Today we got the amazing chance to get feedback from some 4th year students. We really benefitted from our meeting, she suggested that we move away from a specific event and have a pop-up in the places that office workers go on their way home, even busses or the train station. She also suggested that we utilise apps that already exist for our advertising rather than creating our own app or website.
Our project really developed into something that I could see coming to life for real. I feel like we have finally found our direction and can possibly start designing some collateral soon.
25/09/2015
24/09/2015
Week 9 Class 1
LECTURE
Design thinking
...is more than just a process, it's a way of looking at the world.
...looks at complex things from the perspective of the people who will use of be affected by them
...urges explorative research to build understanding and empathy
...reframes challenges for new thinking, new approaches and new strategies
Solving a real human problem for a real human solution
Visualising complexities will create empathy and reframe the challenge
STUDIO EXERCISE
Community Garden so that Charlotte can source her own food
- no judgement, because she will own her own plot and the rest of the community will use it too.
- Self sufficiency will make her feel proud
Food Swap.
- What do I have that you need?
- Swap skills, meals, ingredients
- Street event/garage sale
- Local supermarkets and companies can get involved.
CLASS TIME
Talking to the tutor, out idea for a campaign will not be enough to make a sustained and impactful difference, our sanctuary idea could be incorporated to create impact, but will have to be carefully refined as to not make people feel like a spectacle.
We thought of having an event, bringing in artists to create sensory art installations that people can interact with. This event will act as a vehicle to roll out our booklets and posters, promoting little things that people can do during their day to clear and relax their minds. This will ensure a sustained influence and difference made to our target audience and others.
The event will also connect our audience with their families which is one of our main aims to achieve.
Design thinking
...is more than just a process, it's a way of looking at the world.
...looks at complex things from the perspective of the people who will use of be affected by them
...urges explorative research to build understanding and empathy
...reframes challenges for new thinking, new approaches and new strategies
Solving a real human problem for a real human solution
Visualising complexities will create empathy and reframe the challenge
STUDIO EXERCISE
Community Garden so that Charlotte can source her own food
- no judgement, because she will own her own plot and the rest of the community will use it too.
- Self sufficiency will make her feel proud
Food Swap.
- What do I have that you need?
- Swap skills, meals, ingredients
- Street event/garage sale
- Local supermarkets and companies can get involved.
CLASS TIME
Talking to the tutor, out idea for a campaign will not be enough to make a sustained and impactful difference, our sanctuary idea could be incorporated to create impact, but will have to be carefully refined as to not make people feel like a spectacle.
We thought of having an event, bringing in artists to create sensory art installations that people can interact with. This event will act as a vehicle to roll out our booklets and posters, promoting little things that people can do during their day to clear and relax their minds. This will ensure a sustained influence and difference made to our target audience and others.
The event will also connect our audience with their families which is one of our main aims to achieve.
18/09/2015
Week 8 Class 2
After reviewing our idea over night, we defined the key point as sense immersion and stimulation. So focussing on this we decided to make a campaign encouraging the stimulation of senses during the workday to clear people's minds.
I'm feeling much more comfortable with this idea as I feel it has a lot more potential in the real world and it is more visual communication based.
I'm feeling much more comfortable with this idea as I feel it has a lot more potential in the real world and it is more visual communication based.
17/09/2015
Week 8 Class 1
Today we set up a video with sound that could be chosen by the user to create their personalised ultimate working environment (i.e. a kitchen, a beach)
The feedback was
- sounds are too distracting, needs to be a more quiet background noise.
- Still feeling too relaxed in the space.
- Still needs to be movable, customisable.
- It made some users feel more boxed in, where as they would prefer their mind to feel free.
- It wouldn't accurately replicate any of these environments and would be more of a poor sad version of them
- would prefer the space to be inside the office rather that at the waterfront.
We took away from this prototyping that it may be time to re-think our idea for now, we think that the idea is good but it could be executed in a more feasible and practical way.
The feedback was
- sounds are too distracting, needs to be a more quiet background noise.
- Still feeling too relaxed in the space.
- Still needs to be movable, customisable.
- It made some users feel more boxed in, where as they would prefer their mind to feel free.
- It wouldn't accurately replicate any of these environments and would be more of a poor sad version of them
- would prefer the space to be inside the office rather that at the waterfront.
We took away from this prototyping that it may be time to re-think our idea for now, we think that the idea is good but it could be executed in a more feasible and practical way.
11/09/2015
EX-CHANGE 3 - TEST
We soent a lot of this exchange talking about the problems of one of the people in my group, she had been having trouble with her major because she thinks her tutors are forcing her to do something she doesnt want to do.
I, unfortunately, didn't get very much of a chance to get feedback, but when I did, it was definitely positive. I presented my prototype to the people in my group and we generally discussed the tension between too relaxing and too constricting. They said that it is going to be difficult to get people to leave the work place and go down to work on the waterfront so it would be best to have the space inside the office.
I didn't really get anything too distinctive from people. I think next time I need to ask some specific questions to really make the most of the exchange sessions.
I, unfortunately, didn't get very much of a chance to get feedback, but when I did, it was definitely positive. I presented my prototype to the people in my group and we generally discussed the tension between too relaxing and too constricting. They said that it is going to be difficult to get people to leave the work place and go down to work on the waterfront so it would be best to have the space inside the office.
I didn't really get anything too distinctive from people. I think next time I need to ask some specific questions to really make the most of the exchange sessions.
Week 7 Class 2
Prototyping
Our prototype was set up as an office and we tried to create the feeling of being on the waterfront with sound and images and views.
Our feedback was that people enjoyed the space, but it would be quite an effort to go to the waterfront from their office just to work more. Also the environment may have been too relaxed and not a productive environment.
Also we found a tension between different people's working styles and their need to be either isolated of surrounded by people while they are working.
The space will have to be customisable if it were to work.
Our feedback was that people enjoyed the space, but it would be quite an effort to go to the waterfront from their office just to work more. Also the environment may have been too relaxed and not a productive environment.
Also we found a tension between different people's working styles and their need to be either isolated of surrounded by people while they are working.
The space will have to be customisable if it were to work.
10/09/2015
Week 7 class 1
Sanctuary
Our insight : people feel like they can get more quality work done in quiet environments, so they end up staying late after work or work from home so that they can get work done
We want to create a quiet environment away from the office to allow people to get quality work done during the work day so that they don't feel that they have to stay late at work or take their work home.
Our insight: office workers often are working to provide their families with financial stability, which can overwhelm the importance of
Event for families to get together - alcohol?
App
Campaign - Family over work
Our insight : people feel like they can get more quality work done in quiet environments, so they end up staying late after work or work from home so that they can get work done
We want to create a quiet environment away from the office to allow people to get quality work done during the work day so that they don't feel that they have to stay late at work or take their work home.
Our insight: office workers often are working to provide their families with financial stability, which can overwhelm the importance of
Event for families to get together - alcohol?
App
Campaign - Family over work
09/09/2015
Interview 1
Over the break I conducted 2 sets of interviews, one with a couple that I found really interesting and insightful. This interview and reviewing it later really helped me gain empathy and insight, especially from the wife's point of view.
My summary of our conversation -
My summary of our conversation -
Kevin
- Hired to work 40 hours per week, currently doesn’t differ from what he actually works.
- His perfect evening after work is watching TV, exercising and having family dinner
- Perfect Sunday mornings consist of lie in bed, going out to a cafe, going for a walk with family.
- After a stressful day, he misses out on exercising because he is too tired/stressed to think about exercise and he misses out on a lot of down time and instead will spend time on the computer, sorting work stuff out and will go to bed without much time spent with family in-between work and bed.
- He often stays at his desk through lunch time and eats a piece of fruit at his desk, this is the normal thing at his work. Many of his colleagues will only take a lunch break if it’s to have a meeting over some food.
- He often feels that skipping his break makes his day more productive, and his break being skipped means that he doesn’t have to stay late or do work when he gets home. He feels he has made the most of his day at work and can relax when he arrives home.
- After he arrives home from a stressful time at the office, although he attempts to leave his work behind, he feels that his mind is often occupied with his work life, although it doesn’t disrupt his nightly routine, his wife and family tend to notice that he is distant or on edge.
- When trying to stop his work life playing on his mind, he likes to have a few drinks, go outside and exercise—most of which he does in the company of his family.
- He would recommend others to take regular breaks, forcing themselves away from work and to breathe and relax.
- His employer puts no effort into enforcing regular breaks, this results in many people staying late—Kevin used to do this however has realised that he would rather put his home life before his work life at this point.
- Kevin appreciates his time at home and cherishes time with family—he used to be in the habit of working over time, but has since put work further in the background to focus more on the parts of life that he feels are most important. He put extra work in when he was younger and this has benefitted his family financially.
Claire
- Claire is Kevin’s wife and she is employed by the same company under a different section. She is employed to work 37.5 hours per week and she generally works that exact amount of hours.
- Her ideal afternoon is watching TV, exercising and having family dinner.
- Perfect Sunday mornings consist of lie in bed, going out to a cafe, going for a walk with family.
- After a more full on day at the office, she comes home feeling pissed off and is less productive in her evening routine. She doesn’t get to exercise, doesn’t feel like cooking dinner and doesn’t feel like doing housework.
- Claire, along with her colleagues, never work over their breaks or past their finish times.
- Her breaks allow her to meet up with friends and family for lunch in town or just spend some alone time outside or on the internet. She feels this helps her productivity because after a break she feels that she can get back into her work with a fresher mind.
- However when work gets really busy it does linger on her mind when she tries to switch off from it, during these times she feels stressed for an unknown reason and she finds it difficult to get a good nights sleep.
- To forget about office stresses, she typically talks about what has happened at work with her friends and family members to get it off her chest, and she will take some alone time to exercise or read a book. She also enjoyed going out for a quiet drink or two with her family.
- Her work enforces office rules about not working through breaks and not staying late. Most people are forced to go home at 5pm and the power of her office floor is shut down after a certain time to ensure no one is working there late.
- As for when her husband is stressed at work, she feels it can affect her and her routines, as well as the rest of the family.
- She can tell when he has been under pressure at work, and when he has had to stay late at work, she tends not to cook dinner and to just make something small for herself. When they do sit down and have dinner together, he is distracted in conversations and his mind is elsewhere. He is disconnected.
- She sometimes thinks she might enjoy him staying late as she gets control of the TV remote while he is gone, but she can’t enjoy that time because she is pissed off that he is working so late again.
- She recalls that him working overtime would affect her family when they were younger, their children would refer to their dad and ‘nocturnal Dad’ because he would have to sleep during the day and work late at night
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