#302week3reflection

[sofs-studio]

DES 302 - Week 4 Capstone

First quarter of the project done and dusted! Hello week 4!

Last week my primary focus was the completion of Assignment 1 in DES301 - and to reflect on this, I feel my focus was more towards ticking the points to finish the assignment, rather than it actually benefitting my project. For instance the plans A, B and C that I created only because I have to for the assignment will without a doubt be disregarded. This is because I felt it was too quick in the project to come up with three ideas that I actually like and that could end up being feasible in the real world.

In DES302s' class Nick gave a lecture on reflection, and with that, I would like to adhere the toolkit of What? So What? and, Now What? to this weeks reflection...

What? DES301 assignment felt more of a brain-blocker than an assignment that assisted me in my project. This made me feel anxious, nervous, stressed and irritated.

So What? it felt as though I had little theories or toolkits that could assist me in this assignment. Perhaps this is how this course teaches us to enter the real world - as we won't always be given a brief on a silver platter with all the resources in the world. But, I have particularly found it difficult to apply this first assignment to my chosen design methodology. I say this because, it does not make sense (or align with my method), to work on a Plan A, B, C, of design solutions for my problem.

Now What? It seems the only way of moving from this reflection is that I now will have the freedom to make my own choices. That I am not 'binded' to an assignment that what it is asking of me. Perhaps, I will look back on this assignment and be grateful for some sort of structure that the teaching team has given.

#done

[sofs-studio]

302 - Week 3 Reflective Note

At its current state, week 3 has been an absolute shambles - this is the first of many times that my project will fall apart. 

My first reflective point is that I cannot wrap my head around the first assignment. In all honesty, I feel I am just trying to tick everything the brief requires just to get this assignment done in time. Otherwise, for the most part, the plans I’ve made in place I know for a fact will not stick. I say this because I haven’t felt that ‘fire’ in me with the ideas I have thus far. 

Another realisation I had is that my design thinking process has some flaws. I have come to realise why should the design thinking process have a phase dedicated to ‘empathising’. As an empathy-led designer, wouldn’t you holistically carry empathy in your work and treatment of others? Also, morally I consistently carry empathy. Perhaps I find this a flaw because I naturally am an empathetic person and can’t fathom why someone should be told step by-step how to achieve this. Anyhow I am closing up this ‘empathise’ phase next week and look forward to the next phase where I will begin to ‘define’ and critically adapt what has already been defined.