Charette Reflection

The constraint of time, for the amount of work we had to do, was challenging to my design process. We had to schedule around the available time of four other people, and for me personally this was a challenge. Not only with my availability outside of studio, but also in terms of being on the same page with my other group members at each stage of our process. So, it was necessary for us to check in with each other every chance we got in these two weeks in order to make sure we were set on how to move forward. Having the topic of the riverwalk provided to me rather than picking my own wasn’t a problem to me. I would  rather have a prompt, and I wouldn’t have been opposed to more direction. However, I think this lack of direction or an outline has prepared me for future projects. With group work I expect things like compromising in order to come to a consensus on our solution and I think my group’s decision making in regards to this was good.

I think this experience will impact future collaborations because I know that in the future I will have to work more in teams with my peers. I think my group had good communication and were welcoming of each others ideas about how we individually would want to approach this project and it was easy for us to come to a decision as a group. I think initially we made good progress in trying to identify an area, revive it, repurpose it, and create an event and installation to remember it. However, as we were working towards the final deliverables for this project, I think we underestimated the framework of getting things done within these two weeks. This may also be due to the confusion that came with lack of direction at the beginning, but moving forward with new group members, I think I’ll be more prepared.

When working in groups I feel more pressure to get things done than when I’m on my own. Someone is expecting me to have something the next time we meet up so I can’t go off on a tangent or spend time on more research like I would if I was single handedly doing a project. And so, I think on my part I work to get things done quicker. I know when working in a group every member doesn’t work at the same pace, so to combat this we tried to split the work up. In hindsight, we probably should’ve thought more about our solutions and the logistics of our event. Given more time, I think we could have worked that out, by finding materials and testing them.

I compiled our initial research for our proposal for this project into the presentation. I was responsible for getting footage and editing the final video. Initially, I started designing the final wall display but concerned with time, I passed that off to another group member to finish, so that I could finish the final video.

 

Presentation:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxvENCLjf8DAZTVlblloSjZCLUE

 

With any collaborative effort, I think you and your group members have to have an understanding of the end goal you are working towards. Things may change along the process but I think setting up a framework and deadlines on how to approach this end goal will help the cohesiveness of the final solutions. Also, ensure that how you communicate or market your work is clear, because it is in fact just a proposed solution.