Design Studio 1
Summary
By Jiajing Sun on Nov, 2017
Course expectations
At the beginning of this semester, I have set a few goals for myself. Therefore, at the end of this course, I’d like to make a brief evaluation of where the expectations met. First of all, I wanted to practice the web design skill and knowledge that I acquired from the course ‘introduction to web design’. This goal has been accomplished while we were building the final product for the major project and this portfolio. I have used the user-centered design methods in the design process and the web programming language in the actual development. Secondly, initially, I wished to practice more of the HCI research methods for the major project. Although we had a few user testing with a low fidelity prototype, we have not had the chance to engage more with our end users. Due to the time limitation and the course requirements, we did not launch any end-user engaged studies such as interviews and surveys. Therefore, this goal has not been fully met in terms of exploring and experiencing the potential user requirement gathering methods. Last but not least, I wanted to enhance my project and team management skills in the group project. I have achieved the goal by acting as our team leader for the major project. I have learned how to make feasible and robust project plans and how to delegate works to team members. Even though we have met a few problem throughout the process, we have figured out either solutions or improvements for each time. Our team has gained the ability to draw experience from the previous work and enhance our performance in the next. The most exciting thing to see in the teamwork is the growth of our skills in communication and problem-solving.
Learning across the course
Throughout the entire process, I have learned many things in very different perspectives. In the lectures, I have learned many theories about website design and development, such as the inspirations for an interactive website and the basic knowledge of software engineering and quality assurance. In the workshops, I have had the chances to practice more technical skills, such as PHP and Ajax. All of the knowledge and skills have been used in our development of the major project. In the contact session, we launched activities around the project. We have also had the opportunities to present our concepts and progress to our peers. These pitches and presentations have honed my communication skills and helped me overcome the fear of speaking to the public. In addition to the knowledge that is designed in the curriculum, I have also conducted a small side research on how to transcribe music score images into digital music records. Although the results have not been used in the final product, the research process revised me of the image processing techniques and taught me a few basic knowledge of music composing. The highlight of the experience that I have gained from the project is the entire process of designing and building my concept from scratch. The design lifecycle made me learned the crucial elements for making a good product, including the methods we used in exploring design possibilities, the prototype testing session, and the final testing and deployment of the project.
Changes to improve your experience
From my aspect, the improvement I should make is the documentation of my work. Before, this course, I did not have the habit to keep a record of what I have done (documentation) and how I should have done it (reflection). It was not good for revising the experiences and knowledge I gained from the works. I should have focused more on the process instead of the outcomes of the assessments. For example, for the user evaluation, we only did it once for the paper prototype but not for the final product because there was no requirement for it. What it results in our final product was not well tested before the final delivery. For the other aspects of teamwork, I think I have done my best to support our team and lead the development.
For the external aspects, I think it is necessary to allow the students to form their team freely. If it does not suit the project purpose, it should have a least peer assessment so that individual works can be acknowledged. For the course content, I think it would be better if we can reduce the amount of report work. It is because writing and introducing the similar works in both journal and portfolio in different styles do not help us reflect better but duplicated the work. A portfolio should be a showcase and a brief summary of personal work but not a blog for writing essays for course reflection. Furthermore, I hope there could be more content and activities for code version control and software testing.