#des301

So start of Week 4, reflecting on Week 3. It was a more productive week than the previous two but one still marred by indecision and inactivity. I am developing an idea I am increasingly fond of but lack the time to create it because I take too long on the assignments. The assignments then require a lot of progress to be made in the project to achieve well. So I feel stuck in a loop of not making any real tangible advancements.

Alongside a lot of extra-curricular work and business it has resulted in another stressful, and progression wise, uneventful week.

20th October Fri

Context and Action

The worst has come to the worst. As I mentioned in week 9, the final prototype product is still on shipping. Therefore, I had to make a decision. The elements that are currently lacking are the acrylic magnets and acrylic clips, which were made using acrylic. For this reason, I decided to work similarly in the design fab lab, cutting the acrylic and colouring it myself.

Laser cutting: 3/5 - Creating the laser cutting file took less time since I had previously created the size and design, but the laser cutting required a lot of time, and the colouring after the laser cutting required extra work.

-> Laser cutting files and new design print files

-> The process of laser cutting and the final product of laser cutting

It was very mentally exhausting, and I had to work hard every day. I tried different ways to create the package details, especially for the new acrylic size. I considered using paper, felt, boxes and cork. I experienced more than 10 failures in this process.

Nevertheless, in the end, I was able to complete the final prototype in time. The use of cork created a sense of unity throughout, and the precise laser-cutting technology allowed me to produce a higher-quality final prototype.

-> Final prototype high-quality photo shots

Result

In conclusion, I am satisfied. I am also grateful to the people around me who helped me mentally and physically because this week's efforts resulted in a final prototype that I am satisfied with. In particular, I was able to complete the final prototype within Week 12 so that I could focus on other documentation schedules.

I have learnt from this experience how to deal with emergencies and the importance of having a BACK-UP PLAN. I have learnt that even though I have considered enough time to complete the project, I need to have a 2nd plan in the future in case something unexpected happens due to external issues like this situation.

Learning

15th October Sun

Following on from last week's focus on documentation, I spent a long, confusing week.

Documentation is both the hardest and most fun part of my work. The documentation process gives me the opportunity to reflect on the past 10 weeks, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the project, and organise all the new skills and information I have learned as a designer. In particular, this capstone project has allowed me to analyse in detail the use of frameworks and toolkits.

Haūtu Waka Framework: 4/5 - I had used Haūtu Waka as a project timeline before, but through this capstone project, I was able to analyse Haūtu Waka in detail and learn about the appropriate direction and project progression for each phase. Compared to Double Diamond, which has detailed activity recommendations for each phase, Haūtu Waka has the advantage of allowing designers to choose their own activities and progress.

The Collective Action Toolkit: 2/5 - In fact, the toolkit itself is quite detailed and consists of a variety of activities that can be done by the general public. At the beginning of the project, The Collective Action Toolkit (hereinafter CAT) would be helpful because it would allow me to get input from understanding a wide range of people. However, as I progressed through the project, I realised that it would have been more beneficial for the capstone project research to use a tool that required a higher level of understanding rather than an easily accessible tool like CAT.

-> From the Miro Board, It's not a clear photo, but this is more showing the colour theme and orientation

To continue my own branding style, I moved my work from the Miro board to Adobe InDesign to start working on the details. Maintaining my own style is important because, in the end, all of my future work will be consistent and showcase the project's branding.

InDesign: 4/5 - It's more time-consuming than a Miro board because of the more demanding and detailed edits it requires, but the fine-tuned editing allows me to express the design I want and tie in my own branding.

-> Visual Summary Design (front and back cover)

Result

The visual summary has been roughly designed and organised. As originally planned, I used the Miro board to create the rough design and InDesign to complete the detailed work. I used the A4 format from the beginning of the project to prepare for the visual summary. However, it is expected that it will take more time than I thought because many things need to be modified, and many new pages need to be created.

I decided that it would be inefficient to use two programs, Miro board and InDesign, so for future work, I will use InDesign directly and only use the necessary items from the previous Miro board.

Learning

Project Status

My project is now in its second week of prototyping. I have received feedback from our project partner, Diversity Works NZ, as well as from my stream leader and peers that have helped me think deeper about my topic. Some to take note of are:

The idea of creating a movement outside of and against a system that eventually affects the original system

My initial idea was to design a video game convention that would encourage large video game companies (AAA companies ie. Ubisoft, EA, Nintendo) to recognize and hire more queer talents to increase the overall diversity and inclusivity within the video game industry. There is a sizable queer population within the video game industry, however most exist in the indie games sector (aka; independent creators or small to medium-sized companies), and my main objective was to bridge the gap between indie and AAA companies in order to create a more accessible pathway for queer talents to enter large video game companies.

However, because there’s already a large population of queer game developers, designers, artists, voice actors, etc. within the indie gaming industry, why should they have to abandon a community that has been crafted to let them thrive, to move into a larger company that shut them out in the first place? I found this an interesting take, and reminded me of a quote from the first Diversity Works NZ presentation from this semester, which is “From fitting people to the workplace to designing workplaces that fit people”.

This made me consider whether I should focus on the larger video game industry, or on the indie game industry. As I am focusing on New Zealand’s video game industry, narrowing my focus down to its indie gaming industry seems more restricting. However, I also believe that it can lead to shedding light onto subtopics that haven’t been discussed before, ie. New Zealand indigeneity in relation to queer livelihood. This is something I will take some more time to ponder as I work throughout the week.

Diversity, Inclusivity, but where is the Equitability?

Another significant piece of feedback I received was the lack of evidence for an equitable design. I have been focusing too much on the Diversity and Inclusion aspects of the project, that I haven’t thought much about the logistics of the design. How much does it cost? How will people get to the venue? Is it accessible for those with physical or mental disabilities? Who are you partnering with? I have been thinking too much about how this design will affect wider society instead of the smaller group of people who will be attending it, thus I will start thinking about these questions to ensure that I am capturing every aspect of a DEI design.

Digestibility

While not an actual piece of feedback I received, I realized that not everyone will be well-versed in the video game industry. While I am creating an event for mainly young queer video game developers, artists, gamers etc., it could still attract anyone who could be interested in learning more about it. Thus, I will have to ensure the event isn’t exclusionary towards newcomers, and that information is easily digestible and accessible.

Tools

I haven’t used any significant tools at the moment, however I am aiming to begin sketching some ideas, such as a logo, website sketches and wireframing, a poster, etc. I will be using paper and pens for basic sketching, however for more detailed or complex ideas, I will be using the drawing software Procreate, as it is a powerful tool used for illustration and ideation. A downside of this app is that it works with pixels and not vectors, unlike Adobe Illustrator, which can become a problem if I get sizes wrong and have to resize.

Challenges

My current challenges for this project and my proposed solutions for them are as follows:

Sketching some ideas

Ensuring that I use the right sizing to avoid pixelation

Thinking more about how to make my design more equitable

Concluding Thoughts

A positive I am very appreciative of is the feedback I received from our leaders and peers this week. I think that it offered necessary and helpful advice which will in turn help me create a more in-depth design. A negative I have come across with this project this week is the newfound question of how to make my design more equitable. However, this can be mitigated by brainstorming more ideas and asking for more feedback.

Next Steps

Initial prototypal sketches

Thinking more about equitability in the workplace

References

8th October Sun

Context and Action

This week's goal was to sketch out a rough visual summary structure and design. I began week 10 by designing the visual summary based on the content list I created last week. Through stream leader Ayla's studio lecture and visual summary examples from last year's Design 301 students, I came up with a total journey content list of 51 pages, and six pages needed to be designed.

Ideation Sketch - I have always ideated through pencil sketches as they are the easiest way to provide design ideas. I've tried digital sketching, but there are limitations of expression and comparison.

I still don't have any other ideation method other than pencil sketching, so I would love the opportunity to share and discuss my ideation process with other student designers in the future.

-> From the Miro board, Updated visual summary table of content

The video task is currently having the biggest impact on my mental health. :D I started with the determination to complete the video script, as the previous week had yet to produce any significant results.

Script Chart - This was my first time writing down scenes and scripts in a chart format, but it turns out the result was that a short video was great. In fact, I actually introduced this method to other students besides my partner and friends, and many of them found the charted script convenient to use.

However, creating the script below took a lot of trial and error. First, I created a storyboard using sticky notes. This was a way to use the characteristics of Miro boards, but it was time-consuming and complicated to create a detailed storyboard.

Six-Scene Storyboard - I used a short six-scene storyboard before creating a full-fledged script. Where I created a short storyboard with just six scenes that outlined the purpose of the video and the important scenes that must be included without nailing down the details and sentences. This took the stress out of creating a detailed story and allowed me to reflect on the 'purpose' and 'importance' of my project.

-> From the Miro board, Video script and storyboard

Result

In conclusion, I achieved my goal for this week. Which was to create a video storyboard. :D It was time-consuming because I had to go through five reflections to complete it, which was different from how I had initially planned to proceed. Nevertheless, I have had new video skills because I was able to find a new approach to creating a script. My interest in making videos on my own has increased, and I am excited about the video I will be making next week based on the script and storyboard I created.

Learning

30th September Sat

As mentioned in the previous presentation reflection, the prototype is not complete but is currently being worked on by the manufacturers. I was confident that I would be able to complete the project within the time limit, but since the assignment submission due date is about a month away, I decided to start documentation.

Before diving in, I created a new timeline to work efficiently through the various documentation. That's right, I love making a planner and a timeline.

-> From the Miro board, New timeline for documentation and submissions.

Timeline: 5/5 - As a designer, it's important to be able to adapt quickly to constant change and given circumstances, and scheduling is the most effective way for me to do that. It's the fastest and most efficient way to analyse a given conditions and find the most suitable way to move forward.

This week, I've been working on visual summaries (a.k.a. Journeys) and videos, and while that sounds like a lot, I've actually been doing more research than actual work.

Research: 2/5 - Research is a never-ending task. The more you research, the more you discover new information and ideas, but sometimes it can lead you astray. When I was researching video information and content, I was easily influenced by the plethora of information and different video styles out there, especially since video is an industry I'm not familiar with, and I wasn't sure of my personal style or the direction I wanted to take.

Deciding on the table of contents took the longest of all the tasks. It's probably because I'm a planner, especially regarding video content, since it's my first time working on video by myself. However, the 'story structure' mentioned in the Design 301 lecture helped me a lot. I followed the story structure and added the necessary additional elements of the project to complete the video content.

-> Story structure example (University of Auckland. 2023) (1)

-> From the Miro board, Journey content and Video contents

Story Structure: 4/5 - Nowadays, it has become more difficult to find information on basic elements as much as pursuing unique, special and new styles. In particular, while doing research on video, it was easy to find unusual and interesting video compositions, but it was rather difficult to find video compositions that were faithful to the basics. Therefore, the story structure recommended in the Design 301 course was a tool with sufficient development potential. It's a project-agnostic tool that everyone can apply to their own projects, and it's a tool that I would like to use for my own personal projects, not just university projects.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this will be my last week of relaxation. I have lost focus in recent weeks, but this planning has made me realise the imperilment of submission dates.

I think it's also an opportunity to not be satisfied with my current table of contents but to seek advice from a partner or tutor to help me explore how it could be improved, what I should include more of, and to be bold enough to cut out what I don't need.

Action Plan

In fact, this week has been a lot of research and not a lot of actual work. That's because the prototype I worked on over the break was really tough, but now I need to get back to deep workflow. I want to push myself, take proper breaks, and work forcefully until the end.

In particular, next week will be aimed at really getting started on Journey and Video, and in the case of Video in particular, finalising shots and scripts.

Reference

19th September (Tue)

Like the other blogs, I would also like to start my reflection with a description. From this blog, I still feel uncomfortable speaking for myself in the blog, but I hope this writing can form my own style of writing.

So, I started with the toolkit activity 'Four Square Story' from The Collective Action Toolkit by Frog. This activity is thinking about how my project would affect people by drawing a story. Since this presentation was not formal, there was no limitation to how to present my project and prototype. Therefore, this activity could help me to find out the way.

-> Four Square Story from Frog’s The collective action toolkit. (David Sherwin, 2023) (1)

-> Four Square Story activity

Coming up with a story wasn't easy - I didn't have a target market, and I didn't have a clear idea of the impact I wanted to have, so I had to go through a process of reflection on all of my previous works to come up with a story in four boxes.

Four Square Story: 4/5 - It really helped me to find a way to present my idea and a great chance to redefine my project's target audience.

The toolkit itself is very helpful, but my project is still greedy. My project wants to reach a wide range of people with a simple configuration now. Why don't I let go of my ambition and accept the limitations of my project? The ambition is following me for the whole project process. I still want new ideas to cover my weaknesses and hope to include more products in my finalised toolkit. I know that time constraints and the determination to accept your own limitations are also important parts of being a designer.

-> Presentation instruction

I was planning to give a presentation without any supporting materials, but English is my second language, so I created a toolkit supplement for the presentation for, the situation that I forget everything about my toolkit. I wanted to improve the understanding of the paper prototype by instruction.

Prototype: 3/5 - The paper prototype didn't show enough promise. Especially inside the box, when I started my presentation, all the products were mixed up because I needed to organise them better. Also, I included the explanation of 'how to use' with only writing, which was a disadvantage since there was a short period and the audience had a short time to understand my toolkit and writing wasn't really helping them to understand.

-> Presentation

To conclude, the presentation was disastrous: I read my hastily prepared script with a shaky voice and ended up with a very disappointing presentation. The reason for my nervousness was my lack of preparation. My head was scrambled, and I ended up skipping the Whare Tapa Whaa I had prepared.

Presentation: 1/5 - It's always a matter of being generous with myself. I'm disappointed in myself for not preparing enough for an informal presentation, especially considering the treaty partners and Whare Tapa Whaa.

Conclusion

Disappointed. In particular, watching other students present their projects was very inspiring. Knowing that I didn't put my best foot forward in the presentation made me feel useless, but it also gave me an alert about the final presentation.

My project is heading in the right direction on the prototype side, but I have to work on the details. The presentation made me realise that my project needs to have the responsibility of being a Treaty partner and the relevance of Whare Tapa Whaa, which is the first thing I should have considered as a student in the community stream.

Action Plan

The biggest issue remains the consideration of treaty partners and the analysis of the Whare Tapa Whaa model. I will further research the Treaty of Waitangi and the Whare Tapa Whaa model. I believe that I am still lacking as a designer in understanding New Zealand and that I need to become more aware of myself as a treaty partner.

Reference

Project Status

My project is now in its first week of prototyping. My current concept design is of an Auckland-based gaming convention focused on uplifting queer talents. As an event, I am still in the process of finding ways to portray this in a prototypal form. Following the feedback I had received from Week 6, I now have a more balanced view on both physical and digital prototypes, and will be sketching both kinds of prototypes throughout this phase of my project.

I will be creating a high-fidelity website containing all the information about this event. I plan for this to accompany another prototype, such as a model (physical or digital, still undecided) of the event that will showcase how it may look like for attendees.

As a result, my HMW statement has evolved into: “How might we design a space that empowers queer game developers in the video game industry?”

Tools

The tools I’ve used this week are as follows: Value Proposition Canvas, Moodboards

As I mentioned in last week’s reflection, the Value Proposition Canvas is a useful tool to understand the kinds of stakeholders for a product, service, etc. I completed four canvases, including a queer game developer, a non-queer game developer, an indie game company, and a large game company. To avoid repeating myself, a summary of its strengths are in its versatility and depth. A weakness is that it can be hard to understand at first, though it doesn’t take away from the overall effectiveness of the tool.

I created a moodboard of some inspirations, visual and conceptual, to aid my prototyping process.

Miro link for better visibility: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVM1fT8UI=/?share_link_id=429574282181 

Challenges

My current challenges for this project and my proposed solutions for them are as follows:

Creating more prototypes

A common pitfall that many designers fall into, me included, is the need to find a quick solution. I can have trouble brainstorming ideas as I tend to distrust ideas that seem too implausible. However, it is an important part of the ideation and prototyping process. Thus, I will need to make sure that I don’t let this stop me, and allow myself to think of as many ideas as I can as value can be found in each of them, no matter how seemingly menial it is.

Concluding Thoughts

On the positive side, I am feeling more and more confident about my ideas. I think that focusing on rapid prototyping means that I not only will produce more ideas, it will also help me exercise creativity. Especially as I gain more feedback from peers and lecturers, I think that it will be an effective way for me to think beyond my initial assumptions about my project.

On the negative and more personal side, this was the week I found out about Unity’s updates for their pricing plans. In short, Unity will be charging developers for every install of a game without their consent. This will negatively affect developers, both large and small but especially indie game companies who previously relied on Unity to fully produce their games.

As an aspiring developer myself, I find this situation frightening as well as frustrating as many indie studios and developers will or are suffering from this change. It is another example of the video game industry hurting smaller creators, which a large population of are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Red Spring Studio, an indie company I support that is in the process of creating a queer visual novel called Touchstarved, has spoken out about this issue and how it could possibly delay the release of this game.

Although this is a jarring shift within the video game industry, it is a situation that further fuels my passion for my capstone project. The video game industry has historically been exploitative towards its creators, however I will stay positive, and hopefully find some solace in the fact that my project can help myself and others visualize a future where game developers, queer or not, young or old, can thrive.

Next Steps

More rapid prototyping and recording every idea

Asking peers and lecturers for feedback

References

Screenshot from Google Docs

Screenshots from Miro Board

Value proposition canvas – Download the official template. (2023, August 29). Corporate Innovation Strategy, Tools & Training | Strategyzer. https://www.strategyzer.com/library/the-value-proposition-canvas