Challenge 3: An Ocean Liner

Now that all the oil has run out, international travel is once again mostly conducted by boat. Harking back to the glory days of the steam-powered ocean liner, cruise lines ferry passengers between such major sea ports as Manchester, England and San Antonio, Texas.

One such liner is named The Orca. With five tiers of cabins, from decadent luxury to near-inhumane, her sixth generation corn-fired steam engine provides as smooth and fast a ride as can be expected, given the circumstances.

The cruise line that runs The Orca has hired you to design their ticketing website. You’ll both showcase what the boat has to offer and provide a convenient interface for those looking to make a booking. Since modern travellers are generally equipped with mobile computers, you’ll be building a tablet UI. For now, just build the front page.

Key points:

- You have limited screen real estate to demonstrate what is possible - both an exploration of the ship, and the ability to purchase tickets.

- The design should make sense to those with varying intents, from holiday cruisers to those travelling on a budget.

- Regular travellers should have a way to quickly place a booking.

Bon voyage! Send a postcard of your work once you’re done :)

Challenge 2: Cat Rental

In the mid 21st century, no industry has exploded with the same vigor as cat rental. With convenient delivery straight to your front door, cat rental companies provide all the joys of pet ownership with none of the mess and heartbreak.

Since a single feline can now be enjoyed by hundreds of loving leaseholders, the need has come for a system of reviews and recommendations. Horrendous experience with a curtain-clawing tomcat? Found the ideal solution to that stubborn rat problem? You’ve got to let the world know.

Your job is to design the web front page of the world’s first feline review network. Think about what people might want to do when they arrive:

• Find a particular cat that suits their needs.
• Add their own review for a cat they’ve experienced.
• Share cat recommendations with their friends.

This is the front page, so think about how to make it both appealing to a new visitor and convenient for an existing user. Once again, if you feel up to it, post your sketch as a reply.

Have fun!

Dan

Challenge 1: The Antipodean Ice-Cream Truck

Jerry is the proprietor of Jerry’s Ices; the best ice-cream truck in the whole of Antarctica. His route takes him all around the city of New Buenos Aires, two or three different stops each day. Word about his magnificent sundaes has really been spreading, and he’s getting a tonne of new customers every day.

But there’s a problem - his new customers have no idea when he’s going to be in their neighbourhood. Jealous competitors are spreading false rumours, having customers show up at the wrong place at the wrong time. People are getting all upset and overheated.

It’s alright, though; Jerry has a plan. He’s hired you to design him a mobile website. You should craft an interface that answers the following questions:

• Where is Jerry’s Ices right now?
• Where will it be in the next few hours?
• When will it next be near me?

This is a mobile app, so the amount of screen real estate is pretty small, but the number of screens is up to you. Ten minutes isn’t very long, so focus on the most important stuff.

If you make mistakes, don’t worry about it - this is just a sketch, remember? Have fun!

Dan

p.s. - reply here with a snapshot of your work!

What’s this? It’s the 10 Minute Design Challenge.

Hey there!

My name is Daniel. I’m a front end web developer. I started out as a programmer, but I’m always trying to become a better designer. That means learning not just how to make things pretty, but how to craft effective interfaces that fit a purpose, or get a message across, whilst being engaging and intuitive to use.

The key to being great at something is practice. It’s the only real way to get better. At art school, for her drawing class, my wife was made to sketch hundreds of 10 minute self-portraits. It’s a pretty daunting and sometimes boring task - but while you start as a novice, by the end of it you have a real understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, plus a small library of past work to draw from.

I’m going to attempt something similar, and I’d love for you to join me. Each day, I’ll be posting a short description of a site or application - who it’s for, and what it does. Your job (and my job) will be to create a quick sketch of a possible UI, in whatever medium you prefer.

To fit this exercise in with your busy life, you should only spend around 10-20 minutes per sketch. It doesn’t have to be anywhere near perfect, and there’s an inherent amount of vagueness that comes with such a brief time frame. Ten minutes isn’t nearly long enough for the work that goes into a real design, but it’s enough to whip up the seed of an idea.

To get you started, focus on what you think are the most important elements. Consider who will be using your design, and what you’ve done to make their life easier. If you feel like sharing, post a link to your creation here. If not, don’t worry about it.

I’m looking forward to seeing the results!

Love,
Dan

dan@situnayake.com

p.s. Part of what inspired me to create this was reading this awesome Smashing Magazine article about UI sketching. I do a lot of quick and dirty sketches with a ballpoint pen. The article shows you how to go a step further and start using multiple shades of grey art marker. That’s what I’ll be trying out in my 10 minute sketches - we’ll see how it goes.