Akira’s Impact
Akira’s Impact is a website dedicated to educating those who are both familiar and unfamiliar with Katsuhiro Otomo’s magnum opus. I wanted the focus of my site to both tell the story of Akira’s development and engage fan interaction across various points within the site such as adding comments in certain points users find interesting. Through minimal site layout and using Otomo’s captivating illustrations, I wanted to present a site that encouraged exploration and sharability through forum discussions and the ability for users to add their own trivia!
Instructor: Matthew McGlynn
Project Year: 2023
UX/UI
〰️
UX/UI 〰️
Research + Wireframing
To start my research, I looked into how I could tell a streamlined story through a website. How could I encourage users to want to keep progressing while also encouraging them to want to leave comments? I decided a timeline nav and using heavy illustration imagery, questions that encouraged users to leave answers, and videos were a dynamic way to stimulate the user and keep them interested on navigating through Akira’s Impact.
User Personas + Journey
Since Akira is a topic I am incredibly biased and fiercely passionate about, I thought about a variety of users and how they would interact with my site. What if they had never heard of Akira? What if they knew a bit about Akira and therefore didn’t need as much guidance into what the IP is but not enough to call themselves a diehard fan? Through considering these different possibilities, I was able to settle on what information was absolutely required to understand Akira and how to use my site and wittle out any filler information that maybe I personally would find interesting but some users wouldn’t.
Screens
Through my exploration, I was then able to proceed with my screenmaking process. From my landing page, you are prompted to choose a profile and move throughout my site through buttons. It was incredibly fulfilling to tell the story of the creation of something that means so much to me and to learn about telling stories through UX/UI and web design. I hope this site sparks an interest in Akira in you as well!