Challenge B, Substantive Post 2: The Design Process

The Design Process:

In my studies so far, the design process has been constantly changing and shifting between projects. Between each project and their process, I learned that the design process is a repetitive cycle, with the different stages being understanding the problem, planning the project, trying and testing your model, and reflecting on its outcome. As you progress through the process, you can make revisions along the way through peer feedback and self reflection to strengthen your final piece.

Challenge A: Comic Strip

For Challenge A, I created a short form comic that was about the consequences of feeding the wildlife.
My process went as follows:

Understand:
I did research to support my topic of Feeding Wildlife, followed by understanding the basics of Mayer’s Cognitive theory.

Plan:
I created notes about my topic and began implementing the information, along with sketch planning my comic panels. I created a rough prototype with all the information combined. I gained peer feedback to later apply in my final comic.

Finalize:
After identifying the weak points of my project, I created a comic strip with new artwork and refined text.

I realized the importance of simplifying and clarifying key information, as the prototype seemed a bit convoluted and unnecessarily repetitious to my peers. Additionally, after creating the comic I learned that the design phase doesn’t have to look beautiful, as you can refine your process along the way to the finished result.

Challenge B: Videos

For Challenge B, my group and I chose to do our project on healthy eating habits for older children and preteens. In the planning process, I was able to apply new ideas and improvements from Challenge A.
My process went about as follows:

Understand:
My group and I did research on nutrition to understand how to create a balanced diet, reflected deeper on our audience, and followed key principles from Mayer’s theory.

Plan:
I planned to create my scenario style video, with verbal descriptions of what is going on paired with rough sketches of what the video will look like. I submitted my project prototype and received feedback.

Refine:
I used the information from my peers to better refine my video, adding a narrative to implement into my video. From here I decided what program to use to create my video.

Finalize:
I finalized my video using the Powtoon platform, and strengthened the visuals using the resources provided in the tool.

Reflect:
I noted the pitfalls of this project so that I could make sure to apply them in the final assignment.

In the creation of Challenge B, I felt that my planning process went a lot smoother and I was able to feel a bit more connected through the group. Although I felt as though I took more steps, the final result felt a bit more unrefined than I would have hoped, as parts of the planning stages fell through. This allowed me to have a stronger reflection process, and understand what I could improve in the final project.