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Week 5 Writing

Design Talk: Nicole Green, University Innovation Fellow, UW Research Foundation/Student Startup Challenge Program Coordinator

Talk/Workshop: Customer Discovery

Nicole Green talked to us about her project first and how it was very successful in competitions which I found to be a little inspiring. I wish I had the confidence to sign up for competitions like that. Not necessarily entrepreneurship contests because that’s not what I want to go into but her confidence was admirable, as well as she astested to us that since we are art students it gives us the unique ability to be able to tell a story well. I usually think of being an art major a negative when it comes to other academic things but that was encouraging and I can see it to be true. After that she talked to us about customer discovery. 

Design Talk : Matt Juzenas, Creative Director for Brilliant Studios at Islands of Brilliance. 

Talk/Workshop: Applied Play

Matt Juzenas started talking to us about games and how the games are fun and all but really can have a true teaching ability to them as well. For me this talk was super helpful because my project is creating an app that lets elementary school students learn a language through an app. So learning through Matt even just a little insight into how a game can go about teaching something was super interesting. Throughout mates talks and his explanations of various games I got some good ideas as to games I can make for my app. Also unrelated to my project but more personally aligned with me I really liked Matts talk as well because growing up I always wanted to play board games and card games and charrached and other games with my family but no one else was really ever willing to play with me, so because of that I really see myself in Matt. I would love to be an adult that gets to play games all the time with my significant other that just sounds absolutely amazing and something that really warmed my heart during his talk. I wish to set up a meeting with Matt to talk more in depth about how to teach children through games and maybe if I'm at a good stage I could have him take a look at some of my games and critique its effectiveness to teach. 

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Week 4 Readings

5 Mega- Successful Entrepreneurs

So this article was meant to I suppose not crush the dreams of introverts that dream to be entrepreneurs because at the end of the day a good idea is a good idea so it really doesn't , or shouldn't, matter what type of person it comes from. Although I'm not 100% sure I buy that the business world believes that idea but that is beside the point. In the beginning they talk about the blights of being an entrepreneur as an introvert and why it might seem difficult because introverts often lack the skill to be charming which lends its hand greatly to being able to sell yourself and your ideas. It then goes on to list 5 entrepreneurs that were introverts with the first on the list being Larry Page. Larry Page founded Google alongside Sergey Brin. A lot people thought is appointing to be an odd choice as he was looked at as quiet, reserved, and a little geeky. However his introversion helped him to dedicate more time to the actual product which fostered an innovative new product and create a unique brand that still survives as one of the country's best examples of corporate culture. The second person on the list was Bill Gates and I think we all can recognize him as the founder of microsoft. And in his own words he said “If you're clever, you can learn to get the benefits of being an introvert, which might be, say, being willing to go off for a few days and think about a tough problem, read everything you can, push yourself very hard to think out on the edge of that area. Then, if you come up with something . . . you'd better learn what extroverts do, you'd better hire some extroverts and tap into both sets of skills.” The third on the list was Warren Buffet, the founder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and is one of the wealthiest people in the world and a prominent figure in investing. Then came Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. 

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Week 4 Writing

Design Talk: Brian Thompson - Business Model Brian Thompson is President of the UWM Research Foundation, Inc. He leads efforts by the UWM Research Foundation to bridge between the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the private sector through programs that include catalyst grants and intellectual property management as well as fostering corporate partnerships, spinout companies and student entrepreneurship. Because of Brian’s rich history in business he talked to us about the Business model canvas and had us take a look at the Island of Brilliance business, once again. He started talking about Value Propositions and that basically means all the things that the business hopes to offer to its “customers”. This came in all different shapes and forms, financial, physical, and even abstract ideas of things like hope and a sense of community. The next area he touched on was the “customers”. With the help of our class we came up with 4 types of customers for the business Islands of Brilliance. It was Parents, Children, Design Mentors, and Donors. The parents are what’s known as the Economic buyer while the child is the consumer/user. After that we were meant to talk about channels but never got around to it. However I think the Donor customer was getting closer to a Channel. We then talked about the activities involved in the business of Island of Brilliance. We listed Bonds, Corporate structure, Program Development, Fundraising, the biggest, and curriculum director. A lot of these concepts were hard for me to understand as I've never had quite an interest in the business world, so I’m very lacking in this speciality. Then we broke down the idea of how does Island of Brilliance stay afloat if they are a non profit: Revenue. Some as mentioned earlier comes from Fundraising/ Donors, workshop fees, consulting services, design services, and grants. The opposite of this then being costs. The three cost areas we came up with were space, licenses, and the staff. One thing I took away from this talk is the idea of a “Lean Launch”. A lean launch is where you have an idea for a business venture so you jot all the possible outcomes, hypothesis based, while you're only losing marker ink not real money. Then after that you test a little bit of the model, for example sending flyers out to see who would be interested and sign up to a list. Then you try maybe half of your idea with people close to you and with yourself as the staff. Then after that test, if successful, you can move slowly up to the full scale business venture you were developing while only using marker ink. I also liked the mention of the “Mom Test”. Meaning you have to phrase questions in a way that even your mom couldn’t lie to you. So basically veil the meaning behind the questions to gain sneaky insight.

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Week 3 writing

Week 3 Design Talk: 

Healthy Cities Panel Discussion

 Questions: 

1. How can culture and a common language build bridges between people that wouldn’t otherwise be there? 

2. How to create change for a community? 

3. How can language be used to build a happier city? 

Education | Raoul Deal, Uwm Senior Lecturer and Artist 

Raoul deal did a lot of work in Mexico with Spanish-speaking, non Spanish speaking people. A lot of this work that he did was able to be done because of his second language in Spanish. His work is proof that when learning a second language you can connect with a different culture and experience a broader area of life. Rules opportunity to go to Mexico and work with indigenous people was an opportunity he may not have had if he did not speak Spanish. This was something that I really related to for my project because I want to connect people from different cultures together by learning a Common Language. When two people know the same language they can understand each other's culture and become more tolerant and open-minded. Being more understanding is my approach to create a healthier City. Society is what makes up a city so if society and people can get along more comfortably it will lead to a healthier happier City. After rolls talk I asked him to share some insight about how culture can affect someone's art and affect how people interact with each other. He told me that culture is an integral part of who someone is and language and culture cannot be separated because of how intertwined they are. 

Aging Population | Michelle Silverman, UWM Assistive Technology and Adaptive/Design Certificate Coordinator 

Michelle's talk was interesting because in my DVC class it was the only topic that did not have someone choose it. Because of this I have not heard any information or research about the topic so gaining more information and ideas was very interesting. Growing up I did not have grandparents so I did not have a lot of experience interacting with the older generation. This is the main reason why I found Michelle's talk to be really interesting. She talked about isolation and loneliness and how that can lead to death among older people. She also commented on how it's not the older Generations only fall to go out and find something to do or talk to someone it is also the community's responsibility to take care of the old people. Michelle is a UWM Professor who teaches classes in the physical therapy major here on campus. At first I did not understand how Physical Therapy could be related with our major design, but after she talked I realized that physical therapy and the therapeutic devices that the Physicians use for physical therapy are designed by designers. Before her talk she sent around a book that had images and research about design for disabilities. I found Michelle's talk to be very similar to week two's discussion on inclusive design. I think this is because the older generation while not necessarily being disabled needs certain help to interact with things in our society at the same functioning level as the younger generation. 

Workforce Upskilling | Elmer Moore Jr., Executive Director of Scale Up Milwaukee 

Elmer mentioned that right before he was supposed to present his presentation he got a change of heart and decided to switch what he was going to talk about. This caused him to talk about hate and rage and how that can be productive when switched to look through the lens of how can I use love to fix this situation. He mentioned that hate and anger are perfect fuel for change. He even asked us what are some things that made us angry. While some of the things that made us angry are frivolous and unimportant others contributed very important issues in our society that angers them. See my peers have the courage to say things in our society that anger them and upset them and feel unfair was very motivational to me. I remember Maddie making a statement about how the US did not send anyone to the summit for this year and that's something that I have no knowledge on but just to see that it was something that made her passionate and angry was very interesting. Because of all the emotions that Elmer brought out of us as a crowd I really liked his talk. That being said however, we did not get to learn a lot about what he does for a job and how that helps Workforce upscaling. I believe he works with companies and kind of manages them like WBIIC did but the true Heart of what he did, I'm still not a hundred percent sure. 

Health | Amelia Coffaro, RYT 500, C-IAYT & Yoga Therapist 

Out of all the people we've had talked so far I think I liked Amelia's talk the best. Just her voice talking was so confident and melodic and calming and reassuring. She shared a lot about herself as a person which really made her feel relatable and vulnerable to Elsa's a crowd which I feel all brought us closer. She talked a lot about the practices and psychology behind yoga and how you can use yoga to have a healthier body. She was not claiming yoga to be medicine but rather claiming that yoga can lower your heart rate and get you out of stressful situations which can keep you in a place of calmness that allows you to process your situations better and therefore not stressing your body. She shared with us that she had breast cancer at the age of 24 and I really liked her stories and anecdotes about the hearts that she found around her in the world during that time. My father is also diagnosed with cancer so this part of the discussion was quite hard for me. I really felt touched by seeing her optimism and her want to continue in this world. A lot of times people with cancer get sick and tired of all the fighting and the drugs and the money and the time they have to spend so their Mental Health rightfully suffers. And I think this is where yoga really comes into Center the mind and give people a piece of mind that can keep their will still going strong. The mind is such a strong thing that humans take for granted and I think a positive outlook can have a positive impact on one's health. In my opinion this was the main point that Amelia was trying to explain. At the end of her talk she invited us, if we wanted to, to take place in a small couple minutes session of her yoga instruction. She instructed us to close our eyes and put her hands up on her thighs and focus on our breathing. Focus on how are lungs filled up with air when we breathe in and how our belly got shallow when we breathe out. Focusing on the moment and breathing was an example of practicing mindfulness. During this experience I had to open my eyes because I was starting to cry. I don't really know why it just felt very moving and very powerful to feel us all doing the yoga exercises together in a classroom. After Amelia stock she was asked a pleather of questions which I believe reinforces the idea that people really liked her talk.

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Week 2 & 3 readings

Human-Centered Design: How to Embrace Failing Fast - week 3 This article talked about 5 Ideas to Get More Comfortable with Failure So You Can Design Better Solutions, Faster. The beginning of the article talked about how failure is okay and can be a great learning experience but in order to get the most out of our failures we have to restrain our minds to a) be able to fail and b) rethink about what failure truly is. The  article mentioned that the sooner you embed a culture of smart failure into your workflows and teams, the faster you will design useful solutions for the people you serve and I think that's really interesting because I never thought of the idea of failure being looked at in a good light. Anyways, in order to be able to fail you have to not be afraid and if some of these four culprits show up in your work, the more indications fear of failure might be holding you back from creating meaningful solutions, faster.

PERFECTION

Do you find yourself rationalizing slow progress by saying it (whatever you’re working on) is not ready for the next step?

DISTRACTION

Are you busy doing ‘all-the-things’ instead of the ‘main-important-hard-thing’ that might lead to failure?

ISOLATION

Are you working away alone at your desk, without getting your ideas and prototypes out to others for feedback?

CAUTION

Are you playing it so safe that you will likely never reach the point of stumbling or failure?

Chapter 2 Research strategies and tactics - week 2

This chapter was about research strategies and tactics for collecting data in the lens of use in design.  At the beginning of the chapter it has an intro that  talked about how data supports great concepts and how it is a measurement of the effectiveness of finished projects. I think going of that point data also shows the scope of the problem you will then be using design to fix. These research strategies and tactics also define the way problems are solved and illustrate the value of those solutions. So any design initiative begins with a survey of the methods(theory), strategies (planning), and tactics (action). You also need to remember that quantitative marketing research is a social research technique. So while it all may be numbers at first it’s really just setting the stage for you to have a more helpful solution in the future. I chose 3 techniques to talk about in this summary and they are 1) Basic + Applied Research 2)Triangulation and 3) Literature Review.  

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Week 2 Design Talk:

Healthy Cities Panel Discussion 1: 

Water, climate change, community, consumption Discussion 

Questions: 

1. How do you balance rational and emotional approach in order to give a successful and convincing pitch? 

2. Do you have any advice on how to properly educate people on a topic? 

3. Tips to have confidence in selling yourself as an entrepreneur? 

Community | Janet Fitch, Documentary Filmmaker 

I think Janet had the most interesting talk because her talk was all from the heart about her experiences and her passions. Not that the other speakers were not experienced its just that filmmaking is a lot more closely aligned with my interests then fresh water, or sustainability, or even vegan food. I found her age to be extremely interesting. There is a bias that I believe a lot of the younger generation carry about older people, and especially older white people. But Janet was a very open minded person which was the opposite of what I sometimes expect. Plus it is also impressive that she is still doing such heavy social justice and making films at the age of 73. In her talk about film making specifically she mentioned that stories are a way of reaching people that a lot of other medians just can’t do. Its attention grabbing and its captivating. It's like a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. If you want to deliver information and an agenda of change but don’t want to be bogged down and lose your audience then video is a good form to take. I will take this with me when working on my project. 

Consumption | Melanie Manuel, Chef & Owner Celesta Restaurant 

Melanie was a woman that had really strong goals and talents but came from humble beginnings and I really admired that. She talked about being a teacher and said repeatedly that she would be more than willing to help us in our projects if we reach out to her which was especially touching. I think Melanie found a good market for her product/service because it was sought after, growing, and under represented here in Milwaukee, and I think those are key things i should focus on when creating my business where I am also trying to fill an underrepresented market. She also touched on how to make your business stand out and she mentioned working with your passions but adding something a little different to give it that flare. In her case her flare was making vegan comfort or cheat food and she often called it. Melanie talked alot about having confidence and pride in the service/product you are offering. She makes all of the food by hand so she can certifiably swear by the quality of the food and int urn has vast confidence in said food. 

Water | Aaron Zeleske, Harbor District 

When Aaron talked I right away got a sense that he was extremely excited about pitching the ideas about the Harbor District. He looked almost like a kid in the candy store thinking “ooooo what am I gunna eat first?” and the candy comes in the form of facts and plans and initiatives for building the Harbor District. Before hearing Aaron talk I had never heard of the Harbor District are nor had I heard about the plans of development for such area. It was nice to hear during Aarons speech constant reaffirmation and mention of environmentally healthy development on the Harb District. Because when it was first introduced I thought it sounded more like a deforestation plan which is not environmentally healthy. However after listening to his talk it's actually a helpful endeavor because while the Harbor District brings more people, that brings more money and more clean and environmentally healthy development, where as if the Harbor District area is left as it is right now, it's just a breeding ground for pollution and unused space. The Harbor brings in 5 million dollars to milwaukee each year and I thought that was just really impressive. 

Climate Change | Kate Nelson, UWM Chief Sustainability Officer 

So, Kate’s talk,for me, was the hardest to follow and relate to my project. That being said she seems very intelligent and totally boss lady which I really admire. Just the topic of Climate change doesn't really have a whole lot of overlap with my area education especially because Im doing my product/service about learning a second language. Plus during Kate’s talk she talked about alot of complex topics and I personally am not well versed in the language of climate change so most of it went over my head. That being said, for the people in our class that are working with sustainability and climate change, and have some preliminary understanding on the topic, I'm sure her talk was worlds of helpful. I think one interesting thing she touched on was not being afraid of things blowing up in your face. She mentioned some projects that just crashed and burned and she rose from it like a phoenix and took all the good pieces and put them back together again. She also mentioned that this skill took a long time to develop and didn't come until much later in her career so I dont think Ill be feeling that any time soon. However, I will save that idea in the chance that I need to pivot my projects goal I will know to realize that something is not working and make changes before it's too late. 

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Week 1 Design Talk:

Athena Agoudemos, Small Business Consultant Manager, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) 

While listening to Athena talk about WWBIC I really found it refreshing that there are people out there in the business world that are there to help the underprivileged people that can’t get help from a traditional sense. I found this encouraging because I personally have always had the stereotype or stigmatized idea that being an entrepreneur was only a wealthy white man's opportunity. So to be able to see people of color, women, and lower income people being helped to create their dreams made me happy. I also thought an interesting dynamic about WWBIC was that they act as a buffer between the harsh and unforgiving corporate america and the usually less fortunate business people. The investors give funds to the WWBIC because they trust their judgement and ability to successfully get her money back vs. the banks and investors giving this money directly to the entrepreneur. I think a lot of good ideas get skipped over this way by not giving opportunities or access to the people whom the banks and regular investors consider “untrustworthy”. Also while listening to Athena talk I was able to pick up on her personality and she seems very patient, encouraging, and willing to help, which are all key things in her field of business. She also very genuine and kind and humble which is always refreshing to see. I think one of the biggest takeaways I took from her talk is that a) there is help out there for underrepresented groups in the eruntrenepeor world as well as) being kind and helpful goes a long way to be inclusive. 

Design Talk: Mark Fairbanks, UWM Social Entrepreneur Fellow and Co-Founder (Islands of Brilliance) 

Listening to Mark talk was a very emotional and incredibly heartwarming experience. He and his wife took an idea that had worked for them and was also very important to them and make a whole business from it. In our DVC II class we talk a lot about how our projects need to be something were very passionate about otherwise we won’t want to stick with it for the duration of the semester and I think Mark was a great example of that. He took something that was close to his heart and balanced it next to its actually helpful purpose in society to create a wonderful project. During his talk there was something he mentioned that stuck with me. He talked about how a successful project can't be all personal or empathetic interest it also needs to have a true ground based purpose that to people that aren't as invested as you would understand. Think of it in a way like “what's in it for others, or why should I care?” He called this the rational vs. emotional approach, but you do need both to have a successful approach to other people. Mark was also quoted as coining social innovation as “using design process and lean methodology to create meaningful and sustainable social impact.” and I thought that was a very well made definition of such a hard topic as social innovation to attempt to explain. I personally would like to learn more on what lean methodologies is referring to but I digress. I personally think one of the biggest takeaways for me that I will try to implement into my own project is the aforementioned balance of rational vs. emotional approach. Myself, being a very empathetic person, tends to get carried away with emotions and the emotions of others. So I need to step back occasionally and think about what is in it for the other half.

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Week 1 readings

Chapter 1 

This chapter was about research strategies and tactics for collecting data in the lens of use in design.  At the beginning of the chapter it has an intro that  talked about how data supports great concepts and how it is a measurement of the effectiveness of finished projects. I think going of that point data also shows the scope of the problem you will then be using design to fix. These research strategies and tactics also define the way problems are solved and illustrate the value of those solutions. So any design initiative begins with a survey of the methods(theory), strategies (planning), and tactics (action). You also need to remember that quantitative marketing research is a social research technique. So while it all may be numbers at first it's really just setting the stage for you to have a more helpful solution in the future. I chose 3 techniques to talk about in this summary and they are 1) Basic + Applied Research 2)Triangulation and 3) Literature Review. 

The Strategic Designer

This chapter at first started talking about the story of UPS and how it had a humble beginning. The company UPS was created in Seattle about 100 years ago by Jim Casey and Claude Ryan. The UPS logo was created by Claude Ryan in 1961 and lasted all the way until 2003 when they finally decided to reinvent themselves. In our DVC classes we've learned a lot about how to make a logo and it's a recurring experience to see the UPS logo looked at as a good example. I think this is because it really touches on three things that make a good logo, agelessness, clarity/readability and reliability. Just the fact that the logo wasn’t changed from 1961 till 2003 is a statement to its agelessness. The UPS logo is also praised for being easily identifiable as a packaging company with the use of the box logo and the almost present like aspect. Going off of that fact the logo also used warm brown and golds and even deployed a badge like icon giving them reliability and relatability. The later sections just break down how the UPS company went about shifting their companies branding. 

Five Global Challenges Designers and Architects Can Solve in 2017

In this article it touched on exactly what the title says : 5 global issues and how designers plan to try and solve them. The first one on the list was “By 2030, five billion people will reside in cities, many of them in extreme poverty—there’s not enough adequate housing.” So designers solution is to create new housing models that put people's needs first. This means to construct houses that are more affordable and in budget for people that are susceptible to homelessness in poverty. I think this section was really touching on the side effects of gentrification. The second one on the list was “Global waste production is projected to triple by 2100—to the tune of more than 11 million tons per day.” So designers solution is to have cities create alternate style of landfills. This part was impressive because it has specific cities who are already doing projects to try and limit climate change due to waste. New York and San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. The third issue was “Our oceans are getting sicker—by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans.” And designers solution to that was to find a way to filter the sea and repurpose plastic waste. A very young entrepreneur named Boyan Slant created a business that tries to follow the ways the oceans push the plastic around in the currents and stop it at the source. The way to repurpose the plastic was also touched on, they talked about how a company was using plastic to make jerseys that got traction from even famous teams and athletes.