Screen Shots So Far.......

Images of the Main menu screens and the basic layout of the tutorial screen. Not all elements have been added yet, but gives an idea of the basic look and layout of the application.

Image is of the main screen intro animation... The guitar and amp drop into shot then zooms in to show a large amplifier that will be used to control the menu options.


















This will feature the navigation links using amplifier knobs upon this graphic.

















This image shows the layout of the tutorial screen. It will use the neck of the guitar to display the tabs required for each song. More content needs to be added, more images will be uploaded in the future.

Designs

We have come up with a selection of possible font designs as well as initial designs for the menu layouts. Below is what we have come up with so far. We have also decided on the name "Guitar Legend", but we may change it should we think of something better or if we feel another name is more appropriate.

We have chosen these fonts as we are aiming for a "grungy" or Rock feel to the project. Below is a quick design idea for the main menu. This design would be easy to replicate for each of the pages to keep the project consistent throughout.

Additional Research

Ok so ive decided to look more into the video tutorials so the first place anyone would look is YouTube. Again, I just typed in "Learn Guitar" and clicked on one of the first hits



I've just taken a quick look at this video and it does a good job of showing the user how to play chords, with nearly 2 million views its clear to see that this is a good way of teaching. This video is something we will use as inspiration for our platform. Teaching a user how to play chords requires no other teaching aides, like speech or text. We will of course be using both speech and text in other parts of our project but it is not required here. We will be using material like this in the "Chord Library" and the actually playing part of our platform. I have found another video which is presented well but in a different way. This video shows us something different to the other ones. The first video I looked at was very formal and not really what we want in our project. The Other video was much better and showed how to play chords easily. The reason why I have chosen this video as a good source is because of the way in which they are teaching. This video is for more advanced guitarists but the language and the presentation is very laid back, yet they get their point across easily and clearly. I think a more relaxed environment is the best way to learn and this video does that well. This is definitely something we will be using as inspiration for our project.

Research

I think we need to look at some other pieces which aim to teach the user something. I might as well start with the obvious and type in "Learn Guitar" into Google. The first hit that comes up is "http://www.abclearnguitar.com/". This website claims it is for beginners, so this would be a good place to start my research. Time to see how they have structured this. On first impressions it looks pretty standard. Below is a screen shot of the homepage.




















If we look at the page, it looms pretty boring to be honest, there seems to be about 20 links down the side which probably should have been reduced to fewer to make it look better and reduce the user having to remember where each link is in the list. As you can see from the image above the graphics are minimal and this website seems to focus more on the fact of teaching rather than getting the users attention with a crisp looking website. Lets take a look at the "Free Lessons" section of this website.























The above image is for the "Free Lessons" section. Again we can see a very boring and standard way of laying this out. Each tutorial has a link in bold and a little explanation of each. The explanations are good but the design and creativity of this website is minimal. Lets take a look at one of these options to see how they have displayed their information.























This was the page I was taken to when I clicked "Introducing the Fretboard". This page follows the layout and design of the rest of the website but now we are faced with some information that can finally get us learning. On first impressions this page seems well structured, each section is separated into smaller chunks so it is easier for the user to digest. But if we look at the information shown, it is pretty technical, especially for a beginner, and it seems to bombard the user with information and terminology. For a beginner, this is seems like too much information. Another point which I have not picked up on yet is the fact that the majority of this website is teaching using text. Learning a guitar is meant to be fun and learning by reading page after page of text is not going to help the user. Another point is that many people have probably tried to dive right in to learning this but without knowing the terms they use, it would be pretty hard and that leaves a high risk of boredom and frustration, eventually leading to the user getting bored and doing something else. This is something we are trying to avoid in our project, terminology is important in our project so we need to make sure the user looks at it.

Lets take a look at the "Video Lessons" section as this is more like what we are planning to do.





















This is more like it, teaching using visual aides. There is only a sample on here of the video tutorials because you have to sign up for membership to get access to the full library. I have just watched the sample video and there are a few points to pick up on. Firstly these video tutorials seem to want to cater for all skill levels which I'm not sure it can do really. The lessons seem to be in order and someone who is not a beginner will have to skip through some of the lessons, potentially missing information. Secondly, everything is presented well and clearly but the guy teaching is probably more aimed at the older learner. The language he uses is quite formal and he doesnt really look like hes relaxed. This highlights some of the points about our project. As we have stated in the brief, we want to aim our learning platform at teenagers who are beginners. Although we can probably take some tips from this video, we will be coming up with something very different. There needs to be information and visuals that the users can relate to and a forty something man talking very formally will make it seem like another teacher-student relationship and that is NOT what we want. We want a platform where the users can feel like they are learning in a relaxed environment but still keep their attention.

Menu Layout

This shows a more detailed layout of the Menu interface to be featured within the application.

Paper Based Design Layout

Last week we started looking at designs and possible layouts for the project. Below are the designs we quickly came up with as an initial design. These designs will form the basic layout of the project.

















Above is the Main Menu screen which will have links to everything. There will also be a video playing with a montage of guitarists and music


















This is the Chord Dictionary which will display clips and sound describing each chord and how to play it.


















The above image is a start on the design of what will be included in the main section of the program. There are a number of different ideas we are trying to include so we are not quite sure how this will be shown yet.
















The above menu is what the Guitar Basics section will include. This section will include links to a page showing the parts of the guitar and how they work, how the guitar works, types of guitar and other things like terminology. As the software is designed for beginners this part is quite important that this section is not over looked.


















This section will be the main learning area. The idea is that the guitar neck will light up with chords the user needs to play. There will also be a time line which shows how far the user is through the song and what chords will be included.

The next step is to cover some research on our target audience for designs and content.

Project Idea and Proposal

For this project I will be working with Rob to create an e-learning platform. We have decided to focus on teaching teenagers on how to learn guitar. The project will be aimed at complete novices so we have to think closely about how it will be represented. We have written a proposal for the project which is:

"We plan to create a learning platform for beginners who want to learn the basics of playing the guitar. The project will start with the basics of the guitar i.e. the parts of the guitar etc. The teaching will be done using video clips showing the user where their fingers need to be to play songs. Sound clips will also be used to give instructions to the user where appropriate instead of text. The user should be able to change the tempo of the song so that they can progress in their learning and eventually the user should be able to play the full song at normal speed should they wish. There could potentially be a 2 player option where 2 users can play along at the same time which could be bass as well as guitar. The user should also be able to choose to have the song on or off when playing. The platform is aimed at young teenagers and as a result we will need to look closely at the songs we choose and the platforms design and layout to ensure we get the attention of the users. The user interface will need to be looked at closely as everything needs to be easy to see and user. If the user cannot see what they are looking for, then they will get tired of this quickly so the users attention needs to be kept on the platform."

Learning Guitar Hero Drums

This video is a demonstration of the types of language used when trying to teach somebody a new skill. It shows Rob Teaching me how to use the drums for the game 'Guitar Hero'.