Last Seen Blogs
sexydovee
makemecum
prettinhasafada
Prettinha
dokidobe
yellow.dr.monv
ddmbaya
Untitled
amayaatelier
Untitled
Photo
Design Process Reflection
Design Thinking 210, Term 2, Assignment 6
I don’t think that my design process has changed, but I do think that I have a better understanding of my design process, shown by the comparison of my old and new “design process” illustrations. Specifically, in the course of learning about Design Thinking, I now know each step of the design thinking process and how it correlates with the style of thinking required during the steps (creative and critical thinking).
Design Thinking has taught me to know that I need to separate creative and critical thinking depending on what design process step I am on. This is something I struggled with in the past. While designing something creatively, I’d also think critically. This would slow me down as I would often go back or redraw concepts instead of moving forward and drawing many different ideas very quickly.
Although not shown in my illustrations comparison, I did learn more.
While both listening to and participating in critique of Design Thinking, I know that feedback and critique on designs is important and necessary to ensure the design improves upon past work or to ensure that the design/solution meets the requirements of involved parties and/or during the process of getting critique from others, gain insight or new suggested solutions from other sources. Everyone should have a voice in the design, not just the designer or a select few (radical collaboration/user-centered design).
Lastly during the course of learning about Design Thinking, I learnt about the process of designing as a team and how the entire design process is applied by said team. I learnt about the difference between radical and typical collaboration, as well as about the 6 thinking hats (wearing each hat in turn either as a group or individually during the design process). These group skills are useful for the design process when collaborating with others.
So in conclusion, being able to separate creative and critical thinking has helped me to work more efficiently and effectively on each task. Learning about the importance of critique (while also practicing both giving and receiving critique), I am more comfortable both in giving and receiving critique for future designs. And learning about collaboration within the design process has also given me a better understanding of how to work with others for future designs/solutions.
0 notes
Text
Guiding Principles for Design
Design Thinking 210, Term 2, Assignment 5
Technological and medical advances are being made exponentially and as a result our lifestyles are constantly being redesigned. There used to be a time my dad insisted that all he needed a cellular phone to do was make calls and send text messages, now, I don’t think my dad can imagine life without a smart phone and sings its praises.
With all this advancement, we face both increasing old and new problems, such as:
The most obvious human-created problem is Global Warming. There are many, many texts describing the severity of Global Warming and I imagine everyone by now has some idea of its impact. Just as an example, rising sea levels in future could result in whole cities being lost.
Bad design can also have the negative environmental impact of injuring or affecting animal life.
Medical advances mean that the average human lifespan has increased and may continue to do so. This has led to countries having the problem of having an increased elderly population needing taking care of.
There is also the potential of genetically modifying individuals (designer babies?!?). This is a contentious topic, as potentially contentious as taking sport enhancing drugs for competitions as well as potentially being a new divide between the wealthy and poor.
In certain cities, people are buying more and more cars as the middle wage group grows. Some cities tax or are starting to tax using a car in certain places to help discourage owning and using cars in heavily trafficked cities and to rather use public transport.
Then there is the development of driver-less vehicles which will have an impact which remains to be seen.
Artificial Intelligence is the biggest development of the near future, which will have a very large impact ranging from unemployment in certain careers to how we use technology.
Social media has changed the way people interact with one another and may change value systems. It is not uncommon to find that individuals using social media as shallow or toxic. Smart phones and their many apps have fostered a society of instant gratification.
Then, user privacy is potentially under attack as major tech companies, such as Facebook and Google, collect the information of their users. This can be used by businesses to target and tailor ads most effective to an individual, which in my opinion has the potential to be predatory.
With all this advancement, resources are dwindling.
The potential for humans to settle on other planets is being worked towards. Should it be successful, it presents the opportunity for individuals to escape the problems facing humans, ironically, created by humans. The better solution is to not need to escape the planet and to get all these problems under control. However, because the problems are gradual and man-made, there isn’t enough ‘impending doom’ for a large enough change by societies to improve the situation.
Guiding Principles of Design:
Environmentally Friendly: Both in the impact of the design post its conception, as well as the resources and materials used during the process of its making.
Long-lasting (unless its lack of permanence is a design function): As an example, cell-phones and laptops are replaced by many as often as every 5 years, to be more environmentally and resource friendly, the lifespan of the design may need to be considered when being designed.
Physically Safe: It should go without saying that the design should limit any dangers experienced by users.
Verbally and Visually Safe: In the example of social media, the platforms should be monitored and control elements of fake news as well as inappropriate content. Facebook is a prime example of why it is important to monitor and potentially remove content, such as news on the platform being inaccurate in order to manipulate individuals, or when hate-groups/individuals post offensive or violent content.
Consumer Friendly: User consent and privacy should be adhered to and respected.
Accessible: The designed product/solution should be accessible and affordable to all that may need it.
Accountable: The designers/owner needs to be accountable for the design. In the event that the design has a negative impact, an effort should be made to correct or lessen the damage done and for a solution or discontinuation of the design to be implemented.
:) SO in short...
An environmentally friendly, long-lasting, physically/verbally/visually safe, consumer friendly, accessible design by accountable designers.
0 notes
Text
Turning Procrastination into Action
Design Thinking 210, Term 2, Assignment 4
Procrastination and I have a long, long history and it is something I am embarrassed to say I battle with daily. However, I have been on the opposite scale where, as a student in early high school, I worked to a point where I burned myself out. There is a tough balance between working and procrastinating that I am still trying to succeed at. In no way will I claim that the current me has the best work ethic, but there is a gradual improvement month by month, because the demand to do better or the load of work increases. The steps I have noticed that help me with turning procrastination into action are:
Step 1: Establishing and maintaining a routine
The tasks I need to perform in order to maintain my routine are;
Get a goodnight rest along with the occasional hour-long afternoon nap if necessary.
Eat (mostly) healthy and regularly.
And accomplish a task or perform chores early in the morning after waking.
These tasks may seem somewhat easy or natural, but there are times I put off doing simple things like tidying up my room, or skipping a meal, or staying up late to binge watch something. Doing these tasks gives me the energy and mental willingness to work throughout the day as well as reinforcing my sense of achievement and self-worth. I feel a lot better about myself when I’m on top of things and well-rested.
Step 2: Making lists…
In a previous exercise I mentioned I was a list-aholic. I usually have unnecessarily high expectations to the quality of work I want to perform, which puts unneeded stress and anxiety on me, as well as making me incredibly critical of everything I do.
Something that helps to keep me on track - and not get caught up on a tiny detail or feel overwhelmed by a mountain of work – is to make lists with my usual quick and messy handwriting. I can structure lists rather easily and quickly and it being a list, I don’t place too much importance on the ‘quality’ it has. The list themselves help me structure my thoughts rationally, break down the ‘mountain of work’ into bite-sized pieces and help me get a sense of how long each task should realistically take me (which helps with time management and ensures I don’t spend too long on one aspect of work).
Step 3: Background noise
Provided the task is something that allows me to listen without being too distracted to work, I like to have something play as background noise. This doesn’t work well for reading and studying (unless the background noise is something like the sound of waves or birds, something more ambient). BUT it is very effective when doing a task that requires less thought and more action. Tasks like drawing, carving, cutting, etc, where my hands are more focused on creating. I don’t just do this with work, I do this with everything I consider to be an almost brainless or automatic task, such as washing dishes or cleaning. The most effective background noise I find, depending on my mood and energy, is either podcasts (preferably something relevant and interesting that gives me a better understanding regarding the subjects that I study, or something comedic that will make me smile and enjoy myself while working) or listening to music for creativity and energy.
Step 4: Fresh air or working in a different environment than home
Getting out of the house recreationally gives me a sense of feeling refreshed as opposed to feeling cooped up. Leaving the house also allows me to think of things other than work which is good because it is not healthy to fixate on just work.
I also find that it is easier to work away from home. When I need to do readings for research, my favourite places to do so are coffee shops or libraries. The CTCA campus is also a good place to do work. Doing work somewhere other than home takes me away from possible sources of procrastination and allows me to focus for a few hours. And after working a few hours, I’m more comfortable at home allowing me to relax better when I need to relax (and not worry about the work still needed to be done).
Step 5: Being honest with myself. Knowing the difference between relaxing & procrastination
Procrastinating is something that I personally find it easy to fall into doing because I’ll try to justify it. I can very easily think up reasons why the procrastinating is to help me relax, but there is a point where it turns from relaxing and becomes destructive. Especially when I move from one source of procrastination straight to another or procrastinate unusually long on one thing, such as binge watching a series to its’ conclusion. I’d say that I’m very good at knowing when what I’m doing is healthy or destructive and it is because I’m learning more and more to be honest with how I feel. If I find a task boring or stressful, I make a point to admit that to myself. It may sound silly, but just being honest about WHY I’m not doing the work is more helpful towards facing it head on rather than ignoring the task altogether or being in general denial as to how much procrastinating I’m doing in order to avoid the work.
Step 6: Deadline pressure!
When all else fails, and I’m pushed for time, I know that I will leap into action to do the work. It is almost like a survival skill at this point. This is always the last resort and really should be avoided, but in the interest of being honest, doing work with only a few days or hours to spare, although uncomfortably stressful, the work gets done more diligently and I maintain an almost unnatural focus as I push through it. There is always the negative effect that the work will not be as high quality or refined, however, and if too much is attempted to be done in too short a time, becoming exhausted can lead to failing to finish the work.
Making lists and keeping tracks of all the tasks gives me a good sense of when the minimum amount of time left is required to finish a set of work. Again, this is not the best way to work as it is incredibly stressful, tiring and yields poorer results, but the pressure of time can really light a fire under my butt, so it is worth mentioning.
0 notes
Photo
Manifesto for Collaboration
Design Thinking 210, Term 2, Assignment 3
0 notes
Text
exploring... COLLABORATION
Design Thinking 210, Term 2, Assignment 2
What is collaboration???
Collaboration is the act of two or more people working together to produce something.
With that simple definition out of the way, I will explore the act of collaborating MY WAY (ironically not very collaborative at all). This exploration will be based on my personal experiences, as well as referencing two of my three favorite pop culture mediums: Video Games and Movies (the third being Music FYI).
Whether or not collaboration is good or bad is not really up for debate. Collaboration is inevitable and really society is a collaborative effort. Whether you want to or not, an individual at many points of their lives will have to work with others, whether that’s at the workplace, the PTA at your children’s school or even with family preparing your Mother’s Day breakfast (topical as Mother’s Day is this Sunday).
So collaboration...
Why is it important?
As said, collaborating is inevitable, so in order to make sure whatever is being produced is a resounding success, all members need to work well with one another to make it so. I will delve into how collaborating can be effective or ineffective shortly... but first, collaborating is necessary for larger projects or productions, where many hands are needed as a single individual would struggle to do it all alone. Collaboration thus makes it possible to produce things like video games or movies. If these productions were made by a singular individual they would be limited in scope/detail and possibly even appear ‘low budget’. Could you imagine a Marvel movie the same caliber as we are used to; if it were directed and acted and lit and shot by a single individual?... I THINK NOT!!!
The marvel movies are a good example of a large scale collaboration featuring many actors, directors and writers collaborating together to produce a marvel universe across multiple films.
When is it effective?
As talked about when discussing the importance of collaborating; a large scale production of some kind is when collaborating can prove to be effective.
Or, when the production requires people with varying specialties. If a musician wanted to produce an animated music video, they might seek out an animator/motion designer. Together, these individuals would have to collaborate to produce something that feels right for the music.
And ultimately, any client seeking another parties help to produce something, both client and the employed party need to work together to meet the client’s needs.
It is also effective at solving problems. ‘Many heads are better than one’.
When is it a waste of time?
The reverse of when is it effective to an extent. If the production or project is small enough for a single individual to do correctly on their own, then more hands could complicate the process. ‘Too many cooks in the kitchen’ so-to-speak.
Just to add to the ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ idiom, collaboration can be a waste of time when the discussing gets in the way of action (red tape). I have countless memories as a child of my father coming home and being frustrated with the lack of progress achieved in so-called ‘business meetings’.
And in addition, even if collaboration is justified and needed to accomplish something, it can be a waste of time when members of the collaboration collaborate poorly. Whether that’s working improperly or inadequately, or not being open to other input, or poor leadership, etc. Bad collaboration is bad (this sentence is purposefully written this way - to state the obvious)...
On the topic of bad collaboration... What are possible contributing factors that can result in collaboration resulting in failure or poor results?
Oooh boy. Where do I begin... Speaking from experience, and as mentioned when answering the previous question, when one or more individuals don’t do their work properly; whether that’s not performing tasks assigned to their specialty or profession correctly or on time, or even just not giving any input or they communicate poorly, etc... Anyone that has had a group assignment for a class may have experienced this. There is a large number of ways for individuals to make the process difficult for the others they collaborate with. Collaboration requires trusting everyone to do their part.
Leadership plays a vital role, especially in a typical collaboration (an explanation of what a typical collaboration is will be given later in this text). If leadership is not open to others input, or ask too much of the others working on the production, then that skewed dynamic can skew the result of the production. A good leader needs to know that they may not know everything and that they may not always be right. Unfortunately, sometimes power corrupts.
The upcoming Sonic movie backlash (based on a video game character) is a good example of poor leadership, in the way that the (lead) CG designers made the design decision to stray away from Sonic’s original design by Square Enix (with horrifying results). Sonic is a cultural icon and the decision to stray away from Sonic’s original design is somewhat of an insult to both the fans of the character and the original creators of the character. Jim Sterling in his YouTube video very passionately and elaborately discusses this particular topic, the image is a screenshot of said video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qacb7ZQoeYQ&list=UUWCw2Sd7RlYJ2yuNVHDWNOA&index=4.
The next two images are by another YouTube channel, YongYea, where he also discusses the Sonic design along with diving into social media platforms to show how some people have edited the image to show a more true to the original design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q0__RrgJh8&t=931s. Since the backlash, it has been announced that Sonic will be redesigned before the movie release in 9 months.
Leadership can also fail in the opposite way. By not giving a clear brief or structure or ‘vision’ for the production.
Anthem falls into the category of a lack of clear vision from leadership. Anthem is a game published by EA and developed by Bioware. I could go into great detail regarding this game and the many factors that may have contributed to it disappointing its player base, and it losing both half the aforementioned players that bought into the ‘live service’ game and also halved its price tag in most retail stores only a month or two after its release. According to a Kotaku article by Jason Schreier, one of the reasons for it to be a poor product is a lack of a clear design vision.
A quote from the article reads: “One of the things we struggled with was, we didn’t understand the game concept,” said one former BioWare Austin developer. “When Anthem was presented to us, it was never really clear what the game was.”
Here is a link to the full article if interested (be warned, it is very detailed and in depth over the many, many issues that caused the development to go awry):
https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964.
The client or employer can also make the task difficult, by making unreasonable or unclear demands. Clients/employers can also not do what is required of them properly or on time and that can slow the process.
Electronic Arts as mentioned is the publisher of Anthem along with many other games. EA has quite publicly announced that it aims to focus developing games as ‘live services’ only. Essentially games that players play online with others that encourage “recurring spending”. I’ll be honest in admitting that I dislike EA quite a bit. By forcing their developers to ONLY develop live services when they may have little to no experience developing that type of game, or taking a past franchise and trying to turn it into a live service that then creates a lesser version of that franchise as a result. In this way they make the design process difficult for all game designers and developers working in collaboration with one another. Furthermore, they also insist their developers develop games using EA’s ‘Frostbite Engine’, which often proves not to be a good tool to develop the game and causes many problems during development that then need time to be solved.
And then there is the trap of producing something nobody wants or is interested in. Essentially this could be summed up in design speak as ‘solving the wrong problem’.
Lawbreakers is a First-Person Shooter game published by Nexon and developed by Boss Key Productions. It tried to sell itself as better than already established First-Person Shooter games and at a better price, however, it ended up selling very few copies and in less than a year came offline. This was a bit of a surprise to most video game analysts, game journalists and especially surprising for the developers and publisher, because during it’s beta and pre-release it had a following and traction. One of the core reasons later decided for it not selling well was that the market was already over-saturated with these sorts of games and there were too many new and more popular games also released at the same time as the Lawbreakers release date. There wasn’t a need or desire for players to own a new FPS game as most players already owned multiple or could play others for free, and as a result, Lawbreakers didn’t hit any target audience. The second image is a screenshot from the Pretty Good Games YouTube channel where they discuss the games eventual abandonment by the publishers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suIkpFufNYA.
So in conclusion, essentially everyone at every level has the ability to complicate and lessen the quality of the collaborative production.
What is the difference between typical and radical collaboration?
‘Radical collaboration’ is a term I have never heard before until now for this assignment. I found a description of what radical collaboration is on this website:
https://www.inc.com/michael-graber/radical-collaboration-mindset-over-process.html. Quoting the article, if I may:
“The first mindset is fostering a sense of radical collaboration, meaning that we all work in multidisciplinary teams and that we explore ideas, insights, and concepts fearlessly as equal team members.”
and “Under radical collaboration no one will "pull rank" and everyone will listen respectfully to one another; hence the word "radical.".
So typical collaboration is your usual, corporate structure of people working together. With there being leaders at the top of a ladder and people working under them, thus leaders have more power and say.
Radical collaboration tries to make everyone equals in the collaborative process, at least at certain phases of the development. Ultimately radical collaboration seems to try to eliminate some of the issues I mentioned earlier that could result in the collaboration producing a poor result. Poor leadership, lack of creativity, solving the right problem, etc.
What guidelines need to be in place for collaboration to be helpful?
I think that there need to be roles. While everyone has an equal say, and can contribute both an individual and specialized opinion or idea to the production or problem being tackled, people will ultimately still produce work under their area of expertise.
Taking what someone else in another profession says under advisement when working on your aspect of the collaboration should be encouraged.
An open, respectful and non-judgmental space needs to be adhered to.
Leadership or management positions/roles are not there to be dictators but should rather facilitate a constructive and structured collaborative experience while also keeping track of the various aspects of the collaboration. That’s not to say that the leadership can’t have a say, or even overrule a decision. They, just like everyone else, need to be open to everyone else’s ideas.
Do the research. Who is it for? And what do they need/want? Don’t assume to know best.
Leadership should also make sure that everyone is clear on the goal and ‘vision’ of the collaboration.
And then simple stuff. Communicate clearly, and do the work in earnest. I think there also needs to be room to fail. An individual or group of people may stumble upon a problem when working on their end, and there needs to be the understanding that these things take time to solve rather than applying pressure or discomfort on those individuals.
Who should you collaborate with?
Is this a trick question? I’ve got a trick answer. You should collaborate with anyone and everyone. It doesn’t matter how similar or different you are. It is less about who you collaborate with and more about how you collaborate. On the presumption that those you work with strive to collaborate effectively and do their part; it doesn’t matter if their personality, culture, religion or even their taste in music differs from yours. It can be a constructive process. Perhaps it is even more beneficial to work with someone that differs greatly from you in their experiences and beliefs.
Who do you want to collaborate with?
I don’t have a single individual in mind. But... I know that I want anyone I work with to be respectful, have an open mind, communicate effectively and appropriately, be creative, be passionate, take pride in their work and work diligently. That to me sounds like the perfect individual or individuals to work with.
Who should you avoid collaborating with?
The opposite of what I just listed (funny enough). I think even one opposite trait to the ideal collaborative individual I listed in the earlier question is a deal breaker. If they are disrespectful, then no. If they are closed-minded or stubborn, no. If they communicate poorly or infrequently when needed, no. Everyone has the capacity to be creative so I don’t think it’s fair to assume someone can not be creative. If the quality of work they produce is inadequate, however, or doesn’t get done in time or at all, then I would not want to work with that individual. That being said, it is not often that you get a choice in who you work with.
0 notes
Text
Is Design Thinking Bullsh*t?
Design Thinking 210, Term 2, Assignment 1
From my point of view, NO. ‘Design Thinking’ in its pure, well-understood form is ultimately a good process/principle and can be ultimately helpful for a designer.
‘Design Thinking’ is meant to allow designers to show their growth and progress when designing a solution/product, creating an understanding between the designers and employers regarding what work has been performed by the designer/s.
‘Design Thinking’ is a good, basic, generic design process which features the kind of process or work most designers perform, namely:
Empathising (a form of research) with the user/target market
Researching the problems or challenges, and ‘Defining’ the brief
Ideating
Prototyping
Testing
HOWEVER!!!...
It is important to stress that this Stanford d.school ‘Design Thinking’ process is a generic and basic understanding of what designers do. Different designers or groups of designers/fields of designers may have different preferred design processes. There is not just one ideal method or process of design and there may be more steps taken by designer/s or performed in a different order or manner, etc. Just like there isn’t just one recipe for cake, different designers may use different preferred ‘recipes’ as their process.
ALSO
Following this specific ‘Design Thinking’ process does not guarantee that a good design solution or product will be created.
Finally
The term ‘Design Thinking’ can be misused or misrepresented. For example, using the term ‘Design Thinking’ for the sole purpose as a buzz word or label means that the term loses its substance and meaning. Essentially it can become false advertising.
My Design Process vs. The ‘Stanford’s d.school Design Thinking Process’
I’d be lying if I said my design process isn’t similar to the standard ‘Design Thinking’ process. I usually start with thinking about what the client or user would need/want (unless I’m designing something for my preference or style, such as illustrations).
I usually skip defining a brief as a brief is usually already provided.
Before I both do research/look for source material and ideate, something I like to do is make lists. I am a list-a-holic, and I think I may have an idea as to why I have an affinity for lists. Lists allow me to think creatively while brainstorming and separate critical thought from the equation. If I draw or try to prepare a presentation or mind map, I become too aware and too concerned with the appearance of drawings or image. Whereas, when I just simply write a list, I feel no sense of displeasure or discomfort. I don’t have to take words scribbled on a page too seriously. (These lists do not take the form of post-it notes!!! Just regular exam pad bullet point lists)
After I have sorted my thoughts and either written down a detailed list of things to research or a long list of ideas to try, it becomes easier for me to research or create because all my energy goes into researching or creating rather than brainstorming. The brainstorming is finished with the list-making.
I struggle to not think critically while I work, however, it is important to note that I did not learn the difference between critical and creative thought through learning about the generic 5-step ‘Design Thinking’ process. The ‘Double Diamond’ design process taught in class made me aware of divergent (creative) thought and convergent (critical) thought.
After ideating, FEEDBACK is important. This could be found in the testing phase of the standard ‘Design Thinking’ process, however, not much emphasis is put on it with the word “test”. A test of a design can be done as an individual. Getting another person’s or multiple peoples’ opinion of a design/solution helps to then later refine or renew the process/design. This is what Natasha Jen, partner of Pentagram, argues. Critique, whether it’s from peers or past work, this helps improve and develop the design/solution. My feedback at my stage is either from fellow classmates or a lecturer. Lecturers quite often take the role as the client in my mind, and so when a lecturer says they would like to see a certain implementation or development, I try to follow through on that. I am aware future clients in real life may have little-to-no background or understanding of design, in which case I will need to stand my ground when I think the client is wrong in what they are asking to be done and suggest alternatives or compromise. My lecturers obviously do have a good understanding of design so therefore I take their input seriously.
Prototyping doesn’t happen often, unless you count 2-dimensional drawings or representations. Currently the assignments I mainly get are visual in nature rather than 3-dimensional. And as the due date nears, eventually I need to SETTLE on a final design. I always hand-in my assignment aware of what more I could do, or how I could have done something or many things slightly differently, but at some point you just need to settle on the final design in order to ensure the assignment is handed in on time. Without the due date, I may never stop redesigning or refining...
0 notes
Photo
Design Thinking 210, Task 6: AT ONE Analysis of -
Partner Transport Service Solution
0 notes
Photo
Design Thinking 210, Task 6: Group ‘At One’ Challenge
0 notes
Photo
Design Thinking 210, Task 5: Dictionary of Emotions
1.Trust: ‘firm belief in reliability’
Physical Conditions? ~a pleasant light-feeling of shoulders
2.Joy: ‘feeling of pleasure or enjoyment’
Physical Conditions?
a bubbly lightheaded sensation
a pleasant tension around smile
3.Surprise: ‘feeling of astonishment or shock over something unexpected’
Physical Conditions?
wide eyes
jaw drops
4.Excitement: ‘feeling enthusiasm or eagerness/a pleasant impatience’
Physical Conditions? ~fidgeting
5.Fear: ‘threatened by something’
Physical Conditions?
chest pains
sore tummy
possible shaking
closed eyes/avoidance
6.Anger: ‘strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure or hostility’
Physical Conditions?
intense heat
jaw clenched
eyes burning
7.Hatred: ‘intense dislike’
Physical Conditions?
disgust/feeling sick
and similar conditions of anger
8.Frustration: ‘upset or annoyed as a result of being unable to change or achieve something’
Physical Conditions? ~similar combination of conditions experienced during sadness and/or anger
9.Worry: ‘concern of actual or potential problems’/similar to frustration except does not necessarily contain feelings of helplessness
Physical Conditions?
lack of focus
sore tummy
tooth aches
10.Sadness: ‘unhappiness/sorrow/regret’
Physical Conditions?
tears
exhaustion
chest pain
0 notes
Photo
Design Thinking 210, Task 4: Prototype 1
Prototype of transport design solution made from materials provided during session.
0 notes
Photo
Design Thinking 210, Task 4: Solving a Transportation Issue
0 notes
Photo
Design Thinking 210, Task 3: Mapping a Design Process
0 notes
Photo
Design Thinking 210, Task 2: Quick Design Solution
In our respective groups we were presented a choice of historical occurrences which (in our minds) has shaped society negatively.
The task was to design a solution to the problem the historical occurrence caused within our present. Our group tackled the idea of gender and how gender dictates how we behave and how we are treated to the point where gender discrimination and exploitation can actively be seen within society (the glass ceiling, fewer women in active leadership roles, women being seen as less physically or emotionally strong and requiring men to look after them [chivalry], etc).
The challenge for our group was to limit the amount of impact the idea of gender has on defining or labeling people. Our solution began with trying to limit the false ideological practices that cause these skewed perceptions to become concrete, false ideologies like; -pink is for girls, blue is for boys- -girls play with barbies, boys play with race cars- -girls are meant to be ballerinas, boys are meant to participate in some sort of team sport-...
Just to be clear, the idea that we limit the impact of gender does not mean we become ignorant or denounce through propaganda that as different sexes we have different sexual organs and functions, the goal is simply to limit the false ideologies, not anything grounded in reality.
-We began with the idea of unisex clothing which further branches out to unisex product design and advertising (both male and female shampoo do the same thing, only thing different is the packaging).
-Redesign bathrooms to be for use of everyone, instead of having one large room with smaller stalls contained within, have smaller, separate rooms as illustrated in our planning. Also, the baby changing room needs to not only be located within a ‘female’ bathroom as this implies that women are the only ones capable of changing a diaper or are meant to predominantly fill that role.
-The education system would need to adjust to informing us of our false ideologies regarding gender (good luck with this though...).
-And then we need to challenge stereotypes within our culture and media (fight fire with fire).
0 notes
Text
Design Thinking 210,Task 1: Altered Reality
Introduction:
Hello there reader. Yes, I’m addressing you as an individual. You may be my lecturer here to read and evaluate what I have written for this task or you might be a fellow student or you may be none of these... Perhaps you found that this post might be interesting to read. Because of the public nature of this medium, I feel it is important to provide context:
~Task 1: Rewriting the history of the world.
In a written piece, re-imagine the history of the world. Identify one historical reality that you would like to eliminate from the history of the world. This should be a historical occurrence that lead – in your mind – to a problem that exists within our current world order. Imagine what the world would be like if this historical event/occurrence never took place.~
What this task is asking me to do is fix a problem with the world by changing/eliminating one “historical occurrence...This should be a historical occurrence that lead – in your mind – to a problem that exists within our current world order.” The phrase “in your mind” is important for you as the reader to keep in mind. This is my opinion, and my opinion is formed on my narrow context of the world, based on my experience and the experiences of those closest to me. I can not in any capacity claim that I’m an authoritative figure that can claim to know what’s best (I am a student and still learning how the world works). Another disclaimer, I will be writing this in a very informal manner as this is what is most comfortable when expressing my opinion and tackling this task in a creative manner.
Chapter 1:
So... on to the actual task. I found the instructions of this task a little difficult to follow, because I don’t think changing one historical occurrence by itself will fix a singular problem. I think “a problem that exists” exists because of a multitude of reasons instead of just one. The world is complex after all.
Also, it would be easy to say, “I wish Hitler never came into power”, but, I think actually that that history has some significance in shaping our views as a society. That may sound insensitive. What I mean is that bad experiences can shape us into better people. Just as an individual can learn through, for example, being bullied (not trying to liken genocide to school ground bullying, obviously very different scales of hatred). Being bullied is obviously something as an individual you don’t want to experience, but, through being bullied as an individual you can learn not to bully by being able to empathize with anyone you interact with. And as an individual, you can also learn how to stand up for yourself when subjected to conflict. So Hitler is someone we look back on and say to ourselves, “lets not be that guy”, and “lets not let that Hitler guy push us around”.
I definitely don’t perceive the world as a perfect place, there are a lot of problems, but although it’s easy to say: “I wish this thing was different”, changing and fixing problems can only be done as a group through effective dialogue and in a lot of ways, the world is growing and changing for the better (although progress can feel incredibly slow). This dialogue is where I would like to focus my attention.
If we think of any problem in the world: the wealth gap, homophobia, racism, sexism, etc. All these varying problems are made up of ideology. It is clear that people can have very opposing beliefs. The problem, I think, is that we aren’t effectively taught how to communicate or empathize with one another... And so the problem that I will be addressing is the educational system, throughout the world.
Chapter 2
Now that I have (finally) identified the problem that I want to change, I’ll go into greater detail of why I think our educational system currently is problematic. All our conflicts are based on ideology. As children, we are in a state of learning how the world works, and we learn how the world works through our family’s ideals, interacting with our friends, religion, what we are taught in school, the media we interact with and even the products that we buy. We can interact with ideals both in an active and passive state, aware or unaware. We can be taught ideology that can be... for lack of a better word, wrong and then proceed to never question it.
Out of all the ways that we as children learn how to interpret and interact with the world, what is the lowest common denominator, a common practice we engage in that can be altered. We can’t choose our family, religion is (supposedly?) a freedom of choice no one has the right to alter, media is created by individuals usually with the purpose of selling you either an ideal, narrative or a product, often by creating a false ideal (buying a Starbucks coffee makes you a charitable or environmentally conscious person when in reality you are still just consuming selfishly for the sake of consuming or convenience)... School is an artificial system quite literally designed to shape us. It’s something your parents most likely went to, it’s where future media creators, entrepreneurs, designers and even politicians learn the tools necessary (hopefully) in order for them to know what they are doing.
But, the educational system doesn’t adapt or change easily. The educational system can be influenced or corrupted (depending on your viewpoint) by religion, by families not liking what is taught or even by governments promoting propaganda in our history... With so many varying ideologies, and for a person to be well informed enough to decide what is right or wrong, you need to be subjected to everything, but instead, what we learn is designed to be learnt and everything else can seem censored.
Chapter 3
Here’s what I believe based on my experience of school. I think school fails at teaching us to be good, ethical people. It doesn’t teach us to be bad people directly through what is being taught, it just is such a passive experience that how we are taught doesn’t have much effect. My role in school was always as a passive listener. I listened, and listened, and listened some more to my teachers. And when no teachers were present, kids reverted to engaging in questionable ideological practices, essentially bullying or behaving in an unsuitable manner in order to feel accepted. It’s not as if teachers don’t tell us not to bully, and it is very clearly stated in the school rules. We have classes like Life Orientation where we do talk about “not doing drugs” only to later be offered some by a fellow Life Orientation classmate. The teaching of ideals, the theory of ideals, the effects, all of it need more of a focus and needs to somehow be more active and engaging, more exercise based and maybe even taught earlier.
Most of us would have seen a video somewhere of kids being tested in social experiments. It could be that a kid is given a marshmallow, and if they avoid eating it, they will get another one. Or the experiment where there are two children, and only one of them is given a plate of treats, and that kid can decide whether to share or not. That could be a practical example of how to investigate how to treat others based on how we want to be treated. And from there it empowers a child to talk about how they feel on the matter. If we just listen, we don’t have a voice. Now don’t get me wrong, being able to listen is obviously an important skill to have as well, especially in order to empathize and understand others, but there needs to be a back and forth open dialogue between everyone, not just one person imparting all of their ideals onto a group of people.
Outside of school, we have rules and laws. Things like don’t pollute and don’t speed. We all as people know that doing these things is wrong. But to me, it feels like that the bad behavior in school follows us out of it, because I see people very comfortably dropping their waste on the ground instead of disposing of it properly, and I’ve seen traffic enforcer cars break speed limits or drive in an unsafe manner for seemingly no justifiable reason other than because they can.
If we can just do what we like, say what we like because we can, without taking into consideration others, it’s just a recipe for disaster.
Chapter 4
Where did it all go wrong? Honestly. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly, educational systems have been around for a long time. I think the safest argument to make is when capitalism started to take hold, when the shift from an individual identifying as a producer or creator became the individual rather identifying themselves as a consumer. I blame the first Industrial Revolution for this most of all because the change was so massive. It gave power to the wealthy, those that owned methods of production, and gave those with only their ability to provide labor a distinct disadvantage. It also alienated us from one another. Instead of us taking pride in creating something of value and meaning and not to mention with good intentions for others to enjoy... we now justify us exploiting workers - by having them do an immense amount of labor for little pay, as well as by substantially increasing the price of the product for the most profit - as “fair”. This is a very selfish way to think, and it shows. When someone pollutes, that’s selfish. When someone speeds, that’s selfish. When someone bullies, that’s selfish. There is no consideration of the other person or people.
Furthermore, now that the gap between the wealthy and the less wealthy is so large, there is an interest by the wealthy to maintain this power. Education is the one defense we have against the powerful and wealthy imposing their ideals on us. Where we learn needs to be neutral and take into consideration everyone’s feelings and circumstances so that we can then actively discuss solutions to our problems and actively improve the world.
Conclusion
The positive I often hear about the Industrial Revolution is about how beneficial it was to advancing medicine and technology. But I think that people will, even without the selfish desire to have a better quality of life than others, achieve advancing areas of life by taking pride and having a sense of genuine enjoyment in what they do.
Taking pride in what you do, enjoying what you do and doing it to improve the lives of others, if that was our focus instead, that to me sounds like a Utopian Society.
One more thing I’d like to add is that we at all times need to be open minded and the practice of being open minded, of challenging the way we think and feel, that needs to be encouraged in this Utopian educational system through an open dialogue. In any society, that is necessary to ensure no ruling class or ruling power can either oppress or control others.
1 note
·
View note