Topic 2: Final Reflection
- What did you learn?
I learned a lot about emojis and how they are used. I would have liked to have even more time to dive into that since there are so many context specific emoji usages and emoji subcultures. There are also a lot of interesting trends with emojis like how different generational groups gravitate towards different emojis. I also learned a lot about CSS in order to make my dice site.
- What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on critique itself?
I received a lot of positive feedback about the UI/UX design of my project. People also seemed to be engaged with it in the chat, which was nice to see. I also received some feedback that perhaps the dice might not have been conceptually as strong as the dictionary. One interesting feedback was to integrate the two somehow and maybe add emoji experience sinto the dictionary project. I also thought it was interested that Sarah noted that I was making more of an archive than a dictionary and perhaps that metaphor would have worked better.
I think the overall critique process was a bit short. I would have liked to hear more feedback from the class to see if they enjoyed the concept/would actually use the site. Since the dice project was figured out last minute, I didn’t have a chance to get user testing done, so it would have been nice to get some of that from the critique.
- What might you do differently in terms of process or content?
I think I would have spent a little less time on research and more on ideation. I think at times I got too caught up in the research aspect and didn’t give myself enough time to play with the idea. I also think I would have narrowed down my specific point of view earlier, so that I could have more time to flesh out the idea.
- What was inspiring? What parts?
It was inspiring that I was able to come with a fun online site in just one day! I never thought I would be able to do that, so it was really nice to hear that the UI was fun and effective. Getting the die to roll properly was very challenging and I needed to do a lot of digging online to get it working in a way that felt right for the project.
- Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts, in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc…
My critical lens was the way in which individuals and groups interact with emojis. Do they have different interpretations? Do they use them differently? Is emoji use context specific?
The primary audience for the dictionary was anyone who uses emojis with a focus on those who use them heavily for texting and social media. For the dice, it’s more geared towards an audience of people with decision paralysis. It helps to reveal their true feelings about a particular question through their interpretation of their results.
The tone for both was supposed to be light, playful, and fun.
- 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?
The work/research/experimentation balance was really tricky for me for this project. I had a lot of outside of class work that got in the way. I would definitely say the research aspect was easier than designing and experimenting with the dictionary and the dice. The dice was by far the hardest since there was a time pressure and my coding skills are not the best. I think I can focus more on the experimentation by adding a sense of play to my process. I think that would help relieve stress and make the experimentation process more fun and engaging.
Smileys & People.” 
