Clio Joelle Riffle
Contents Project Synopsis Prototypes Design Kit Clio Calendar Intro Booklet Design Dictionary Field Trip Guide What Do You Want to Make? Design Mad Libs Design Process Wheel Design Process Wheel II Design Scorecard Research Precedents Project Timeline Moving Forward
Project Synopsis What is Clio? Clio is a design toolkit toolkit that teaches tweens design thinking and visual communication skills. It is intended to empower kids in their learning and to help them look at the world from a different perspective, one that gives them the power to make positive change. It is my belief and observation that kids learn best by doing, practicing a physical or mental task and solving a problem rather than memorizing and reciting content. I’d like to present design as both a tool to acquire, synthesize, and demonstrate knowledge, in addition to expressing creativity.
Who is Clio for? Clio is intended for kids aged 3rd through 5th grade students who might not have access to art and design programs in their schools or communities. I envision parents, guardians, or family members buying Clio for their tween and working through the project with them as needed. My intention is that this toolkit will be used by kids who might be creatively inclined already but might not have an outlet for their expression. I also want to target this product towards kids who might not consider themselves good artists
because they aren’t good at drawing, illustrating, or painting. Clio isn’t about becoming a prodigy graphic designer or fine artist but rather to allow them to see design as a tool.
What do I hope to accomplish? I hope that a love of design can foster a love of learning. The design process can easily be applied to learning about a topic, like social studies, history, or science. Design can help a person create their own application for something that they are learning, because they are creating solutions, whether strategic or visual. If we can put school lessons in context and allow students to perform or generate around the content, we can expect students to be more engaged in what they are learning. My hope is that the learner will bring this new found love of learning and the tools that they have learned through Clio to what they learn in school and in life.
Design Kit A sketch of the kit (the case/object that holds all of the toolkit) is shown here. I want the case to have many compartments and interactive elements but, I do not want it to be too complicated. I want it to have a certain permanence and feeling that it is meant to last, but I do not want it to feel to precious or like it cannot be used regularly or personalized by kids. The top of the case, shown in blue, slides out an acts as a hard surface, like a clipboard that the kid can use to write or draw on. The top compartment will hold the objects, as well as whatever else the user chooses to include, like their own art and design supplies. The bottom compartment is a drawer like element that pulls out. This drawer is the advent-style calendar that kids use to guide themselves through the project. Questions: • Should the first compartment also be a drawer with sections? • What are the materials of the case?
Clio Calendar A sketch of the Clio Calendar, an advent-calendar inspired tool is shown here. The calendar is a way of addressing the time element of a project like this for the user, as well as when to use each tool and activity. The object is a drawer as shown in the case sketch that can be removed. It is made of smaller drawers that hold the project prompt or activity instructions, as well as any supplies that are necessary for the activity. Each drawer will also include a little accomplishment sticker or badge. My hope is that the user will choose whichever drawer they like, in order or not. The drawers are also classified by theme such as “observation” and level of complexity. This will add a second layer of progression though the project. Questions: • What will the contents of the drawers be? How can I make it more interesting than pieces of paper? • What are the themes and levels of complexity?
Intro Booklet I designed and prototyped the intro booklet shown here in response to the idea that a user will need some place to start using the project. The content also shows that for a time, I was thinking about “Clio” being a character that works through the proejct with you. Later, I determined that this would add a new, unnecessary and superflous layer of the project that doesn’t add to much substance or functionality. While I will be reimagining this prototype and its contents, it is necessary to have some kind of introduction. Questions: • What are the contents of the intro booklet? • What form will it take?
Design Dictionary The Design Dictionary is a small book that is meant to help the user learn the design terms that they might need. I originally included principles of design and elements of art, such as composition and repetition as shown. However, upon reflection I determined that these are not the important terms that the users might need to know to learn design thinking and visual design skills. A ten-year old isn’t going to need to know how to define value or unity in terms of design. I think that something like a glossary would be helpful for the project but, with more effective and more appropriate terms. Questions: • What are the terms that should be included? • Should this be in “dictionary” form or is there another, more appropriate and fun form? • Should it be called a “dictionary?”
Field Trip Guide The “Make Any Trip a Field Trip” guide is intended to help the user and their parent/sibling/mentor turn what might usually be a mundane task, such as going to the grocery store, into a design activity. The hope is that the user will foster observation skills, as well as thinking about larger systems at play in an environment. The guide is intended to encourage the user to think from a design perspective on a day-to-day basis. Questions: • Are the activities included as effective and stimulating as they should be? • How will the user use the book? Will they take it with them? Should they be able to write in the book or should their be a separate sketchbook?
What Do You Want to Make? This booklet type object was an early prototype of the design mad libs activity. The idea behind it was that a child might feel like being creative or producing something but might not know what to make. Each page shows different project prompts. I feel that this project is to flat. There are many art prompt products and resources so, this object is unnecessary and uninteresting in regards to my project. However, it was a necessary step to get to the design mad libs activity. Questions: • What place do project prompts play in the toolkit? • What other kinds of things can I make to inspire and get a user thinking about new kinds of things to make?
Design Mad Libs The design mad libs is intended to help the user make a project that they might not have thought of themselves. The book/stand that folds and unfolds, similar to an iPad Smart Case cover, answers the questions make what, inspired by who, using what. The cards flip to reveal different objects and designed materials to make, like a logo or poster, an artist or designer to be inspired by, and a method or medium like painting or collage. Upon reflecting on this tool, I found that it takes the overall project in a different direction. This is a more linear, limited, art/design-oriented object rather than what I intend, which is flexible, open, and design thinking and communication design oriented. I’d like to have an object that is similar and form and has a similar goal of exposing the user to things they are not familiar with. Questions: • What is a design thinking/communication design approach I can take to this object?
Design Process Wheel The design process wheel is the first iteration of an object that will help the user to understand the design process. The wheel turns to reveal one step of the process wheel. The design process is an important aspect of the project. I’ve determined that the design process, or a version thereof should act as a framework or structure for the project overall and that each tool or object in the toolkit should belong to one step of the process. This is not the form that the design process should be shown. Questions: • How do you effectively explain the design process to the target audience and make it seem relevant? • What is the best physical form to show the process? • How do I show the design process as a flexible and non-linear process that relates to learning and fun?
Design Process Wheel II Shown here is a second iteration of the design process wheel concept. My thinking here is that the design process does not have to move in any one order and can be rearranged to suit the need or whims of the user. Questions: • What is a more effective form for this to take?
Design Scorecard The design scorecard is an attempt to encourage the user the be critical of design. It is intended to be used with a card that would be slipped into the top of the scorecard. The user would then fill in the blanks with their own responses. The questions I am asking the user are simple but get to the point of whether or not a design is effective. I think that the concept of criticizing design an being able to think deeply about things is important. However, this does not seem like the appropriate form. I’d like to minimize the amount of writing that the user does in the toolkit and shift it to a more visual and creative way of expression. A direction I’m workin towards is making this about redesigning, rather than criticizing, which is more positive. Questions: • How do I make critical thinking visual and creative?
Prototypes
Kiwi Crates Kiwi Crates is an arts and craft kids for very young kids. Parents subscribe to the service and a different, themed set of projects and materials is sent to the child. The similarity in form and intention of this project to mine own was initially quite disconcerting. However upon further research, I’ve found that this project is for a much younger age range (3-7 years old) and has an arts and crafts emphasis, rather than a design thinking one. Because of the younger target audience, the project also emphasizes physical and mental development such as motor skills. My project can be viewed as the big sister of Kiwi Crates, rather than an opposing idea. Kiwi Crates would make a good foundation for my project but does not address the issues of design thinking and effective communication design but it does get a kid making and thinking.
Communications Toolkit: Fun, Skill-Building Activities to Do With Kids The Communication Toolkit produced by Michigan State, specifically the Visual Design aspect is a PDF available online that I came across in my research. It is a 77-page document for educators or community group leaders to use with kids, presumably middle school or high school students. It includes skill sheets about the basics of communication design, such as the design process, typography, and designing layouts, activities, and projects. This document/book has a similar intention of my project but a very different execution, target audience, and overall goal or spirit. Clio is designed for kids to use independent of a teacher or parent leading them. This document is much more workbook like than Clio. It is not physical objects but rather, worksheets and activity prompts. While some of my project will include prompt-like materials, it is not the bulk or spirit of the project. The difference that stands out the most is that this document is much more about the technical aspects of design. As previously mentioned, I’m not concerned with kids becoming great graphic designers but rather to get used to making and being creative while learning to be design thinkers.
Design Play Design Play has been by far the most concerning of all precedents I have found in my research, in its similarity to my project. Design Play is a “open-ended, foundational creative framework” for kids ages 7 to 10. The goal of their project is to retrofit design into existing school curricula, through playful activities and excercises. It was proposed by MBA in Design Strategies students at California College of the Arts. The project proposal one a Core77 student design award in Fall 2011. There is little to no concrete information or visuals on the project because, it does not exist outside of proposal form. It was not produced in any form outside of the class project last year. The existing web presences for the project are dead and the only information available is on the designers portfolio websites. This project was initially very scary to me as I felt that it was too similar to my project but upon further consideration and research, I found that it is actually very different. The similarities between our projects end at the fact that we are both hoping to introduce design into education and to young people and the tagline “Design Thinking for Children”. My project is a design toolkit for kids to use on their own, outside of school. This changes the nature of the project from being something that must fit within the traditional school day and format. I have allowed myself to work within the space of toys and games, rather than school activities and curricula. Another difference is that the few materials that they prototyped and materials appear to be worksheets. Clio is not about worksheets or filling in the blank but rather creativity and flexibilty. While the sentiment of the projects are similar, I feel confident in pursuing my own vision of “design thinking for kids.”
Research Much of my most significant and insightful research has come from interviews and observation, to supplement various articles and talks on creativity and learning. I have interviewed three “regular� people, two of my closest friends and my own mother who have varied experiences with school and in the case of my mother, the schooling of her children. I have also interviewed two professionals. I spoke with Parsons faculty Mariah Doren, who is not a teacher but rather teaches and studies pedagogy and the design of schools. This meeting was very influential. This was the first time I had spoken in depth with someone about my project and showed my prototypes to someone who was not familiar with my work on Clio. Our talk inspired me to push further into a direction that I had been inclined but was unsure of, that of design-thinking oriented rather than arts and design based, the idea of not trying to make good artists or graphic designers but rather expression and design thinking. My second interview was with Christina Jenkins, an MFADT grad who teaches design methodologies at an NYC public school, the iSchool in SoHo. From our talk, I gathered that there is little motivation from a student to learn what she is teaching. From speaking with her, I understood the importance of her goal which is to expose her students to new experiences and to foster curiosity and creativity.
Timeline I have planned my thesis timeline in two to three different ways, looking at things in terms of scale. The next slide shows a “big picture� timeline, showing what I hope to accomplish overall this semester, next semester, and beyond that. The following slide shows a week-to-week timeline of tasks to accomplish. Not shown in this presentation is my day-to-day task list that I create for myself. At the beginning of the week, I plan what I will get done and what day and times I will be able to do it. These three methods of scheduling help me to keep the big picture and goals of the project in mind while also performing very specific actions.
Now
Then
What are the components and content of the project?
What are the materials used?
Does the project work for the target audience?
How will the project be produced for the purpose of thesis?
Fall 2012
What does the project look like? What is the web component?
Spring 2013
How can I present the project?
Later
Summer 2013 and beyond How can the project be mass produced (materials and production)? How can I fund my project? How can I market and sell the project?
Dates Tasks 11/12 11/19 11/26 12/03 12/10 12/17 12/24 12/31 01/07 01/14 01/21 01/28 02/04 02/11 02/18 02/25 03/01 03/08 03/15 03/22 03/29 04/06
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2012 11/19: 11/26: 12/03: 12/10: 12/17: 12/24: 12/31:
2012 Develop toolkit component prototypes and develop next presentation Interview experts; make contacts; write about project; develop new student survey Mock-up/wireframe web component; advance prototypes Test prototypes on target audience; reflect on feedback Develop paper prototypes of web app; analyze feedback from testing; advance prototypes Develop final Fall 2012 upload and presentation Holiday
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2013 01/07: 01/14: 01/21: 01/28: 02/04: 02/11: 02/18: 02/25: 03/01: 03/08: 03/15: 03/22: 03/29: 04/06: 04/13:
2013 Begin designing or redesigning tools; explore materials Design web app and plan schedule of development Continue designing tools Continue designing tools Test designed prototypes and revise Plan how final work will be presented; acquire materials Produce final pieces and begin thinking about “later� Develop web component mockup in HTML and CSS
Present final work to target audience; photograph work in use Photograph completed works Develop and design process book and documentation Produce and publish process book
Moving Forward The following are questions that I am currently working out to develop my project, considering the “now”, “then”, and “later” goals.
How will the kit be packaged? How much would it cost? What role would merchandising play? What materials will be used in the kit? Who is going to buy this kit? How would it be advertised and promoted? How will the kit be branded? What are the graphic elements and visual language? What would I need to have this product mass produced? How can I make this project appeal to kids and parents? What do parents need and want in regards to the content? How do I incorporate the idea of social and personal development? How do I make this educational without it being categorized or perceived as such? How can I incorporate game like elements? How can I express the idea of social change? How do I get kids to observe, research, etc? What would motivate kids to use this kit?