experiment.al Animation Lab
The experimenta.l. Animation Lab, is a collaborative lab in the School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, at the University of Texas at Dallas, directed by Dr. Christine Veras.
This is a space for creative research and critical practices in animation that welcomes the participation of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and external collaborators. We encourage experimentation via a variety of techniques, tools, and interfaces.
Role
UX/UI Designer- Web Design
Services
Visual Design
UX/UI Design
Team
Christine Veras, PhD
Director of experiment.al Animation Lab at UT Dallas
Wun Chiou
Assistant Director, Web Software, Research Information Systems
Cindy Nghe
Web Developer
Deliverables
Site map
Persona
Low-fidelity wireframes
High-fidelity interactive prototypes
Tools
Adobe XD
Photoshop
Project Overview
Dr. Veras, who is designer, animator and a scholar has a bright vision and direction for her lab. She gives me an opportunity to collaborate with her on designing a website with meaningful interactions for animators, artists, scholars, and more.
Things to Consider When Designing:
- Playful interactions that give a sense of “experimental animation”.
- Efficiently ways to introduce projects to users.
- Informative and welcoming
- Consistent with the university guidelines and accessibility
Sketches
The starting idea was to have animated header on landing page. This could be a great idea to showcase recent works.
Blogs and other pages were expected to look simple, and legible since we will not only showcase animation projects but also discuss techniques, and researches.
Experimenting
Our team had several meetings on what ways we could potentially simplify the homepage. We decided to finalize the homepage with the boxes. To add our playful taste and invitation to the user to experiment, our team decided to use lab colors and hover function. With the help from UTD Web Developing team, we ensured that each experimental navigation boxes meet web usability and accessibility.