PORTFOLIO WITH PURPOSE
AGENT X
INITIAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS As I'm sure you've started to realize, every step and detail in this delivery experience and portfolio is very deliberate and thought out extensively. When trying to settle on an idea for my portfolio I realized that a cool idea isn't enough. Sure, a cool idea is a cool idea. Hell, a cold idea may even be a really cool idea if you're lucky. But, in order to really have an impact a cool idea needs to have a very deliberate purpose. What did I want to accomplish with my portfolio? 1) I wanted to make a statement 2) I wanted to communicate my understanding of the course content 3) I wanted to deliver it in sleek, consistent design 4) I wanted to create an experience 5) In doing #4, I wanted to deliver what Friedman never imagined we could have in a student portfolio
I WANTED TO MAKE A STATEMENT "Everything you do makes a statement" "The way you do anything is the way you do everything"
Wise words that have been preached since day one. When it came time to design my portfolio I was determined to pick them up and run with them. The goal of my portfolio was to deliver something so unique and memorable that it would be mentioned for semesters to follow; this did not come overnight, as you'll see later in this document. I want every part of my portfolio to make a statement; everything from the layout and design to beginning to turn my content in before anyone else.
TO COMMUNICATE MY UNDERSTANDING
What I've learned throughout this course that design, creativity, and the second right answer are all important, however, none of that really matters if the content isn't there. Before starting my portfolio I took a step back to address what I needed to do to clearly show that I had a firm grasp on the course material. The sleek, consistent design you see in all of my files is part of that assessment. I decided that in order to nail the content aspect I needed to create a design that wouldn't distract my primary effort of effectively displaying my understanding.
TO CREATE AN EXPERIENCE
I wanted to generate genuine excitement and anticipation for my portfolio. If I was enable to engage my audience and get them to the point where they were itching to know what was going to come next or even learn the identity of "Agent X" then I did my job. As you'll see when I detail my process, I wanted to differentiate my project and deliver what was never expected; through learning to ask the right questions and framing my convergence questions I realized that a portfolio delivery experience was the route I wanted to take. Maybe, just maybe, I've been able to take Agent Friedman by surprise.
PORTFOLIO PROCESS The Origins
THE PROCESS Many class concepts, tools, and heuristics were employed in order to reach this end product/deliverable. The Creative Mindset: Working through ambiguity, building off failure, repeated artifacting and ideating, collaborating with feedback in mind, and empathetic consideration. Brainstorming: Going for quantity (72 different methods and ideas were brainstormed and elaborated for the portfolio), deferring my inner judgement, seeking novelty (DUH. I know this deliverable is novel because I've done the work that requires to get to that level), and making connections. I felt it was important to see how I could connect different ideas and concepts and blend them into a cohesive deliverable. Creative Problem Solving: I'll detail later on how aspects of the process involved convergence questions. I didn't explicitly use the entire problem solving process because I was focused more on idea generation--but it did come in handy.
THE CREATIVE DIAMOND Please excuse the other lines, I used the wall art in my room that I made which conveniently had a diamond shape in the middle. Fifty-one ideas are charted and some of them started to breach the area of discovery and then partly outside of the box. Through further elaboration and brainstorming the next twenty ideas were increasingly outside-thebox.
Brainstorm Session #1
Brainstorm Session #2
Brainstorm Session #3
Brainstorm Session #4
ABOVE/BELOW THE LINE
ELIMINATION/CONVERGING From rating my ideas using above/below the line in terms of options I didn't think Friedman had seen before I narrowed my list down to the top prospects. However, I still hadn't arrived at the final solution which was derived from pivoting my perspective and asking myself the right questions.
TRANSFORMATION After my first brainstorm session the top prospect that I had selected was a "giftolio". My vision for this was to be a gift basket comprised of pieces of my portfolio. After the three ensuing brainstorm sessions, which the convergence question was "what are the ideas Friedman hasn't necessarily seen before (what was novel)" my top idea was an Advent Calendar scheme where each day I'd put new pieces in the box for Friedman to retrieve. The primary issue I had with both of my first ideas was that they both required me to produce deliverables that were up to the standard of my manifesto, which I knew I wouldn't;t have the time for. So, having selected the most novel ideas and eliminated the rest I had shifted my convergence question to "what was most feasible". It was at this pivot where I reflected on what I was really trying to accomplish and the questions I was asking. I wanted to make a statement but the question I was asking was what hasn't Friedman seen. That's a very broad list and frankly, just because someone hasn't seen something doesn't mean it will resonate with a booming statement. I realized I needed a narrow focus, and the question that would compliment a narrow focus was not "What hasn't Friedman seen?" but rather "What does he always see in every portfolio?". Asking the right question enabled me to recognize the boring, common ground that everyone's portfolio shares and where the opportunity was for me to differentiate myself with something novel. The answer was ridiculously apparent. Even those who believe they're creative fall for the same trap. Everyone ideates on how they want to turn their project in and how they want to be different but, come Thursday, everyone emails their file or drops off their item(s), wipes their hands and says "Cya!".
TRANSFORMATION I realized that the common ground in everyone's portfolio was that after putting all those hours, blood, sweat and tears into the portfolio they just hand it off. In order to distinguish my project I needed to make Friedman work for it and engage with a process that created excitement and anticipation for what was to come; my portfolio delivery had to be an experience. This "epiphany" pointed to my last convergence question, "What can I give Friedman that he will never see again and is feasible within my time constraints". Through this I was able to draw inspiration from things like Mission Impossible, National Treasure, and break-out rooms and curate a portfolio delivery experience, 100% designed myself, that he'd never see again.
EXPERIENCE DESIGN