LO-FI PROTOTYPE
OBJECTIVE
The goal of this phase is to take all of the research, defining, and mapping that was previously created and design an initial prototype of the app. This prototype is first made into wireframes which are the most simplified version of a prototype and inspired from a mood board. The wireframes are black and white, and only made from simples shapes and text. Next, a low fidelity prototype is made with functional buttons, page flow, and design elements. This is the first iteration and will later be revised to the final prototype version. The low fidelity prototype allows me to do testing on the app before I refine it to much and can expose any issues within the app flow or buttons that don’t work. It also creates an opportunity to simplify to provide a smooth process for users.
AI USAGE
For each step, mood board, wire frames, and lo-fo prototype, AI was only utilized in the lo-fi prototype to generate images that will be implemented into specific frames. While it was extremely valuable during all of the previous phases, this phase requires more attention designing and visualizing from the designer. This is solely focused on the creation of the app, so AI isn’t used until later in the testing phase.
To begin, I created a mood board that visualizes the colors, typography, and visual elements that will be seen in the app. This allows me to take every goal, idea, and feature defined and turn it into a visual experience through the type of shapes and colors within the app. To find inspiration for this I searched different websites such as pinterest and dribble to look at other examples of apps.
The wire frames and lo-fi prototype were created in figma. This process included a few rounds of refinement to keep the app simple and focused on the main features: AI photo generation, AI Chatbot, and Market purchasing. The lo-fi prototype was very different from the wire frames because they required a lot of condensing and refining to make the prototype have a smooth flow and professional feel.
“Can you generate a jpg image of a beach theme decorated bedroom?”
When designing the lo-fi prototype, I needed AI generated photos of blank rooms and examples of room decoration styles. To do this I prompted ChatGPT to give me different photos. Below is an example of a prompt:
CHALLENGES
While using AI, the only challenge I faced during this phase was the photo generation. Sometimes AI can tend to regenerate the same photo multiple times despite the changes I make to the prompt. It became tricky when I was using the same chat stream for the same photo because if I wanted to regenerate the same kind of photo with more change I would need to create an entirely new chat stream. AI also sometimes would create something that was very different than my prompt which would mean it requires an extremely specific and detailed prompt. This takes time and practice to know what language and direction AI responds to.
BENEFITS
The benefits of using AI for photo generation are that it cuts the design time down. Instead of having to go search the internet for a photo that works, is without watermarks, and is high quality I can simply prompt ChatGPT to generate a photo. It is especially useful when the photo I require is niche or harder to find. This allows me more freedom and opportunity within the visual generative aspect. This alone supports the benefit that my app will provide users to solve their real world problem. There is so much freedom in visual image generation.
REFLECTION
During this phase, AI was extremely helpful with quickly generating images especially since my app is very image heavy. This app requires a heaving image generation processing engine, which is helpful because I was able to learn how that engine functions. In regards to this phase, there isn’t anything I would have done differently. This is more of a learning curve in the sense of me learning what language AI responds best to and what language I should avoid. More experimentation will help me and the AI system grow. I will continue to learn it, and it will continue to learn me.