http://www.flashandmath.com/advanced/menu3d/index.html

As I was the last student to present, the crowd was a little subdued and tired, however, I did get some positive feedback that I have considered for my initial revisions (The styleframes I presented are located above). The application is an interactive map that allows users to look at common information in a multitude of ways. Users are also empowered with the ability to communicate freely and openly with other users- ideally, positive communication will take place between Palestinians and Israelis to forge a better understanding of each other and the conflict.

The application will live on the hub website for my campaign to rebrand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The feedback I did receive was primarily that the visuals weren’t “young” enough, with which I definitely agree. The icons, for one, don’t seem to belong to the same family. And they don’t inspire interaction. The stark background could be sprused up a bit and the typography, although universal- utilizing helvetica, isn’t dynamic enough to draw the attention of a teenager- especially one in the west bank or Israel.

Concerning the content- a very good point was made about the sort of information offered: instead of basic demographic info., there should be music, movies, sports, common interests and hobbies that young people enjoy. Also, because the point of the application is to empower unity and break down barriers, there should be a view option for all areas.

An interactive map that allows users to upload photos,describe positive interactions with members of the conflicting culture, and explain why they want peace in the region. This map will be multi-layered to show images and individuals who uploaded them, as well as the three primary regions- Israel proper, Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The interactive maps are part of my thesis: A Design-Centric Campaign to Rebrand the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The hub of the campaign will be a website, which will house the map application.

A potential scenario for use of my product/idea:

16 year old Nashani is walking home from school. She is Palestinian but lives just across the boarder in Israel near the West bank. She must walk through a checklist every day which can take up to 2 hours just to get through. She see’s a girl from school, an Israeli who is having trouble with her papers, speaking to a Palestinian guard. Well, Nashani helped her peer by speaking to the guard and they walk to school together, eventually becoming friends.

Nashani decided to document this occurance to spread the opportunity for peace between Israelis and Palestinians by visiting my site and uploading a photo she took of herself and her friend, and describing the interaction.

Michael Johnson, of the graphic design firm Johnson Banks, spends a lot of time traveling to Japan. Nonetheless, he still can’t read the language. It drives him crazy. So they’ve responded with a brilliant design: A hybrid Japanese/English typeface, in which Katakana syllables are embedded with phonetic pronunciations. It’s called, naturally, Phonetikana.

Facebook was recently under fire from Israeli citizens who were automatically listed as Syrian, due to their location in the Golan Heights region- acquired by Israel in the 6 Day War of 1967.

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