Throughout the duration of this class, I was able to delve into various techniques and concepts that proved to be both intriguing and informative. One of the many techniques we explored was visualizing data using bubble charts. While I found it to be slightly confusing and redundant, particularly given the progression of the class, I appreciated the opportunity to learn something new. However, by that time, we had already covered several techniques that served a similar purpose, so the bubble charts didn’t add much value to our learning experience.
What I found particularly enjoyable was the opportunity to discuss ethics and the implications of certain products with my classmates. These discussions allowed us to brainstorm potential solutions and learn from each other’s experiences and ideas. It was a great chance to interact with people outside my usual group and gain a different perspective.
Another technique that proved to be useful was sketchnotes. I discovered that sketchnotes were an effective study tool that forced me to engage more deeply with the reading material than I would have done otherwise. By isolating key points, figuring out hierarchy, and drawing the concepts, I was able to better understand the subject matter.
The protopersonas and journey maps were also enlightening, as they helped me understand the idea of a target audience and how different needs could lead to users downloading a product. The journey maps emphasized how one product can serve different purposes for different users, but still meet their needs in the end.
I appreciated the literature review and competitor analysis as well, as they provided a solid foundation of truth that we could reference when making decisions and when working through our prototype. It gave us the confidence to make informed decisions about the product’s direction and features.
As a result of this project, I was also able to further my experience with Figma. I explored creating components and making different variants, and techniques such as glassmorphism. While we ultimately decided not to use this technique in our final product, I was able to practically apply design techniques that I had mostly interacted with in theory, such as gestalt’s principles.
Regarding the overall class, I enjoyed the general setup and how it always felt like we were having a conversation or engaged in a seminar. Having in-class projects and work sessions made learning more fun, and I was able to understand certain concepts better than if it was purely in a lecture format. Additionally, I appreciated the intentional focus on real industry practices, workplace issues such as teamwork, cross-team collaboration, as well as general classes where we discussed nuances of the design career in the field.
One of the lectures that really stood out to me was the one with Deb Aoki, where there was an emphasis on drawing for communication rather than for aesthetic practices. This was a huge revelation for me and removed a significant roadblock in my mind when it came to drawing. As a result, I felt more carefree with my sketches, which in turn led to them being better than the drawings I usually do.
If we had more time to work on the Gotcha app, there were a few features that I would have loved to explore further. For example, I would have liked to work on a version of the app that did not require users to take photos or screenshots but instead relied on text input at random check-ins where users could log what they were doing. During assumption testing, we found that users often found the constant check-ins disruptive to their flow state, but I wonder how we could foster accountability while still respecting users’ privacy.
Another idea that I would have liked to implement with more time is having the app create an ideal work/study routine for each user using the patterns and trends it observes in the data analytics portion. This would provide a customized solution for each user and help them achieve their goals more efficiently.
Overall, working on the Gotcha app was a rewarding experience with multiple learning experiences.
