The primary audience of this timeline is college students who either have trouble getting quality sleep or are interested in learning about good sleep habits. While many students understand that sleep is essential, they might not know about all the intricate details which contribute to a restful night. Even for students who may not grasp this importance, this timeline can help them learn more about the sleep cycle. Lack of sleep has become a standard among many college students and it’s no surprise why. On top of studying, assignments, projects, and extracurriculars, it seems impossible for the average college student to stick to a consistent routine. This crucial issue is often overlooked, brushed aside, and even used as a joke to poke fun at college students. Yet, it is the single thing that should be given the utmost attention; sleeping, after all, helps fuel the learning process and helps us recover physically and mentally. So, my purpose is to inform college students about how to build a healthy sleep routine so they may reap its benefits to its fullest potential.
The first feature of my project is its sleep imagery, which exists on almost every slide. Having this imagery is similar to a contagious yawn, in that viewers may begin to feel tired after reading this. I personally can speak from experience when I say making the project made me feel sleepy. Also, since my audience is college students, I needed to make my suggestions relevant to their experiences. This is why I specifically say to take a break from studying or to plan for the upcoming day. Especially on the first title slide, I make it clear that I am targeting college students by mentioning sleep as a study tool. Along with this, there are a few details which help reinforce these points by providing a sense of time. Firstly, the timeline project displays the schedule at the bottom, making it easier to get a grasp on when events take place with each other. Then, the various backgrounds also relate to when each slide occurs in real-time. For example, earlier or midday sections feature a morning scene, whereas the night sections display a starry night.
The official KnighLab site and its examples were a helpful resource in navigating this new program. To make this project, I first wrote down a rough outline of the sections and found pictures to upload to Flickr. After I had all the sections in an order I was happy with, I chose some start and end times that would make sense for a college student. Since no single sleep routine will apply to everyone, the slides only have suggested time, which is why I include suggestions for the viewer to select a bedtime they want to follow. Finally, from suggestions during peer review, I made sure to use mostly cartoon images to give the project a cohesive style. Another implementation from the peer review was the introduction of title sections, which helped clearly group related sections.
The process of this project has actually been quite ironic. Usually, I pride myself on an excellent circadian rhythm, but lately I've been cutting down on sleep to focus on other work. So, at times, I definitely felt like a hypocrite making this sleep themed timeline. However, I could feel what it was like to be an audience member of my own project, which allowed me to reflect on what details that would impact me. Through this process, I was learned precisely what I wanted my intended audience to learn: the sleep cycle and factors of a good night's sleep. On the project side of the learning spectrum, KnightLab opened my eyes to the variety of online resources to make these interactive displays. Also, being exposed to different project types definitely had an effect on my brainstorming process. For example, I don't think I would have settled on this sleep themed topic if I hadn't been inspired by the timeline structure. Overall, this was a fun project to learn and work with.