What is my design process and what is a way to remember the best design practices?
Design Process
Ear-Worm
Mobile incorporating the 3 design stages, the Ideal Project Envelope, and my design process activities.
2 weeks | HCDE | Data Analysis + Information Visualization
Briefing
The Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELT) investigated what activities designers engage in during design projects.
The determined that there are 8 activities that could be placed into 3 different design stages:
Problem Scoping
Developing Alternative Solutions
Project Realization
CELT found that the most successful projects all followed similar steps. These steps formed what they call the "Ideal Project Envelope".
self Analysis
After recording a design project session, I created a timeline of all the activities I engaged in while designing. Taking that, I added colors to each section according to the color chart. I extended the 3 stages to bleed into one another, changing the color of activities that overlapped. Finally, I had a solid barcode that represents my design process.
A design process barcode, if it fits in the Ideal Project Envelope, should contain primarily cyan in the beginning, magenta through the middle to end, and project realization at the end. The colors should overlap and each activity should be revisited throughout the entire project.
My color barcode has a similar color progression as the high quality project of one senior. This implies that my design process fits in the Ideal Project Envelope. However, I am still lacking project realization throughout my timeline.
I then made a mobile to remind myself of these good design process practices and encourage myself to remember to incorporate all three design stages all throughout my projects.
Time
2 weeks
Winter, 2014
Collaborators
Cindy Atman (Instructor)
Contributions
Graphic design
Data analysis
User research
Secondary research
Tools
Illustrator
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets