#vang1670

This week in class, we were asked to indicate the central question of our project including who the audience is going to be, and what their experience would be like. This was a little difficult for us because we didn't have a solid project idea. We were juggling between a few consumer project ideas, but we still needed to decide on a final idea. Even though we were still unclear, it was a good thing that Emily raised these questions to us. Our group was able to find a common theme between all of our possible ideas, which was the goal of preventing waste and producing an environmental-friendly product. We want the audience to be proud of what they are using, feeling good about promoting and serving the earth. With this in mind, we were able to hold onto this goal and incorporate it into our design, making sure we didn't lose sight of the main goal as we developed it further. This activity was a good reminder to have. It allowed us to step back and evaluate the situation, forcing us to say, "Alright, what is the reason for us doing what we are doing?"

For example, if you were the Creative Director for an Advertising Agency and you were in charge of launching a delivery service for Chipotle, you would certainly want to collect input from the target audience, teenagers or college students. However, it would be beneficial to consider how this advertising technique resonates with busy parents or professionals. This way, you can see which method is most effective in reaching a wide range of consumers. Diverse individuals bring different things to the table because we all don’t think alike.

Although this project was more in depth than project 1, I felt like it went a lot smoother - mostly because our team had a lot of hands working on it. It was more effective to divide up the work, however the time saved on this stage had to be set aside for making sure everyone's information worked towards a cohesive design brief. At first, we had a lot of overlapping ideas and information regarding the JanSort that each person wanted to include in the presentation. Because of this, we had to be creative as to what other people could talk about. That is why we chose to include information about developing our product further, treating it as if this would be an actual product in the market. Initially, our group discussed the production of an actual backpack as a prototype. We found this to be very time consuming however, and settled on sketches to get the point across. I'm glad we decided on this idea because it was useful in communicating our idea to a large audience.

One thing that I would have liked to see in this virtual room is the use of a circular screen instead of a traditional flat screen. With this omni-theater, runners could feel immersed in this running experience, not being distracted by the corners of the room that make it seem unreal. Also, I’m not sure if the group expanded on the idea about having multiple treadmills or conveyor belts running at the same time, but that would be a change I would like to see!

This week has certainly gone by fast, and the days are quickly dwindling down to the Project 2 presentations! The mandatory meeting on Wednesday was immensely helpful in the progress of our design brief. Getting to see everyone's visual work and communicating in a more efficient matter definitely moved us forward quicker! In the 45 minutes that we physically met, I believe we accomplished more than our week long exchange of e-mails. This reminds me of something that Tim Brown says in his book. In Chapter One he explicates the hinderance of technology among group project work. He says, "“E-mail has done little to support collective teamwork. The Internet helps move information around but has done little to bring people together. Creative teams need to be able to share their thoughts not only verbally but visually and physically as well.” Excerpt From: Tim Brown with Barry Katz. “Change by Design.” Communicating over e-mail certainly has it's benefits including being able to communicate at any time, anywhere; but it can also cause problems. Perhaps some people may not feel obligated to reply, and it's definitely hard to keep track of all the e-mails if there are multiple conversations taking place. Overall, the weekly meeting was certainly needed and our group is on it's way to Project 2 success!

The processes of “making” and “thinking” are essential when producing a creative solution to a problem. In my opinion, I think these two processes are intertwined with each other. If you are making, you are thinking. For example, when making a prototype, you are simultaneously thinking about how to efficiently communicate this solution, empathizing with your audience to figure out what is the best possible method, etc. In a similar way, if you are thinking, you are making. You are making conscious decisions about how to approach a problem, making inferences about your audience, and making a conclusion as how to produce the best results. “Making” and “thinking” are knit together into a fitting relationship, proving to be essential processes during the creation of an idea.

I enjoy being artistic and creative, but I feel like in order to truly be creative, I have to be working independently. Most of the time when I am in a group and we are faced with a task to brainstorm ideas for a project, I find myself hesitating to share my ideas because my teammates could end up hating it. During my time here in Des 1000, I hope to develop the skills to actively work in a team collaboration without the fear of rejection or saying something stupid. Along with this idea, I would like to improve on my verbal presenting skills. I hope to improve the way I can articulate what I am thinking in a timely manner. I don't know about you guys, but I ended up saying about half of the stuff that was on my notecards while I was presenting. Overall, I want to break out of this shell that is keeping me from sharing my ideas, and adopt the mindset that what I am contributing is valuable information that could end up leading the project in an interesting way.

Maybe I'm just over thinking it - Or maybe I'm just being too picky with what I want to share for Project 1. It is a challenge in itself to define a problem.