According to the article Stage 4 in the Design Thinking Process: Prototype, prototyping is a necessary step in the design process and without it results can be below average. Prototyping is a way to turn ideas into reality and see how they would function in the real world. There are two types of prototyping, low and high fidelity. The most commonly used way is low fidelity prototyping because it is cheap and quick. With this style, designers can prototype and easily remake their prototypes into their desired product. After testing and beginning to gain the desired prototype, designers can begin to make more complex prototypes closer to their ideal version.

Prototyping allows us to learn more about our users and circle back to the previous steps of the design process. If a prototype isn’t working out the way it is expected to, then designers can go back and ideate to come up with solutions to the issues. Creating a prototype and observing how the user interacts with it allows designers to learn more about the user that wasn’t known before. The article Design Thinking: Get Started with Prototyping shows that prototyping is crucial when it comes to learning and understanding the user. It also shows that this exploration can lead to inspiration and motivation for the designer to empathize and ideate further. This is a learning by doing scenario that allows visualizations to come to life and designers to learn how their product will succeed day to day.

During the week of prototyping, in class, we were asked to use our final idea for our wacky app and create a working app prototype to go along with it. We were given sheets of paper with phone screen layouts to sketch out our screens. The picture above is a set of some of the screens I included in my wacky app. As designers, even while sketching we had to make sure to pay attention to detail because this step was an important part of the prototyping process. The app we used to create the working prototype is called Marvel. This app allowed us to take a picture of our hand-drawn screens and translate them into functioning app screens. We were required to add links to different sections of our screen in order for the screens to switch between one another. While I was doing this, I began to realize the tedious work that goes into apps and how each little part of a screen needs to be accounted for. Even though this was just a prototype, there was a good amount of time and work put into it.

The prototyping process allows designers to redefine their problem and gain a further understanding of the user. It is an important step that transforms ideas into reality and shouldn’t be skipped. Prototypes can lead to further testing to allow the product to become the best it can be. This step allows designers to have research across multiple interfaces and forms of media. Prototyping has helped to create the majority of products that exist today.

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Ethics and plagiarism in design are very important in today’s society. Due to the Internet being the number one research source for ideas, many designers choose to show off their works online. This allows their work to be seen and for them to possibly earn more money from users who would like to use them. The issue arises when the proper credit is not given to the designer. Designers often spend a lot of time on each design, planning and creating it. For someone to go online and use their work as their own without giving credit is unethical. Google is a platform that allows problems like this to occur daily. It allows users to search for exactly what they want and copy it directly into their own work free of charge. This problem is only getting bigger as the content is becoming easier to access at our fingertips. Making sure to find images labeled for reuse and modification or getting the owner’s consent is highly important. This will help save time in the future from having a dispute over a piece of copyright work.  This is what happened to the Modern Dog Company when Target used their artwork to be sold on t-shirts. By being ethical in what designers use in their work will allow no copyright concerns for the future.

http://www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org/dog-eat-dog-world/

http://www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org/legalities/plagiarism-and-appropriation/

http://www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org/category/plagiarism/

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To create this project I used three photos and incorporated layer masks onto them. I used the mask tool, brush tool, and gradient tool to create my desired masking effect. When designing my project I considered the principles of contrast, line, space, and color. I wanted to make the silhouette stand out while also fading into the background. This image is 12 by 12 inches, RGB mode, and 150 PPI.

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This week in class we focused on the topic of ideation. Ideation is the third step in the design thinking process and involves the brainstorming of ideas. The Creative Spirit article talks about how daydreaming can help lead to ideation. If we all took moments out of our day to let our minds go blank and run off in free thought, millions more possible ideas could be made. Daydreaming is a way to take time off from our busy schedules and allow our minds to be lifted of distractors. Many good ideation ideas come from taking this space out of a hectic schedule. This article also talks about our unconscious and how rich it is in information. Our conscious mind only contains certain information whereas the rest goes into the unconscious. Having this moment of daydreaming and meditation can allow others to tap into their unconscious minds and discover ideas they didn’t think possible.

In class, we were given the task to brainstorm ideas for a dog house. We were given no rules, no budget, just a concept. We came up with a list of extravagant ideas we wanted for our dog house while still making them useful to the user, the dog. Our list included a private chef, a pool, and a huge couch for the dog to lounge on. Even though all these things aren’t necessarily necessary for a doghouse, they allowed us to ideate and come up with crazy ideas that could possibly work for the user.

Next, in class, we were asked to ideate and come up with a list of wacky app ideas. Our group created a web of ideas, each topic branching out from one another. This process allowed our minds to be stimulated for the real task of coming up with an actual app. The picture above shows our list of wacky app ideas we came up with after discovering ideas about what makes apps not useful. By ideating, we were able to come up with a long list to narrow down into the best idea to prototype.

This process of ideation was difficult at first because we didn’t know where to begin. There were no rules, no guidelines, just thoughts. Coming up with the perfect thought to get our unconscious minds working was tough, but eventually, we began brainstorming. All these ideas we came up with were creative. I think collaborating with a group allows designers to bounce ideas off one another and continue having more thoughts. In a group setting, there is room to build and construct the perfect idea. I also think that having time on our own to ideate for this project would’ve been beneficial because we would’ve been free of distractions and able to tap into our unconscious minds further.

Ideation is a crucial step in the design thinking process because, without it, ideas couldn’t be formed. Choosing one idea and going onto prototyping is a risky decision that could possibly end in failure. Using this step to take the time to come up with well thought out ideas can allow for great success.

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To complete this altered images piece, I first brought all three of my photos into Photoshop. Then I decided which one was the smallest and altered my images to be the same height as the smallest. This is important because images can be easily made smaller, not bigger. I then put them on the same document and separated them, adding different filters and spacing in between. I used the principles of spacing, texture, color, and contrast. The color mode is RGB, with dimensions of 48 by 19 inches, and a resolution of 150 ppi.

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Empathy mapping is a way to create an innovative product or idea for a user’s needs. It involves using empathy and design thinking to research design ideas. A designer will first observe the user to understand the feelings and needs for a new design. In the slideshow above, an empathy map for Don Fertman is featured. In class, we watched an episode of Undercover Boss where Don, the chief development officer at Subway, went undercover. We were able to create a map of his feelings in what he hears, sees, and does. His feelings could then be translated into needs that help ease these emotions.

Next, we focused on the interview aspect of interview mapping. Imagine going into an airport and asking someone all about their travels, this is the task we had to complete. We had to come up with a series of questions to find out more about the airplane user. The questions wanted to help gather information on the user, understand the users actions, and dig for emotion. Creating a list of questions was helpful overall for the interview process, but the best interviews veer off of the question list and go more into depth on the details the user is providing. For example, if the user is asked why they are traveling and they respond “for work”, don’t move onto the next question. Instead of doing this one should ask, what kind of work do you do? They also could be asked, is this your first time traveling for work? These follow up questions use empathy to understand the user more deeply.

After listening to the Empathize section of the Design Thinking Handbook, I was able to practice my skills of empathy mapping further. We were asked to create the ideal wallet for a user. I first created a sketch off the top of my head, thinking of what users would need. After this, the empathy mapping started. I asked my roommate, Emma, to show me her wallet. I then asked her a series of questions I had prepared to understand her wallet use further. Again, I veered off of my question list a little as she showed me the various unique pieces in her wallet. After the interview, I wrote down a list of needs she would need in a new wallet to help solve her problems. This wallet I was designing was specific to her as a user because I used empathy to understand her needs. After figuring out the needs, I sketched a series of 5 different designs that could help improve her wallet use. Two of the designs involved having a wallet on the back of her phone, which was easy to use for her. The other designs used a regular wallet style with some twists. After finishing the designs, Emma was excited to see the new innovations and desperately wanted a prototype.

The Six Habits of Highly Empathetic People shows that having empathy allows designers to cultivate curiosity, challenge prejudices, step into another persons shoes, open up, inspire action, and develop a forever changing imagination.

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This was the first image I created using 7 photos. This piece is for social awareness of the harmful effects of plastic and what it does to the turtles. This turtle is surrounded by plastic everywhere it goes, even when getting out of the water. I took in different images from the internet and pasted them on the document, using the masking method to select. I considered spacing and contrast to make the image look realistic. I have some negative space filled with just beach background. This image is in RGB mode, is 12 by 12 inches, and is 150 ppi.

This is the second composition I created, also demonstrating social awareness. This shows a turtle in an empty ocean in the middle and the reality of our oceans today. The middle is what should be happening but instead the ocean is filled with plastic. I used the same process as the one above and rearranged the photos differently. I used the principles of contrast, spacing, and color in my design. Negative space is used to show the empty ocean free of plastic. This image is in RGB mode, is 12 by 12 inches, and is 150 ppi.

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In this draw toast workshop, we were required to collaborate with a partner and draw out the process for making toast. The first picture with the purple drawings represents the first draw toast attempt. We had no limit to the amount of steps or detail needed for the toast process. Afterwards, my partner and I ended up crossing out certain steps of the process and adding subtle details to refine it.

Next, we were required to draw out the steps for doing laundry. There was also no limit or rules to the drawing process. At first, we were required as individuals to draw our own laundry steps. Then, we met with a random group and had to use our own individual laundry making processes to create a combined system. This process would’ve been fairly simple, but we weren’t allowed to talk. Eventually, looking over everyone’s different steps, my group and I came up with a final process. It was clear that when working with the group we only put in the most important steps and got rid of the unnecessary details. This workshop was helpful in showing us the design thinking process.

 

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