When the code is your oyster

If I had the knowledge and skills to create a creative, interactive and user-friendly code for my Zulu Love Letter, I wouldn’t be here. I would be out there, in the real world, making amazing games, websites and designs for clients earning copious amounts of money, holding private yacht parties with free booze and oysters. Unfortunately, my coding skills don’t reach very far. In fact, they are pretty much limited to Mendi Lab. But, if I was as skilled as I dream to be, my Zulu Love Letter would have the following:

Starting off with the pin, I would like the user to be able to choose between “small”, “medium” and “large” sizes. Beads would adjust according to the size of the pin chosen. However, to allow maxine freedom of choice in the design of the Love Letter, there would be the option of changing individual bead size. On touch screens, it could be a nice idea to use the zoom action with ones fingers to make the bead bigger or smaller. On desktops and mobiles, the “+” key could be used to make it bigger and the “-” to make it smaller. Another way would be the use “b” for big and “s” for small. This is what makes the virtual world just one step ahead of our reality. If we were to string beads in the real world, all the beads would have to be the same size for it to function properly. However, computer generated games give users the option to take what we know as reality to another dimension (almost like me imagining I’ll have my own boat parties). 

In terms of colour selection of the beads, users have the option of selecting three shades of the colour selected, for example, “light blue”, “blue” and “dark blue”. Depending on where the user is creating the Love Letter, these colours will either show up as part of the colour list (e.g.: on desktop) or not (e.g. on mobile). What could be a cool idea instead of showing the colours as a list, would allow the users to tap the bead to change the colour. Each tap would change the colour into one of the three shades. Obviously it is important that the user is creating something with a purpose. The colours and their meanings must be clearly shown so the users know what feelings they are conveying through their Zulu Love Letter. I doubt people would want to create messages symbolising death and despair. If they do, I guess there’s nothing stopping. They just won’t get an invite to my boat parties.

Once the bead is chosen, it would be great if could be controlled through touch functionality. Tablet users, for example, could drag beads into place themselves. On desktops, users could use the up/down, left/right keys to move the bead into the right place, and mobile users could the trackball. However, it could also be an option to use the keys “L”, “R”, “U”, “D” to indicate, left, right, up, down. This could be used for both desktop and mobile. In all three devices, it would be cool to animate the bead to have it zoom to the canvas by itself. This would be a feature that would have to be used for desktop and mobile devices as tablet users still have the option of dragging the bead into place.  

Once the bead is in position, I would like a cute little animation surprise to happen. So, for example, once placed in its position, a little heart image flies up from the space where the bead is to the top of the page. Or a little burst of light or sparkles erupt from behind the bead.

If the same colour is wanted to chosen again, users should be able to do this easily. For mobile devices, the trackball could be clicked to allow the same colour to appear and for desktop and tablet users, the enter key could be used. Otherwise, the bead could still be chosen from the list if they desired. 

If the user would want to edit their Love Letter there would be a few options. There would be an undo button, a redo button and start again (to clear everything). However, with the the undo option on tablet and desktop devices, the “back” button could be used.  

In terms of being able to save/share the image, users could email it, Tweet it, Facebook it, Pin it, save it as an jpeg on their computer and to their phone memory card. Once the image is on the phone memory, it would optimised so it could be BBMed or Whatsapped to others. Before saving sending it, users can preview what they have created. If the users want to restart, they have that option. They can also write a short something explaining their Zulu Love Letter or attach a pre-written colour coding guide so that they don’t have to write it up themselves. Within this text, there will be blank spaces where the user can fill in the names of those who are receiving it. 

I also think that templates of other designs are a good idea. These would also have accompanying text explaining the meaning of Zulu Love Letter. Users could send these or merely look at them for design inspiration. Other ways for users to get inspiration could include a colour wheel where users could pick a colour which then generates a Love Letter with the chosen colour as the main bead in the pattern. Other beads would also be part of the design as accompanying colour to create the message of the design more complex. Lastly, users could chose already created patterns. Users have the option of filling in the beads of their choice according to the pattern. 

- Have a good day!