OVERVIEW OF PROJECT 
Using my love for film and cinema, I created a concept for an app where I could provide valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities that exist in the film industry. The gameified service is designed for middle and high school students who are interested in learning about different aspects of filmmaking, including storytelling, cinematography, sound design, and editing. The combination of UX/UI design, illustration, and branding was a combination that I enjoyed producing conceptually and visually for this project.


PROJECT CONCEPT
Initially my final major project for my course was a 10-week period, which then shortened to 5 weeks because I changed my project idea completely in order to meet the learning outcomes of the unit. After looking back on the work l had done during the course of the academic year to find inspiration, I decided to design a concept for an app service to help educators improve their educational experiences whilst using gamification as a beneficial system for learning.


INSPIRATION
As as competitor brand for my app, Duolingo was helpful to understand the feeling of using the app for the first time. After analysing the app experience, I was inspired by the brand identity, mascot design, and the general service to learn a specific subject. Through contemporary research, I learned that it's important to be consistent with the brand identity so that the user can connect to the brand's values through the product/service and its visual appeal.


GAMIFICATION
I reached out to a highly recognised Creative Director and previous student at AUB, Fox Rogers, who helped me to understand the distinction between a ‘game’ and ‘service’, in which he believed that a project can be either, but never both. Therefore it felt right to take elements of gaming to enhance the user experience and motivate people to keep using the product.


BRAND IDENTITY
The pastel colours and a clean, minimalist design for the app screens were essential in creating a visually appealing and user-friendly interface to a target audience who often find it difficult to find the joy in learning. I was able to use my research and inspiration from contemporary work to design an app that serves the purpose of providing a gamified platform for young users about film and cinema.


MASCOT DESIGN
I knew how essential it was to implement a mascot or character design to help people ‘bond’ with the app. From vigorous research, I designed some mascot/character designs based on an animal that symbolises playfulness, resilience, and cunningness; three words that associate with the intentions of the audience for this app. A fox is a conceptually considered idea for a mascot because they have similartraits to film directors, who would then be associated with the user. Drawing different illustrations of the fox mascot would make the experience of using the app a lot more enjoyable if there is someone or something to guide the target audience through the learning process so that it's memorable and useful for situations where the subject area is required.


LOGO NAME & DESIGN
The name ‘Auteurs’, French for ‘authors’, implies the creative control of the director/players on the app. They hold over all the processes held within the films, just like the users of the app. As for the typography, I focused more on rounded letters for a more friendly and approachable design for a younger demographic. One of my favourite ideas for the identity involved the finger frames hand gesture because of it’s association with film-making and judging the composition of a scene without having to look through the camera’s viewfinder.


ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR & XD
Illustrator was my primary platform for designing the illustrative design for the app, whilst XD served as a platform to help form the card designs, buttons, and any other interactive elements on the app. Using Adobe XD helped substantially with testing and refining the functionality and usability of the app before it was fully developed. It also allowed for testing with different design options and features, which helped to optimize the user experience.


CONCLUSION
My final major project gave me the opportunity to combine both theoretical knowledge and practical work into a defined area of visual communication. Throughout the project I conducted research that was relevant in positioning my ideas and practices, which resulted in an app that specialises in teaching 15-18 year old users the fundamental features of film and cinema.