I am pleased with the way the photographs have came out for the objects part of the practical part of the brief, as they portray the objects in a much more professional light, and make them look less rough than they actually are. The addition of the soft toys in the blanket object is one of my favourites as the soft toys add a child like quality to the photographs, and they just look adorable.
I am also pleased with how I have been able to manage my time towards the end of the project, as although I had a lot to do when I came back after Christmas, I have prioritised different parts at different times, and worked at uni until late most days and have managed to achieve pretty much all of what I wanted to, to a standard I am pleased with as well.
What have I found challenging?
Initially, I really struggled settling on a dissertation topic and title, as initially I wanted to do something to do with web design and how people interact with websites, and then went on to thinking about installation art and human interaction. However this would of been fine for the dissertation part, but when it came to the practical aspect I would really struggle to produce something digitally interactive as I don't have the skills needed to produce this (coding, engineering etc). Therefore I struggled to settle on a topic which involved interaction design but had a practical, physical element to it that would mean the practical outcome would be relevant to the dissertation. This was a long process and resulted in a fair amount of irrelevant research, and time taken out when I could of been writing or working on the practical side.
I also found it really challenging actually writing the dissertation, as I struggled with figuring out what content to actually include as it was such a broad topic. I struggled with figuring out my subheadings as I found it hard to think what it was exactly I wanted to find out past my title.
Have I achieved my aims for the practical aspect?
One of my aims was to explore more practical, sculptural ideas for the practical aspect, and I am pleased with how I have managed to fulfil this aim through producing the objects part of the practical aspect. The only other aim I had was to test out ideas explored in the written aspect, which I have done naturally through the practical aspect, although this isn't such an achievement as any type of practical project would of fulfilled this aim.
What would I do differently?
I would definitely create a child focus group to test out the products I created, to see how the children reacted to them and whether they interacted with them in the ways I thought they would do. However this wasn't possible as I don't know any children young enough to take part in this in Leeds, and when I was at home where I had access to a primary school after school club (my mum works there), it was the Christmas holidays so the school was closed. A focus group could of been made possible had I of made the little objects far more in advance so I could arrange with the school at home before Christmas to bring them in for the children to play with.
I would also of made much more specific research at the start of the project, just deciding on an area and going with it, rather than doing a lot of initial research which in the end wasn't used at all. This would of allowed me to get to my final question a lot sooner which would of provided me with more time to focus on writing it and producing my practical.
How could this project be extended further?
This project could be directly extended further by producing a more thorough way finding system for the supermarket, by including banners, overheads navigations, and the landing platform fruit and vegetable ideas. These could also be mocked up using an existing supermarket to show how they would work in context. A miniature architectural model of the supermarket could also be produced to show the navigation fully in 3D.
The objects part of the practical could be produced more professionally or much more neatly at least, using more appropriate materials (for example fabric on a toothbrush wouldn't be very hygienic).
Also, I could of looked more into toys, as in part of my research I was really inspired by Friends With You's Russian Doll, and it gave me a great idea to produce a Russian Doll for children to help them learn about the human anatomy. However this would of been a much larger practical project, one which I didn't have the time to put as much effort into as it would require, so this idea will be explored in a separate Extended Practice brief instead, where I will have the time to make it perfect.
How has this project influenced my practice?
This project has definitely made me realise that I have an interest in children's toys and childlike design, which is something I hadn't really thought about before, even though looking back at my previous work I can see the childlike aspects to them much more clearly (Virgin media Communications design for Extended Practice). Children's toys and design work is something I will explore more in my other modules.
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