Day 5 #CBD2014

Well this week has been something else, and I’m so glad to have finished it on a high! It has been great to see such a positive reaction from everyone this week, brainstorming ways that we can design for better mental wellbeing! After sitting back today, watching and listening to all the presentations we ALL have a lot to be proud for!

Even me!! I did the presentation today! When it was my turn to go up my legs went to jelly, I felt nauseous, my palms got sweaty, i thought I needed to pee – the works! On top of this, the laptop decided to have a meltdown as well – perhaps it was nervous for me! After running smoothly all morning I stood in anticipation slightly hoping it was broken and I’d have to go home! However after some of the team members assured me I could do it and the laptop came back to life, I stood up infront of everyone and did it!

This week has been incredibly useful to me! It has allowed me to see the design process in a whole new light. The “fail fast” idea has been experience plenty this week however look at what we achieved! I have learnt to keep going and persist with new ideas – and also to listen and engage with others and help develop their ideas! It has been very fast paced but I have enjoyed it.

Now for a relaxing weekend starting off with some fireworks tonight! 🙂

Day 4 #CBD2014

Today was a very VERY busy but productive day! The pressure to have everything polished up and completed meant everyone got on with it. We had teams videoing all our different prototypes and uploading them to our group so that other members could compile everything into our final video.

  

Collectively we all managed to capture people interacting and reacting to our messages and posters – addressing the issue that we spend too much time on our phones and that it acts as a block to conversation. Myself and a few girls from the team played with the idea that walking around on your phone is the equivalent to walking around with a blindfold on – you are blind to everything going on around you! We took several recordings of this to portray this idea for our final video.

After a busy morning we all went to lunch together to Drouthys and discussed how our video was looking so far… It was a great time as we were in a relaxing atmosphere – a harsh contrast to how level 5 has been the last few days! Also my halloumi burger was delicious!

The afternoon was spent compiling our final presentation which I have volunteered to do. I’ve been too shy all week to take part in the small presentations at the end of each day so what better way to get over my fear of presenting than to do it in front of everyone(!) However, we have all worked really hard and I’m keen to do our team proud!

It has certainly been a struggle this afternoon creating the presentation, as we have so many team members everyone was putting in their say. Tensions were high so myself and a member of the team escaped by flying around campus putting up lots of our posters! They were very effective, a girl on our team spent lots of effort on them in the morning so that they attract attention and display our ideas clearly.

  

On our return we decided to stay later to add the finishing touches to our Pecha Kucha format presentation. I took titles of each of the slides to prepare what I was going to talk about, as the Pecha Kucha format means that each slide is limited to 20 seconds, which meant that we couldn’t show our final product – as opposed to all the other teams. However, we did manage to fit in some clips so hopefully they will attract interest and everyone will search it in their own time!

Day 3 #CBD2014

A start to a whole new concept today! Travelling in the morning I was thinking if we had been too literal previously. Our team was focusing on technology and we jumped to apps and creating more technology to combat the use of technology. During the live research from yesterday as well as getting primary results and feedback there were also a number of observations made. A lot of students were using their phones and ipods as tools of social prevention. By taking out their phone or having their earphones in we were struggling to communicate with them as they had this barrier up and were avoiding eye contact. This was when the LOOK UP idea came in to place…

We began to focus on ways to engage with the other students, and encourage them to put away their phones when in a social environment. We came up with a new concept of creating a video that will make the watchers realise how much they are using their phones and other pieces of technology and what they are missing out on as a result of doing so. Again, we split up and began prototyping different ways to show how by just looking up from technology you can appreciate your surroundings and make yourself a much more approachable person – encouraging social interaction – which in turn leads to a decrease in stress, an increase in mood and overall has an impact on your mental wellbeing.

 

Once again we divided into sub groups using masking tape, chalk and some material we developed many prototypes to convey our message. We took video clips of our team members walking with blindfolds on – as a symbol that walking around with your eyes glued down on the screen is the equivalent to walking around blindfolded. We also put small messages on the steps that people would notice if they were looking at their phone. Another member had a tripod set up and captured people reacting to the messages.

Today was a very productive and fun day, and the direction our team is taking in my opinion is much more effective. The irony of creating a video with the intention of sending it out via social media is both ironic but also makes a statement. People are going to see the video as a result of procrastinating!

Day 2 #CBD2014

We kicked off the day with an Energiser delivered by Mike Press and energising was exactly what it was! He explained that this week we had to focus on designing for others not yourself, and by doing this you can create a product/service perfect for your chosen market.

To do this we wrote up a survey to ask our target market, who conveniently were all around on campus! We wanted to find out if others considered technology a tool of procrastination, if they were aware how much they used it and if they found technology something that helps or hinders in stressful situations. We split up into teams of 2 and 3 and then regrouped after an hour at the union over coffee to discuss our findings.

 

We altered some of the questions and headed back out for the rest of the morning to gather more results. I had a great morning interacting with other students, our small team set up base at the main library so there were plenty people filing in and out with a few minutes to spare to chat.

After lunch we discussed our results and it was clear that students are using technology excessively however they see it as “normal” so they don’t think anything of it. Most considered technology to be both a hinderance and helpful, but leaning more to the hinderance end of the scale.

Our design developed that as well as an app there might be something that connects with it that is a physical object. Such as a wristband or some sort of pendant that can track what you spend your day doing. However after we made a few prototypes a handful of our team set out again to see how people reacted to this approach while the rest of the team continued to research. The results were that not many people were keen on wearing some sort of accessory.

Taking part in live research was very beneficial to our team I would say, as we got a lot of feedback to take on board and it gave our large team some time to go away and work productively in smaller sub-groups.

Tomorrow we will have to reconsider the direction we are heading in to design a product/service that supports mental wellbeing through the use of technology.

Day 1 #CBD2014

Today was the beginning of a fast paced week-long module called Change By Design. It combines the skills and talents of 2nd year Interior Environmental Design, Textiles and Jewellery students at DJCAD. This year the focus was around mental well-being and how design can heavily contribute to supporting sufferers.

By the end of the week we were to create a product or service that helps and educates. To start off we split into 3 large groups and began brain storming on mind maps with post it notes.

From here, we had a number of factors to consider than can contribute to mental wellbeing. These included positive association, education, environments and more. I chose to focus on the technology aspect because it was unlike anything I’ve worked on before and wanted to set myself a challenge.

An initial brain storming session in our new team generated ideas and discussions about blue light technology, apps, charity donating schemes and comforting pillows – a very wide selection!

We found that stress and anxiety, particularly in students, comes into affect when deadlines and coursework is due. Amongst ourselves, we discussed how much technology is used to procrastinate. We played on the idea that the concept we develop could help the user track progression – like a virtual diary almost. We also saw potential with some sort of target creator that would reward the user for engaging in tasks that promote mental well-being. We found this concept could ultimately reduce stress and therefore would act as a prevention to bad mental health.

To summarise the day, it has been a fast paced day and there is a lot of work to be done quickly in order for us to have a final product in only 4 days time but I have great confidence in our team as everyone is getting involved and voicing a lot of ideas and opinions!