+ What was your biggest learning that you took from this paper?
There is a lot of work that goes into running an event, and there's so many parts to it that I never would have thought to considered. Although the biggest thing for me was the journey map of a user following a before, during and after structure. Creating touch points to draw someone in and actually thinking about how a user would get to the main part of the project has challenged me but also made me more aware of how a fully conceptualised experience design works.
+ What aspect of your project are you most happy with.
The aesthetic style that Emma and I chose for our project is something that I really enjoyed creating and I personally think is really fun and engaging. But overall I am really happy with how everything turned out.
+ What would you do differently.
Initial I wanted to do something more toward character design for this project which didn't really end up happening. However, I am also kinda glad that we ended up going down the path we did take as designing an event is not something I have ever done before and it has been really beneficial for my learning.
Thursday, 15 October 2015
Class 12.1 - Final Tweaks
DEFINE l PROTOTYPE
Emma and I were pretty much up to date at this point and just needed to revise over our dossier and presentation and practice for our presentation to the class. One point of feedback that wasn't brought up in our presentation to Lifehack was the suggestion to lower the age group of the target audience. They felt that our experience would be more suitable and beneficial for either year 9 or 10 so the skills they learn and also the possibility of breaking up friend groups has a possibility to continue on throughout the rest of their years at high school. After some discussion, Emma and I agreed that year 9 would probably be a a better target audience for us and wouldn't be much for us to change (only a few parts of the dossier text). After sorting that out as well as some more small details within our dossier we were ready to roll for our presentation the next day.
Emma and I were pretty much up to date at this point and just needed to revise over our dossier and presentation and practice for our presentation to the class. One point of feedback that wasn't brought up in our presentation to Lifehack was the suggestion to lower the age group of the target audience. They felt that our experience would be more suitable and beneficial for either year 9 or 10 so the skills they learn and also the possibility of breaking up friend groups has a possibility to continue on throughout the rest of their years at high school. After some discussion, Emma and I agreed that year 9 would probably be a a better target audience for us and wouldn't be much for us to change (only a few parts of the dossier text). After sorting that out as well as some more small details within our dossier we were ready to roll for our presentation the next day.
Class 11.2 - Presenting to Lifehack
TEST
Once we had printed out all our designed touch points that we had up to this point, we were kinda surprised with a small presentation to two of the guys from Lifehack. Since we were put on the spot a little bit what we presented in terms of what we said was not revised in the slightest and therefore was a little messy. However, we got some really good constructive feedback for what we needed to work on leading up to hand in.
Key points brought up -
Once we had printed out all our designed touch points that we had up to this point, we were kinda surprised with a small presentation to two of the guys from Lifehack. Since we were put on the spot a little bit what we presented in terms of what we said was not revised in the slightest and therefore was a little messy. However, we got some really good constructive feedback for what we needed to work on leading up to hand in.
Key points brought up -
- Add a phrase or quote alongside the logo to hint more at what the event was about (become a superhero you)
- Don't use the logo without any other visuals. By itself, the logo is a bit unoriginal and looks like something you have seen before but couple with the illustration edited photos it becomes more unique
- Make sure the social media aspects are mocked up (already on our to do list)
- What will the activities being run look like? What kind of space will they be in?
- Possibility of adding small take-away elements from each of the main activities
- Group photos vs. individual. Since we are encouraging new connections etc. it would make more sense to have all of the superhero edited photos in group
Aside from these things we needed to work of, the guys from Lifehack really like the idea of re-branding mindfulness and EQ with the 'superhero you' phrase. Overall it seems like we are on the right track and I'm excited to keep going!
Class 11.1 - Photo Shoot
IDEATE l PROTOTYPE
During the week leading up to class, Emma and I had a small photo shoot in the green screen room to use as examples for our fourth touch point on our journey map. I also worked on the illustrations for the superhero face cutouts and completed them while Emma worked on the bus decals and digital questionnaire. At this point for us we were just needing to complete the work, focusing on the designing. Once we touched base again in class we were both happy with where we were heading with our project.
However, we felt that the digital questionnaire wasn't quite fitting in with the rest of our designs. Since it would be our first touch point of the experience it is very important for it to directly reflect on how the even will be and get students excited about it. There was just a little lacking in the current design so we thought adding some more illustrations into it may just bump it up the little more it needs.
During the week leading up to class, Emma and I had a small photo shoot in the green screen room to use as examples for our fourth touch point on our journey map. I also worked on the illustrations for the superhero face cutouts and completed them while Emma worked on the bus decals and digital questionnaire. At this point for us we were just needing to complete the work, focusing on the designing. Once we touched base again in class we were both happy with where we were heading with our project.
However, we felt that the digital questionnaire wasn't quite fitting in with the rest of our designs. Since it would be our first touch point of the experience it is very important for it to directly reflect on how the even will be and get students excited about it. There was just a little lacking in the current design so we thought adding some more illustrations into it may just bump it up the little more it needs.
Wednesday, 14 October 2015
Class 10.2 - Interim
TEST
The interim for us was kinda helpful but we didnt really get much feedback on our work. The only really good suggestion was to incorporate year 13's into the running of the event / give them the opportunity to volunteer to help out. Both Emma and I didn't know how we did not think of that early and will definitely include it in our logistics of the event as it would encourage even more school community.
During this class we were also given the opportunity to go and talk to Mark's daughter who was 13 and sitting in on our class. Even though she wasn't quite within our target audience we thought it would be beneficial to just have a chat to her about high school things any way. By some miracle, the answers that she gave to our questions about making new friends and just general info about high school, pretty much explained our big idea. She also really liked our visuals which was very reassuring and we are very very pleased. Hooray!
The interim for us was kinda helpful but we didnt really get much feedback on our work. The only really good suggestion was to incorporate year 13's into the running of the event / give them the opportunity to volunteer to help out. Both Emma and I didn't know how we did not think of that early and will definitely include it in our logistics of the event as it would encourage even more school community.
During this class we were also given the opportunity to go and talk to Mark's daughter who was 13 and sitting in on our class. Even though she wasn't quite within our target audience we thought it would be beneficial to just have a chat to her about high school things any way. By some miracle, the answers that she gave to our questions about making new friends and just general info about high school, pretty much explained our big idea. She also really liked our visuals which was very reassuring and we are very very pleased. Hooray!
Class 10.1 - Inter Class Feedback
TEST
At our class interim, Emma and I showed our coloured blow-up marquee, event layout, logo and journey map with our big idea and desired outcome next to it, It was really exciting to see the different projects that were taking place in the three class as well as the various stages people were at. One thing that I noticed was our class in particular had a really strong grasp on our big idea and logistics behind it where some of the other classes were more focused on the design but didn't have as much supporting statements to explain what they were doing very well. This kinda made me stress out a little as I was worried Emma and I had not done enough design work however, I then realised that we were in a really good place with our idea and just needed to keep trucking along.
DEFINE
Unfortunately, our work only got two points of feedback from our peers which I was quite upset by. I had put effort into giving constructive feedback to other groups but we didn't get as much back as what we put in. Aside from that the two points we did receive really gave us something to think about. The first was to try summarise our big idea even more but I think there was a little confusion there as our desired action and issue weren't separated from our big idea. Secondly was a comment on the visual style being to 'immature' for our year 12 target audience. This raised some big concerns with Emma and I even though it was only one persons opinion. After some discussion with our tutors we decided to keep with our current target audience as superheros are enjoyed by many ranging age groups, from young children to middle aged adults. More design work to come!
At our class interim, Emma and I showed our coloured blow-up marquee, event layout, logo and journey map with our big idea and desired outcome next to it, It was really exciting to see the different projects that were taking place in the three class as well as the various stages people were at. One thing that I noticed was our class in particular had a really strong grasp on our big idea and logistics behind it where some of the other classes were more focused on the design but didn't have as much supporting statements to explain what they were doing very well. This kinda made me stress out a little as I was worried Emma and I had not done enough design work however, I then realised that we were in a really good place with our idea and just needed to keep trucking along.
DEFINE
Unfortunately, our work only got two points of feedback from our peers which I was quite upset by. I had put effort into giving constructive feedback to other groups but we didn't get as much back as what we put in. Aside from that the two points we did receive really gave us something to think about. The first was to try summarise our big idea even more but I think there was a little confusion there as our desired action and issue weren't separated from our big idea. Secondly was a comment on the visual style being to 'immature' for our year 12 target audience. This raised some big concerns with Emma and I even though it was only one persons opinion. After some discussion with our tutors we decided to keep with our current target audience as superheros are enjoyed by many ranging age groups, from young children to middle aged adults. More design work to come!
Sunday, 27 September 2015
Class 9.2 - Our Twist on the Project
DEFINE l IDEATE
Since we didn't see Jason in our last class. he came to see us first to check where we were at. From the week before, he was happy with the direction we had taken the marquee as well as our logo and colour pallet. The one thing he was concerned about was that we were becoming too event reliant and needed something to give it that little bit extra. We needed more of a twist on our big idea to make our event exciting from the initial point of contact.
Emma and I struggled at little at the beginning to try figure out what would work best to help our idea. Once we identified that before this point our twist to the event was mindfulness it seemed to all fall into place. Even though through some of our prototyping the word 'mindfulness' didn't have any specific negative to conversations as most people hadn't heard of the term at 17, it doesn't really seem very exciting either. To help this aspect fit in better with our aim of the event and be more appealing to our demographic, we thought re-branding the term mindfulness would be a good way to engage as well as educate them. Our final outcome was 'an event that will help you become your superhero self'. By some miracle this take on our project fits in really well with the visual approach we already have. It was such a relief to finally get our big idea down packed and now all we need to do is do!
EX-CHANGE
I used this exchange meeting to practice for our interim presentation next week and make sure what we play to say would make sense for those that don't know anything about our project. This was mainly for our big idea because I was worried that it may be a little vague without any further explanation.
However, the feedback I got was really helpful and everyone said that it was a good way to introduce our our idea and the simple the better. One even said that the superhero annotation was the one thing she remembered most from when I was presenting. The only question that was asked about the project was where the event will be so this is something Emma and I need to be clear on in our next presentation. It was very reassuring to get to hear this so I am now a lot more confident about the interim next week!
Since we didn't see Jason in our last class. he came to see us first to check where we were at. From the week before, he was happy with the direction we had taken the marquee as well as our logo and colour pallet. The one thing he was concerned about was that we were becoming too event reliant and needed something to give it that little bit extra. We needed more of a twist on our big idea to make our event exciting from the initial point of contact.
Emma and I struggled at little at the beginning to try figure out what would work best to help our idea. Once we identified that before this point our twist to the event was mindfulness it seemed to all fall into place. Even though through some of our prototyping the word 'mindfulness' didn't have any specific negative to conversations as most people hadn't heard of the term at 17, it doesn't really seem very exciting either. To help this aspect fit in better with our aim of the event and be more appealing to our demographic, we thought re-branding the term mindfulness would be a good way to engage as well as educate them. Our final outcome was 'an event that will help you become your superhero self'. By some miracle this take on our project fits in really well with the visual approach we already have. It was such a relief to finally get our big idea down packed and now all we need to do is do!
EX-CHANGE
I used this exchange meeting to practice for our interim presentation next week and make sure what we play to say would make sense for those that don't know anything about our project. This was mainly for our big idea because I was worried that it may be a little vague without any further explanation.
However, the feedback I got was really helpful and everyone said that it was a good way to introduce our our idea and the simple the better. One even said that the superhero annotation was the one thing she remembered most from when I was presenting. The only question that was asked about the project was where the event will be so this is something Emma and I need to be clear on in our next presentation. It was very reassuring to get to hear this so I am now a lot more confident about the interim next week!
Class 9.1 - Making Decisions & Design for Social Good
EMPATHY l DEFINE
I thoroughly enjoyed our lecture from Leslie who works for ThinkPlace today and loved the idea of design for social good. For me personally, the fact that design opens up possibilities to help people is one of my favourite things about this degree and the key reason why I am so passionate about it.
What is the role of design in creating change for social good?
Design is an easy and effective way to communicate to an audience and therefore is a good platform to help spread positive word as well as solving social problems. Apart of this is the process of design thinking which allows for innovative approaches to problems and therefore resulting in an innovative solution.
What are the key elements of designing real change for humans?
Empathy is definitely the key factor in solving real problems. Taking yourself out of your own shoes and going to the audience / problem and investigating the issue yourself is the best way to make sure the design is centered around the user and not just your own assumptions of them.
I like that...
There is a trend toward design thinking and approaches and so is becoming a discipline that is more respected within society. People now take design more seriously which opens up a whole new world of real possibilities with this design for social good and actually helping people.
I wish that...
This could be somewhere I can take my degree with. I have a lot of strong beliefs and really care for humanity and the quality of people's lives and the idea of being able to affect people in such a positive way with something I have been passionate about for a long time really amazes me.
I will...
Definitely use this approach to design within my own work meaning there is a strong possibility that this would be something that I will incorporate into my major project next year.
IDEATE
After touching base during the week between our last class, we decided on a design style for our brand that would reflect a fun yet honest and free persona. Having bright fun colours coupled with hand drawn aspects we feel would be the best way to engage with our audience while not becoming to corporate and distant from the user. We also decided to rename our event as Spring Board as we felt Kindred was too soft and fluffy instead of exciting. All of thee decisions were based on a really helpful article Emma found about teenage trends as well as statistics and the like that showed the common interests and things that 16-18 year olds consider important to them.
This class we dedicated to sorting out our carry on design after the event as well as setting a timeline for ourselves so we dont get bogged down with the details and loose sight of the final work we need to produce. We were successful in both these areas and finalised our decision to focus on social media and video as a form of communication for the after design. Just need to keep on keeping on.
I thoroughly enjoyed our lecture from Leslie who works for ThinkPlace today and loved the idea of design for social good. For me personally, the fact that design opens up possibilities to help people is one of my favourite things about this degree and the key reason why I am so passionate about it.
What is the role of design in creating change for social good?
Design is an easy and effective way to communicate to an audience and therefore is a good platform to help spread positive word as well as solving social problems. Apart of this is the process of design thinking which allows for innovative approaches to problems and therefore resulting in an innovative solution.
What are the key elements of designing real change for humans?
Empathy is definitely the key factor in solving real problems. Taking yourself out of your own shoes and going to the audience / problem and investigating the issue yourself is the best way to make sure the design is centered around the user and not just your own assumptions of them.
I like that...
There is a trend toward design thinking and approaches and so is becoming a discipline that is more respected within society. People now take design more seriously which opens up a whole new world of real possibilities with this design for social good and actually helping people.
I wish that...
This could be somewhere I can take my degree with. I have a lot of strong beliefs and really care for humanity and the quality of people's lives and the idea of being able to affect people in such a positive way with something I have been passionate about for a long time really amazes me.
I will...
Definitely use this approach to design within my own work meaning there is a strong possibility that this would be something that I will incorporate into my major project next year.
IDEATE
After touching base during the week between our last class, we decided on a design style for our brand that would reflect a fun yet honest and free persona. Having bright fun colours coupled with hand drawn aspects we feel would be the best way to engage with our audience while not becoming to corporate and distant from the user. We also decided to rename our event as Spring Board as we felt Kindred was too soft and fluffy instead of exciting. All of thee decisions were based on a really helpful article Emma found about teenage trends as well as statistics and the like that showed the common interests and things that 16-18 year olds consider important to them.
This class we dedicated to sorting out our carry on design after the event as well as setting a timeline for ourselves so we dont get bogged down with the details and loose sight of the final work we need to produce. We were successful in both these areas and finalised our decision to focus on social media and video as a form of communication for the after design. Just need to keep on keeping on.
Class 8.2 - Our Big Idea
DEFINE l IDEATE
At this point we found it quite easy to put together our big idea and issue. From the feedback we got from prototyping in our last class we were more assured that we were on the right track. However, we hadn't talked to either Nanz or Jason for two classes so needed to confirm what we found through our testing was accurate. Thankfully, Jason told us our idea was looking good but we just needed to push our ideas for the possible structures during the event and reflect that in our overall design. We hadn't really thought about having anything more than a simple marquee and the like but since we dont have a budget we can go crazy.
Next for us would be to get some inspiration for fun, portable structures and start designing our own. We are also at a point where we can start designing other aspects of our project as well, including an aesthetic and logo. Exciting times ahead.
At this point we found it quite easy to put together our big idea and issue. From the feedback we got from prototyping in our last class we were more assured that we were on the right track. However, we hadn't talked to either Nanz or Jason for two classes so needed to confirm what we found through our testing was accurate. Thankfully, Jason told us our idea was looking good but we just needed to push our ideas for the possible structures during the event and reflect that in our overall design. We hadn't really thought about having anything more than a simple marquee and the like but since we dont have a budget we can go crazy.
Next for us would be to get some inspiration for fun, portable structures and start designing our own. We are also at a point where we can start designing other aspects of our project as well, including an aesthetic and logo. Exciting times ahead.
Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Class 8.1 - Event and UX Prototyping
PROTOTYPE l TEST
Since we had pretty much sorted how the digital questionnaire would look we thought it would be best to focus on the actual event and overall user experience for the next round of prototyping. To do this we set up a small model of our current idea for the event layout to use as reference then took who were were testing on through the essential journey map. We made sure we set the scene and take the tester back to when they were 17 with descriptive words. Our process involved doing this two times where the second time was more refined with the specific script we used and when we asked questions.
The feedback we got was very insightful and will definitely help us refine more of the smaller details for the event, such as making sure the activity stations are more secluded so there is no outside distractions for the group inside. It also reassured us of our idea and both Emma and I are very excited to get into the designing stage!
Since we had pretty much sorted how the digital questionnaire would look we thought it would be best to focus on the actual event and overall user experience for the next round of prototyping. To do this we set up a small model of our current idea for the event layout to use as reference then took who were were testing on through the essential journey map. We made sure we set the scene and take the tester back to when they were 17 with descriptive words. Our process involved doing this two times where the second time was more refined with the specific script we used and when we asked questions.
The feedback we got was very insightful and will definitely help us refine more of the smaller details for the event, such as making sure the activity stations are more secluded so there is no outside distractions for the group inside. It also reassured us of our idea and both Emma and I are very excited to get into the designing stage!
Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Class 7.2 - Rapid Prototyping
IDEATE l PROTOTYPE
For the prototyping exercise, we wanted to test the questionnaire that we would get the 16 - 18 year olds participating in the event to fill out the day before the event to help us put everyone into groups. We wrote down a bunch of questions but wanted the answers to be kept open so we can get an idea of what some good answers to supply would be. Instead of getting them to write their answers down, I acted as the device that the questions would be on (as this part would be on an app or website) and spoke the questions to the other team. Emma recorded the answers they provided. The feedback and insights we got from this prototype was really helpful to improve our idea. The key point being to make sure it was fun.
We went through a did another prototype testing how the questions would look on the app as well as how the user would answer them. After that we came to a good conclusion point for the day getting the feedback that it was fun to answer the questions. For our next prototype we want to move on and start testing the even itself so looking into layout etc. So both Emma and I will go away and create some layout concepts to produced a developed copy for our next class.
EX-CHANGE
For some reason there were hardly any people at the ex-change today so, again we had to combine with another group as there was only three people (including myself) present from ours. Although this was annoying, it was cool to see even more people's work and where they're going with the brief. I didnt want to test our prototype here as one one person can test it at a time and with a group of 6 it wouldve got quite messy. Instead I showed them the questions and answers and asked if there was any other questions that they think should also be included or any answers that were missing from the questions we already had. I got some good possible questions but they seemed quite happy with the answers we had.
For the prototyping exercise, we wanted to test the questionnaire that we would get the 16 - 18 year olds participating in the event to fill out the day before the event to help us put everyone into groups. We wrote down a bunch of questions but wanted the answers to be kept open so we can get an idea of what some good answers to supply would be. Instead of getting them to write their answers down, I acted as the device that the questions would be on (as this part would be on an app or website) and spoke the questions to the other team. Emma recorded the answers they provided. The feedback and insights we got from this prototype was really helpful to improve our idea. The key point being to make sure it was fun.
We went through a did another prototype testing how the questions would look on the app as well as how the user would answer them. After that we came to a good conclusion point for the day getting the feedback that it was fun to answer the questions. For our next prototype we want to move on and start testing the even itself so looking into layout etc. So both Emma and I will go away and create some layout concepts to produced a developed copy for our next class.
 |
| Me being a smart phone |
EX-CHANGE
For some reason there were hardly any people at the ex-change today so, again we had to combine with another group as there was only three people (including myself) present from ours. Although this was annoying, it was cool to see even more people's work and where they're going with the brief. I didnt want to test our prototype here as one one person can test it at a time and with a group of 6 it wouldve got quite messy. Instead I showed them the questions and answers and asked if there was any other questions that they think should also be included or any answers that were missing from the questions we already had. I got some good possible questions but they seemed quite happy with the answers we had.
Class 7.1 - Refining POV Statement
DEFINE l IDEATE
After a discussion with another group and Nanz, we decided that we needed to refine our target audience even more. I think, for me, I just really wanted for our project to have the possibility to help everyone and not make it more of an exclusive thing. Even though its hard for me to accept, I know that focusing on a smaller group is going to make the project a lot more successful. Mid this discussion I had a brain wave on how we can make the POV more refined while still keeping it open. Our event could be used to create connections between students through providing an environment of common interests. If we focus on those that have little to no friends and struggle with making new ones, we can include a secondary POV that targets those with lots of friends to create an initial connection which can hopefully flourish more friendships to be made.
This revelation came towards the end of class so Emma and I decided to take one POV each and work on that separately as well as doing further research.
After a discussion with another group and Nanz, we decided that we needed to refine our target audience even more. I think, for me, I just really wanted for our project to have the possibility to help everyone and not make it more of an exclusive thing. Even though its hard for me to accept, I know that focusing on a smaller group is going to make the project a lot more successful. Mid this discussion I had a brain wave on how we can make the POV more refined while still keeping it open. Our event could be used to create connections between students through providing an environment of common interests. If we focus on those that have little to no friends and struggle with making new ones, we can include a secondary POV that targets those with lots of friends to create an initial connection which can hopefully flourish more friendships to be made.
This revelation came towards the end of class so Emma and I decided to take one POV each and work on that separately as well as doing further research.
Holidays - Research & POV Statement
DEFINE
Unfortunately, our plan to go sit in on a health class at Wellington High school fell through because at the moment they're preparing for exams. Since all high schools will be at this point in the curriculum as well, there is very little to no chance that we would be able to go through with our plan else where.
So we now have to go back to our original idea and ask a health teacher questions about the students. Next step is to plan out some questions, fill out another ethics form and get it all signed off again.
DEFINE
Was a little confused about how the POV statements worked to begin with so decided to first brainstorm possible profiles for our topic. This really helped me get my head around the idea as well as understanding the possible people in our target audience. I drafted out two examples to discuss further with Emma when she gets back from holiday.
Unfortunately, our plan to go sit in on a health class at Wellington High school fell through because at the moment they're preparing for exams. Since all high schools will be at this point in the curriculum as well, there is very little to no chance that we would be able to go through with our plan else where.
So we now have to go back to our original idea and ask a health teacher questions about the students. Next step is to plan out some questions, fill out another ethics form and get it all signed off again.
DEFINE
Was a little confused about how the POV statements worked to begin with so decided to first brainstorm possible profiles for our topic. This really helped me get my head around the idea as well as understanding the possible people in our target audience. I drafted out two examples to discuss further with Emma when she gets back from holiday.
Friday, 4 September 2015
Class 6.2 - Interview Questions
DEFINE l IDEATE
We got our ethics forms all checked so our next step was to finalise our questions for our one interview. Initially we didn't really put much thought into the way the questions we wanted to ask were worded but eventually made sure that the questions were specifically tailored to get the exact information we wanted. The first few questions are now designed to just get the raw information and then adding an extra section at the end to offer any personal opinions on the topic.
We got our ethics forms all checked so our next step was to finalise our questions for our one interview. Initially we didn't really put much thought into the way the questions we wanted to ask were worded but eventually made sure that the questions were specifically tailored to get the exact information we wanted. The first few questions are now designed to just get the raw information and then adding an extra section at the end to offer any personal opinions on the topic.
Class 6.1 - Refining Our Target Audience and Approach
EMPATHY l DEFINE
After a discussion with our tutors we decided it would be more beneficial to us to narrow down our target audience since there is a very large difference between 13 yer olds and 18 years olds. We settled on 16-18 as this is a transitional period into adulthood and therefore a lot more responsibilities and decisions needing to be made about their future. This also eliminates the problem around interviewing youths under 16.
Also, following our week of research we decided that sitting in on a health class will give us the most information, and a first hand experience, of how youths are toward health, and mental health specifically as a subject. This will also eliminate any bias opinions that may cloud the answers from health teachers themselves. Emma will also interview a lady that works within mental health while she is home to get more of an understanding on what techniques and approaches toward mental health are currently being used in New Zealand.
After a discussion with our tutors we decided it would be more beneficial to us to narrow down our target audience since there is a very large difference between 13 yer olds and 18 years olds. We settled on 16-18 as this is a transitional period into adulthood and therefore a lot more responsibilities and decisions needing to be made about their future. This also eliminates the problem around interviewing youths under 16.
Also, following our week of research we decided that sitting in on a health class will give us the most information, and a first hand experience, of how youths are toward health, and mental health specifically as a subject. This will also eliminate any bias opinions that may cloud the answers from health teachers themselves. Emma will also interview a lady that works within mental health while she is home to get more of an understanding on what techniques and approaches toward mental health are currently being used in New Zealand.
Thursday, 3 September 2015
Class 5.2 - Ethics & Primary Research Approaches
EMPATHY
We got introduced to Massey's ethics process and the forms we need to fill out. Since our target audience includes youths under the age of 16, the parent consent forms were something we need to take into account when going through the interview process.
DEFINE
Our first step was to go through and identify what information we needed to find out / what we need to know. We then decided then best was to gain this information was to do some initial research to help inform the questions we ask in our interviews. At this point we decided that it would be best to ask the health teachers about their students and how they respond to health classes which would get around the issue with interviewing under 16 year olds. This would also cover a larger group quicker. If we were to talk to the students we thought it would be better to give them activities (e.g. sorting images into groups) that would help us gain insights more subtly rather than asking straight up questions that they may answer untruthfully.
We got introduced to Massey's ethics process and the forms we need to fill out. Since our target audience includes youths under the age of 16, the parent consent forms were something we need to take into account when going through the interview process.
DEFINE
Our first step was to go through and identify what information we needed to find out / what we need to know. We then decided then best was to gain this information was to do some initial research to help inform the questions we ask in our interviews. At this point we decided that it would be best to ask the health teachers about their students and how they respond to health classes which would get around the issue with interviewing under 16 year olds. This would also cover a larger group quicker. If we were to talk to the students we thought it would be better to give them activities (e.g. sorting images into groups) that would help us gain insights more subtly rather than asking straight up questions that they may answer untruthfully.
Class 5.1 - Hand-in
EMPATHY
It was very interesting to look at what everyone else had produced for this paper and the differentiating topics that people had chosen. There was some briefs that I thought might be interesting to tackle, one of them including Meow which was about sibling relationships. However, the brief that Emma and I worked on was the one that I felt the most connected with because of all the research I had already done on it. I was already invested in ours with a base knowledge as well as an idea where it could be taken. Emma also wanted to continue with our brief and after a discussion together we found that we both wanted to explore more into mindfulness as part of it. At this point we thought it would be best to stay together for at least the initial research and interview process and then decide later on if we want to stick together with the designing stage.
It was very interesting to look at what everyone else had produced for this paper and the differentiating topics that people had chosen. There was some briefs that I thought might be interesting to tackle, one of them including Meow which was about sibling relationships. However, the brief that Emma and I worked on was the one that I felt the most connected with because of all the research I had already done on it. I was already invested in ours with a base knowledge as well as an idea where it could be taken. Emma also wanted to continue with our brief and after a discussion together we found that we both wanted to explore more into mindfulness as part of it. At this point we thought it would be best to stay together for at least the initial research and interview process and then decide later on if we want to stick together with the designing stage.
Wednesday, 12 August 2015
10/08 - Final Brief & Print
PROTOTYPE
After changing the imagery on the cover and adding a continuous line throughout the whole document to further connect the pages, we were finally at a point to print off our brief "Understand Yourself". Ideally we wanted to print our spreads A2 double sided then sew down the center with a black (or even possibly coloured) string. Unfortunately. much to our disappointment, we weren't able to get A2 double sided printing at any commercial printery. We didn't want to have to rely on printing it ourselves from the Massey printers as we knew there was usually an issue with miss-aligned crop marks and the possibility of many other things that could go wrong. Even though it was not the most ideal situation, we decided a spiral bound document will still tie in quite well with our aesthetic.
I am so happy with our final product and the different possibilities we could take it in the next half the assignment!
After changing the imagery on the cover and adding a continuous line throughout the whole document to further connect the pages, we were finally at a point to print off our brief "Understand Yourself". Ideally we wanted to print our spreads A2 double sided then sew down the center with a black (or even possibly coloured) string. Unfortunately. much to our disappointment, we weren't able to get A2 double sided printing at any commercial printery. We didn't want to have to rely on printing it ourselves from the Massey printers as we knew there was usually an issue with miss-aligned crop marks and the possibility of many other things that could go wrong. Even though it was not the most ideal situation, we decided a spiral bound document will still tie in quite well with our aesthetic.
I am so happy with our final product and the different possibilities we could take it in the next half the assignment!
Class 4.2 - Putting Together Our First Full Draft
PROTOTYPE l TEST
During this class we realised that the final brief was A2 spreads and not A3 spreads as we were initially working with. I have no idea how we got this idea but I think we may have got confused/automatically assumed after the homework set for one A4 image and one A4 page of text for each topic that that was how we were meant to have our final. This meant that most of this class we spent reformatting what we had already done onto a larger document (which took a lot longer than we thought).
By the end of class we were able to get some feedback from both our tutors which gave us a lot to work for our final print stage. One thing we had noticed that was picked up by both Tulia and Jason was that the imagery that we had each done, even though was in the same style, didn't quite fit together due to different pen thickness. After the feedback we got we decided the best way to go would be a mix of both thin and thick pen in every drawing. This way the cohesion between spreads was maintained throughout the entire document. It also helped develop the individual images as well.
One last decision we had to make was which type of heading we were to go with. Before this class we had each generated some concepts for how we were to draw the headings with choosing one to feedback to each other. This was a bit harder to decided as, me personally, didn't have any strong preference to either one. However, one good point that Jason bought up about the headings was that since they are loose an unstructured like the imagery, compared with the body copy, the way its placed on the page should reflect that as well.
EX-CHANGE
Since a lot of our group members didn't turn up we ended up merging with another which I ended up quite enjoying. It was interesting to talk to more people about their projects and see how people from the same discipline approached their task. One thing that did let me down though was that most of the people in our combined group didn't really have anything to physically show at this point. I understand that with most other majors its not as easy to visually show ideas at such an early point in a 12 week project but even then, a couple people didn't even bring a mood board for their idea and where they want to take it.
However, this was made up from the feedback I got for our visual brief. It was nice to see people outside of our specific VCD brief to understand our concept and enjoy the imagery and style we were taking our idea. A few things that were said in feedback in terms of how to improve were tings that Emma and I had already established that we needed to work on/change but this just reinforced our decisions. One girl did say that she preferred Emma's linked font as it was more friendlier. As I looked at our draft brief more and more I was beginning to lean that way too.
During this class we realised that the final brief was A2 spreads and not A3 spreads as we were initially working with. I have no idea how we got this idea but I think we may have got confused/automatically assumed after the homework set for one A4 image and one A4 page of text for each topic that that was how we were meant to have our final. This meant that most of this class we spent reformatting what we had already done onto a larger document (which took a lot longer than we thought).
By the end of class we were able to get some feedback from both our tutors which gave us a lot to work for our final print stage. One thing we had noticed that was picked up by both Tulia and Jason was that the imagery that we had each done, even though was in the same style, didn't quite fit together due to different pen thickness. After the feedback we got we decided the best way to go would be a mix of both thin and thick pen in every drawing. This way the cohesion between spreads was maintained throughout the entire document. It also helped develop the individual images as well.
One last decision we had to make was which type of heading we were to go with. Before this class we had each generated some concepts for how we were to draw the headings with choosing one to feedback to each other. This was a bit harder to decided as, me personally, didn't have any strong preference to either one. However, one good point that Jason bought up about the headings was that since they are loose an unstructured like the imagery, compared with the body copy, the way its placed on the page should reflect that as well.
EX-CHANGE
Since a lot of our group members didn't turn up we ended up merging with another which I ended up quite enjoying. It was interesting to talk to more people about their projects and see how people from the same discipline approached their task. One thing that did let me down though was that most of the people in our combined group didn't really have anything to physically show at this point. I understand that with most other majors its not as easy to visually show ideas at such an early point in a 12 week project but even then, a couple people didn't even bring a mood board for their idea and where they want to take it.
However, this was made up from the feedback I got for our visual brief. It was nice to see people outside of our specific VCD brief to understand our concept and enjoy the imagery and style we were taking our idea. A few things that were said in feedback in terms of how to improve were tings that Emma and I had already established that we needed to work on/change but this just reinforced our decisions. One girl did say that she preferred Emma's linked font as it was more friendlier. As I looked at our draft brief more and more I was beginning to lean that way too.
Class 4.1 - Beginning Draft Spreads & Feedback
PROTOTYPE l TEST
For this class we needed to have mocked up a draft copy of our brief with all our own imagery and refined text. Emma and I remained working on our separate spreads but kept with the blind drawing theme so they were all cohesive. Unfortunately, since Emma had a workshop in the weekend she wasn't able to completely finish off all of her imagery. I had all of mine though so together you could see the line we were going on.
In a group with two other teams we laid out our spreads and got some really good feedback on our brief. They all liked the blind drawing style as well and how it links to the youth audience nicely. The main constructive feedback was that the imagery I had for the desired actions page (a ball of yarn) was a little confusing and didn't connect well with the topic. Otherwise it was more small details with the layout and headings etc. At this point we just needed to refine and finish off the imagery then come back together (diamond thinking!)
For this class we needed to have mocked up a draft copy of our brief with all our own imagery and refined text. Emma and I remained working on our separate spreads but kept with the blind drawing theme so they were all cohesive. Unfortunately, since Emma had a workshop in the weekend she wasn't able to completely finish off all of her imagery. I had all of mine though so together you could see the line we were going on.
In a group with two other teams we laid out our spreads and got some really good feedback on our brief. They all liked the blind drawing style as well and how it links to the youth audience nicely. The main constructive feedback was that the imagery I had for the desired actions page (a ball of yarn) was a little confusing and didn't connect well with the topic. Otherwise it was more small details with the layout and headings etc. At this point we just needed to refine and finish off the imagery then come back together (diamond thinking!)
Monday, 3 August 2015
Class 3.2 - Refining Our Idea & Setting Work Targets
DEFINE l IDEATE l TEST
Most of this class was just going over what stuff we had and the feedback we got to further refine our idea. We narrowed our target audience down to just high school students as there are a few differences in needs and wants from intermediate to high school students. We also decided that the blind drawing style of imagery had a good meaning behind it in relevance to our target audience and we both liked how the drawings looked. From here we also worked a little more on brainstorming subject matter together. We agreed on an estimated timeline of when we want to have things done by as well as organising what we needed to do before we met again Wednesday morning.
Apart of the class was group to group feedback where Emma and I were paired with another group with a similar topic. Even though the topic we were both doing had a few similarities it was interesting to see how completely different our approaches to the imagery were. They seemed to really like our blind drawing idea where as you progressed through the brief the drawings will be more put together and coherent.
Most of this class was just going over what stuff we had and the feedback we got to further refine our idea. We narrowed our target audience down to just high school students as there are a few differences in needs and wants from intermediate to high school students. We also decided that the blind drawing style of imagery had a good meaning behind it in relevance to our target audience and we both liked how the drawings looked. From here we also worked a little more on brainstorming subject matter together. We agreed on an estimated timeline of when we want to have things done by as well as organising what we needed to do before we met again Wednesday morning.
Apart of the class was group to group feedback where Emma and I were paired with another group with a similar topic. Even though the topic we were both doing had a few similarities it was interesting to see how completely different our approaches to the imagery were. They seemed to really like our blind drawing idea where as you progressed through the brief the drawings will be more put together and coherent.
Class 3.1 - Generating Our Own Imagery
TEST l IDEATE l PROTOTYPE
Unfortunately, I was sick so couldn't make it to this class so I had to send Emma my pages that I did for homework for her to print off and show to class. She gave me the feedback we got from the presentation but we decided it would be better to discuss that part.
Emma also let me know about the work we needed to do by the next class, which was to create our own imagery. We stuck with the same for area topics so we could expand on the work we had already done. I did some quick brainstorms to get a good selection of imagery options to draw from. I struggled a little with the barriers section however.
Unfortunately, I was sick so couldn't make it to this class so I had to send Emma my pages that I did for homework for her to print off and show to class. She gave me the feedback we got from the presentation but we decided it would be better to discuss that part.
Emma also let me know about the work we needed to do by the next class, which was to create our own imagery. We stuck with the same for area topics so we could expand on the work we had already done. I did some quick brainstorms to get a good selection of imagery options to draw from. I struggled a little with the barriers section however.
Class 2.2 - Fleshing Out Our Idea & Delegating Individual Tasks
EMPATHY l DEFINE
After an initial class discussion about the brief and finding out the final topics everyone was doing, me and Emma felt quite confident in the path we were taking. We just needed to figure out the smaller details. Going through each of the areas that are needed for the visual brief we were able set in our idea with even more confidence.
Our approach to the homework task was to split up the topics evenly, four of them each, go into more detail with the information on each one as well as create a mood board to select our imagery from for next class. We would then discuss between us the best imagery we think each topic needs.
EX-CHANGE
The group I was assigned to had one person from photography, fashion, spatial, industrial and two from VCD (including myself). However, two members, from industrial and VCD, werent able to make it so we only had four people for our first ex-change. I found it really interesting to see the different approaches of the wellbeing brief from each of the design disciplines and had a few questions to ask in terms of how the grouping and their specific assignments worked. The one main thing I noticed is that VCD is a lot more centered around helping other peoples wellbeing, whether it be from past experience or not, where other disciplines, specifically fashion, was more about individual wellbeing.
Although I did enjoy the small discussion we had, no one really had any other questions or feedback except for me which meant after half an hour no one had anything else to talk about. I feel like at the next ex-change it will be different and our group will engage more since we'll have physical things to show rather than just talking about it.
After an initial class discussion about the brief and finding out the final topics everyone was doing, me and Emma felt quite confident in the path we were taking. We just needed to figure out the smaller details. Going through each of the areas that are needed for the visual brief we were able set in our idea with even more confidence.
Our approach to the homework task was to split up the topics evenly, four of them each, go into more detail with the information on each one as well as create a mood board to select our imagery from for next class. We would then discuss between us the best imagery we think each topic needs.
EX-CHANGE
The group I was assigned to had one person from photography, fashion, spatial, industrial and two from VCD (including myself). However, two members, from industrial and VCD, werent able to make it so we only had four people for our first ex-change. I found it really interesting to see the different approaches of the wellbeing brief from each of the design disciplines and had a few questions to ask in terms of how the grouping and their specific assignments worked. The one main thing I noticed is that VCD is a lot more centered around helping other peoples wellbeing, whether it be from past experience or not, where other disciplines, specifically fashion, was more about individual wellbeing.
Although I did enjoy the small discussion we had, no one really had any other questions or feedback except for me which meant after half an hour no one had anything else to talk about. I feel like at the next ex-change it will be different and our group will engage more since we'll have physical things to show rather than just talking about it.
Sunday, 26 July 2015
Class 2.1 - Getting into Groups
EMPATHY
During class I narrowed my topic down to self understanding, focusing on mental health in youths. This meant I was put into a sub-group of mental health with most people focusing on stress, depression and anxiety. Initially I thought I might have been better is another group as most of the discussion we had was based around student mental health issues at uni and creating a balanced lifestyle.
EMPATHY I DEFINE
I was getting quite stressed out because I had a group meeting for another class straight after this one and we were running overtime with still not splitting up into smaller groups. Fortunately, one of the other girls that wasn't really involved as much (her name was coincidentally also Emma) in the main discussion said that her topic was on similar lines to my one as a larger theme but was more focused on depression and small ways to improve the symptoms of depression in day to day life. Once me and Emma split off we briefly talked about our topic and it seemed as though we were on the same page. To keep our options broad we decided that mental health as a whole would be better to focus on relating to self understanding. We also agreed that youths would be a good target audience.
During class I narrowed my topic down to self understanding, focusing on mental health in youths. This meant I was put into a sub-group of mental health with most people focusing on stress, depression and anxiety. Initially I thought I might have been better is another group as most of the discussion we had was based around student mental health issues at uni and creating a balanced lifestyle.
EMPATHY I DEFINE
I was getting quite stressed out because I had a group meeting for another class straight after this one and we were running overtime with still not splitting up into smaller groups. Fortunately, one of the other girls that wasn't really involved as much (her name was coincidentally also Emma) in the main discussion said that her topic was on similar lines to my one as a larger theme but was more focused on depression and small ways to improve the symptoms of depression in day to day life. Once me and Emma split off we briefly talked about our topic and it seemed as though we were on the same page. To keep our options broad we decided that mental health as a whole would be better to focus on relating to self understanding. We also agreed that youths would be a good target audience.
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