- What did you learn?
From this project, I learned a lot about creating something physical and combining it with something digital. I also learned a lot about user testing, and applying feedback I received without jeopardizing my vision.
- What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on critique itself?
I received a lot of good feedback during my user testing about the usage of the app itself. One flaw I made before user testing was making a lot of assumptions about what the audience would know how to do. For instance, I assumed that all users would be able to easily figure out how to unsubscribe from their newsletters, but I found that it was not obvious for many people, or they didn’t have experience doing it.
- What might you do differently in terms of process or content?
I would have liked to have a working prototype to present, where the light in the planter would be controlled by the app mock up. That way, it would be much easier to present and give people a better picture on how the product works. I would also like to do more research on equating information given about CO2 emissions, so that users have a better idea of their impact on climate change.
- What was inspiring? What parts?
Creating the mock up was very inspiring, because it felt very real when testing it myself on my phone. Once I started making and testing the mock app, I got more excited about the project.
- Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts, in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc…
Looking back at the assignment prompt, I think I was able to be specific about what I wanted to research, which was how email affects climate change. I was able to show documentation on my experiments and practice. I had a lens that I looked through, which was from a users perspective, and I also had a clear audience in mind, which were average people with office jobs. My intention was to educate the audience on the need to manage their inboxes, and to criticize how corporations put the onus of climate change on the individual. The tone was to be ironic, and mimic a cheesy infomercial.
- How did you balance research and experimentation? Which is easier for you? How can you focus more on the areas that you shy away from
While research was easier for me, I felt that experimentation was more interesting. The research came quickly, since I already had a clear idea of what the topic was about, and just needed evidence to support it. Experimentation was interesting for me, because its rare for me to get to build anything physical. I had a clear goal in mind, which was to combine the digital with the physical.