SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE - SELF EVALUATION

What problem did you identify?

I found two problems, firstly hints and tips to help manage your blog and the course and secondly making friends in that first week. People find it hard to make the initial contact and its very daunting walking into the classroom not knowing anyone, and this is the problem that i decided to take on.

What evidence did you find to support your decisions?

Once i came up with the idea, we had a mini crit in order to establish whether our ideas were strong enough, in this i got to talk to my year students about how they felt about the first week and making friends, whether they found it daunting/exciting etc. Everyone thought it was a good problem to tackle and liked the idea of already having a friend when you start that first week. Also i remember back to that first week and talking to everyone, and everyone saying how scared they were of meeting new people and thinking no one would like them.

What methods did you use to gather your evidence and what forms did it take?

I used a variety of different methods to research and develop my project, below shows the categories and what research i did within them.

Primary - For my primary research this involved talking to the students on my course a lot in order to gage their responses to certain designs i had done and information i needed for my content. For example i interviewed everyone about the first things they said or asked people in that first week, i.e 'Where did you come from'. It was important for me to do this because i needed to see the variety of questions that were asked by people in order for them to get to know someone better.

Secondary - A lot of my secondary research consisted of me taking pictures of packaging ideas that already existed, that tied to my idea. As well as looking thoroughly in to previous existing products, i.e cardboy. I also looked at character designs that i liked and the style of illustrations that i wanted to use for my project.

Quantitate - This came from looking at my primary research and evaluating the questionnaires that i had done in order to see what peoples over all views were. This was used when looking at the animals and eye designs that i did. As well as some others.

Qualitative - This was the questionnaires i designed for my fellow students and the illustrations i drew in order to gain their perspective. This turned out to be very useful with my project because it helped me focus on what my product would look like and consist of.

What methods of research did you find useful and why?

I think the most useful methods that i used would have to be the qualitative and the secondary research. This was because the secondary research i did on Cardboy really helped me develop and push my ideas, this was because it gave me areas that i could improve and fresh ideas to work with. I investigated the Cardboy product thoroughly in order to see where the weaknesses were and what could be improved in order to gain the best use out of the product. With the qualitative, this helped me because everyone i interviewed had already been through what the first years were going to go through, and although i didn't use some of the research it did help me work out what i needed to focus on and what would make my product more useful.

How did this inform your response to your problem?

By investigating a lot of different perspectives meant that i had a range of opinions and ideas to work with. It was interesting to see what people thought and how i could use their ideas to best work out my product. It also helped me gain some perspective on how successful my product could actually be which was important as my main aim with this project was not to go off on some random tangent.

What research could you have carried out that would have proved more useful?

I think it would have been very useful for me to get hold of some software to help link people together, because i had to scrap my idea due to not knowing how this worked. It would have been good to interview and look into industries that use it such as dating websites, and spoken to them.

List 5 things that you have learnt about the design process over the last five weeks

1. To always be organised and prepared, this helps to focus ideas and makes the decision time easier

2. To keep focused and not get distracted by possible ideas

3. Realise what you can do with the time allowance and allocate accordingly

4. Evaluate your developments continuously in order to gain a full perspective when looking back over ideas

5. Make sure you spend time on your final outcome in order to get the best out of your development and research.

List 5 things you would do different next time

1. I would try and work out software to link people effectively

2. Do the future developments that i planned

3. Develop a working website

4. Try and keep on top of my blog

5. Use more of the skills i'd learnt over the year i.e screen printing. Incorporating them into my designs.