Wrapping up the project

I was able to start UX testing today on a prototype of the site. I'll hopefully wrap up UX testing tomorrow, write up my findings, and add a small section on the results to my final project document and the infoshare slides. 

I'm scheduled to present to the team on Monday, an "infoshare" where I'll talk about the project and demonstrate the (prototype) interface. There's still some development work that will be done, but my role in the project is coming to an end.

Overall, it's been a good experience taking a project from the info gathering stage through (some) development. In classes, I've mostly worked at a theoretical level, designing something without ever talking to the stakeholders. In the IA classes, I've created personas and sitemaps and wireframes and all the various things I've done in this project, but I've never seen the project actually implemented. I haven't my designs translated into reality.

The challenges have been the types of challenges that occur in any working environment: coordinating schedules, gaining consensus, needing to revisit work that's already been done.... 

This semester has been very rewarding and has provided me with valuable experience.