Class Experience
Before this class, I thought that design was meant for certain people and not others. However, over the course of the last ten weeks, I’ve learned that anyone can be a good designer, as long as they think deeply about people and processes and build the necessary skills to design well. I’ve always tended to be someone who rushes through things, trying to get a tangible outcome as soon as possible. This class has taught me the value of slowing down, thinking more critically at each step, and focusing on ideas and the journey rather than the destination.
I came into this class after CS147, so I was familiar with the design thinking process. However, I’d struggled to expand in the ‘ideate’ step – I had a destination in mind in terms of what I wanted the app to look like, and intent to get there, didn’t spend valuable time that could have generated new, more interesting ideas, or helped me piece together how the ideas could come together. This class has been really meaningful because it’s helped me become better at ideating – in particular, I found the mapping techniques we learned extremely engaging and valuable, and visualizing my ideas has helped me think more creatively and strategically about how I group my ideas together.
Additionally, I really loved sketchnoting. As someone who is a rushed, but extremely visual learner, I’d always learned best seeing notes in aesthetic format, but I’d never taken the time to create them myself. In this class, I realized that sketchnoting helped me remember the material so much better than my other notes. I’ve adopted this technique for my other courses and can definitely see myself sticking to it.
I’ve always had an interest in behavior change, so it was really cool to learn about the existing research and models in this space. Beyond learning about the content of this course, I’m most grateful that it’s helped me become more patient. This class has helped me overcome a lot of my rushed tendencies, and think more critically about people and design decisions. Now while designing or solving creative problems in other coursework, I brain dump, and then think about ideas thoughtfully and visually – techniques like system and bubble mapping are not extra steps, but necessary, valuable ones that contribute great value to problem solving. Next time I’m faced with a large problem, I’ll take the time to break it down, evaluate small solutions and alternatives, incorporate feedback if necessary, and build up a larger solution.
Our App
Our app’s primary goal was to improve users’ well-being by helping them build a morning routine, so we wanted to make sure it didn’t harm them in any way. At first, we thought about focusing our app on preventing users entirely from using distracting apps on their phones in the morning, because realistically, this would be most effective. However, we quickly realized this approach would be too invasive, so we opted to use a 15-second timer to get people off apps that they deemed distracting. This would give them more autonomy over their electronic usage, while still nudging them to leave those apps by forcing them to consider if they truly need to use those apps. There is the case that a user should be using an app like Outlook in the morning to keep up with work duties and opts to turn off notifications from this app using our app; however, by giving them the chance to toggle notifications on, we provide them the opportunity to make the right decision for themself. Thus, our app is not manipulative – it lays out options and gives users the freedom to make the right choice.
A major concern we had about our app was that it may pose privacy concerns; however, to respect users’ privacy, the app will not collect data from other apps. Even if it provides monetary value to our app, we would not pursue this route because the privacy and security concerns it raises are not worth it.
Other Comments
I learned so much from my group and really enjoyed working with them. Being randomly matched was a refreshing change, and I lucked out to work with such great people!
