Markets, Innovation & Design - Spring 2020

Habits Reflection

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I have always considered myself to be a creative person simply because I love art and people have told me that I am creative. I don’t think I had ever really questioned this until MIDe 300. It’s not that I don’t consider myself creative anymore, but I now understand that there’s more to creativity than just being a talented artist or a good problem solver. I think that one of the habits that has stuck out to me most this semester is embracing ambiguity. Not only with the semester being canceled over half-way through and having to adopt a new way of learning, but also with the way that many of our assignments have been proposed. Oftentimes, our assignments were open-ended and left to us to figure out. At first, this frustrated me as I was so used to having assignments with detailed instructions. However, I now enjoy this method because it is so interesting to see how each student takes on the challenge, including my own. It was very cool to see my own projects play out because when I first read the instructions for an assignment, I had no clue where I was going to go with it and yet somehow I was always pretty pleased with the outcome. 

From this habit (embracing ambiguity) I have learned that it is okay to be confused and frustrated, but to take things one step at a time, ask questions, and get feedback. Regarding myself, I have learned that I am able to deal with ambiguity and come out the other side with a better understanding of the task.

I think that the habit that comes most naturally to me is creative confidence. This could be due to the fact that I had previously regarded myself as creative so I never really feared doing it wrong. However, I have since learned from this course that you can’t really go wrong when it comes to creativity because creativity is interpreted and implemented differently with different people. 

The habit that I want to work on is child’s eye. I can be stubborn and this can sometimes hinder my ability to see things from a new, fresh perspective. But, a child’s eye is important when it comes to being creative. I can work on growing with this habit by slowing down and actually thinking about or looking at what is in front of me. I can also try and look at things in its simplest form and use my imagination like a child to think about what it could be. 

Overall, I am very satisfied with what this class has taught me. I am leaving this class, and for maybe the first time, actually taking what I have learned and using it to further benefit my character and learning. 

Test and Iterate #2

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In the past two weeks, following my schedule every day has been difficult. Instead of following it to a tee, I have allowed my schedule to give me inspiration and motivation to make my days more productive and meaningful. Every day I make sure that I do something impactful with my day whether that is for myself or for others. It is important for me to not to stay inside all day being unproductive and lazy. For example, in the past few weeks I have volunteered to make hospital gowns, gone for daily walks in which I call my friends to check in with them, enjoyed time outside reading or gardening with my mom, walked my dogs, journaled about my day-to-day life and how I am coping with quarantine, painted, and of course spent substantial time on school work. Making the change from following a schedule to instead doing something substantial everyday has been way for feasible and as a result much more impactful. I have learned that it is okay to sleep late occasionally and watch Netflix for a few too many hours or stay up too late. But, it is also important to maintain balance and make my day-to-day life as “normal” as it once was prior to quarantine.

With only a week or two left of actual class work and exams, doing things to keep me motivated and productive are going to be even more important. It would be easy to just lie around all day doing nothing, but I plan on continuing to find inspiration from my schedule to keep me inspired, positive, and productive.

Test and Iterate

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This past week in following my daily schedule and routine, I have definitely made some tweaks. For example, some days I had more homework than others and I was able to spend my time doing other things such as painting, playing board games with my parents, or being lazy and watching reality tv. Another thing that I have been loose on is my wake up time. I am a person who requires a lot of sleep, so waking up before 10am on some days is just not a priority, especially on the days in which I do not have much to do. I think that the most helpful part of making a schedule was being able to keep myself accountable and to be able to follow and normal routine like I was doing when I was at school. Especially in times like this, routines are very important because if you are just sitting around all day it can cause you to go a bit stir-crazy. Another part of my schedule that I have been utilizing and enjoying is the time scheduled for exercise. Not only does exercising help me with my school work, but it keeps me motivated and allows me to get out of my house for an hour without breaking social distancing rules. Overall, making a schedule has been very beneficial to my days in quarantine. The best benefit to the schedule is that it has helped me to stay organized and on-top of things and has encouraged me to write out the things that I need to do and complete.

Personally, I love to be creative so making a schedule allowed me to spend time on creating the ideal layout, colors, and sections to include that would most benefit me. My experience with the design was fun for me because planning and organizing my days is something that I enjoy and it helps to relax me having all the things that I need to do laid out in front of me. My schedule has definitely changed my experience in quarantine as I have mentioned above in that it keeps me motivated and accountable and prevents me from having any excuse as to why I haven’t completed an assignment. Moving forward, even when things go back to normal, I think that I will implement this daily scheduling into my life at school. While it may be more loosely scheduled as there will be more things going on, I like how it keeps me organized and allows me to be prepared in tackling my day to day activities and deadlines.

Since the pinnacle of the design process is creativity, a ‘wow’ factor for my design would be something that is usable for everyone and include elements that are beneficial to all users. This could entail digital and well as printable versions, a range of colors and layouts depending on the month, or an editable formatting option that allows users to have their choice in formats that would suit them best.

For me, I like to do things in steps. I believe that everything is a process and it takes time. It is easy to get overwhelmed when a giant project is thrown at you all at once with one deadline. So, I enjoyed the design process as it allowed me to think about one thing at a time which allowed me to better develop my ideas. Also, it was beneficial when at the start we created a giant list of ideas and from there were able to curate a smaller list until we eventually picked our final idea.

Prototype

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For my prototype, I chose my concept of creating a daily schedule. To start, I found a website that has templates for daily schedules and I edited the layout and chose colors that I liked past and that were not too distracting. I chose to print the layout out and write in my daily checklist, schedule, and notes. Personally, writing things down with a pen or pencil helps me to gauge just how much I have to do and also I like to be able to mark things as done when I complete them. I favored this particular layout because it allowed me to have a section in which I can put my daily schedule that I plan on keeping and following everyday. There is also a checklist and notes section which will change for me daily. I plan to keep this schedule on my desk and create new ones everyday to plan out my day efficiently and to mark things off as I go.

I think that this concept will be beneficial for me during my quarantine as it will help me stay accountable and have my to-do list right in front of me so that I will not forget the things that I need to do. For me, being organized is an essential way for me tot stay focused and on track. Therefore, I expect my prototype to help me achieve my goal of staying on track, ahead of deadlines, and prepared for all assignments or other daily tasks of mine.

3 Concepts

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The first concept that I sketched was my idea to make a daily routine and schedule. Following a schedule is very necessary for me currently because none of my classes are regular sessions on Zoom, therefore I need structure in my daily life. If I had the choice and no commitments, I would sleep until noon everyday. However, because that is not productive, I planned in my schedule to wake up at 10 am every morning. I will then eat breakfast, be active by either working out at home or walking around my neighborhood. I will then do some homework and eat lunch. Following lunch I will take a break and either watch television, be creative, or hang out with my family. Following my “chill” time, I will do some more studying before dinner and bed. By sticking to a daily routine, I am satisfying a lot of the components in the hierarchy of needs, especially physiological needs and safety, with the ultimate goal of achieving self-actualization or becoming my most productive self that I can be. As for the hierarchy of design needs, the schedule satisfies the needs of reliability, usability, and proficiency.

My second sketch of a solution was distancing myself from elders. I specifically depicted distancing myself from my grandmother who lives in Durham, North Carolina while I live in Atlantic Beach, NC approximately 3 hours away. Normally when I am home, my family visits my grandmother often either to go out to eat or to visit her at her home just to spend time with her. It is especially difficult to distance myself from my grandmother because she lives alone and is lonely and just as bored as the rest of us. However, we both understand the importance of keeping our distance so that we can both remain healthy and safe. I am also distancing myself from other elders by primarily staying in my house and limiting my time in public spaces. I think it is very beneficial that many grocery stores have allotted an hour in the morning for just senior citizens to shop as to limit their exposure to the greater public. As for the hierarchy of needs, I think that distancing from elders primarily depicts the need for safety. It also satisfies the needs of reliability in the design hierarchy of needs.

My last sketch is representative of my solution of keeping in contact with my friends and family. I used different social media apps such as FaceTime, messages, instagram, telephone, email, snapchat, group me, twitter, and facebook as those are the most common forms on communication. I have been practicing this solution often as I have been FaceTiming daily friends who I am not able to see due to the Coronavirus. I think that staying in touch with friends and family during this time is especially important because it is easy to feel lonely and isolated when we are stuck inside all day and permitted from interacting with people. This solution can also work with one of my other solutions of promoting positivity. When communicating with friends and family it is best to remain positive and talk about things besides the global pandemic and the potential repercussions of the virus. This solution of staying in contact with friends and family most emulates the need of love and belonging and the need for esteem. The need for love and belonging emphasizes friendships and sense of connection while esteem emphasizes the strength that we need to have at the difficult time. In the design hierarchy of needs, this solution satisfies the needs of usability and creativity as friends and family will need to get creative in remaining in contact.

Brainstorming

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For this assignment, I initially starting brainstorming ideas by thinking of the activities that I am currently implementing into my daily life that I am finding productive. I then thought of ways in which I can make my daily life even more productive, such as outlining for myself a daily routine and going to bed and waking up at productive times. The first 20 or so activities were easy for me to come up with. It was difficult for me to think of 50 productive activities when I am confined to my house, with only my parents and my two dogs, and the roads in my neighborhood for me to walk.

When I had completed my list of 50 ideas, I struggled with picking 3-5 ideas that would be most useful in helping me achieve my vision outlined in my concept board. I wanted these 3-5 ideas that I circled to be important and broad instead of easy and specific. However, I realized that each of the ideas on my list are important, so I focused on the ideas that can help me remain sane and active with my friends and family as well as keeping myself and others safe.

Creating this list was not just beneficial for me to submit as an assignment, but I plan on actually implementing these ideas into my daily life and I will refer to this list especially when I am bored and out of ideas for things to do.

I think that one of the most important and productive goals for me is staying on top of my school work and assignments as well as keeping up communication with professors when I have questions or concerns. I want this new way of learning to be as productive as it can be and that means that I need to understand my priorities which is not only maintaining my health but also maintaining my academics. Another goal that is essential for me is maintaining communication with those who are not within my household, such as my friends from Bucknell, my friends from home, my grandparents, cousins, and neighbors. Whether this means shooting them a text saying hello or FaceTiming with your friends, it is important to not completely isolate yourself.

Concept Board

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In choosing the images that I wanted to include in my concept board, I wanted images that matched my aesthetic as well as images that represented activities that I have been doing to fill my time. These activities include baking, studying, washing my hands, reading, painting, watching tv, eating meals with my family, and exercising. I feel that these activities are also activities that most people around the world are also doing right now. Personally, I have enjoyed doing activities in which I can feel creative because it not only helps to fill the time, but also keeps me motivated and increases my productivity to do more important things like my class work. Also in my concept board I included quotes and inspirational images that are circulating the internet reminding people to practice safe health as well as to motivate people that this is a group effort. I enjoyed this assignment because these motivational quotes also reminded me to focus on the positive. It was also an opportunity to combine creativity and class work.

Constraint Map

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For this assignment, I struggled to focus on the positive aspects and outlooks on the Coronavirus. These past few weeks, the virus has been the primary topic of discussion and it has been near impossible to go thirty minutes without the topic coming up. This virus has consumed our lives and completely uprooted most people’s daily lives. For me, most of my information comes from my mother who is constantly informing me on the updates of the virus and also from social media. Social media networks such as Tiktok have helped me make light of the situation and to have a more optimistic outlook on what the next couple of months hold for us. Similar to Tiktok, other online trends have been spread across the internet that have attempted to help boost morale and entertain users.

The Coronavirus is often compared to other pandemics from the past, such as SARS, the flu of 1918, and Ebola. It is difficult, however, to compare these pandemics as they are all different in their spreads, deadliness, and fallouts.

For most Americans, their daily lifestyles have majorly shifted. Many stores, restaurants, and places of entertainment have been closed indefinitely, forcing people to stay at home and find alternate ways of entertainment. Many states have also implemented curfews and lockdowns in which they are ordered to stay at home or face receiving fines.

Overall, this assignment was helpful in understanding the process, constraints, and complexity that involves finding a solution to stopping the spread of the Coronavirus.

Inspiration Week 4

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This week for inspiration, I decided to leave my phone in my room whenever I left my building for the day. At first, not having my phone made me feel like I was missing something and made me feel uneasy. I kept wondering if I was missing an important phone call or text from someone or an urgent email. After a while, I got used to it. I walked around campus looking up instead of down at my phone. I said hello to people I knew that passed by me on the sidewalks and I got time to mentally prepare myself when I sat down in class and waited for the professor to begin.

We are all so used to being connected 24/7 and feeling lost without our phones. I think it is very important to try and separate yourself from your phone every now and then to really notice what is going on around you.

Not having my phone on me got me inspired not only to practice this more, but to look around me and focus on what is going on in real life rather than on social media, also to actually speak to someone rather than communicating with them via cell phones.

Inspiration Week 3

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This week for inspiration I went to bible study. Growing up and in high school, I attended church weekly and participated in bible study groups. In bible study tonight, we discussed a feeling called “retreat high” in which several of us described the feeling of union, clarity, and love during and after returning from either a mission trip or a church retreat. I had several experiences similar to this growing up and I remember always feeling super inspired after these trips to live my life less judgemental and clearly. So, I decided to see if I could find some similar inspiration again this week.

The bible and its teachings have never been super fundamental in my life, but instead I have always enjoyed how it brings people together. Tonight we worked together and talked about problems on campus and ways in which we could work on the division between certain groups by discussing tangible ways to help resolve these issues. Tonight’s discussion really inspired me to be a more active voice on campus and to do the little things to make people and different groups feel united.

Inspiration Week 2

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For this week’s inspiration, I decided to sit down for an hour and a half and read. Growing up, I used to love to read and would read very often- during class breaks, long car rides, or before going to bed. It used to be an outlet for me to escape everyday life and imagine a whole new world. My life now is much more stressful and chaotic than it used to be, so I thought what a perfect opportunity to sit down with a book and forget about my daily stresses for a bit. Not only did it help to relax me, but it inspired me to do this activity more. I plan on not only finishing this book, but to continue to take time out of my days to allocate to reading for fun. Reading today has reminded me how much I used to enjoy imagining myself as a part of the various stories that I used to read. Even though I have less time in my day than I used to, I think that reading is so valuable because it enhances one’s imagination and enables a creative way of thinking that can carry over into many different aspects of a person’s work. I feel much more inspired this week to continue to read and see how this helps me in other parts of my day-to-day life.

Inspiration Week 1

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Inspiration for me does not always come from trying new things, but instead by doing things that calm me or distract me from the stresses of everyday life. For me this includes drawing. I not only like to draw because I am somewhat decent at it, but I enjoy the relaxation that it gives me and the mental break. After class on Thursday when we were introduced to the weekend assignment of finding inspiration, I decided to sit down and draw. The best ideas typically come to me when I am on a creative-high and less stressed. This could be because of the lack of pressure that I am under when I am just drawing for fun and letting my emotions out on paper. By taking this mental break this weekend, I was able to realize how much more motivated and eager I feel to accomplish things when I am able to take a breath and relax a little. It is important to take moments for yourself and get a better perspective. I was inspired this weekend to take little breaks every now and then, especially during a busy day or week, to destress and create a clearer headspace so that I can accomplish things more effectively moving forward.

Fear of Judgement

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Often times I refrain from participating in class in fear of being judged for my opinions or the way in which I articulate my thoughts. This fear of mine stems from social pressures and the idea that everyone should think and act the same to avoid conflict. However, I think that contrasting opinions and beliefs are beneficial to strengthening not only character but also intellectual scope. Because of this, I want to be able to speak freely in class without fearing of what people are thinking of me or what I am saying. I will practice this by listening to others and respecting my classmates opinions and learning from them as well. By doing this, I will learn to be more open with my thoughts in class and to fear less of judgement from my peers.

MIDE 300 HUMANS

Abby Harris (21), Abby Hislop (21), Alana Bortman (21), Alexander Smith (20), Allie Kotowitz (21), Amisha Chhetri (22), Caitlin Tucker (21), Carly Binday (22), Claudia Glasgow (21), Collin Smith (28), Elana Smith (21), Emily Chopoorian (22), Emily Goldman (23), Erin Mooney (21), Faith Reilly (22), Hannah Moriarty (22), Jabril Mohamed (19), Jane Meng (22), Liam Moriarty (22), Lindsey Knutzen (20), Liza Heyl (21), Lucia Singer (20), Madz Cabico (4), Matt Cervon (19), Meg Coyle (18), Natalie Notz (21), Natalie Ring (23), Nikki Bott (23), Olivia DeNicola (21), Prof. Allen (1), Renne Venico (19), Rowan Beiter (23), Tarrin Earle (20), Zack Yoelson-Angeline (14)