MA Negotiated Project

Tiffany Fishleigh MA Fashion Management and Communication Reflective Journal

REFLECTIONS FROM inSIDE NEGOTIATED PROJECT 2017/18 MAKERIGHT HMP DONCASTER

DAiLY REFLECTiON: General notes from the day:

Date: 07/02/18

Today was our first day as a group attending Doncaster prison. On arrival we waited to get our photographs taken then collected our passes which were designed to identify ourselves as visitors. Once we got through the main doors we had to hand over our bags and anything loose we were carrying on our person, such as our phones and other personal belongings.

The process to getting through each section of the prison was a very slow ongoing process.

They have set times for when people could come in so we needed to make sure that we were there on time together else you could be waiting around for a good few hours. The atmosphere inside felt like we were going through an airport, however we didn’t need to walk through a metal detector or get pat down, which i thought we may have needed to do, but it felt pretty casual.

We then had to wait in the waiting area for roughly half an hour before a member of staff directed us through the prison towards the canteen. We all had to stay close together in our groups in order to lock each door behind us so we could continue through to the next room; this was due to safety reasons and protection.

Walking towards the other side of the building we had to go outside, here there was a beautiful garden and water fountain display that the prisons would help keep tidy and plant more buds. There was also a rescue pen where they had 5 hedgehogs, all named by the inmates.

Once we got into the canteen I noticed the overall appeal to the aesthetic was very old fashioned and felt like a nursing home.

I was curious as to why the furniture was outsourced and not created by the inmates themselves considering they have these workshops and supplies to do so.

After lunch we were taking into the textile studio for a quick briefing again of what to expect and how we should behave towards the inmates. After 20 minutes or so the heard of inmates came through the doors after a quick pat down of each individual. We were then accompanied by roughly 8/9 inmates who were joining us on the course, the others were in the studio creating textile pieces in their regular workshop routines, however they were curious to see what we were doing.

We warmed up by introducing ourselves to one another then moved onto an ice-breaker activity which involved pairing yourselves up with one of the inmates and drawing each others face, only being aloud to look at each other and not the paper, creating a continuous line drawing.

From this humorous exercise we then got onto producing our persona’s for the anti-theft bag designs. See more in other notes for set session.

How did I feel?

I couldn’t quite pinpoint how I really felt on the first day, it was a mixture of emotions, so slightly anxious, excited, nervous and curious, i think this was all due to the ‘not knowing’ of what to expect.

During the second activity we gathered images that could represent our persona’s, we were given tools to use such as sellotape and scissors in order to cut and stick our images next to our descriptions to create a visual representation of our persona.

I felt very nervous once the scissors had been handed out as I was quite surprised as to how sharp they were, considering when we were in the canteen their was plastic knives and forks. At the end of the session I realised that I had hold of a pair of scissors underneath my paperwork that I had forgotten was there, this made me feel more anxious to think that there wasn’t a head count of scissors to check that they had all been collected back in which worried me a lot, because if I wasn’t the one who had them an inmate could have.

Emotions:

REFLECTiON CONTiNUED: Type of activity or exercise taken place: Creating a persona’s universe. Using a template both me and danny worked as a team to create a character. I would ask danny who he wanted his person to be, what was their gender, occupation, lifestyle and hobbies.

From this we developed a clear brief of our persona, identifying who is the user and what they carry in there bag using visual images of activities, hobbies, work, home, and also what objects that person would carry in their bag.

What worked well, why?

- Successfully creating a persona working together with a person I have never met before.

- How my inmate confidently presented to everyone at the end even after being laughed at and having the mickey taken out of him.

- Good build up of developing design activities. Good structure.

What didn’t work so well, why?

Not being able to interact with others as much, working as a collective team having everyone feedback to each other.

What have I learned from today?

That no matter what your background or who you are as a person, if you are willing to put in the effort and challenge yourself anybody can be a designer.

Other notes from set session: During the session with my inmate, Danny, I noticed that he found it quite difficult at first to engage with me and hold conversation, however as time went on throughout the session he became more comfortable developing his persona and was proud of what he had achieved.

I also realised from working with danny how he has difficulty understanding different ways of using techniques from verbal communications but was much more understanding when it came to visually communicating something, so I continued with this method when suggesting ideas.

After developing our persona’s we created a design brief to translate our supporting ideas into the anti-theft bag, looking at the overall design, style, shape, what compartments or attachments it may have, and also the safety of the bag, is it waterproof, fireproof, have reflectors, name tag, etc.

At the very end of the session each inmate gave a quick 5 minute presentation on their persona and design brief. Danny was really enthusiastic to go first, you could see he felt he had achieved something, and although the other inmates were being quite harsh towards him, he continued his presentation and done his best which I found really inspiring seeing the process and development from how he was during the beginning of the session.

Phrase of the day:

Roger Bateman: “You have to be optimistic to be a good designer.”

Doodle:

ICEBREAKER EXERCISE: Quick 2 minute line drawing challenge/activity Danny (inmate) - drawing of my face (left) Tiffany (student/mentor) - drawing of Danny’s face (Below)

DAiLY REFLECTiON: General notes from set session:

Date: 08/02/18

Today we were working with the same people, however we were also introduced to a few new faces, both inmates and design staff. This session was based in a different room, it looked more like a classroom set up as it had the whiteboard, a projection screen and drawings pinned up on the walls.

Today’s session involved creating a storyboard for our persona’s. This exercise involved a sequence of drawings created by the inmates, typically using some direction and dialogue, which was designed to represent our persona’s journey and to introduce where a crime could occur on their travels. The storyboard template had 6 windows, in which we had to work together to create a daily scenario.

This exercise was to demonstrate the characteristics of the chosen persona’s and a visual insight into their lifestyle. It was also designed to demonstrate how effective the bag was in terms of its safety and what, if any changes needed to be made to the brief.

It was optional to create more than one scenario, however after me and Danny finished the first one he didn’t want to create anymore.

For the second activity, it a card game, where each card had a different bag component illustrated on them and different colour code. There were 4 different colours with 5 components on each. In order to win you had to have the same colour but all 5 different components. It felt fairly competitive and you could tell some of the inmates did not enjoy coming last, however t was still fun throughout.

Towards the end of the session Lorraine played a 10 minute powerpoint presentation and talked through the history of bags.

Looking around the room I could see that none of the inmates were listening and we’re either mucking around or continuing to develop their final touches on their storyboards. I felt that the powerpoint wasted time as a history of bags should have been something that was talked about at the beginning of the session not at the end.

How did i feel?

I felt much more relaxed as I had already met people and had a clearer idea of what to expect. In the sessions I felt really energetic and raring to go towards the beginning of the session as it was really hands on and involved everyone getting stuck in and sharing their ideas. Towards the end of the session everyone got a big deflated and I felt the powerpoint presentation was time wasted which was slightly frustrating as we are limited a lot on time as it is.

Emotions:

REFLECTiON CONTiNUED: Type of activity or exercise taken place: Storyboard your persona + component card game

What worked well, why?

I think both me and Danny worked well as a team. It was a little bit slow to start off with, i don’t think danny knew how to visualise a particular situation so I gave him some pointers and ideas of different sinaroes then he chosen the one he liked the sound of the most and then continued to develop different ideas and crime situations that could have occurred throughout that day. He then started to think about how we may need to adjust things on the bag in order to make it more safe which I thought was really good.

What didn’t work so well, why?

The powerpoint felt like it wasted a bit of time because none of the inmates were really engaging with it. I also felt like this could have been something that was presented right at the beginning of the programme when introducing what design in.

What have I learned from today?

I have really enjoyed the way the activities have been presented so far. I feel like they have flowed together really well and the simplified games and exercises have been really fun and are easy to understand. It has also been really engaging and the particular strategies used has portrayed a great way of involving people that may not necessarily come from a design background or great deal of education.

I feel that their could be other games introduced that we as a group can design together and trial to see what works best in order to design more teamwork exercises and collaborative roles where they each have an input into the same project as this can create better social and communication skills.

Phrase of the day:

Danny: I don’t give up, I always try.

Other thoughts: I liked how Danny used colour coding to pinpoint what things were, such as the bag was one colour, the persona was one colour and the occuring crime was another colour. He had total direction in making this decision for himself and I could see why he did it.

When i asked him if he’d prefer to write or draw, he surprised me and said that he’s better with writing, so it made me think it could have been more effective if i drew his ideas once he wrote out the story. However, because Danny didn’t want to do another storyboard we unable to put this to the test.

Doodle: Storyboard - reenactment illustration

DAiLY REFLECTiON: General notes from set session:

Date: 22/02/18

The start of the session we looked at making adjustments to the protype and looked back at our persona’s, making sure that we were filtering the correct elements of that product to reflect the person who would own it.

Then individually, each inmate would stand up and talk about their reasonings for why they have created their bag in a certain way, how it would function, be comfortable, fits its persona and have an overall safety anti-theft purpose. From this, we as a group would provide constructive feedback in order to help progress that product.

From this the inmates trialled their paper prototype bag designs by taking part in a role play activity, seeing how easy it would be to steal from that particular bag.

Initially, to begin with I was confident enough in giving Danny feedback on how I thought he could perhaps adapt different components he had originally designed and also make suggestions on how he could take away some of the elements added to his bag as there was an awful lot going on.

I wanted to make him think about the reality of actually producing the bag and how much time and effort is going to get spent on things that may not really apply to our particular persona that we created together.

How did i feel?

In all honesty, I personally didn’t feel like I had the patience for this particular exercise. I found it difficult to interact with the existing paper bag prototype that my paired inmate had produced.

As a designer, I have always struggled with manipulating a concept into a physical product, therefore I found this exercise in particular quite challenging. I have always been able to produce an innovative idea, however when it comes to creating a physical form for that product I massively lack in confidence.

Emotion:

Type of activity or exercise taken place: Adjusting the bag prototype and roleplay exercise

REFLECTiON CONTiNUED: What worked well, why?

It was good for Danny to see for himself how his bag was going to function and to recognise how he would need to make certain alterations to his product in order to tailor it more towards his persona.

What didn’t work so well, why?

I think the time spend wasn’t fulfilled as much as it could have been. There was a lot of waiting around and the inmates all came into the chapel at different times, reducing our time significantly. Also, we had less time anyway due to the room we were in was going to be in use that day, cutting out time even shorter. This made it difficult to move onto the next stage of the design process.

What have I learned from today?

To understand that the first prototype is never going to be perfect no matter how much you want it to be. It is a great learning curve and can show you how something needs to change in order to work better.

Phrase of the day:

Danny: “Yeah, I just wanna put in a zip.”

What is important for me to feed into next week’s session?

Find my purpose in my particular discipline and how I can communicate something that could potentially benefit the programme. - Look at designing a poster for inmates in prison to make them aware of the up and coming programme, giving them an option to get involved.

Other thoughts: After missing out on three previous sessions, leaving me a week behind the rest of the team, I was a bit behind on the development progress with each individual inmate. However, I was able to reflect on how situations had changed throughout the course of the programme. In particular, I noticed how the amount of inmates who had taken part at the beginning of the programme had now reduced significantly. When I came to today’s session there was only 4 inmates who attended.

The staff in the prison had explained to me how some of the inmates who had previously attended the course had been difficult during the week and had misbehaved, therefore lost out on the opportunity to carry on with the programme.

Looking back at my first session now I can remember being in the textile studio with several inmates. Many of them who came over and asked what we were doing and was confused as to why they couldn’t be apart of it. It then came to my attention that the inmates who were doing the makeright programme were selected and wasn’t given the opportunity to choose if they wanted to do it or not.

I think in different circumstances, if there was a way of communicating the programme to the inmates early on, by a way of advertising it as a poster could have led to a good majority of people willing to put in the effort and want to learn and develop those particular skill sets in order to enhance their opportunity for when they are released in the future for a potential job they go for.

I feel that it was unfortunate that the inmates were not able to be given a choice or to even sign up for this programme, because where we now have 4 inmates, due to complications and the difficulty of the other inmates who lost out on the programme, could have been replaced from the start with people who were willing to learn and do good.

Also, at the end of the session i think it was really good for us all to discuss how not all the inmates may be any good when it comes to the actual process of making, however they can become a good designer, or the other way around.

I liked how Roger suggested how inmates in prison could learn the skills to design a bag and recognise its functionality and how it should perform considering fabrics, style, components, size, etc, then it getting sent off to be made by fashion students.

- Could this be something that could get put in place as this could show confidence through their design process along with using communication skills clearly and confidently.

DAiLY REFLECTiON: General notes from set session:

Date: 07/03/18

Today we had a look back at what the inmates had be doing during the previous week that we were unable to attend due to bad weather. They had been working on their sewing skills, creating fabricated prototypes of bag designs and focused mainly on developing different fastenings and anti theft accessories. Today we only had one inmate to work with, which turned out to be danny, the inmate i have been working alongside with for the past few weeks. Danny had never been on a sewing machine before but appeared to be very enthusiastic and happy to show us what he had done.

At the start of the session, Danny had 15 minutes to present his persona, address how the bag prototype addresses the persona’s needs, the sewing skills developed and explain their bags development processes and the anti theft functionalities.

From this it was up to us as a team to reflect back to Danny and constructively criticise what amendments could be made, what could we keep and make better and what can get taken off? The bag itself was a very complicated design and had far to many things going on which could effectively be difficult to make in such a short period of time, therefore we worked together analysing the bag to see what changes needed to be made.

How did I feel?

When the session started I felt very confused as to where the rest of the inmates were. We hadn’t given an explanation until after the session as to why the inmates couldn’t join us. In a way it was a blessing as I knew i was struggling a bit with Danny to try and simplify the bag, so I was grateful that everyone had an input for this set session. I also felt disappointed that the lesson didn’t feel it flowed very well due to lack of communications and lack of direction leaving some of us confused and distracted.

Emotions:

Type of activity or exercise taken place: Re-cap and reflection day Reworking old prototype designs to make improvements and amendments

What worked well, why?

Having input and help from others when focusing on a more challenging inmates bag design.

What didn’t work so well, why?

Having an informal discussion on each of our roles - we was unable to present together due to set times in the prison, therefore we got cut half way through having to do half the presentation in lunch and half at the end of the session, which all felt very rushed. And lack of inmates to work with due to operational service complications.

REFLECTiON CONTiNUED: What have i learned from today?

Thinking about how construction works, bringing 2D to 3D and figuring out the pattern pieces in order to start building the bags structure out of fabric.

Phrase of the day:

“Diversity makes life interesting.” - quote on the wall.

Other thoughts: During lunch time, the food was much more pleasant and their was more variation.

The day felt like it went much quicker than usual, I think this was due to presentation time and all working together to support a struggling inmate.

What is important for me to feed into next week’s session?

Thinking about how construction works, bringing 2D to 3D and figuring out the pattern pieces in order to start building the bags structure out of fabric.

Doodle:

handle

Bag Design - final ideas:

Acts as a separate bag accessory

adjustable / detatchable straps - clip detatchment connected to top and bottom bag Seperate attachment - bottom - gym clothing Zip off to detach bottom section

DAiLY REFLECTiON: General notes from set session:

Date: 08/03/18

Today we worked in the textile studio with Christine, Lee and Danny. We got straight onto the sewing machines and selected an accessory piece from their bags to develop into a physical fabric prototype. Lee decided to create a shwallet (shoulder pad/ wallet) which would cater for his credit cards and passes. Danny decided he wanted to mock up the bottom section of his bag which was detachable via zip and used for his persona’s gym kit.

We haden’t selected an official role for ourselves, instead we decided we were all going to contribute to how we could suggest ideas on how to make something, and some of the girls could help by showing them pattern cutting skills. Few of us observed the session and few of us got stuck in with cutting out and developing patterns.

How did I feel?

Today I felt really frustrated. I felt that we didn’t get the opportunity to lead the session in any way shape or form like we were suppose to. We were all ready to take on the responsibility to mentor our inmates however, Christine was taking on a lot of the responsibilities herself making herself the director of the programme and not really allowing for the inmates to explore the design practice for themselves.

We discussed with Lorraine in the previous session that if it was due to not having enough time to make the anti-theft bag it may be a good idea to focus on an accessory to mock up instead. And today Christine took responsibility in creating an accessory piece at the start of the session which ended up taking a lot of time away from the inmates being able to make prototypes up for themselves.

I noticed the inmates were getting very frustrated and asked if they could make the accessories for themselves so they could learn, however Christine insisted she made an example to feedback to Lorraine, however I don’t feel this was a very beneficial outlook for them by just simply watching something getting made up.

Both us as mentors and the inmates were feeling very frustrated and stressed over the fact we wasn’t producing anything for a long period of time. There was a lot of self direction from the staff member and showing how something was made, rather than the inmates learning this for themselves. Danny spoke to us at the end of the session and said that he hoped by next week he can learn and make the mistakes for himself in order to fix it.

Emotions:

Type of activity or exercise taken place: Practical workshop involving bag construction into fabric.

REFLECTiON CONTiNUED: What worked well, why?

When Danny got onto use the industrial sewing machine I began to observe the way he would sew a line. He had difficulty with controlling the speed of the peddle for the first few attempts so I suggested he practiced sewing a few lines before he got on to making his prototype, therefore he began with a scrap piece of fabric and started trialing his control of the peddle of the machine. Eventually he became more confident with controlling the speed therefore moved onto his prototype, and eventually he was sewing straight lines perfectly. He picked this up really quickly.

What didn’t work so well, why?

I felt the inmates didn’t get enough opportunities to develop their prototypes on their own. It was difficult to feed by input back to Danny as I felt Christine spoke over me quite a lot and took leadership of the session.

We had girls from the university including myself that knew how to operate a industrial machine and knew how to pattern cut which we made very clearly at the beginning of the session, however we were unable to physically get involved properly to show these skills due to interruptions.

Also with today, we only had two inmates to work with rather than three. This appeared difficult from our end as there were far too many of us to mentor just two people, leaving some of us with nothing to do feeling very useless.

What have I learned from today?

I feel that the bags that were previously produced were not officially made by the inmates. After watching them today their skills on the sewing machines were very poor. In order to learn I think they need much more self directed control on the machines and moderate observation of the staff members to help them if they need it. In order to learn and progress, you must first fail. To do that the inmates need to be physically creating the bags for themselves.

Other thoughts: Found it really interesting at the end of the session how some of the inmates who are selected to work in the staff kitchen area are there in a serious learning environment where they are able to get an NVQ qualification.

We were also told how the inmates look forward to coming to work because it is a much nicer environment for them as their wing can be very boring.

We also got onto the conversation of how they make and ferment their own Hooch, although it was interesting to look at it from a designers perspective it was still really gross.

Phrase of the day: Danny: “I would rather fuck up the first time and do it wrong myself in order to learn from my mistakes”.

What is important for me to feed into next week’s session?

Too have a discussion with Christine at the beginning of the session to see if we are able to lead the sessions with her in the background observing from time to time, as we all feel confident enough to support the inmates during their prototype stages.

Doodle: On the sewing machines

DAiLY REFLECTiON: General notes from set session:

Date: 15/03/18

Today we were working in the textile room however we didn’t have any inmates to work with due to complications on the wings and due to inspections from the Ministry of Justice. Therefore we had to proceed with creating the final pattern pieces and start making up the anti theft bags from its final fabric in order to move forward quickly as we only had a few weeks left to finish the products.

Me and Prianka went onto a big table and started creating the pattern pieces for Danny’s bag. We analysed the structure of his paper prototype design then began measuring each piece individually. We didn’t have any familiar textile stationary to work with therefore we had to use our initiative and think of different ways to cut, measure and create.

Once we figured out all of our pattern pieces we then moved on to cut the templates out of fabric. The fabric was quite difficult to work with and shape how we wanted when manipulating it into its style when pairing pieces together on the industrial machines.

Once we had all of our pieces, Christine (being better on sewing machines than us) quickly began to whip up the bags. Towards the end of the session we got out our prototypes out for the other inmates (who were not attending the course) to critique and analyse for themselves. They would role play with the bag and show ways in which a theft could occur and if the bag was comfortable enough to wear.

How did i feel?

At the beginning of the session I was feeling sad and disappointed that the inmates were unable to join in on the session with us, because I knew how much they enjoyed creating the bags and learning new skills. Throughout the rest of the day i started to feel more positive as I knew i was helping Danny move forward by being apart of the making process of his bag.

Emotions:

Type of activity or exercise taken place: Physical making process of anti-theft bags. Pattern cutting and machine work.

What worked well, why?

There was a good use of communication and teamwork going on as we split into groups and worked on developing the inmates bag designs from paper prototype to final designs.

We also spoke to other inmates towards the end of the session who were also in the textiles room who had been getting on with their jobs throughout the day. They got involved towards the end and we were able to talk to them about the programme and explain why it was we were there and what we were doing, we also got to hear some interesting stories on their side as well.

REFLECTiON CONTiNUED: What didn’t work so well, why?

Having to do the entire session without the inmates.

What have i learned from today?

That no matter what situation or complications get in the way, it is good to carry on with the lesson and to help move someone forward if they are falling behind, by supporting them physically throughout their design work when they are unable to attend.

Other thoughts: Today I was doing more observation of the textile room and decided to draw what i could see as i knew that we were unable to take photographs, therefore I started drawing the industrial machines from different angles as sewing was the main focus of the day.

When the MoJ came in to do their checks on the prisoners, many of the inmates were either acting up or trying their hardest to find something to do to keep themselves busy to look good. I spoke to one of the inmates after MoJ left the room, his nickname was Princess, he told us many inappropriate and hilarious things. He mentioned how they would ferment their own Hooch to drink in prison, which was pretty gross but I also thought it was creative in an odd way. He told us how he was on Jeremy Kyle and about his transexual friend who dressed up for them inside. One thing he said that I did find particularly interesting was that he mentioned how good prison was compared to how life can be for them on the outside, that’s why he keeps coming back.

I spoke to Christine about this at the very end of the session. She mentioned how they liked coming to work because it would give them something to do and it is a much nicer environment for them to be in rather than on the wings where it can tend to kick off a lot.

Some of the prisoners job roles have specialised learning environments where they can gain an NVQ, especially in catering in the staff kitchen. From working, the inmates earn little money, but when they gain enough credit they use this to watch t.v, use a playstation and call home.

What is important for me to feed into next week’s session?

As next week will be our last visit, I am going to prepare set questions to feed in to the session and ask inmates on their opinions of the chosen topic that I am going to feature my report on. I am hoping that I will get enough information to help support me on my project research.

Doodles: HMP Doncaster - Sewing Machines

DAiLY REFLECTiON: General notes from set session:

Date: 22/03/18

Today was our last visit to HMP Doncaster, and we were accompanied by Lorraine, Adam and Roger, along with the few of the staff at HMP and Christine as it was a day where the inmates where going to do their final presentations on their process and journey through their design processes.

Danny went first and talked us through the persona, the accessories, detachments and anti theft feature which was multi functional, he was disappointed that he was unable to show the feature as he was unable to finish it in time, therefore explained it in detail instead.

Lee was next to present, he decided to focus on a particular section of the bag which was the accessory. He was keen to show the function of the accessory as it can wrap around the arm and also attach to the bag, indicating the anti-theft feature. Lee had previously used a sewing machine and said that he felt fairly confident using one again.

Finally they were handed their Makeright certificate, which they seemed fairly proud of.

At the end of the session we pulled the inmates to one side to ask them how they truly felt the course went and what changes they would like made if the programme was to take place their again. Individually we all asked them something that could benefit our area of research for our reports and to feed back in our client presentations.

Questions: (answered in my report) What did you like most about designing your bag?

What was the most difficult part for you?

What did you feel you accomplished throughout the programme?

Would you choose to use a sewing machine again, if so why?

What would you like to change about this course?

How would you like to receive support on the outside?

If a mentoring scheme was created for inmates on the outside of prison, would you want to attend, if so why?

What did you learn from us as mentors?

If you had the option too, would you sign up to this programme?

What kind of promotional material do you think would work best to gage attention from inmates to advertise the programme?

How did i feel?

I was hopeful that today wasn’t going to feel wasted and become one long lecture. I wanted the session to end on a high with a feel of a positive outcome.

I felt quite emotional towards the end, as we had come to the end of the programme it was also going to be the last time we would see the inmates who we grew quite a close bond with. We shook their hands, said our goodbyes and had our photographs taken with them.

Emotions: