Reflective report for the first semester (Blog 10)
17-May-2021 10:18PM
I officially became an interaction design student this year. But because of COVID-19, I can only take classes online, which is a big challenge for my study. I was a student of the Department of Design before, but there are many things I have learned in this semester that I have not touched before, such as persona, user map. It was both complex and exciting for me. Through this semester, I know that as communication designer and graphic designer, they must work hard to create and establish meaningful relationships between people and products and services. At first of the semester, I feel frustrated and confused when I realize that I am not proficient with the design project, but as I improve, I become more satisfied with my design skills and the product’s capability to reach my goals.
Describe objectively what happened
In the first semester of “Design and Media”, I learned so many problem-solving techniques.such as 5C Model. Of the five 5C models, four are defined in terms of patterns of knowledge. How is knowledge produced, and in what direction is knowledge produced? And what is related to the ability that we have? Two different production methods make these modes: one is transmitted by physical experience; The other is through psychological transmission (Basadur 2005). The 5C provided me with theoretical knowledge.
In the first semester of study, I produced 4 projects and write a self-study blog every week for 10 weeks.
A Personal map is the first project completed by me before the formal class. I drew a personal map in the form of illustration to introduce my daily life: my dog and me. However, when working on this project, I didn’t know much about this course and better learning methods. I focused too much on the results, which was not enough for the preliminary research and thinking.
With the exception of the first project of the semester, the other three projects were guided by a user research model.I conducted a lot of studio experiments helped us get started in this course.In the project 2, I made a user journey map for the first time.
Peter Rowe (1987) was the first to use the term Design Thinking in his book. With design thinking, we define problems from different perspectives.
Design projects are often a vehicle for designers to express their emotions, ideas and opinions. Making connections between people (consumers) and products is a skill we need to achieve as graphic designers to “communicate”.” Usability” and “user experience” should be the goals and guidelines of interaction design. Analysing these two aspects simultaneously leads to a focus on user needs.
Project 4 is human-centred and human-centred. I named this project “The Voice of Daliang Shan”, a charity website that includes two ways to provide donations for the children of Daliang Shan or to provide education for the children of Daliang Shan. The project was inspired by a video and interview about the lives of children in the Daliang Mountains. In this video, most of the children in the Daliang Mountains are trapped in extreme poverty, with no means of support for their families and parents who are either working or long gone. These harsh realities prevent the children from completing their education. As a designer, after watching this video, I wanted to do something for these children, so I decided to design a website like this. However, for people to understand and sympathise with the site, a huge problem had to be solved: how to get viewers to feel compassionate enough to volunteer and even enlist more friends and family to donate.
To solve this problem, it was necessary to fully understand the needs and pain points of the user group (those who wanted to donate to the children of Daliang Mountain) and do a lot of research, such as user studies, interviews, secondary research, etc. It is essential to bring out the real difficulties faced by the children. Then, through advanced research and reflection, the project can be solved. In terms of the specificity of the website, after a series of competitive surveys, efforts are made to make the donation website more attractive and appealing to the audience than other similar donation websites. At the same time, the site’s focus on underprivileged children in specific areas makes it more relevant in terms of purpose and implementation.
Interpret the events
At first, I didn’t get into the learning mode quickly but instead studied in a non-local environment. The language also got me into trouble. On Wednesdays, we were able to have a group discussion and listen to each student’s advice, which helped me a lot. This semester, I know that I need to combine theory with practice and supplement my professional knowledge in research.
During the initial research process, I conducted some interviews, which provided me with an excellent opportunity to improve my oral communication skills. After the project, I wrote an article to review what I had done and learned. That has helped me a lot with my writing skills.
The critical thing to keep in mind is that the design world is changing rapidly. As designers, we need to keep up to date. The weekly guest lectures help us connect with skilled designers. Their experiences have inspired me to pursue my career. After professional training, I hope to find a job and continue to conduct design research in practical business projects. These resources help me keep up with the latest themes and trends in the design world.
Evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of the experience
In this semester, I learned the operation of the entire UI system through four projects. We are learning and understanding the approach to application design and the path to consumer analysis and empathy, essential to any design.In his book, Donald A. Norman (2005) points out that adding emotional building to A design can help us make the creative process creative and fun. The key to the design is to study the target audience, analyze the target audience from the customer’s perspective, learn more about the customer, go out and interview them, know what they think, and build a database to extract information and data their feedback.I learned that the design is for people and must follow the “people-oriented” design concept. A good designer needs to know more than just drawing beautiful graphics and skillfully using design software. More importantly, when facing complex real-world problems, the designer must directly hit the key points and find the optimal solution.
Plan how this learning will be applied
Before entering graduate school, I worked in the packaging design industry for nearly two years. There are more ways to learn design and less research on project results in China’s education system.
Through my research, I have gained a deep understanding of user experience and how to create useful products to meet user goals. The interactive course helps us better understand and solve similar problems we face in design, and we will implement these concepts when we face the issues. These design theories help us to study the age of interaction design further. And it varies depending on the product or device. We need to enhance our capabilities and develop specific skills to solve these problems.
Reference list：
Basadur M. and Gelade G. (2005) Modelling Applied Creativity as a Cognitive Process: Theoretical Foundations, The Korean Journal of Thinking & Problem Solving, 15 (2) Seoul, Korea.
Donald A. Norman (2005) Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. Basic Books. Extract Chapter 2
Peter Rowe (1987) Design Thinking. The MIT Press