#blogpostfive

1. Track your progress - It’s very important to be familiar with the current status of your physique. In order to track your progress, you could go to the gym and pay a personal trainer to tell you about your current physique or you could buy a body analyzer scale. To track my progress, I recently purchased a body fat scale off Amazon and so far, I love it! It gives you everything you need, such as your weight, body fat, water percentage, muscle mass, kcal, etc., to track your progress to achieve your goals. 

2. Take progress photos - Sometimes it might be painful to take pictures of yourself, but it’s a great idea to track your progress. Take a progress photo from the front, back, and side and then check it every four weeks. Take a new photo and compare it to the old photo. Then you’ll be able to see where progress is being made and maybe where it’s not. Personally, I take pictures just to see my progress and see what I can work on more. 

3. Set a goal - If you have a goal, you’ll more than likely work towards the goal. If you don’t, then you’ll be asking yourself why am I working out. I prefer small to medium sized goals. For instance, you might set a goal to increase muscle mass by burning fat or maybe to lose five pounds in one month. Set a goal and work towards that goal. Write it down somewhere or put it as a reminder on your phone. Don’t forget that goal and work towards your goal. 

4. Planning ahead - If you’re working all day or going to school and have a busy schedule, you’re not going to have time to cook. Instead you’ll probably go and eat something unhealthy. You could plan ahead by meal prepping. Meal prepping is great for me because I work and go to school full-time. Most of the time, I need something on-the-go. By planning ahead, you’ll not only save money but you will also be prepared and you’ll be eating clean. Planning ahead is an easy way to make sure you’re on track to your fitness goals. Just take one or two days a week to meal prep and you’ll be on your way to achieving your goals. 

5. Count your macronutrients - To go along with prepping your meals, you also need to be counting your macronutrients. Like I’ve mentioned in a previous post, macros are protein, carbs, and fat. That’s all the stuff in food that you’re taking in and you need to be calculating them because they are very important. To count my macros, I use an app called MyFitnessPal. 

6. Create a workout plan - There are so many resources on the internet that you could utilize. Sit down and make a workout plan. For instance, Monday do legs, Tuesday do shoulders, Wednesday do chest, etc. From there, you can go online and find workouts for all those muscle groups. When you create a plan, you will stick to that plan. Once you have a plan set up, schedule in your workout.  

The next major DXB101 task spanned across two tutorials to allow us to work in depth and get more learning out of the group activity.

Week One

We were given a brief, in short; create a permanent lunch (not seasonal) bento box to be sold at GoMA as a takeaway lunch item.  To do so effectively, it was important to have a thorough understanding of: • Who goes to GoMA • Where the box will be sold • What is unique about GoMA to represent through the bento box • What the GoMA surrounds are like (art, architecture, people interaction, demographic) • The portion size • Bento box packaging • What will make the box desirable • Who are the stakeholders • Consider interaction and experience, not just a product • Experience - technological, sensorial

As a group we initially discussed our experience whilst at GoMA and what we thought it could bring to the bento box.  I found it was quite hard to get answers out of my group this way, so we put pen to paper and completed a traditional mind map.  Through this we determined our demographic, where the box would be sold and how we wanted to represent GoMA.

Initiating the task this way was beneficial as it helped us discover that we wished to represent GoMA through architecture and location.  We then furthered this concept, developing an idea that we would mirror the floor plan of GoMA with each room being representative of the artistic culture and therefore influencing the food choice for each segment.  However, when looking into the actual floor plan of GoMA (see image) we discovered that the multiple levels, large walkway space and the lack of room enclosure made that idea rather hard to actually pull off as the segments for food do not actually exist.  

This led us to the idea of zooming out from just GoMA and representing GoMA in its relation to Brisbane in the Southbank Cultural Precinct.  This created a sense of the food being a piece of art instead of just ingredients put together.  In order to further stimulate the idea of the food being a piece of art we decided to theme the packaging around this.  As seen in the image, the top of the box would be a photo frame shape die cut to frame the food art.  The rim of the box will include logos of previous GoMA feature instillations to bring a sense of ‘memento’ to the bento box.  

To generate a better understanding of our bento box, we physically build a prototype out of play dough.  This prototyping showed how the ingredients could work together to create the location map.

We then began working on the experience to make the bento box a desirable interactive experience.  Before we could successfully ideate a plan, the time allocated to working on the box was up and we had to present our idea to the group.  As it was a very casual presentation, I think we did well as a group explaining our ideas, even though they were not complete.  The feedback we received from the class mostly focused on the areas we had not yet completed and knew needed adding to: • What is the sensory, buying and eating experience? • What are the specific ingredients? • The architecture approached was well liked. • What was your design process? From this, we learnt to really focus on the experience that the box provides and further our process on that.

Due to work commitments and holidays we weren’t able to meet up during the mid semester break until the morning of our tutorial when we would be presenting the bento box.  In this time we reiterated different ways to immerse people in their bento box experience, concluding with the idea of a sandwich bar like setup where customers choose ingredients and watch as the chefs transform their meal from their chosen ingredients to a location map of GoMA.  This option allows for a wider demographic, as customers can choose cheaper, more basic ingredient options or opt for a more expensive, luxurious menu option.  This choice of experience caused up to rethink our previous box design as it seemed quite cheap and seasonal, not adhering to the brief guidelines we were given.  With our finished concept in mind, we created an improved prototype of the box.

Week Two

To begin the second tutorial, we looked into presentation techniques and how to deliver your message to the best you can.  The best presentation I’ve seen was both a speech shown to us in English class towards the end of year 12 as inspiration for our valedictory speech assessment item.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JccudODwwY

The presentation was a commencement speech by Ellen Degeneres in 2009 at Tulane.  It was a standout speech as she engaged the audience through humour, through encouragement and through personal stories.  The speech was presented with authenticity and professionalism, making it engaging and captivating for the audience.  Each class member told their ‘best presentation’ and what made it the best presentation, collating a list that we can all take lessons from: • Having a presence • Knowing your content • Anecdotes • Visual aids • Speaking tones • Talking with conviction • Humour • Enthusiasm • Gimmicks • Gestures • Volume • Passion • Emphasise • Being relatable • Positive energy • Audience interaction • Becoming an expert on your content • Eye contact • Offering multiple perspectives • Emotion • Use of space • Rhythm

We then covered a general structure to follow when presenting a design item: • Introduction and background • Brief • Short summary • The design solution • The design process • Contextual analysis • Visual aids • Prototypes • Takeaways or keepsakes • Conclude to summarize you context

I believe it is important for a presenter to know what they are taking about and be relatable to the audience for the presentation to be truly effective, with visual aids as a hugely helpful contributor.

We then went through each group and presented our bento boxes with these presentation techniques in mind.  Overall, the presentation of our bento box gave all the information we had ideated about our bento box across to the class.  However, the lack of professional preparation and visual aids came across quite lacking in comparison to majority of the other groups presentations.  Our feedback from the class was mainly to do with how we presented and not the actual product: • Improve the conclusion of your presentation • Don’t use the word obviously • Use visual aids • There was a good variety of food choices in your thought to ingredient connection • Relating your concept to an everyday figure helped explain it effectively Overall, I don’t think this activity went as well as it could have for my group.  Team collaboration didn’t happen very smoothly, resulting in it being hard to bounce ideas of one another and come up with a great design idea.  Lack of preparation was evident in our presentation.  While it didn’t go very well, this task has taught me some valuable tips for whilst completing the mini and major charrettes.  Firstly, work with people who have the same motivation level and stylistic interests as you to ensure that each team member can strengthen ideas collaboratively.  You don’t get out what you don’t put in, so ensure that effort is put into making the design as best as it can be within the given timeframe.  The chance to present in front of people allowed me to see how I react to being listened to; therefore enabling me to be able to see what specific things I need to work on when talking to a group of people about my idea.

Reference List Ellen Degeneres. 2009. " Ellen DeGeneres at Tulane's 2009 Commencement Speech". YouTube video, posted May 18. Accessed May 27, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JccudODwwY