This is my first group project in design ever. I found it really different and interesting working with others and really enjoyed it. I appreciated the different perspectives and it was like having four brains, if one forgot something, another would remind it. I learnt the benefits of working in a team, which I feel far outweighs the disadvantages. In future projects, I’d like to divide the work amongst my team mates and I if there was time for it though.  The extensive research we did was also really different from all other briefs where research usually took about a third of the duration of the project. I feel that because of it our design is a more informed one and I see its necessity in interactive design.

I think I would most like to be assessed upon self-sufficiency which is ironic as it was a team project. I just feel that I managed myself pretty well and made the video successfully. More than that, I would prefer more heavy weighting on the team project. I think we worked really well together and produced a good outcome in the end and had pretty smooth sailing throughout.

I found two things equally extremely difficult in this project. First was concept problem solving. It involved making many decisions such as who to target the event at and the realities of it such as budget, how to get the community to want to be involved in the events, how many events, and how the events would be run. Secondly, the same as what I most enjoyed, producing the animation. It was my first time making an animation using flash so I learnt as I went along. Originally, the video was supposed to be stop-motion animation comprising of paper puppets which looked much better but I didn’t have software that could handle the large seperate image files(everything I tried crashed) and so the more charming visual appearance was given up for the sake of meeting the deadline. I felt that we weren’t given quite enough time to create the video. There just wasn’t enough time for us to each produce a part and then make changes to make the parts consistent with each other so I made the video.

I think I would give the blog a bit more attention. I feel that what is posted here apart from Journal Questions isn’t an accurate representation of my participation in the project. I worked with my team mates to solve the  many hurdles of our idea and event.

A good implication would be that people would respect their environment more and be pleased to be in it. It would also give them the opportunity to make their mark on it in a postive way, connecting them with the place. It could really give a strong sense of belonging. However, it would be bad if people started seeing it as an indication that tagging public places is acceptable. It would also be bad if people abused the creative freedom and drew explicit images into the environment.

The real user testing will be held on a weekend morning when people are more likely to be available to participate outside the Global Learning Centre as that is one of the sites for a potential community art project to give a sense of context. Organisers will provide participants the paper tiles and pens to draw on. Participants will be observed to determine how they will paint tiles without a surface like a table. If doing so proves too difficult then tables or some other surface to lean their tile on would be needed in the real design. Organisers will approach passing residents of Broadmeadows to invite them to participate in the prototype with a quick explanation of how it works and its benefits. Painted tiles will be placed on the ground with a temporary adhesive like masking tape on the base to give and idea of how it will look as well as coaxing more people to participate. One person will observe and take notes of residents such as their reaction and attitude towards the invitation and the average speed at which the tile is painted.

Part 2

Maybe some clear signage would help inform participants what we’d like them to do. There would need to be more tiles than with the previous test to accomodate for the unestimatable number of participants there would be. It would be better if the tiles were the colours we intended them to be instead of white though, and in changing the colour of the tiles, the medium might have to be changed to something less transparent than marker ink as well.

*Spoken in present tense

*Doesn’t always have to be 100% objective. Birds were described as ‘cute’ which is subjective.

*Transitions are all cuts and a variety of shots are used, close-ups, far-shots.

*Wings fold out and bend at the middle area, they flap very quickly and usually not gracefully.

From the parrot observations I made a few quick .gif animations to test my findings:

it was a good start but real parrot wings move more, so I tried again with 3 different wing frames:

I thought it was better with 2, so I tried again:

I was pretty happy this time, so I went on to try animate it turning its head:

I thought that worked out well too. Yay!

People were confused as to what to do, my team mates needed to explain to them how it worked. I think signage would have prevented this problem. When the participants finished they our prototype was fun, so I’m really glad about that. Although… it might have been to do with the fact that the participants were mostly design students and are used to being creative and drawing. People who don’t usually draw might be hesitant to participate in painting tiles. I think we need to show that there is no consequence in whatever is drawn on the tiles (except in the case of rude things) then people will be more willing with a, ‘Okay, there’s nothing to lose, I may as well!’ attitude.

We intended it for school children but Dianne questioned this. Now that I think about it, I don’t see why not! I guess we assumed that adults wouldn’t be interested or were too busy. I think we’ll have to change our thinking quite a bit to accommodate adults too though, we’re too used to aiming the project at children. Anyway, I think it can be done… as long as adults would actually be interested in getting their hands a bit dirty. Or maybe we can somehow make the interaction a bit neater… perhaps a different medium rather than paint? Our prototype used markers… maybe we could use paint markers.

Sometimes, different trains of thought conflict and people don’t see eye to eye. It’s only happened once and was resolved pretty easily with some clear explanation from both sides and a middleman to kind of translate each person’s idea to another. If something like that were to happen again, I think it’d be good to just write the conflicting ideas in dot points and then explain if need be, because usually it’s just a misunderstanding that has occurred.

People have been doing the amount of work they promised at the start. Some people are aiming higher than others and they’re doing a bit more work which I think is reasonable as long as the difference in effort isn’t too great. So far the workloads have been pretty even. I’m pretty happy with my group, I think everybody’s fairly patient in problem solving and though there’s frustration, we continue and don’t give up until we’ve solved the problem; that’s what I think is the best trait of my group.

It was a sunny Saturday and there were many people gathered at the Global Learning Centre. Gizem remembers chatting with her neighbours while lining up to get a tile and paint. The place was buzzing with excited participants. Gizem had thought about what she’d paint on her tile many days before the event, what she wanted to contribute to the community. She had planned to draw a lemon tree like the one in her backyard but decided to draw a lemon and a pomegranate, representing how her family would trade fruits with the neighbours. After painting her tile she went to place it in the ground. She mused over the fact that she had contributed to the place , like this was a permanent, visual representation of her belonging in the community.

Gizem can now see her house, she picks up her pace and finally arrives home.

2. Ling Shi Ming

Female | 21 | International University Student | Chinese

Hmm.. I’m pretty settled here now. It’s been 3 months since I moved. Uni seems to be going okay, I’ve made friends and I’ve unpacked all my stuff. I wish I lived closer to uni but Broadmeadows is good. There’s a library and shopping centre close by. I don’t go there very often though, maybe I should. Sigh, the train is late again… I should sit down. This train station is a bit empty. There aren’t that many people around either. On a scale of 1 – 5, I feel about a 3.5 in safety. Even worse at night… probably a 4. I wish there were more people around. The community seems close here. I don’t know anyone here yet, I should try to meet people who live around here like me. I think if I made even one friend it’d be good. Maybe they’ll introduce me to other people and then I can belong in the community too! I’m a bit shy though… my English isn’t so good.

The train’s still not here yet! Now there are some kids on the platform… they’re so noisy. Shouldn’t they be in school or something? Anyway, I hope I’m not late for uni. I came earlier so that I wouldn’t be late but then the train’s late… there’s nothing I can do about that. I don’t want to go into the lecture late. It’s so embarassing… where’s that train?!

Good morning. It’s slightly colder this morning, but apart from that it’s just the same. I have to go get ready for work. I think I’ll wear this today, it’s been a while. Toast and coffee, just like every other day. Oh, I bought some plum jam yesterday, finally a change from strawberry! That was nice, it’s time to go. Keys? Check. The crisp morning air is nice but I wish there were more sunlight. Everything’s so grey. The grey sidewalk, grey skies, grey road… the overcast make things that aren’t grey slightly grey too. Red light, stop… I can see the train station from here. Alright, it’s green now. I wonder if I’ll get a window seat on the train today. Where’s my ticket? Okay, validated. 13 minutes until the train arrives. I guess I’ll sit at the bench. Everything’s so hard and geometric… and dull. There’s not really nothing much to look at. Nothing I haven’t seen anyway. Oh well, at least it’s a bit more sunny now. I wish I hadn’t left home so early. What should I do to pass the time?

6:00pm:

Oh, Broadmeadows, my stop. I wouldn’t have known if not for that announcement, it looks just like any other train station.  Ah, just what I need to see after a day in the city… that glass office building. Time to make a beeline straight home. I want to get out of here as fast as possible, as fast as I can when I’m tired anyway.