#collaborationandenterprise

Kirtys Robinson – Major Study Evaluation

Having been a student at Birmingham City University for the previous three years, I have had the opportunity to witness new things such as the agency grow, blooming inside a university culture that knows the value of collaborative practice. As a personality that values side-projects for their ability to keep the mind fluid and thinking laterally, things such as the agency are invaluable, yet are usually limited to a rigid operational structure.  

This is where I saw the initial gap in the market so to speak. As somebody who is quite introverted, I have experienced first-hand the barriers that can be created by the size of your social circle or inability to step out of your comfort zone and speak to someone when it comes to collaboration. I have been involved in group projects where members have bailed, how could this be stopped? The deeper I thought about the concept, the bigger it grew, the more questions I had.  

To give the project both validity, and provide insight I conducted a questionnaire in which I asked both students and staff questions about their experience with collaboration at university, and how they felt about an app for interdisciplinary collaboration. The feedback was extremely positive, so I moved forward.  

Next a name, I simplified the concept of the app until it became about being more than one. Plural fit that description perfectly, with the word reminding me of the dictionary definition, which in turn has connotations to education – the market the app is intended for. Plural would eventually become a search and find app, that simply operates using a search function, with tags, upvotes, sharing functionality and a friends list. The strapline of "better together" came shortly after, I justified it using its rhythm – a key technique used by strong brands. With the naming of the sister app, it was my high school days as a dodgeball player that sponsored the chosen outcome – when in possession of multiple dodgeballs members of the same team could choose to stagger an attack, or throw them in "unison". Unison would become the 'project manager' app, that teams would use to communicate and see a brief to fruition once they had found each other on Plural. The decision to separate the apps this way was made when I considered user journeys. Poor functionality is one of the main reasons audiences don't reuse an app.  

I had initially intended to design an app specifically for Birmingham City University, taking inspiration from our corporate brand guidelines. I approached the SU with the idea, with the intention of getting them to help with getting students to complete a questionnaire, which if the results were positive would support the requirement for the app when pitching to a commissioning party from within the university later on. I ended up speaking with VP Student Engagement, Molly Taylor who informed me that the SU are already working on something similar which was initially meant to be called "Skill Swap Shop", it may not be now as we agreed the word swap was misleading during the focus group I was part of for designing it. It was at this point I changed direction, positioning Plural & Unison to appeal to the young consumer instead of the institutions providing the money, adopting approaches found in B2C marketing such as articulating qualitive value over aspects such as 'price'. This allowed the identity to be produced much more freely, giving birth to a relatively versatile identity system.

For the short time that I spent on it, I really enjoyed working on the Costume Culture & Dress brief, through the agency but did struggle with not being able to interview the client directly initially, which led me to adopt a very conservative aesthetic when corporate decorative is more what the client had envisioned. With the addition of a simple keyline, a few spacing adjustments and some accompanying text creating another lockup of the CC&D logo – I was happy that my work was used in the final outcome.

Having experienced a number of financial, psychological and social challenges throughout the duration of major study, it goes without saying that I haven't produced the work that I am capable of creating. In the end, the goal for me was to merely hit the deadline and not submit a body of work that painted a picture of the difficulties I had worked through and the little time that I ended up having. I felt a sense of achievement when submitting, but know the coming months with be pivotal – as such I aim to dedicate time to creating a truly solid body of work and positioning myself more accurately as a practitioner. I aim to successfully implement the T structure into my portfolio, articulating that I am a beginner in Motion, 3D, Editorial and Illustration whilst specializing in branded interactions, a UI & identity design hybrid area of practice. This 'T' is currently lopsided.

Having worked in a design job paying 18k whilst I had been at university, I learnt that money isn't everything in a working environment you're unhappy in – as such, I've decided to test the waters, but not set myself any big goals with regard to finding a job in design right away. I want to learn to drive and get my life together. I'd rather have a boring 9 to 5, than a stressful design job I hate that doesn't leave enough energy or mental capacity at the end of the day to be motivated to draw, design and grow. I have set a 9 month cap on this to avoid complacency and getting stuck in an area of comfort, and as mentioned previously – I'm going to test the waters as I may find a perfect fit right away.