For my final capstone (thesis) project of my master’s program, I’ll be working on the topic of photography critique in a digitally mediated environment. Below is my initial plan for the project. I have a great passion for photography and critique in general and I don’t believe there is a good solution for providing critiques of photography online.
Background Opportunity
Critique is essential in almost any craft or art. Photography is no different. I want to provide a system so that photography students can have their worked critiqued by other photographers.
Primary User Group
My primary user group is photography students and enthusiasts in the Bloomington, Indiana area.
Client
The client for this project will be the Photography Society of Indiana University.
Anticipated Final Outcome
I want to enable photographers to critique other photographers in digitally mediated environment.
Readings
- Online Critiques: Developing a Digital Tool to Improve the Experiences of Design Instructors and Students Critiquing Student Work in Design Courses
- Double blending: online theory with on-campus practice in photography instruction
- Give and take: a study of consumer photo-sharing culture and practice
- A Structure for the Critique of Student Photographs
- The process of effective critiques
- Interaction Criticism: How To Do It Handout
- Doing a photo critique
Exemplars
Initial Sketches/Ideas
Time Plan
October
- Initial research of design space to better understand the problem as a whole.
- Begin user research on how people currently critique photography
- Sketch out several ideas on how to enable online photography critique
November
- Continue research
- Assimilate research
- Sketch more ideas
- Begin working on research report
December
- Develop research presentation and report
January
- Sketch out details of concept
- Begin to develop prototype
February
- Prototype design and begin user testing
March
- Create a working prototype
- Conduct longer term user testing
April
- Prepare for capstone fair
- Begin writing final paper
- Being final presentation
May
- Finish final paper
- Finish and present final presentation
