#madebymany

I was excited to hear that we had a guest in our lecture as it is great to gain knowledge and feedback from a source who is currently in the media industry. The lecture was delivered to us on the 15th October 2014 by Ana Santos, who has explored many aspects, departments and jobs in the media industry since completing her New Media degree at Leeds in 2007!

Ana's lecture focused on exploring opportunities and ideas for a new product and inspiring us students into designing the right product. She explained this through research techniques and guides to success by meeting the user's needs and delivering high impact; thus growing your business further.

"The importance of designing the right thing before designing the thing right."  

Her lecture really inspired me to take my brainstorms further and to really think about creating a product that really means something. As it will be successful if the customers need it and it grows the business; then designing can really start! It made me think about my target audience of children, and researching current apps and educational services used by schools. I reconsidered my target audience and thought that maybe my audience is not the children but the teachers.

Furthermore, I had a look at the company that Ana works for, Made by Many, and they had worked with children to create the Hackaball and the concept A School In the Cloud. Hackaball, is an iPhone connected ball which allows you to choose the game's you want to play via the app and then play it through the ball. "But even better, the app allows anyone to invent and program new games." (Ben King; Made by Many) The combining of an object and app really inspired me and got me thinking about the stimulation, using children senses and entertainment but also educating and getting them to use their imagination.

Ana Santo's lecture can be found here:

http://www.slideshare.net/AnaCeciliaSantos/lecture-to-3rd-year-new-media-students-university-of-leeds 

Hackaball: