Charette Reflection

Because of the time constraint, I think my process was affected in that I could spend less time overall at each step along the way. This meant less thorough research, less consideration of the context, and less exploration of possibilities. This really forced me and my group to work quickly and with a comparatively minimal grasp on the project itself and our own personal framework. I think it taught me to learn how to work with what I have and to push those few things even further. It also transformed my process into a very co-dependent one. I feel like I really had to rely on my group members to compensate for the fact that none of us would usually work this fast. All of our heads put together were able to generate more, and that’s what really allowed us to ideate and make decisions quickly. Additionally, there was almost no room for hesitation. Once we had a plan, we really had to stick to it, almost to the point where I felt trapped in the concept. This was difficult to overcome because I feel like my usual process is very reliant on trying something, then going back to the beginning, starting from scratch, and trying something else.

I think that being provided a topic for the first big project of the year was kind of a blessing in disguise. I think it got my head in the right place and provided much needed framework for how to think about branding, interaction, and service design. I think in this case, the chosen topic fueled my process and allowed me to not worry to much about finding something that interested me. That being said, I feel like my group found a context in the project that did spark our interest and I think it’s easier to do this kind of design work when you’re invested in it.

Working in a group is always such a learning experience. I think in terms of process, it’s most valuable for the idea of passing things off to your teammates and playing to each other’s strengths. I think my group got to a nice point where we would work on our piece of the project, then consult someone else, or maybe even hand it off to them so it could be improved. I ended up actually enjoying that type of workflow, which I was surprised by- I tend to want to be in control of all the details, and this taught me a valuable lesson in letting other people do their thing. I think that collaboration made our work better and kept us from getting to attached to things that were ours. That’s an important part of the process I think- sacrificing that idea of “mine” and working for a common goal.

In the future I will try to foster that sort of intercommunication and sharing-based workflow within my group. We’ve all head bad group project experiences, but I think the reasons our group turned out to be a success was because our willingness to be a ‘team player’. This experience has made the idea of design challenges or charettes less daunting. It’s really kind of a beautiful thing- that a group of people and their brains can get together to tackle some really complex issues in such a short period of time. That’s a lesson in itself! Tackling new design problems with a new way of working and new people to do it with is so valuable.

Working in a group served as motivation to do better work. It also held me accountable to meet deadlines and hold myself to the work I wanted to get done. I think knowing that people are working right beside you towards the same end game is inspiring and helps me feel more productive. However, I think there is a certain point in group work where it comes down to one person on their laptop just doing the work- there’s no use in the 5 of us crowding around one screen to monitor someone’s every move. That’s when the group gets less productive. So, I think trusting each other and giving each other space is crucial. I think in this case, working as a group definitely improved the quality of our final project. I would’ve never thought of some of the things my teammates were thinking about.

My contribution to the project included designing the original logo for The Kit, (which Jevon later helped vectorize), creating the event poster for Tidings at the Kit, writing the script for the video and recording the voice-over, finding appropriate images and clips to be included in the video, creating the map of The Kit as we envisioned it, putting together and designing our presentation, collecting a board of images from which our aesthetic was inspired, as well as participating in group brainstorming about the name, brand, and interaction design.

The following link shows our design process, deliverable, and reflection:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5YOhOxwDkoyN1U4bEJmX0J4MDg