Minor Project / Reflective Writing / Project Compilation: UWB
05.04.2023- 07.07.2023 (Week 11 - Week 14)
Britney Chow Pei Jun / 0350043
/ BDCM
Minor Project
Reflective Writing
JUMPLINKS
- Progression
- Submission
- Feedback
- Reflection
LECTURES
Fig 1.1; Design Thinking for Beginners; Week 1;
Fig 1.2; How to create user personas; Week 2;
INSTRUCTIONS
Fig 1.3; Project Briefing; Week 1;
PROGRESSION
At the first week, after some discussion with my group mates, we decided to go
with the topic UWB. Below is the project instructions.
Before we officially start on the project, we have to take a look at the
16 proposals that the product design students have done from the Republic
of Czech. After the session with them, we realized that we do not need to
create and design the rescue device that helps older adults but
collaborate with the students that designed them. Unfortunately, due to
that, both groups that have chosen UWB as their topic are faced with the
difficulty of breaking into 3 groups instead. Thus, my new group members
are Asilah, who is the group leader, Adriel, Cheryl, Jo Min and I.
Previously before meeting with the West Bohemia University (WBU), we have
also done our contextual research on the project as well. Below is
mine:
Fig 1.5; Contextual Research; Week 1;
After the first session, we need to decide on which proposal to choose so
we could proceed with our project. My groupmates and I debates on which
proposal we should choose as there are plenty of choices. In the end, we
decided to go with the emergency voice assistant with a patch. We thought
that it looked cool and unique and the product has potential after some
refinements. Thus, we decide to go with that.
After that we showed the WBU on what we have done with our contextual
research and what we planned to do for our primary research:
Fig 1.6; Presentation with Partner; Week 3;
Next, we then tried to solve any of our confusion regarding the product
with our partner, Filip. He doesn't seem to be able to answer our
questions at first since he mentioned that he did not think too far at
first. However, with our help and questions prodded him to think further a
bit.
In the meantime, we also tried to start conducting our primary research which
is interviewing older adults. Initially, we planned to both distribute survey
questionnaires and also conduct interview with the older adults. However,
after some wise advice from our lecturer, we decided to conduct only the
interview considering the difficulty our target audience would have with the
method of distributing survey questionnaires.
In order to make the interview session go smoothly, we need to make a product
prototype ourselves in order to show the interviewees what exactly our product
looks like and have a deeper understanding towards the product rather than
just showing pictures. We have a few difficulties in this part since the 3D
printer in our university have technical difficulties and we also have trouble
searching for items that fit the description of the product. In the end, I
took the initiative to make the prototype myself.
Below is the result of our interview:
Fig 1.7; Results of Interview session; Week 5;
After that, we then proceed to user journey map and also the art direction of
our work. Before that, we also showed Filip on what we have done so far and
also make some last confirmations on the final features and designs of the
product so as to not make any mistakes or confusion between team members in
our future works. While there are some questions that he still couldn't
answer, we still got the conclusion we want after handling the problems with
him. After showing him our plannings for the upcoming works, he expressed his
excitement of looking at the works after we are done.
With that done, we started to planned out our user journey map. Below is our
user journey map.
Fig 1.8; User Journey Map; Week 6 & Week 7;
Next we also started working on our art direction as well. Since my another
teammate and I are from UI/UX specialization, we're tasked with doing the
website. Below is our art direction:
Fig 1.9; Art Direction for Website; Week 8 to Week 11;
Then, we started to make our the wireframes in Figma (can be seen in fig 1.9,
progression). However, we later realized that we have gotten it wrong and we
should be doing a microsite instead of a full website. After some discussion
with my partner, we then started to basically redo everything.
Fig 2.0; Homepage; Week 11;
Fig 2.1; FAQs; Week 11;
Fig 2.2; Contact Us; Week 11;
After some comments from our lecturer, we decided to make some
amendments before handing in. The final design for the website can be
seen below.
Fig 2.3; Final Homepage; Week 14;
Fig 2.4; Final FAQs; Week 14;
Fig 2.4; Final Contact us Week 14;
FINAL SUBMISSION
FEEDBACK
Week 12: (website feedback only)
General Feedback:
Try to include some graphic elements into your designs.
Specific Feedback:
You may have to redo your website. What you need to do is a microsite instead
of a full website. Try to make the designs consistent.
Week 14: (website feedback only)
Specific Feedback:
Try not to use stuff to interfere with the words. Try to avoid images of
hospital or suffering since your product expresses "freedom". The layout is
pretty nice, no problem there however don't make the images so sharp. There
isn't any human connection in the website, you have to give the senior
citizens the impression that they can "be young again". Confirm on the color
choices.
REFLECTION
WEEK 1
The first week of the class feels alright as we were briefed about the
project and what exactly we need to do. We need to form a group of different
specializations and choose a topic provided. While our preferable topics
were chosen, we were able to quickly adapt to our new one and start to plan
on how to approach it. We also learned more about design thinking. I think
that design thinking is really important and useful no matter where we are
as we will be using this thinking in our daily lives as well. Furthermore we
will be using it for our future work as well. I feel that after learning
more about design thinking, I will try to practice it in my life to improve
my own thinking and also help in whatever projects that need it.
WEEK 2
This week, we get to see the proposal presentation from the Czech Republic.
I feel that the presentation is pretty great as most of them show what they
have done, some of them are pretty interesting as well. I think that in this
session, I felt that I learned a lot as people from other countries have
different thinking and different points of view for different kinds of
issues. In this case, I felt that I was able to realize their thinking of
technology and how their thinking is advanced compared to mine. I look
forward to working with them.
WEEK 3
This week, our group had a discussion on which proposal to choose to proceed
with our project. After some time, our group decided to go with something
different and special, which is the emergency voice assistant patch. Our
group thought that it seems unique compared to other proposals and that it
has potential with further improvements. However, it is a public holiday on
the day we were supposed to meet with our partner and thus, no further
discussion is made. I personally think that in this stage of the project it
proves to be quite useful as in this discussion, we get to see how our group
mates think and what opinions they have on the proposals. Although we have
some different opinions on the matter, we were still able to solve it
nicely.
WEEK 4
In week 4, we had a presentation with the lecturers and partners in the
Republic of Czech. We presented the contextual research that we have done to
them and also notified them of what methods we are going to use for primary
research. Furthermore, we also used this chance to ask our partner on the
things that we were unsure of regarding the product. The feedback that both
the lecturers and our partner gave is pretty similar, however, our partner,
Filip first expresses his confusion on the presentation and also mentioned
that he couldn’t answer our questions for the product for now as he did not
think that far yet. In this phase of the project, I thought that
communication is very important whether it’s with our partners or within
group members, as this could help each other to fully understand what we had
in mind. Moreover, I felt that my way of expressing my thoughts will be
improved as well.
WEEK 5
For this week, we had another meeting with our partner to further discuss
the features and designs of the product. In the meantime, we also started to
plan out our research which is an interview with older adults.
Unfortunately, we were unable to distribute survey questionnaires to our
targets considering the difficulty of getting the results we needed. We were
also advised to find ways to show the prototype of our product to the
interviewees so that they could feel and see the details of the product and
have a deeper understanding towards it rather than just showing pictures.
With that said, our group decided to use a 3D printer provided by the
university. I think in this part of the project, my group mates and I tried
to go even deeper understand of the product as we think that it is important
to fully understand the product before we even start to interview older
adults about them, after much thinking and some discussion we decided to
solve the confusion about the product together with Filip.
WEEK 6
Since we do not have much time left, we need to start on our interview as
soon as possible so as to not fall behind in our progression. However, we
faced some problems in this stage of the project. Initially, we
decided to use the 3D printer that our university provided, however, due to
technical difficulties, we weren’t able to do so. In the end, I made 2 of
the product prototypes so as to make the interview go smoothly. I felt that
in this part of the project, I was able to further improve my problem
solving skills as we have a few sudden situations that need some time to
think and solve it. Not to mention that I have also enhanced my technical
skills in this section of the project.
WEEK 7
In the meantime of getting more responses from our interviewees, we will
also have to complete the problem statement and other sections in the MIRO
board. Our group had a brief discussion on how to go with this. However, we
weren’t sure if what we wrote was right and decided to consult with our
lecturer. Our lecturer guides us through these sections by teaching us on
which way we should think in order to get the right answer. We were grateful
for that. He also further told us that since we had done the problem
statement, we could skip the insights discovery and proceed with the user
journey map and also the art direction. Our lecturer also taught us on what
needs to be prioritized in the user journey map patiently. He also made sure
that we understand what the user journey map is for and how important it is.
Then, he started to mention using the Gantt Chart to organize the deadline
of our work and more. I think that during this week of the module, I learned
about how to use the correct words to simplify the problem statement and
“how might we”. I also learned about the importance of using the user
journey map to plan out on what needs to be done.
WEEK 8
This week is independent learning week. Our group did not do much for this
week but continued on the progression from the previous week such as
deciding on what we need to do and also our art direction for that. I did a
little research for the website and debated on what elements could make our
website and other works to be special compared to others.
WEEK 9
After more consultation with our lecturer regarding our user journey map and
art direction, we have a deeper understanding for what we need to do. After
some discussion with my group mates, we decided to do more than just a
typical website and video. For me and my partner, which is Cheryl, we
decided to do a 5 page website. With that said, she and I then started to do
more research about website designs and complete the art direction. I felt
that doing research is very important no matter which course. By doing
research, we get to learn more about what we do and also improve on our own
visuals and stuff.
WEEK 10
For this week, our group decided to hold a meeting with our partner so we
could double confirm the final features and design of the product. We also
express some of our leftover confusion for the product. Our partner is able
to address some of them but for those he couldn’t, my group mates and I
decide to solve it ourselves instead since we do not want to have any
misunderstandings during our progress of working our branding. After that,
we also shared to our partner what we have done in the interview and also
our plans on what we are going to do with the branding of the product. He
said that he felt impressed by the feedback we got from the interview
and also expressed his excitement on the finals of our work. I personally
felt that the session with our partner was nice since we were able to listen
to his opinions and also explain the reasons for what we have done. Since I
was the one who hosted the meeting with our partner, I felt that my
presentation skills have greatly improved.
WEEK 11
This week, we decided to consult our lecturer with what we have. He first
took a look at our user journey map and further provided us advice on how to
change it. Then he started to recommend us to use stock videos to do our
advertisement video considering how our target audience would be more
attracted to Thai-style ads rather than vector animations. He also mentioned
that the videos must have the purpose such as raising awareness or promoting
the product. Next, he mentioned that what we (UI/UX) team needs to do is a
microsite instead of a full website since we’re more on promoting a specific
product. In this stage, I felt that it is important that we have to first
understand what exactly we’re supposed to do. We need to give more time to
think thoroughly of how we should go about the project and whether it is
related to our theme or topic.
WEEK 12
In week 12, we continued where we left off from week 11 and made changes
according to the feedback provided. My teammate, Cheryl and I started to
basically redo the website since we have got it wrong. We once again start
from doing the wireframes and whatnot so as to further enhance our idea on
the website. Since we’re using Figma to make our microsite prototype, we’re
not as confused since we had experience with it previously, however, we
still need to spend some time to watch some tutorials for some sections of
the website. In this phase of the project, I think that teamwork and work
distribution is important so we do not get lost on what each person needs to
do. Furthermore, even though I’m not the group leader, I felt that my
leadership skills have also been improved.
WEEK 13
Not much was shown to our lecturer this week as we were still continuing on
our own works. However, our group seems to be falling behind considering
that there are tons of elements that have yet to be confirmed by our group.
Our group has slightly started to slip apart since we did not set any
regular meeting nor did we update our own progression in our own group chat.
However, after that, we started to organize meetings to relay the feedback
we got to our other groupmates. After getting some updates from our
groupmates, we then continue to work on what we have done. Once again, I
felt that during the last few weeks of the module, team meetings and
communication within team members is very crucial since the deadline is near
yet, we do not know much on the progression of each group member.
Furthermore, in my humble opinion, I think that in a group, the group leader
must always keep track of what’s going on within a group so that the group
does not fall apart.
WEEK 14
Week 14 is basically the last week of the module. In the session we had with
our lecturer, he provided insightful feedback to our group regarding the
website and others. He mentioned that we shouldn’t put any hospital related
images on our website since our product expresses “freedom” and the hospital
seems like a “jail”. If we do not change the images, we will be giving false
impressions to the consumers about our product. We also received specific
advice on how to improve our website that our group is very grateful for.
Graphic elements should also be consistent in this case and also, related to
our product. Since the first graphic element that we designed does not
exactly match with what we’re doing, our lecturer then provided us with some
suggestions on how to amend it. I think that this session was very useful
because our group got a lot of knowledge on what we’re doing and how exactly
we should change it to make it better. Although not every group member
attended this session, I hope they have much progression on their side and
that we can make it.
WEEK 15
This week is submission week. Our UI/UX team is basically done with the
website and we’re also on our way to complete the slides and project
document. Our groupmates have also basically finished their part of the work
and are waiting for everything to be finalized. Initially we thought that we
would have a presentation with our partners and lecturers from the Republic
of Czech. However, in the end, due to some reasons, it was cancelled and we
weren’t able to show what we have done to them. I honestly do not know how
to feel about this since I thought that it would be great to have a
presentation to show what we have worked so hard for but at the same time I
felt quite relieved that there’s no presentation since I lack the time to
complete my other assignments. Throughout these 14 weeks, my feelings with
the project is like a roller-coaster ride where sometimes I felt quite angry
and sometimes I felt happy when I have done something. I think that there
can be improvement within our group mates and I also hope that they weren’t
as passive, but I think that it’s fine as long as everything was done in the
end. Everyone in our group wasn't perfect, but was pretty responsible.
Furthermore, I personally think that I really did learn a lot of things in
this module especially on the way I think and also on the way I execute my
thoughts and ideas.
Comments
Post a Comment