Durham Beltline Reflection

Constraints:
Overall I enjoyed the design charrette project, though I found it stressful to condense a project, especially a group project, to a 2 week period. Having only a 2 week period for my design process meant that I had to condense certain aspects of it, and also accelerate others. I feel as though I spent too much time focusing on just the logo, when the branding system as a whole was more important. As goes the provided topic, I actually very much enjoyed the duke beltline. It was nice getting out of the studio and doing research by experiencing a location, and additionally I enjoyed the chance to imagine what would be while creating our interventions and branding. I think in the case of this as a 2 week project, providing a topic worked better than developing our own.

I understand the opportunity for a larger sum of work to be done in group projects than one could just do alone, and the valuable experience it may give related to future work experiences, however in this project I felt my group could have had a better synergy. I was concerned at many stages of the project that the work we agreed to divide would not get done, and that I had to force some of my group members to engage so we could decide on what and when the parts of the project were getting done.

Opportunity:

I think the biggest takeaway I have from this group project was the importance of playing to everyone’s strengths and dividing the work so the project can be done more efficiently. In the future I hope I can apply this better to group situations as I felt like a lot of time in this project our group would just sit there spinning its wheels, while 2 members worked on something and the rest just sat there unmotivated to engage and communicate. In a future focused charette, a better plan of action I think would be crucial. Being able to plan out what needs to be done and when, and setting deadlines for critiquing and moving on from parts of the project would have allowed us to not get bogged down in one area so that every part of our project could have hopefully been stronger. In the future when starting a new design experience or way of working, I believe giving everyone in the groups roles, or discussing which roles would suit each person could help the group dynamic work more efficiently. In this group I felt as Logan and I both took on more leadership roles, and had to fight with the rest of the group to try to get things done with no one else to keep us on track, or to make sure we are meeting our goals.

Application:
I believe normally that working in groups one’s group can have the potential to produce work far greater than just one person, but in the case of this project I felt inhibited in many ways. I felt more motivated than usual to do work for the benefit of the team, but I also felt if I didn’t police other group members than they would not do their own share of the work. In many cases, being my own fault, I tend to hoard a majority of the work, but in those cases it’s mostly because I know that my group members (from past experiences) do not live up to the work expectations required by the project.  I felt that the only increase in productivity of this group was that more work was produced, though I do not believe it is as high quality as it should have been. I think the foundation of our ideas were good, and the video, presentation, website, and signage were also of higher quality, but there were definitely areas within those and the AR that were not of finished-project quality. As my own contribution to the group, I worked on the logo (with Logan), website, presentation, branding (with Logan + Allison), and then aided in furthering the poster and small parts of the video and AR. I feel Logan did a great job with the video and helping develop the Logo and Branding, but our other group members spent too much time passing off the poster between each other that it did not meet final level qualities. I also believe that the AR portion of the project could have been a lot more fleshed out and solidified so it made more sense in the context of the trail. I think overall our group synergy needed improvement, I probably could have done more to help make sure everyone was engaged and that every part was high quality, but at a certain point it gets difficult to police everybody.

Presentation:

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

• https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx8W79xGq1vCc0FMR3JvWDFTQWM
  (in the design charette google drive folder)

 

Future Recommendations:

I think the biggest suggestion for future collaborations, would be to set roles and predetermined deadlines while making sure every member of the group engages equally.

– Conor Lenhardt

Charette Reflection-Samah Hasan

Constraints

Working on a fast pace project is always more high energy, because we don’t have a long period of time we know we have to work harder and in a more efferent manner. The trip to Durham was a really good way to start off the project, but some were between there and the last few days our group got a bit off track. Having a topic provided to us was expected, in the real world as a designer you do not always get to choose what you will be working on but, you still do it. The topic was new and exciting for me, it wasn’t something I’ve worked on before. Working with classmates on this project is what made it more challenging. Scheduling was always an issue but, for me it wasn’t the biggest issue. Some members had great ideas but, they weren’t heard because other members wanted to play the leader role that was not assigned to them, and essentially tell everyone what to do. Some members felt the need to monopolize one part of the project, instead of allowing others to give input and participate.

Opportunity

In the future when working with teams I will not let someone play alpha, rotating the work is also a good way to help keep people in check. If everyone makes a piece of everything that is being worked on, instead of one person working on one thing, we would have a better more concise outcome. This would give everyone a chance to give their ideas and feedback. If a leader is needed they should be selected by the group. I enjoyed the idea of Charrette-style project I felt like it was a good way to keep everyone on their feet. There is no time to waste, it helped some students think quickly and produce a good amount of work in a short time. I feel like with a good group of strong minded individuals I can do it again. It is important to go into a project with your own good ideas but willing to listen to others, working with a group that is defiantly key. Issues come up when one of the group members is refusing to part with their idea or why of thinking. The best way to deal with this is by a vote.  When everyone in the group is struggling to work with one person, then the group should openly talk to that person. I think listening to each other is the best way to go about it.

Application

Working in a group is great motivation for me, it helps me always put my best foot forward. I don’t want to disappoint anyone so I do my best and am willing to work long hours to get something to a well-established point. At some point we lost our focus, instead of looking at the big picture some members where looking at the small details. We couldn’t agree on how to spend our time. But at the same time other group members were open to discussing ideas and collaboration on certain parts. That was really helpful when we were at a standstill. In the end I am proud of our work. I think if we began work sooner instead of wasting time of superficial things we could have had something more refined, that being said I am proud of what we were able to accomplish in a short period of time.

My Contribution

I took some video footage and photos on the trip, I worked mainly on the AR deliverable. For the AR deliverable I found the old images and matched the with current images, as well as finding the facts that went with the AR. I put those thing together to create the AR as well as creating the mock ups for the AR experience.

 Link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3qkBGkR7RepSUtjTzB0UEVRZ2c

Future Recommendations

Work together as one united group, listen to each other’s ideas, and treat everyone as equals because we are all equals. Make a schedule and stick to it.

 (Group: Sam, Allison, Ari, Connor, and Logan)

 

 

Reflection-Allison Ubinas

Constraints

Working in a fast pace environment always comes with excitement and fluster. The beginning of the project was enjoyable. Learning about the area we were working on and developing ideas was a productive process. Two weeks got to feeling very short when we were down to the last few days and still had a lot of physical work to do, not so much ideating. Having a topic provided was not an issue. I enjoy being told a general idea and then being able to run with it. Knowing the area and the idea from the beginning helped with such a short-term project. Working in a group always brings new possibilities, but also can be constraining. Schedules become difficult to accommodate, and some members gained roles that were never given to them. This can be frustrating, but overall an eye opening experience to what work in the future could possibly be like.

 

Opportunity

Working in teams is typically an enjoyable experience for me. I genuinely enjoy hearing others ideas and being inspired by them. With that being said, I would definitely be excited to work in groups in the future, just a little differently. I believe in collaboration, and even if you’re “assigned” a certain part of a project, every member should want to, and, be invited to collaborate on that in some form. This was not always the case in our group. I believe members took on a role that was not suited for them and instead of being on top of things, it lead to low morale throughout the group. Charettes are interesting and as challenging as it can be, I also believe working fast and hard is a rewarding and essential process. It would be something I’d be interested in doing again. I am always looking forward to new experiences within design and with people. I think this has inspired me to be more vocal when I believe things are being handled improperly, or could be arranged to be more enjoyable for everyone. Working with people has been apart of my life for so many years, and it would be sad for an experience like this to go to waste.

 

Application

Working in groups is always a larger motivator for me. I want to make a product that everyone can be proud of. This idea comes with a need though. That need, is for others to add in their comments and contributions. There is a definite feeling when someone feels luke-warm about an idea, and that is a feeling I don’t want anyone in the group to have. So, in the beginning there was a large motivation to get things done and have a solid product. That began to fall through in the end when working in a team became more difficult. I would definitely say I was more concentrated as a group, even though we would sometimes run in circles around the same idea, it felt productive as far as the design process goes. Sometimes an idea needs to be repeated and then thrown out to come up with something different and unforeseen. I always believe there is positive overall quality when working in a group. Sometimes smaller groups can be more efficient in this. Too many ideas being executed can overall form a crowded and unorganized result.

 

My Contribution

I worked on some of the branding decisions, such as the color palette. I also made the signage for the trail, as well as began/finished the poster.

Link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3qkBGkR7RepSUtjTzB0UEVRZ2c

 

For future students

Realize the time constraint early. Work fast, and move on quickly. Be an active member of your group, but make sure everyone feels like equals working collaboratively.