Intro/Background
The problem that I am trying to solve is providing a platform for photography beginners to gain a basic knowledge of what the history of photography is and also the remarkable photographers from past to present.
My target audience are people who just begin to have interest in taking photos, or any art enthusiasts.
A part of my audience are college students who are taking art courses, and would be able to adopt my app as a supplementary learning tool for reference or co-curricular knowledge.
An important problem that I am interested in is gaining a basic sense of photography history and renowned photographers have often been ignored by freshmen that are learning to take photos. Oftentimes, people focus more on the visual language from direct views of photos taken by others. They often ignore the facts that good photos exist because of the brain behind the camera.
A major reason that caused such a phenomenon is that most photography learning websites do not emphasize the importance of learning from the basics, which is history. On most of the MOOC platforms, editing and camera skills are the two main components of photography learning for beginners that are being emphasized by the producers of content. At most of the times, the techniques of taking photos include exposure, aperture, ISO and shutter speed.
“Photography's main gift to mankind was as a new tool for communication. For the first time it was possible to readily document and distribute news and description from around the world in ways that were both understandable and believable. Photography became the most democratic of the arts, both practical and available to all.
The photograph allowed us to preserve the present for further contemplation, to collect evidence for detailed research, to compare cultures in ways never imagined, to count more thoroughly than any written census, to illustrate with less prejudice, to describe things for which we had no words, and to measure change in our environment and even in our own appearance (Viskochil, n.d.).”
Root cause of the problem is the ignorance of photography industries that do not provide enough exposure to the importance of seeing photography as a genre of art that also requires proper learning to the public instead of just a technique of taking good-looking pictures.
Audience
My target learners are people who use professional cameras to take pictures, they are learners who not only have interest in shooting, but also would like to dig deeper into the knowledge of photography, mostly focusing on the functions of cameras and photo editing.
I will focus on photography beginners in colleges and people who have owned professional cameras, and also would like to commit to the photography industry.
These learners have some senses of what a good photo is, and have some photographers that they admire. They are the ones who could already take pictures that receive lots of compliments and appreciation from people around them.
My targeted group of learners have aesthetic senses and are good at functioning cameras. They have sufficient access to the internet, especially youtube videos, and often seek photography knowledge from video platforms. These people are also the art entry learners.
Initially, my design would focus mostly on art education instead of techniques. However, from my interview results, I learned that people who are interested in studying photography are actually the ones who care about techniques instead of background history.
Landscape
One of the similar app that serves people’s needs for art knowledge, is called “Art & Culture”. It is an app that brings learners to explore various exhibitions or museums that are around the world. This is a great inspiration tool that brings insights for learners who would like to have a sense of the artists or artworks that concentrate on a specific landscape. Art works are being grouped together by their categories with brief descriptions.
The gaps or problems that exist today are how to balance techniques and inspirations for learners, and make them be aware of what content is truly worth learning for arts. As a designer, the duty of teaching learners to learn meaningful knowledge is crucial.
Interactive learning could be a problem to implement in my design, since in the beginning stage, content would be more crucial than interactive tool, and how traditional arts interact with learners is also a question that requires further research.
Landscape audits can help justify a need or provide a source for inspiration and design considerations (or both) like any other step in this process, when you do your landscape audit depends on the particulars of your project.
Content/Subject matter
The most important content that will be included as part of my project, is grouping the artist styles of remarkable photographers, and also including their bibliography as well as the most renown pieces of photos taken by them.
Another feature that I am considering to include in my app design is a social media function which allows learners to discuss the photographers they admire, and the techniques or reasons behind those great photographs.
My target learners struggle with this content because they do not usually consider photography as an art style that requires deeper learning. Most of my target learners have not yet realized that photography is also a modern art, that there were great men who contributed hard to it.
