initialplanning stages of a project. Design for TV display differs from design for


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computer screens; design for computer screen varies according to thecapabilities of the playback platform; and design for each platform is affectedby the development software available and by experience of that software.These considerations require that graphics are tested on the target displaymonitor often at all stages of development to spot problems. They also requirethat application performance is also tested often at all stages of developmentunder conditions appropriate to the playback system, not just the developmentsystem. This is an area where design tools can be critical in reducing thenumbers of problems facing interactive and screen designers.

Multimedia authoring tools offer some very flexible means to experiment withinterface design. This is critical in an area where the possibilities afforded bythe combination of media in an end-user-interactive environment are many andcomplex. Authoring tools liberate the designer by reducing the time (and cost)to get ideas onto the screen, and in a form that is easily manipulated. Thefollowing are examples of interfaces for mostly educational programs, designedusing such tools.

Planet Planner Solar Voyage Mars Mania Railway Builder Changing Routes Consumer Issues Timescapes (CD-i)

These examples are presented not so much to recommend the designs(although it would be nice if you liked them) but to serve as a vehicle forfurther reflections on design.

Having played around with screen layouts comprising objects such as graphics,text, and buttons or other screen hot-spots, being able to output objectcoordinates is a particularly useful feature of some authoring packages.Unfortunately, this usually requires some scripting (in languages such asHypertalk for Hypercard or Lingo for Macromedia Director). The data canmakes programmers' jobs that little bit easier, where the authoring tool hasbeen used for initial visualization and storyboarding in advance of lower-levelprogramming.

Tidy later ... Adding intelligence advice, options or branches are selected onthe basis of what is known to the user their preferred mode of use level ofinterest/ability what they have done so far.


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Hardware Playback PlatformAt the time of designing any multimedia project, the two primary platformsthat it will be played on should be taken into consideration. A hybrid CD willrun on multiple platforms with ease. These two platforms are of course, noneother than, Windows and Macintosh. For all practical purposes, this should bedone on any given project unless it can be set to run on either because of acommon interface, such as HTML. Otherwise, a hybrid software application isneeded.

Screen LayoutGood design will take common practice as its point of departure. There's a lotto be said for a fresh perspective but even the freshest perspective comes withacquired cultural and personal semi logical and behavioral assumptions. Hereare some recommendations.

Screen layouts should strike a structured balance between information,interest and accessibility.

Aim for consistency between screens and section. Changes which attractthe attention of the eye should be employed for a clear purposeotherwise the user will be distracted in posing the question "why?".

Group related elements to convenience the user by limiting eye andmouse movements to only the most efficient.

Don't clutter the screen with too much information. Dense is distracting! Don't overdo the number of font styles. As a rule of thumb, limit them to

three per screen. Don't assume everyone understands your icons. Words, also, have a place

in labeling buttons. Screen presentation is very influential. Avoid demonstrating work with

poor screen graphics. Not everyone has the same ability to envisage howthe parts will ultimately relate and appear. The bare bones may justrepel!

Navigating a program should be intuitive. Consider offering an index orplan of the program that can be conveniently accessed at any time.

Depending on the delivery platform, a 'quit' option isn't alwaysnecessary.

Make buttons responsive to selection. Depending on the playbacksystem, buttons can take a nervously long time to respond to a click. Ifyou program them to auto-highlight or change the cursor to a busy icon,say, then the user is reassured.

Offer users a way of backing out of significant or time-consumingpathways such as quitting or printing.

Consider whether it is better for hot-spots to activate on mouseDowns oron mouseUps.


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Consider whether to offer keyboard shortcuts to cursor-activated menuor screen commands.

If the program automatically reconfigures the playback system in anyway on startup, then it is only polite that, when the program is quitting,it restores the system to its original configuration.

When programming, anticipate that users may double-click buttons. Thismay affect how buttons underlie one another as one moves from screento screen, if this causes a problem which cannot be solved inprogramming.

The Use of Color

Color may be used to increase the inherent attractiveness of an activity.This is especially important with younger users.

Children respond best to saturated primaries red, yellow, green andblue.

Avoid saturated colors when designing for TV display. Saturated colorsproduce a 'bleed' effect on TV screens, as opposed to computermonitors.

Hartley (1993), p.101, talks about the need to select color combinationscarefully and to test user color-combination preferences. She describes"chromosteropsis", a phenomenon which results from putting "cool" and"hot" colors together, e.g. bright orange next to bright blue. Such colorscome into focus for the eye at different distances and the viewer maymake head movements back and forth or rapidly blink in an attempt torefocus on different screen areas. The phenomenon can cause theviewer to feel uncomfortable and experience dizziness and nausea.

Too many colors on a screen can cause reading difficulty. (Hartley(1993), p.101)

Color may also be used for the more effective communication of screeninformation, --for map-based information and for route-identificationand selection, -- by highlighting what is important. Hartley (1993)recommends squinting at a display from a distance of 1.5 to 2m. Colorswhich stand out (or have visual conspicuity) indicate dominant objects.Too many dominant objects can bring about confusion.

To reduce flicker at screen edges (the eye is sensitive in this peripheralregion) use muted or mid- to dark-gray colors there.

Color blindness results in the confusion of reddish hues with greenishhues and yellowish reds with yellowish greens. Opposing red with cyanand yellow with purple reduces misinterpretation.

To avoid flicker, avoid bright colors at screen edges. If possible, check the effect of the actual ambient conditions on the

screen color appearance. Check the image resolution of the target display and design accordingly.

24bit images will adopt a posterized (flattened) look when shown on an8bit or less display.


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The Use of SoundSound can be used to convey information where appropriate. That might meanusing sound directly to communicate voice information or using music or soundeffects to support and enhance information communicated by other means. Weneed a more developed language for the discussion of sound issues, however,because, without it, the provision of sound will continue to occupy a muchlower status in planning the visual elements in a design.

Sound quality issues deserve as much attention as the quality of the graphics,in view of the fact that user's usually take CD-quality audio for granted in theirhome listening habits. Often programs are let down by poor sound quality. Ofcourse, the trade-off in sound quality is file size: the higher the playback soundquality, the greater the file size, and the less of it that can be stored on alimited-capacity storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and, of course, choosingmono rather than stereo sound halves file sizes. In general, a CD-ROM can storeup to

72mins of CD-DA (audio-CD) quality sound, that is, stereo sound sampledat 44kHz and 16bit (1 min stereo sound = approx. 9MB; 1min mono =5MB).

Vinyl LP quality sound is about 22kHz at 16bit (1 min mono sound =approx. 2.5MB).

FM radio quality is about 22kHz and 8bit (1 min mono sound = approx.1.2MB).

11kHz at 8bit is just adequate for speech but can distort sybilants ("S"-sounds), causing the speaker to sound as though they lisp (1 min sound =approx. 0.6MB).

Lower sampling rates are generally not useful for multimedia purposes.

Note that in the production of sound tracks on a computer, it is important notto rely on the computer's in-built speaker for feedback during the editingprocess. Background noise/hiss may be undetectable through the in-builtspeaker which otherwise is apparent when the sound is amplified or played onbetter-quality, dedicated sound equipment. Rather, quality should bemonitored using the best-quality sound reproduction facilities available and atleast by means of quality headphones or amplified speaker.

Programs can also be let down by voice talent. It is nearly always better to hireprofessional voice talent for voiceovers than to casually trawl for volunteers. Ifa particular celebrity is required then they are at liberty to charge what themarket can bear, but in general the rates charged by voice-talent actors arenot very high. Voices should be selected bearing in mind possible likes anddislikes of the potential user audience and this should be considered in theuser-needs analysis in the design stages of the project.


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Recorded human voice is generally preferable to computer-synthetic voice,unless the circumstances dictate otherwise. This is bound to remain the caseuntil synthetic voice programs are able to pick up on the rule-bending nuancesof speech which are so important to meaning and communication.

If possible, check the effect of the actual ambient conditions on sound fromthe system. It is important to control sound levels judiciously, allowingplayback sound levels to be altered according to ambient conditions. It is notjust the user and passer-by who is affected by sound from an interactivedisplay. Repetitive sound from interactive systems in public places can causeannoyance to staff working nearby. This has resulted in systems beingsabotaged by staff. Whether volume changes should be left to a supervisor orwhether the user can freely adjust the sound should be considered. Whether toallow access to sound controls through screen software or by direct access to ahardware sound control should also be considered.

Input DevicesBy "input device" is meant the physical method through which the userinteracts with the computer. There are a variety of input devices. Here aresome of the more common:

QWERTY keyboard Mouse Roller-trackball Infrared pointer Voice recognition Touch-screen

Solutions are also available for users with special needs.

Authoring ToolsAuthoring tools enable a designer to create multimedia programs, by linkingtogether assets (digital sound, video, graphic, text, and photo files) into astructured and sequenced whole. Typically, they allow the user to selectbetween iconic and menu options, dragging and dropping elemental objects todefine the position of screen hot-spots and assets and the relationshipsbetween them in interactive or animated sequences. The big advantage ofauthoring tools is that it is possible to learn how to use them and achievedesirable results relatively quickly, and without any knowledge of computerlanguages like Pascal or C.

Since the advent of Hypercard on the Mac, the first, widely-available authoringtool, a range of authoring packages have been developed for almost everycomputer platform. Here is a list of the best known.


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Macintosh Windows CD-IHypercard Linkway MediaMogul

Supercard ToolboxAuthorware 7 Authorware 7

Director MX Director MXIconAuthor

IBM StoryBoard LiveMacromedia Flash 8 Macromedia Flash 8AutoPlay AutoPlay

For a more comprehensive listing look in Appendix B.

Hartley, R. (1993), "Guidelines for Multimedia Usage", Proceedings of the 11thAnnual Conference of SIGDOC '93, pp.100,101

Turner Kenneth Brown, Solicitors (1994), "The Long Arm of the Law", Business &Technology Magazine, pp.25-26

R. Canale and S. Wills, "Producing professional interactive multimedia: projectmanagement issues, British Journal of Educational Technology, vol.26, no.2, 1995,pp.84-93

Multimedia Team and Process Explained

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