Category: Reflections

A reflection of each week as the course progresses. These reflections will provide a narrative of my journey.

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Reflections

March 11, 2020

  • A reference to the quote “…the future of design thinking is about going beyond designing for today’s problems. Yes, empathy and experimentation are still musts. However, this future includes tools and methodologies coming from strategic foresight and futurecasting…” from “What is the Future of Design Thinking.” The illustration displays the important combination of empathy and testing as well as forecasting and strategic foresight.
  • A reference to “Human senses as an activating force. The process and competencies of designers can make ideas and problems more concrete, sensible and human.” from “The Future for Design is +” It touches on multi-sensory design that extends beyond visual sight.
  • A reference to the quote “They’ve made a conscious choice to be flexible, to embrace the uncertainty, and try to manage the balance between innovation and focusing on core business.” from “Design Thinking Is Not The Answer – Especially If You Don’t Know The Question.” displays the important yet ever shifting scale between innovation and design and business.

*Note: sources are listed within the images (at the bottom). Cards were made on Canva with the use of their library of fonts and elements.

Week 10 was very streamlined. We presented posters that related to our Insight Project. I found it nerve-racking, yet exciting. I was looking forward to receiving constructive feedback. I enjoy the ideation that comes about from the feedback process. Questions that I had throughout the entire process began to be answered the more feedback and input I got. While I asked individuals throughout my project a lot of the responses were mixed. Being in a room with designers helps bring to light new avenues that I had yet to discover.

From the Design Thinking and Process Innovation course, I learned that the balance between business and design is important, but consumers’ voice is ultimately powerful. Appealing to there multiple senses and personal narrative is worthwhile. It may take testing, researching, empathizing, forecasting, and a variety of other steps (the full design thinking process) but in the end, the effort one puts in can make a product more worthwhile.

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Reflections

March 6, 2020

  • A reference to the quote from Ekaterina Walter, The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Market Your Brand. With emphasis drawn to the visual importance.
  • A reference to the quote from Ekaterina Walter, The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Market Your Brand. With emphasis placed on the concise nature of visuals.
  • A display of the quote by Dr. Howard Gardner “Stories constitute the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal.”
  • A visual display of capturing hearts, minds, attention, imagination, and interest.
  • A visualization of the word “adjectives.” Showing the form giving nature of adjectives. Adjectives are important in design.
  • Emphasizing the role of adjectives. It explains the nature of adjectives, made of concept and presentation.
  • A reference to utilizing skills possessed to properly display a design.
  • A reference to a quote by Brain Chesky “Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like.”

*Note: sources are listed within the images (at the bottom). Cards were made on Canva with the use of their library of fonts and elements.

Week 9 was mainly a work week. I got a good deal of work done on the conception of my promotional poster. My goal is to design a simple but clear poster. I want to use clean lines that display the product but allow for impact. Some of the examples shown in class made me want to develop my drawing and sketching skills further. As of now, I plan to use Adobe Illustrator to create a poster but I am considering using a hybrid of sketching and virtual editing.

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Reflections

March 1, 2020

  • A visualization of what the testing process feels like. One does many tests and get both positive and negative feedback. Though it is repetitive much of the feedback is meaningful and useful. It is a very important mode.
  • A depiction of the various product iterations in the refinement process.
  • A visual representation of convergence. At this stage it feels as though ideas have finally begun reaching their potential in the development process.
  • A visualization of “The Design Process, refining and going back to move forward.” An important pice of the process. Because sometimes you get a part right but mess up in other areas.
  • I was very interested in the design squiggle. Thus, this is a visual representation of the design squiggle shown as the word “squiggle” jumbled to start then gradually clarified.
  • A depiction of the variance in Prototyping versus Test Modes. Prototyping is more about fixing and creating and Test Modes are about breaking and solving.
  • A visualization of the quote, “Failure is success in progress.” (Albert Einstein)
  • A depiction of “Like, Wish, What if?” This process helped to converge ideas gathered throughout the feedback process.

*Note: sources are listed within the images (at the bottom). Cards were made on Canva with the use of their library of fonts and elements.

Week 8 was a meaningful week. We worked on testing and refining our prototypes. The testing process confirmed and realigned preexisting beliefs. Overall, it clarified my vision and specified user needs. All in all, I felt uplifted by the testing process. I did not enjoy parts out of class like getting consumers to test it, though it is very necessary. I enjoyed getting feedback, but I felt as though I was inconveniencing others. Because my product is a cup many were confused as to what to do with it. That said, I am glad to have gotten the experience and thoroughly believe in testing as it provided insightful feedback.

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Reflections

Feb. 24, 2020

  • Week 7 was all about prototyping. I learned to accept making something that looked and felt rough around the edges. I learned to make something that was not supposed to look good or live up to the expectations I placed into what I envisioned as the completed project.
  • I still feel like convergence is far away but I know that prototyping is a step closer.
  • I am so excited to be moving past the preparation stages of the design process. I have felt more fulfilled the last two weeks when attending class!
  • A display of the many iterations that can be made. While some are similar to the last others seem much different.
  • A quote that relates to the prototyping process. Prototyping is an action oriented mode.
  • One of the graphics in this weeks slides showed a big zig-zag path. I was inspired by that regarding the step-by-step process of the design process and prototyping itself.
  • Under the magnifying glass is the definition provided for prototype, which is “a device to examine the concept.” I felt that this was an essential takeaway from week 7.
  • A large part of design is failure. In many ways failure can breed innovation. When prototyping sometimes you fail to actualize the product that is in your mind but that can lead to a exploring other approaches.

*Note: sources are listed within the images (at the bottom). Cards were made on Canva with the use of their library of fonts and elements.

Week 7 was very engaging. I felt fulfilled in my attendance of each class. My class before Design Thinking is a slow-moving lecture. Though I am interested in the content I always find myself falling asleep and then trying to wake myself up to attend Design Thinking. This last week I felt more energized than I ever have. I think this week taught me more about what I need to be energized during the day. I need to engage with creativity, empathy, and problem-solving.

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Reflections

Feb. 16, 2020

  • A quote in class that references the importance of analysis through spacial groupings.
  • A reference to a class activity where we estimated our comfort level.
  • A display of a class activity. The graphic style differs greatly among the cards, this speaks to the messiness of some processes.
  • A display of the convergence from divergent ideas/concepts.
  • A mapping of my top ten ideas regarding the impact and ease implementation.
  • The top-ranked ideas by my group highlighted.
  • A table displaying the various rankings of ideas and the total score.
  • The total score of ideas displayed graphically in a jumble displaying the difficulty felt in assembling meaning.

*Note: sources are listed within the images (at the bottom). Cards were made on Canva with the use of their library of fonts and elements.

This week in class we conducted several interactive activities. These activities related to the Ideation Mode. Within this mode, many methods exist. The methods tend to be helpful for sorting, eliminating, and highlighting ideas. In my opinion, the Ideation Mode has been my favorite. Among the methods, the mapping of my top ten ideas and the table where I ranked them were the most helpful and enjoyable to complete.

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Reflections

Feb. 07, 2020

I chose to feature this card as I really connected with it. Last week I watched a movie on Netflix called “Steve Jobs” about the co-creator and longtime CEO of Apple. The movie showed how he used history and humanity to brand, market, and develop Apple. To me, this related to my bigger connection to Michel Foucault’s approach to philosophy through historical knowledge. Week 5 content has inspired me to look to history even more so when constructing original ideas and content.
  • A display of how preparatory steps can lead to the creation process.
  • A display of how important ideation is regardless of ego or feasibility.
  • A display of Convergence vs. Divergence. Divergence with many ideas and convergence with fewer.
  • The design process displayed listing the process from divergence to convergence.
  • A quote discussing the role of theft in creation.
  • Another quote iterating the role of stealing ideas within the design process.
  • Theft is not always good or bad. To convey more clarity regarding good and bad theft a list is useful.
  • When ideating questions are important. “How might we?” is a good question that aims at meeting consumer and product needs.

*Note: sources are listed within the images (at the bottom). Cards were made on Canva due to a failure to obtain the index cards used in previous weeks.

I was unable to attend the first class of the week due to illness. As a result, I focused on the content learned in that class to ensure that I understood all of the information. What I learned is that asking the right questions and being willing to learn from others is important. Originality is found through understanding essential successes and failure of the past and reorienting them for the present and future.

The lessons of week 5 made me think of Michel Foucault’s approach to philosophy. He borrowed heavily from history and applied them in contemporary and radical ways. In many ways, Foucault unlocked an essential method of creation.

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Reflections

Feb. 02, 2020

  • “The creative brief isn’t the answer it’s just the starting point” – John Shaw, W + K
    Source: Slide 5 Week 4 S1
  • “Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” – Leo Burnett
    Source: Slide 11 Week 4 S1
  • References the framing of one’s point of view.
    Source: Slide 21 Week 4 S2
  • Human-centered design is paramount.
    Source: Slide 7 Week 4 S2
  • A reference to the importance of considering point of view.
    Source: Slide 10 Week 4 S2
  • Emphasizes the empathy and define parts of the design process.
    Source: Slide 5 Week 4 S2
  • I found aspirations a strangely important part of the process. It seems to be important for a brief as well as a vision statement.
    Source: Slide 18 Week 4 S2
  • Displays a persona as discussed this week in class.
    Source: Slide 27 Week 4 S2

Week four brought up important insights. I discovered that the defining part of the design process is much more stimulated. While the empathy stage is very important it is more redundant than the define stage. We had a great guest speaker who discussed personas. He worked marketing/advertising for Natural Grocers. While I took away the importance of personas and the research within the empathy stage, I also learned about the great deals!

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Reflections

Jan. 25, 2020

  • I found myself tempted to skip steps.
    Source: None
  • At times recording empathy can feel like a redundant process but it is nonetheless important.
    Source: Design Thinking Process/Modes
  • Reflection and accountability is important to development. Looking at feedback from assignments is crucial.
    Source: Slide 3 – Week 3 Overview
  • During the week we focused a great deal on observing behavior.
    Source: None
  • Stories are connected to knowledge.
    Source: “Knowledge is captured in stories…”
    Mark Zeh, design leader at IDEO and Bose (Slide 7 – Week 3 Overview)
  • A visual depicting our story share in class–an important part of the design process.
    Source: None
  • The theme of the importance of asking questions is reiterated. Who is an important question regarding the target audience.
    Source: Design Thinking Process/Modes (Slide 9 – Week 3 Overview)
  • Displays how questions reveal a great deal. The importance hierarchy of questions and answers is displayed as it pertains to the design process.
    Source: “Stories ask questions and delay the answer.”
    Ellen Lupton, Design is Storytelling (Slide 8 – Week 3 Overview)

Week three contained a holiday (MLK day), thus there was only one day of class. What the lessons of the course revealed is the repetitive nature of the design process. Though sometimes it can seem redundant to record and carry out each step, it is crucial to follow the process. The empathy process is particularly important as it can help save time and money.

A special takeaway from this week is that patience is key. Moving forward I plan to practice patience so that I do not fall into the temptation of skipping steps within the process.

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Reflections

Jan. 20, 2020

The second week of class was crucial in exploring the design process. The process is important when finding direction in design. While some use objectives, these can actually derail the propper progression of a design by limiting it to specified goals.

In class, we have begun our design projects. I am working on Eco-to-go Coffee Cups. One of the challenges I am facing is eliminating my preconceptions of what I want. I have found that a lot of my initial questions for the empathy stage are leading. So I have had to go back and rethink more objective questions even though they may lead away from what my vision is for the design. I think these concessions are important to make in order to produce something that consumers want.

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Reflections

Jan 20, 2020

  • The various steps of the design process.
  • The importance of empathy in design. Moreover, the limitations one can put on empathy by allowing preconceptions to block it out.
  • The importance of listening in design. Listening can be very lucrative.
  • Highlighting the importance of observation in design as a part of the design process.
  • The importance of fusing personal narratives with consumers.
  • A display of how immersing oneself in the world of the consumer can open up a whole new world of unimaginable ideas though it can be scary.
  • Questioning everything is important in the design process, especially when consumerfacing.
  • Objectives can be important to understand but can also prevent progression in the design process, and cause misdirection.