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| The first iteration was a simple representation of the original plan, to test if the usage of a “physical bar diagram” would work. | evidence/slideshow1/p1.jpg |
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| The second iteration was a full-size probe, with which participants could indicate their priority for transforming the neighborhood on the topic of sustainability. | evidence/slideshow1/p2.jpg |
| This was tested in front of a shopping mall, and in an elderly activity center. | evidence/slideshow1/p3.jpg |
| I used a working prototype for discussing capturing experiences and ways of reliving in a concrete way. | evidence/slideshow2/p0.jpg |
| An experiential prototype was used during the mid-term presentation, to give the audience a good impression of the concept, in a tangible way. | evidence/slideshow2/p1.jpg |
| Storyply was used to envision the context of the user through storytelling. | evidence/slideshow3/p1.jpg |
| Several Strukton service workers were interviewed, and through co-constructing stories, they were sensitized with the envisioned concept. | evidence/slideshow3/p2.jpg |
| I recorded my presentations, to discover what I could improve in my presentations. | evidence/slideshow4/p1.jpg |
| In his TEDx presentation, Daniele Quercia used a personal story, kept return to his story line, and he asked the audience questions to get them involved. I tried to do the same in my mid-term presentation. | evidence/slideshow4/p2.jpg |
| I included a demonstration in my presentation. This invited the audience to experience the concept I was presenting, which sparked a lively discussion. | evidence/slideshow4/p3.jpg |
| A proposition house is a model for defining the strategy: identifying customers, competitors, the needs, your promise and your discriminators compared to the competitors. | evidence/slideshow5/p1.jpg |
| The interactive setup of the workshop enabled me to apply this framework directly to the app CoCap. | evidence/slideshow5/p2.jpg |
From my PC verdict, I identified two goals, but in addition, I identified a third goal from the perspective of service design. The PDP goals are:
Next to that, I identified two reflective themes that can be included in this reflection on overall growth.
In my PDP, I defined a goal for improving stakeholder involvement. From a service design perspective, I wanted to improve my interaction with stakeholders (users, clients, experts) in the design process. I expected to put it to practice in both the module Location-based Tools for Neighborhood Transformation and my web design business activities. This way, I wanted to use methods like co-reflection to involve the stakeholders more.
More activities contributed to this than I expected. In the module Location-based Tools for Neighborhood Transformation, I got more familiar with cultural probing and opening up the process by presenting the deliverables in a tangible way throughout the process and triggering discussion with stakeholders. As I experienced the power of this, I wanted to apply it in the project Pics or it didn’t Happen, by using tangible deliverables to trigger discussion and ideation. The UXify Meetup helped me to understand how opening up the process and soft skills (give feedback, give credits, manage expectations, build a network) help in managing a design process in a large company with many stakeholders. With Designing for the User Experience I investigated the user experience, and empathized with the users to discover latent experiential needs.
As for my PDP goal about this, I improved my skills with involving stakeholders considerably. Various activities lead to a better understanding of various practices to open up the process. It relates more to activities on the university than with my web design business, but I still learned a lot, given that I did not expect to work on this goal in various activities. I identified two patterns: involvement through collaborating, and through empathizing. Involvement through collaboration relates to Teamwork and to Communication. Involvement through empathizing relates to Socio-cultural Awareness and User Focus and Perspective. It is also an important part of my vision and identity, as sometimes, designing for the experience means discovering latent needs, rather than needs that the user can identify him-/herself.
I defined a goal to improve my presentation skills based on one part of the PC verdict. I felt that my M11 project was a disappointment, but this should not withhold me from doing a good presentation. I wanted to learn how to engage the audience, coming across more convincingly, present more concisely and find a better way to prepare for presentations.
I analyzed good TEDx talks, and adapted my presentations to it iteratively, which resulted in an understanding of how I can build my story. I learned how to make presentations more interesting for the audience, and to keep the audience engaged. I wanted to present my project at DIT is TEDx, but I was not selected. It would have been a great way to test my presentation skills there.
I also focused on pitching, for which I registered for the course STU81: Oefen je presentatie. In two sessions, I got feedback on how to improve my pitch for Pics or it didn’t Happen. I discovered that I am more of a thinker than a speaker. So the key for me is in preparing the entire story of the pitch beforehand. I learned that pitches need to be very concrete. Instead of using abstract terms and generalizations, I learned that I should use examples that speak to the imagination of the listeners, use facts or tell a personal story. Next to that, the story should be structured well, instead of jumping between subjects.
It is related to the competency area Communication. When looking at my PDP goal, I did all the activities that I planned to do. I learned how to engage the audience, I got a better understanding of how to present concisely, and I learned that pitching works best for me if I prepare them. The final Demo Days did not do justice to this growth.
I can see clear growth over the course of the semester. […] Your final demo day unfortunately did not do justice to this growth. You clearly have the skills for a strong presentation so there are other factors causing this. Consider what inhibits you of giving a strong presentation (stress of assessment? fear of failure?) and find ways to address these obstacles.
I think it has to do with the stress of the assessment, as well as the pressure of wanting to fulfill the conditional of presenting and showing my growth in it. Either I should control this feeling of pressure, or should be able to better control stress.
Improving my designer vision was a criterion of the PC verdict. Gaining broader insight into the area of application was a part of this. When I look back at my M1.1, I was insecure about my ambitions, and hesitant in my vision. I wanted to broaden my understanding of the field of expertise from my vision, by attending workshops, visiting events, watching presentations and reflecting on my vision with my coach.
I started by keeping up with TEDx talks, and reflecting on these in a facebook page. This served as inspiration for how I see myself with respect to these developments. Another step was to broaden my horizon by attending lectures (UXify Meetup, Zuidzeven, Will Odom and Wendy Moncur) and visiting events to get inspired and informed about subjects that I like.
Besides this, I iteratively improved my vision by getting feedback from my coach, in a plenary meeting with other students and Oscar Tomico. Through the course of five vision iteration, I got feedback from my coach, from Oscar Tomico and in a plenary feedback session with other students. My vision became more specific about my area of application, started to include my motivations, is more focused on the future, and now there is a better divide between vision and identity. To read more about the iterations themselves, visit iterative vision process.
It relates to Transforming, Envisioning Society, as it emphasizes my ideals as a designer. At first, I did not know where I could go to broaden my horizon, so I started with TEDx talks. Later on, I found events, and I started to expand my comfort zone by attending all kinds of events. In the end, I did more than I expected to do. This is the essence of expanding the comfort zone; I needed to explore more of the world of design, and I succeeded. It changed my attitude, and I will continue exploring. When I look back at the start of this semester, my new vision defines a more clear direction where I can go to, than it did at the start of the semester.
As a part of working on my vision, I did quite some more activities. It required me to be open for new things, so I had to explore and extend my comfort zone. At the start of the semester, I did not know where to look for getting more acquainted with the design branch I am interested in. But gradually, I found events, lectures and presentations that suit my interest. Among these are Aan Tafel Met, Workshop Branchmarking, UXify Meetup. My attitude changed, so I will continue to explore the field of design.
It mostly relates to Self-directed and Continuous Learning. Not all the activities directly suit my interests, but that is okay. I still learned something from these activities. Other events like GET STARTED inspired me to attend more, so I am currently attending DDW x KVK, a series of workshops on entrepreneurship for design startups.
With my own web design business it is still on a small scale. So I attended GET STARTED to learn more about how to go from an idea to business. It was more about ideas than building a business like mine, but it inspired me to look further at my own idea; the app CoCap I made for Pics or it didn’t Happen. It woke my interest for entrepreneurship, and I am currently attending a series of workshops called DDW x KVK. The first workshop was about making strategies, from which I learned about the possibilities for my idea. The workshop helped with defining a revenue model and identifying customers versus users. It helped with making a strategy to appeal the customer and the user. I am going to attend the other workshops of the series, as they will cover relevant subjects like intellectual property, how to promote an idea, going from strategy to business, financing and training exhibiting at the Dutch Design Week.
This relates to Designing Business Processes. I started with developing my idea further by defining the strategy for appealing customers and users with a proposition house. It strengthened my interest into continuing my app CoCap.