Process Log

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, and Discover. "  -Mark Twain

I think it is so true - not only for the life, but also for the design. The more explore, the more I discover. (Also I dream the more.. which sometimes become out of my budget...lol) Last few weeks, while finalizing the process of selecting the print shop, I was exploring the packaging and gifts for the Experience Journal. As I'm working as an design intern, I'm using most of my night time and weekends. It's sometimes tiring and I have unknown fear completing the production all under my choice and responsibility, but it is really fun and can't wait to see the product in other's hands!   There are some issues regarding shipping and production cost I have to figure out, but I wish I could discover the best packaging solution for the Experience Journal. The reason I care not only about the notebook design but also the packaging is :

1) I want my supporters to feel like they're getting gift :) I know the feeling when I order something and get it, I feel so excited! They are waiting with patience for the long production period.

2) I tend to bring lots of namecards, stickers and postcards from the places I like. It's one of the way to remember the visual elements, and unique feelings of that space. I wanted the package to be used as storage for those small things. :D 3) Packaging is important part of communication(so called branding), which identifies the philosophy of the product.  

Last week, I was exploring with the form of paper bag, but now I'm more towards the box even though it costs more, because it's stronger, endures longer and protects the product throughout the shipping process.

I'm reaching out to several print shops, and figuring out the criteria that fits to Experience Journal. Bear Better was my original plan, but they don't provide sewn bindings at the moment, which I think is one of the most important quality for sketching. I ordered some sample notebooks, and willing to find out the perfect print shop soon.

In the meantime, I started brainstorming "User Journey" for Experience Journal. I'm listing things to consider on my analogue dashboard, and so many decisions should be made before the real fun things ! I'm trying not to be overwhelmed, but to enjoy the process.

Last week, Experience Journal was featured on PSFK. (http://www.psfk.com/2014/05/anti-phone-creative-journal.html)

Dear Backers,

It’s been an amazing 9 days so far. I am so grateful to say that Experience Journal has reached over 300% goal. I remember the very first day when I launched this project on Kickstarter with lots of fear. However, along with the journey, I am truly encouraged by supporters all around the world. Thanks a lot!

For the last few years to me, Experience Journal has been :

- A habit for being mindful about environment to train my senses to become a better designer, - A tool to capturing precious moments & feelings, - A fun activity to doodle, - and it helped me to realize my dream through Kickstarter.

Through the campaign, I learned that the Experience Journal will be used in so many creative ways:

- A group of little young elementary students will be using it for their writing class, - A very sweet Venezuelan gentleman is preparing a surprise gift for his girlfriend, who is passionate about architectural sketching - A mother and daughter from Australia will be sharing this journal. - and it’s going to be shared as Christmas presents for lovely big family.

I would love to find out your ways of using the Experience Journal so please share your stories and feedback with me later. I can’t wait to hear about them and feature you in my future updates.

The campaign is now 38 hours away from ending :) Please spread the word to your friends who would love to participate in "Experience Journaling!"

Sincerely, Hanna

I’m sharing Experience of the day done by chic product designer Andreas !

I've been working on this 'Experience Journal' project for days and nights passionately, and I finally launched on Kickstarter ! Well done :)

I only have 7 days to secure funding for my project. If successful, I'll be able to produce the book share the book with more people! 

Can't wait to get feedback from people all over the world ! :) Wish me a good luck ! Thanks you for your interest & Support!

High fidelity prototyping took all my weekends- lol I spent 3 days and nights at the studio and my desk got literally messy, but  I had so much fun!

Sometimes it feels really nice to concentrate on crafting things. After a lot of trials and errors and long-hard working hours, I could finally get my first version of Experience Journal! Here are some of the updates : 

1. Graphic elements 

Finalized graphic elements such as type and margins. As I was looking at the grid so long time, I felt bit lost to arrange so many elements.  With the help of talented graphic designer Dami, I could get satisfying updates!

2. Size  Decided "Width / Height / Thickness(# of page)". I was looking for a exact size which is handy but also has enough space. While doing the research, I found amazing B6 size notebook at MUJI and felt this is what I was looking for. I asked my SVA peers if the size felt right, and finally decided to stick to the size.

B6 : Width : 130mm / Height : 180mm / Thickness : 1cm (80pages)

2. Texture : paper

I still have to figure out which paper to use in final production if I succeed in funding. However, I found out the right feeling for Experience Journal. I used 60lbs recycled canson paper for the prototype. I like the feeling of natural white, texture is good for both pencil and pen, and it is not too thick nor too thin.

3. Binding : must open 180 degree and shouldn't tear out!

I have used so many kinds of notebooks previously, and it feels really bad when paper tears out. As this journal is about experience, which is precious, I want people can preserve it for long time. I found out binding method called "smyth swen binding" and experimented by myself. I hand stitched every pages, and glued them with book binding glues. - very successful!

4. Cover

As this is a journal about experience, I wanted give some textures and analogue feelings - so I silk screen printed the cover on the brown craft paper.  Deciding the cover was most difficult thing. I personally prefer to have various choices of covers, but thinking about the production cost, various cover should be additional thing. I decided to keep it simple as possible at the moment. I wish I could give option for the cover in the future.

So, I'm done !

I feel so scared whenever I'm alone in the studio at late night, so I usually leave with the last person. However, as I really had to be at studio after midnight, I did facetime with my parents in Korea for 3 hours, and realized it really helps...lol !

Even though small notebook could look simple, but it takes time and effort to make something really meaningful and good - So here are my final prototype before production !

I was so curious to get feedback from the beta testers, and finally I collected the notebooks back. This user research really helped me to have clear definition of what "Experience Journal" is, and who will be mostly benefited from the product. It really helped me to finalize the visual framework of the journal. Here are some notes :

1. Interior Designer / Lighting Artist / Architect

This user group will be benefited the most from the Experience Journal. I got really nice feedbacks from Parsons Graduate students. They naturally knew how to fill out the grids. Looking their drawings and observations was really interesting and insightful.

One of the student said that "It is good in that it reminds me the things that interior designer should be mindful about, otherwise it's easy to miss it".

There was one feedback that says " It feels awkward to write in front of friends at the space." I totally agree with this opinion.  What I do is, I fully concentrate on the moment and people who I am with. However, if I felt strong feelings, I sit down at the desk at home and reminds me of the experiences and find out what did I miss, so that I can be mindful naturally next time.

They want to have bigger space for drawing, but also they like the handy size. --> I have to find the best balance between enough drawing space and handy size.

I was so happy to hear that they want and need this! Yayee!

2. Design  & Art people

Being a good designer starts from a good observation. In this sense, this framework will help all kinds of designers. They were generally positive about the concept, however, there was a feedback that it takes some time to fill out the frameworks. 

Also, art students said that they want some specific grids for artworks and museums which I really want to make as a next version!  

3. Other amazing people (Writer, Historian, Students)

They liked the concept of the Experience Journal, however some said that they were intimidated to see the blank grid and draw. They understands needs for the journal, and think they can learn more about interior design by writing the journal, however, they won't be the daily user.

However, most importantly I could find really precious user group ! Those who want to open their own restaurant, cafe or shops- This will be a good research journal for them.

I have distributed sample notebooks to 3 group of people, and waiting to hear from them. Can't wait to see how creatively they used the notebook! 

1. Interior Designers

2. Design students

3. Others (who cares about places, museum curators, students)

The great Dieter Rams said, "Form follow function". However, when it comes to notebook design, I think also the opposite is true : Function follows form, that is to say form guides its functionality. 

People decide how to use the notebook according its features such as size, texture of the paper, thickness, weight and so on. What would be best solution for producing experience journal? 

Things to consider 

1. Form : Size  Shape ( Rounding VS Square) Weight 

2. Texture Cover : Texture, Weight, Printing Text : Texture, #of pages, # of design, #of ink, 

3. Binding 

Some Vague Ideas for exploring  :

SIZE

handy

not to big which is intimidating to draw

easy to carry

that contains contents at the right font size

PAPER TEXTURE

No need for hard cover

I like cotton paper feeling

I like mohawk, but worried about the cost

Subtle texture with matte feeling

100g text, good for pencil writing and also fountain pen

I hope the contents users write to be saved well

BINDING

180 degree binding is important for convenience of writing.

Stitch binding is only for small amount of pages.

First Sales !! It’s been a busy week, as we had a Meet SVA IxD career fair, and also the Prelaunch Product Session from Entrepreneurship class.

However, I had a memorable day, I sold 4 notebooks !

I was lucky enough to meet 3 great advisors, Brad, Nick, and Christina. Among useful and practical feedbacks, all the advisors encouraged to sell the product immediately and get feedback as soon as possible, and I did so! My cool advisors were generous enough to buy my still-to-stich-unfinished prototypes at 5$ each. Moreover, one of my classmate Nga bought one, so I earned 20 dollars in total which makes only 980$ to go! Important feedbacks were : 1. Think about the story      - Why is it passionate for you?      - How did it help myself to take note?      - How would you want people to be benefited by taking the note?      - How would you differentiate? 2. Use Case      - Guide people the way to use the notebook           My 2 solutions :            1. Make the use case tumblr           2. Make narrative story in the notebook      - Do user test! 3. People are curious about “People”!      - Think about essential things people are mindful about      - What do we care about?      - Power of observation      - Maybe I can make “About people” as a gift ? 4. ETC...      - Make the spot for user’s name to make them more engaged      - Sell at the flea market      - How to price?      - Make people to preorder

Leaving babies out somewhere, even for their good, is intimidating. However, it is an inevitable part of being a mother, and a designer. Designers always have to be prepared and open-minded for critics from co-workers, clients, professors, friends, and even from total strangers. 

I've got thoughtful comments from my people during last few weeks, so it was now time to meet unknown people. To hear from them, I was forced to launch a signup page from my great professors, and I decided to try posting on reddit. As I'm still on the prototyping status, I decided to try "notebooks" section which has relatively small number of subscribes(2447).

I posted a line of link to Exp Journal signup page, secretly and quietly, saying to myself, "Don't be disappointed even with no response". However, I got some mindful feedbacks immediately and sign up boosted up from 60 to 120(100% up!) during 3days. It was a big surprise for me. Thanks to unmet supporters, I'm more convinced that, in the universe, there exist some portion of people who cares about surroundings, and who loves notebooks, just like me! Thanks to the internet and SNS it's possible to find stranger-supporters.

This small event became a big motivation for me. When the time comes, I would love to be brave to meet a larger audience, and get critics for the better product. Thanks, strangers!

A link to Reddit : http://redd.it/1ydk4u

I had a short presentation day in class to share about this note project idea. I presented about the concept, story behind the concept and asked for opinions and help. As it was first time to talk officially about the idea of "Experience Diary", I was bit nervous to explain this conceptual-analog-self-motivated project in ENGLISH. However, not surprisingly, I could get great comments and feedbacks from wonderful SVA IxD family. It is amazing to be surrounded by thoughtful and brilliant people everyday.

Some useful & notable comments are :

1. Focus on the people who would be my patron. Thanks to the internet we can find people who would like something I'm passionate about.

Those could be : Sociologists/ Designers/ Researchers/ Artists / Students / People who are very organized / Rifle paper fans / Blogger / Design sponge

2. Things to consider when naming the product :

People like "diary" because of it continuous feeling.

Sites to help when naming : http://www.visuwords.com/

3. What people want to be mindful about :

 Space, Time, Diet, Sleep, Habit, Exercise

4. Topics people are interested in (Things that people want to get better at):

Architecture / Interior Design / Conversation / Behavior / Space / Signage / Travel / Food / Exhibition / Event / D.I.Y / Meeting / Discussions / Web design / Music / Graphic Design/ Psychology

5. Note variation :  

Size/ Type for different type of people 

6. Make modular system :

Keep the fundamental elements such as date / location / people as the same format so that can be developed to make modular system. I like this idea.. which can be related to branding aspect.

7. There are ways to overcome language barrier 

After I started to share my thoughts with people, I was introduced to amazing projects such as :Simple diary , Magma Sketchbook , Sketchbook Project, Baronfig, Lean Canvas,  Whats in your bag, and so on. It is amazing.

It's interesting to see how others describe this "Experience Diary", and with which they associate the product. Understanding how others perceive the product helps to have more clear concept of it and way of communication.

I have learnt importance of communication this week. Even if I'm not clear about my concept and what I want to say, feedback can lead us to the next stage. 

By comparing with others, we can better understand ourselves. To envision the product concept more clearly, I felt that it is crucial to know what's out in the market to understand what category should it belong and how can provide unique value. I went to the Urban Out Fitters and Anthropologie for the quick research, and found out stunning amount of notebooks. It was interesting to compare how the selections of note differ from each brand's image. Notes at Urban Outfitters were more young and for teenage girls, while Anthropologie had more french chic girlish collection.

I'm ambitious to keep making notes on various topics, but I decided to start with the "Experience Diary", about space for mainly 2 reasons :

First of all, space is a combination of almost everything : Graphic, Color, Typo, Product, Finishing, Interior, Architecture, Fashion, Urban Engineering, People(characters, what do they do..), Branding, Marketing, Business, Emotion and so on. All those are elements of experience. Living in the digital age, one of the ultimate goal for designers is to design user experiences.  

Also, now a days "Space" is hot for everybody. People find out the most fancy restaurants, and Yelp , Foursquare, Opentable are very popular. There would be some portion of people who are interested to explore more about the place they are at. 

Experience Diary

It's been 3 years since I started to write about interesting places on "Experience Diary". It's like a personal analogue foursquare with more deep check-in experiences. I've designed this "Experience Diary" for my own needs, developed it to frame better contents, and it is now ver #3.  It generally takes 10mins to jot down, and helps to observe from the smallest details -such as finishing, typography-, to the whole picture -such as branding, business perspectives-, and also the personal feelings. It is the nice way to capture the moment -not only the visual aspect of it but also emotional and logical experiences. 

How did it all start?

About 5 years ago, I had a chance to have dinner with my favorite designer, JOH, thanks to my great mentor JK. At that time, I was majoring in Business at Korea University, and considering expanding my career to a designer. While talking casually on random topics, I was amazed by the depth of thinking and the way he sees the world. He had a holistic view, he started to talk about from typography to architecture to branding and business of the space. We were at the same place, but the amount and the quality of observations were tremendously different. I wanted to mimic his flow of thinking, way of observing visual elements. I started to think in his shoes, and then slowly came out of an idea to make a note to organize those thoughts and observations to be habituated.

Expectations

Don't just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don't want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes. The reason to copy your heroes and their style is so that you might somehow get a glimpse into their minds. That's what you really want - to initialize their way of looking at the world.  

- Austin Kleon from Steal Like an Artist

  Everyone has their own perspective and frame to see the world.This unique frame would be developed through the process of learning, accumulation of experiences, combined with one's personality. However, I think we can make this process more efficient. 

My goal for this project is to find out the overlapping points between the things I'm really passionate about and what others can be benefited from. I believe that the best way to please others- family, lover, friends, society, and even the world- is to bring out the best of myself.

“Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman

  Process would be :

1. List out the projects I've been working or interested. 

2. Research : market trends, competitive products, products to benchmark, price, user groups, designers

3. Make it  : Start small & easy way, prototype a lot.

4. Test it with others

5. Repeat 2 through 4 until the deadline.

Starting something new is thrilling, but it is also quiet intimidating on the other hand. Being initiative by myself would pay off, but it means lots of efforts, responsibilities and works to be done. Maybe those fears would have been excuses for me to postpone starting this Kickstarter project until the very last minute. It's sometimes good to be a student, to have deadline and to be pushed by others, with lots of love.

  So, What am I really afraid of?

1. What if I fail to fund $1000? While all the other fellows succeed to get funded !

It is shameful to say that I am afraid of the result, but honestly I am.

In this case, I would call all of my friends and ask them to donate some amount - seriously.  

2. What if people don't understand my English?

Being a non-native English speaker, sometimes it is really intimidating to use English in the official occasions.

I've recently watched the "Modern Family" and attracted by Gloria (acted by Sofia Vergara) who has a strong Columbian accent but so lovely. - Maybe I could just say Whatever! 

3. What if I'm not satisfied with the final product even for myself?

What a silly question - Start small, develop step by step, and do the best I can. I already know what to do! I should always love & care about my project.

  There is one really important motivation that I want to finish this race regardless of the result : 

As a designer, I would love to keep doing my own daily projects for the rest of my lifetime even after I get a regular job or start own business.

This Kickstarter project would be a good practice for me to be the designer I want to be.