#302week6reflection

[sofs-studio]

DES 302 - Week 7 Capstone

Another week another reflective model! And today I will tackle Gibbs' Reflective Cycle (1988)...

Description:

The week just been was our last week before the mid semester break, and to be honest I was barely holding up. The week started with a high as I felt ahead of schedule with the roadmap I created for capstone. Rather than continuing the define phase, I was able to push onto the ideate phase! As predicted, I knew this phase would be difficult, and indeed it has been hard to triumph in this phase. What slumped my week was after having some one-on-one feedback with Diana. I had concerns about the AR space I wanted to ideate because I can't exactly 'design' the AR space until I have a workshop. But due to ethics, I can't exactly go out to the public and co-create with the community - therefore I mitigated this with the hopes that I could co-create a space with the stream leaders to then create their 'ideal' workplace. However, Diana was very quick to shut this idea down and I was simple told the stream leaders are all too busy.

Feelings:

The past week I have felt like the passage to my creative side in the brain was physically shut off - nothing and I mean NOTHING was comprehending. When I get into brain fogs like this I tend to try relaxing methods such as going to the gym, listening to music, having a coffee and kai. However, these methods still did not work - I am thinking this brain-block is also due to things outside of uni that have stressed me (work, moving flats, planning an overseas trip) Annoyingly, I know that more I put pressure on myself to 'be creative' the more my body rejects the thoughts... it's not like I have the time to waste though so I am in this loophole of anxiety and irritability.

Evaluation:

Perhaps capstone will teach me more than design methods, but methods in relaxation haha. To be completely transparent, what has not been working so well for me is the feedback I get from my stream leader - it tends to confuse or overwhelm me and I know she means well but naturally I don't think we adhere to one another. Something that I need to focus more on now is having conversations with fresh faces to gain fresh perspectives. I also feel talking to other stream leaders would benefit me as they can assist in their expertise (Eg. Mairi could direct me in design precedents for AR spaces or be better equiped to advise me if this design solution is feasible for my HMW statement).

Analysis:

I assume that conversations with my stream leader may have not gone so well due to the stress she has with her workload. I understand she also has a lot on her plate, but I would have appreciated transparency rather than dismissive rejection to the idea of co-creating together. However, on a more positive note outside of what I have discussed above. The library has been a great tool for me in gaining advertisement precedents. A book I have thoroughly enjoyed was Creative Advertising: ideas and techniques from the world's best campaigns by Mario Pricken (2002). This book has started to ignite my creative excitement for designing a marketing campaign. An exemplar from this book that I really want to lead my work from is The wrong working environment campaign (2005).

Conclusion:

Ultimatley, I can't say from this past week I have learnt a lot. However I am accepting that I am still working on my ability to surpass the creative blockers I am experiencing.

Action Plan:

Importantly, what I need to do is build the courage to communicate with other stream leaders (even my 302 teachers). Here, I will be able to gain diverse and fresh feedback - the more feedback, the stronger my structure for the design solution will be!

//References//

Gibbs, G. (1988). Gibbs' Reflective Cycle. https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/gibbs-reflective-cycle

Pricken, M. (2002). Creative Advertising: ideas and techniques from the world's best campaign.