As I started using my design, the fill in the blank daily schedule, I noticed a number of things. First being that I needed more spaces for daily chores, such as doing my laundry or cleaning my room. Additionally, I needed more room for overall error, recognizing that each day will not go perfectly as planned. Going forward, I would add more free spaces and also spread things out more. Realistically, I would have more time for other activities because, for example, eating lunch would probably not take an entire hour (as pictured on my schedule). I would also like to find a method which enforces that certain things on the option list get accomplished, such as, cleaning my room. In order to do this a possible solution might be to put the not-so-fun activities in red and require that I have at least one red activity on my schedule each day so that I am being productive but also doing fun activities such as drawing.
This design changed my experience throughout quarantine because it gave each day a purpose and a plan. The most important component that I realized for me personality was the fact that it forced me to get dressed and out of my pajamas. In a time of self-isolation, it is so easy to lay in bed all day and not get ready which would definitely negatively affect my mental state after a while. I planned each schedule the night before and would wake up knowing that I had a list of activities that I needed to accomplish, making me feel more motived and urgent in getting out of bed.
I would take this idea a step further by adding a reflective space on the bottom of each day. This way, at night as I was planning tomorrow’s events, I would realize what went well and what could’ve gone better that day, to improve it even more for the next day. This way, the creativity aspect on the design hierarchy of needs is more represented so that I can discover what works for me and what doesn’t and think of new ways to go about each day.
Using the design process was a very helpful method for this process. Initially, I did not understand the constraint map and honestly found it to be a little backwards. Later I realized that the whole point of it is to recognize problems in order to create real and working solutions. Without recognizing what needs to be fixed in the first place, a design might end up with no real purpose. I was able to see what my made concern was during this time, and brainstorm concepts on how to fix it, which then led to concrete ideas and solutions.
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