Interim

1/10/2015

Interim critique

Define, Empathy, Exchange, Ideate, Test, Prototype,

In groups of four (projects) we presented what we had so far. It was great to see the variety of ideas out there and take note what made the pitches successful.

To get to the point of my project i need to define what is it, how it works and why i'm doing it, in concise statement.

I also really need to work SMARTER, not HARDER. Pulling 16hr days at uni is killing my creativity. Spending those extra hours means sacrificing my mental clarity in class time. I was a bit miffed when I put in the hard yards to get as much of a response as possible and only recieved one feedback.

I need to prioritize what work should be done first.

I also really need to take a break.

If only my app were real....

Exchange

25/09/2015
What we're up to
Empathy, Define, Exchange, Ideate, Prototype,

In the exchange I repeated my pitch to the group but added structure and a clear emphasize on how it was a solution.

I think this really helped get across the idea both for myself and my audience.

It was also great to see how the other disciplines were interpreting the problem and to give and get feedback to different design perspectives.

Iterim de iterim

25/09/2015
Feedback and where to now
Define, Empathy, Exchange, Ideate, Prototype,

Seeing the progress of my peers and the creative genius they've put into their solutions is really inspiring. I keep thinking how far we've come from first year.

I still don't think i'm ready to be a forth year yet though :o

However, after presenting, i feel my project was well received. I managed to get across my solution and draw curiosity as to how it could all work. The feedback was to incorporate a social element or an events structuring for Facebook or the likes of. I'll look into the social element and theorise on how to include FB, but I feel this may be a battle I don't want to pursue. I'm more focussed on getting people off FB and into the real world.

I also need to work on my presentation as I found I skipped over some of the more important details. Whoops!

Jason really spelled out how the presentation is crucial as you're pitching an idea, and it's not necessarily complete, so you have to convince your client to have faith in you to work out the details.

From here I will do a more detailed user map and identify what slides I will need to show.

I'm also thinking of making a journey map like the complex one we worked on in class to show the different options/touchpoints/needs of the user.

Feedback

24/09/2015
Aesthetics
Test, Protoype, Empathy, Exchange, Ideate, Define,

My feedback- carry on with aesthetic, stick to bold, clean and resolved.

Keep it exciting!

Maybe add an interactive element? Like users propose or add to poster concepts- enabling a personalised Facebook post- encourages user to share

Lecture and in class exercise

24/09/2015
A food journey
Define, Empathy, Exchange, Ideate,

The excretes was to go through a contextually rich user journey, pick a branch/outcome and find a creative solution.

Our problem was how to address a family that had scarce food, causing the mother sacrifice her meal for her children.

Our group identified the problem as a two part special

We needed to address the mother's need to feed herself to create a healthy environment for the whole family.

- This could be done by educating her on the importance on keeping herself healthy as it effects her children aswell, e.g. having less energy, poorer decisions etc.
- We also proposed a nutrition plan for living on a budget, focussing on low cost, nutritionally dense foods


Our immediate solution was to flip scarce food and source excess food

Our proposition was to approach restaurants and ask them to donate excess food.

We theorised a system where volunteers would collect this food and either deliver it to the families or to an independent distribution centre (by passes wait time at food bank).

The project could be community or business funded, where the donation of the volunteers is time.
Ideally there would be an individual/ business that organised the pick up and delivery for one night of the week, thus sharing the workload.

Other sources of food could include supermarkets and farmers markets and community gardens.
Possible clients would include local businesses, churches.



Feedback

Good work for thinking of a journey
- discussing the elements of the solution
- possible trajectories





Why was this exercise useful?

It reiterated the importance of the design process and how valuable creative thinking is. Yay! Go Design!

Tim's presentation - Prototyping

17/09/2015
Why prototyping is important
Empathy, Exchange, Ideate, Define,

Tim's presentation outlined the necessity and positive outcomes of prototyping as part of the development of a project/idea.

What is it? 
Prototyping is about showing your ideas, bringing the intangible to life.
It provides the means to user test, enabling the investiation of how the product functions within it's environment
- this inform how the concepts should develop to advance/facilitate its intended purpose.

From here it's easier to test strengths/weaknesses of the product, and instigates new questions to facilitate a resolved system.

How to get started
Identify what you want to find out
Identify what system is most important to user test
Address how the user can interact with the product and give feedback
Try and try again if it's not working ( refine if needed )

Methods
Paper
Space
Digital
Role play


Testing
20% you talk - %80 they talk
Ask open ended questions
interact but don't overwhelm - get the audience taking
Record information


Did I learn anything?

Hek yeah!

I feel bringing my ideas to life will help me identify how to better resolve the issue.

My solution could be theoretically solid ( in my mind at least ) but the audience is a consistent variable and user testing will enable the solution to better empathise.

Prototyping and feedback

16/9/15
Where to from here
Define, Empathy, Exchange, Ideate, Test, Protoype,

After prototyping and testing both directions with my user audience in class, there was a clear winner.

The feedback was positive for both ideas but the app was by far the most popular.
It took the thinking out of what to do and challenged the user to get out there.

Feedback I had to improve the experience was to be able to update the profile and add filters each time you logged on.

Suggestions for filters

Weather
Transport
How many people
Money
Time

Categories-
Adventure
Food
Inspiration



Non specific and advanced searches-

e.g go to the library vrs go to the library, check out the first book in the last row of (insert interest)

I'm thinking this would be a pretty big project as the app would work best with an intuitive design and system, and a larger database.

Next task- how to make an intuitive app

Direction 2

18/09/15
App for user experience
Define, Ideate, Empathy,

My other direction focusses on the user experience of the things they may be taking for granted and the excuse they 'don't have time'.




Theoretically it would draw from a personal data base determined by the user when they installed the app. e.g. The user would have answered questions such as do you like the outdoors, have access to a car etc, and have created a personal profile.

When the user had spare time they would load up the app, add filters such as weather, or topic, and the app would cross reference a database of activities with the preferences of the user.

E.g. Weather- sunny, location- wellington, Time- spare afternoon, Feels like- adventure----------
-------Go for a walk, no? next option, yes! walks in area- pick one- directions

NB: there would be the option of an advanced search for things like distance, transport, difficulty etc..


So pretty much access to a database of activities filtered to student use.

Why???

From the survey, students had time but wasted it procrastinating or talked themselves out of doing something productive, and led to the conclusion they had not done anything to satisfy the need for time out.

I feel like the app will hit two birds with one stone. The user gets out there and experiences those things they may have neglected but have access to (as decided in profile), and presents options on how to best spend their time according to their preferences.

Week 8- Direction one

16/9/2015
I'm grateful for.......
Ideate, Define, Empathy,

Today was my first chance to meet up with the tutors and discuss the foundation I had built so far.

Before class I had added a few directions on where I could take the posters/ how they would pose as effective lures.

My directions are to either get students to focus on being grateful for what they have by prompting them to think of the small yet readily accessible things that make them happy, e.g. spell check, tutor feedback, cheaper tuesday at the movies.......

The posters would be bold and simple- To draw attention and be simple enough to pass the message without the viewer needing to linger.

e.g styled like above.

The question is how to get students thinking of these things for themselves.

Possible prompts- Things starting with M
Situations (at home)
Good times/ experiences

SLIP

14/9/15
S.l.i.p. exercise

Sort
- Read and identify value information collected through previous design team on brief
- Research relevant info/sources
- Build foundation
- Tailor info to design direction

Label
- Identify key topics and headings
- Context, background, issue, audience, needs, client, barriers, desired action etc.

Integrate
- Design direction to information
- content to be intellectually informed
- find a relateable platforms and visual solutions

Prioritize
-Audience needs- research/survey
-Build on foundation
-brainstorm
-concepts
-developments
-solution
-repeat- double diamond

Using slip enables a wire frame of a timeline and clearly identifies tasks.

It gives the project an organised direction and order

Point of view statement

11/9/15
Class exercise
Define, Empathy, Ideate, Exchange

In class we were asked to reframe a design challenge into an actionable statement.


By identifying the user needs I can begin to synthesis a statement that will inform my design solution.

Needs and trajectories that I will focus on are-

time
grattidue
awareness
opportunity
cost
value
perspective


Early statements

Emotionally and physically taxed students needs to identify the virtues they take for granted as they have the means and opportunity for a satisfied Well- being, yet are mislead by the shallow or unrealistic values.

/

Dissatisfied students needs to refresh their perspective on life because they are in a position of great opportunity and are well within the means to a healthy balance in personal Well-being , yet are unable to identify realistic personal virtues vital in a hollow societal environment.


I found this exercise useful as it creates an informed direction and a relative foundation for creative directions

Key Topics

11/9/15
Worth investigating
Define, Ideate,

Step two of refining and redirecting the research is identifying key topics/features-


We have everything we need
-We have the means to be happy, NOW

Undervaluing the small stuff
- Not fully appreciating what is present

Dramatizing the trivial
- reassessing our perspectives
- hollow society
- shallow mindset

New perspective
- think positive
- reassess situation
- understand the drama is self inflicted
- embrace  physical and emotional needs

Colllective Research

11/9/15
Pooling resources
Empathy, Exchange, Define,


To lay a well rounded foundation I plan to interview the group who created the brief and document their direction and understanding of the issue.

So far I've made contact to source the original research and have downloaded and picked through the brie on stream.

I hope cross referencing directions and out comes with narrow the visual direction, solution and content.

Brief breakdown

10/9/15
Going over the Brief
Define, Ideate, Empathy,

To kick-start the project I've rewritten the brief topics in a simplified state that concentrates on the elements I plan to focus on.

Issue
Lack of appreciation
feelings of fulfillment
negative mindset
stress
unhappiness
- in students

Background
not meetings physical and emotional needs
feeling unsatisfied
inability to identify needs
distortion of values
drowning in the shallows
surviving the fast paced machine


Audience
Students in NZ
-possibility to focus on wellington students
-tertiary as main audience though solution is applicable to wider student population

Audience Needs
To appreciate what we have
reassess personal values
think positive
advertising that is relatable
time to be happy

Clients
Apple
Massey
One percent collective
Wellington city council

Barriers
Hollow values in society
disillusionment on what is really important

Desired Actions
Grattitude
step back, reconnect
understanding, positive perspective
reassessment of values


Where to from here?

From here I want to identify the common threads and brainstorm and overarching solution.

+Further research into each topic and their possible  directions

This will help me to begin to flesh out the platforms for the solution and an effective aesthetic