Hej everyone,

The schedule for the final presentations at the project fair is now available above under 'Schedule & Info.' You will find more information about the Ce/muse festival here. There are a lot of interesting activities going on that day, so check it out and figure out with your group members who wants to visit what. Just make sure the group is complete when the examiner visits. We will end the festival with a BBQ in the botanical garden, you are all welcome to join! (it's a 'bring your own everything').

Important note: the schedule stated that there is a mandatory meeting this Wednesday, however this is not correct. There is no mandatory meeting coming Wednesday, but of course you are welcome in the Cemus library to finish your prototype, etc. We will be around if you have any questions 🙂

Good luck with the final days of this group project!

Heleen and Lakin

Hej everyone,

Thanks for all your contributions yesterday! We think that you gave each other some valuable feedback and we hope that this will help you to move forward with your project. Keep in mind that the types of questions you received yesterday will be very close to the questions can expect, and need to be able to answer, during the final presentation (e.g. what did you focus on? How big is this problem?).

Second, we would like to remind you that in the end you will need to gather all your work in a portfolio. You should already be thinking now how you can show both your process and your results in this portfolio. Document everything! Otherwise you will find out in May that you are missing important pictures, sketches, etc. you would like to include.

Also, yesterday we heard a lot of talking, but unfortunately there was not a lot of visual work. Even though many of you are still doing research, there is a lot to show. For example looking at how IDEO did their research on the shopping cart (again, because we have already spoken about it), you see that they use pictures, graphs, they even had the real shopping cart there! Where are the pictures of the schools, food, homes, supermarkets, etc.? This will help a lot of you to make your problem concrete and to move away from abstract thinking and discussions.

Now that you are doing research, think about interesting ways to discuss and present it in your portfolio. Is it graphs, mind-maps, pictures, quotes, very long paragraphs, etc.? In your research try to find a balance between facts and inspiration – make sure your reader understands the problems as well as you do and becomes interested in hearing your solution.

Last night we did not have that much time to discuss your second book choice, but make sure you use this book for your project and include in clearly, whether it is as a source of information, to help you understand a method, etc… Also we learned that not all groups have started reading their second book yet – start as soon as possible!

Last, we would like to suggest that you start prototyping as soon as possible. Do not get stuck in analyzing the problem, if necessary, you can always return to this later. Simple prototypes will allow you to discuss issues more in depth with potential users or other stakeholders and they will guide you towards your final solution. We would like each group to bring at least one prototype to the next work group meeting, for example the physical object, pictures, videos, etc. This will allow you to show what you have been doing so far and it will provide a good base for discussions with the other group and the examiner.

We discovered yesterday that we were a bit short on time; therefore the next update meeting will be from 17.00 (no academic quarter) to 20.00. Like yesterday, you only have to be present for your own meeting. We will post the schedule some time next week.

For now, good luck designing awesome things!

Heleen and Lakin

Hi again,

Next week we will have our first update meeting. The purpose of this meeting will be to share with us, and with one other group, what you have been doing so far. This is a chance to ask for feedback and to learn from another group's process. You are expected to actively engage in giving the other group feedback and ask questions. Try to think in advance if you have any specific questions or if you are stuck with something in your process. If so, you can bring this up during the meeting and you will be able to get the most out of it.

Next week you will have been working on this project for two weeks and we expect to be able to see this in the work you bring to the meeting (remember, approximately 10h/person/week). From different groups we have heard about plans to talk to users, experts, etc. this will be a great source of information and inspiration and we are looking forward to see what you have found. Bring actual results of your work so far, e.g. problem statements, mind maps, photos, interviews, the design needs, etc. Google Docs can be useful to manage your own group work, but they are horrible to communicate with other people. Make use of visuals during these meetings!

For each meeting we have scheduled 30 min. and since we have 9 groups we need to be strict with time. We will have 15 min for each group. You will have approximate 3 - 5 min. to share your problem statement and your results so far, the rest of the time will be for questions/discussions.

You will find the separate schedule for the update meeting above under 'Schedule & Info.' We will be in Geocentrum, but we will announce the exact location here on the course portal later.

Enjoy the Easter Weekend!

Heleen and Lakin

Hi!

As you have started to define your problem statement and plan your project you will soon start to explore your problem by doing design research. The following blog posts demonstrate how design research is done in the field and provide some advise to consider:

5 Keys to Successful Design Research

Design Research: What is it and why do it?

Keep in mind that design research is a lot more than a literature review, although a literature review could be included as well. It is very important to go out to talk to people as soon as possible and try to meet a variety of people, e.g. not just consumers/students/etc. but also talk to teachers/store owners/experts/... Apart from using literature and interviews there are many other methods you could use, for example you could do questionnaires, observations, use prototypes, analyze images, empathy exercises, etc. See what information you need most and how you could gather this the best way possible.

We have posted the creativity techniques we used during the weekend workshop above under Resources & Lectures. This is only a small selection of methods, see if you can find something new and interesting to try out with your group.

If you have any questions about design research, creativity techniques or anything else related to the project, please do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail. We will also be in the Cemus library to answer your questions next week Wednesday between 17:00 and 19:30.

Don't forget to submit your problem statement, project plan and book choice by Friday the 11th of April.

All the best,

Heleen and Lakin

Hi everyone,

We are currently going over assignment II and III. You will receive individual feedback on your analysis of design as soon as possible, however we have decided not to send out individual feedback for assignment III, since we noticed we had less to say about these submissions. As general feedback to all of you we would like to say that we are impressed with the creativity you demonstrate in solving some of these problems. Many contributions are very imaginative, surprising, funny or they open up thinking for completely new directions. This will be very valuable during your group projects.

Furthermore we would like to advise the following:

- Draw your sketches on blank paper

- Trace pencil lines with black marker

- Make use of color (you can communicate a lot more information with color and it will be easier for your team members or other viewers to understand your ideas)

These are just very simple tricks which will have a big impact on the quality of your sketches and the information you can share.

Last, during your idea generation for the group project focus on quantity first, you can filter out the ideas which won't work afterwards.

Good luck!