D-school crash course

The purpose of this project was to get our minds going on the idea of designing something from scratch. It helped me by first getting to know Lexi, because from there I was going to sketch down my ideas of an object that I could create to help her get prepared to student teach next year. That went pretty well since I got down five ideas that I would show her so she could give me her feedback. Her feedback helped me decide on an idea which ended up being the robot. This robot would tell Lexi if she did a good job while she practiced to student teach.

Showing unfinished work to another person made me a bit nervous because it made me feel like they were going to judge my ideas when I had not done my best just yet. I might have trusted the process of where all this was going but the other person might have trouble understanding the process.

The pace in which the prototype had to be done made me feel rushed and pressured to do good in a certain amount of time. I like to take my time especially when it comes to art and handson projects. I did not really like the iterative cycles because I had to think of every single detail that needed to be considered when making the prototype. Instead of doing that, what I prefer to do is to start thinking and let my thoughts flow, (not in a specific order) to get to the end result that I am looking for. So what we did in class was opposite of what I usually tend to do.

Engaging with a real person changed the direction of my prototype by being able to get feedback in that exact moment so I could adjust it on the spot. Adjusting it on the spot helped me so I could proceed to get more feedback and make my prototype better. Having a conversation while trying to plan out my prototype helped me better design it because I learned what Lexi liked.

I would go back and try to fix the physical structure of my prototype and some other areas that also needed more work. What I would do over again is think about the prototype deeper, for example imagining it in my head and think of a better way to build it. Maybe even find different elements that could bring more meaning to the piece.