Development of Interface Design

I have now developed the Interface in Flash keeping to and adding to my initial sketches in my sketchbook. I now have a working interactive Interface for "The Thoughts". I have been exploring actionscript and buttons/links to different scenes and building the Interface in a modular fashion within Flash so to keep down download times and to improve usability etc.
I am very happy with this so far and feel I have produced something visually stunning but also works well in terms of usability, however I will continue to refine and then test when complete in the next two weeks.

Roughs/ideas from sketchbook:





Designs so far:






I have been looking at several sites with interesting interfaces, including the "Pepsi" example below, which is visually great but is slow and not very usable. I need to develop the balance between content and functionality so that the interface and product as a wow factor visually but also as immediate and intuitive interaction and navigation. Please see my Del.icio.us bookmarks for examples of sites I've been viewing/evaluating.




This week I will explore more actionscript and develop the placeholders for the animations using the load movie function.
I am aiming to have a fully working prototype to bring into Bath Spa on May 2nd to show Martin and Graham and to test.

The animations are really only at a starting point /initial level so far (It is very time consuming). However I plan to add to them and develop over the next 6-8 weeks, so that by the hand-in they will be rich and fully developed, bearing in mind one of my influences "A Scanner Darkly" which uses the Rotoscoping technique I am exploring took a year to make with about 50 animators. So I have to be realistic with what I can achieve on my own within the timescale. I am enjoying making them though. It is very rewarding seeing things come to life.