Reflection 4
First of all, I am very happy to be able to take this course this semester. Since this class is in person, each class has class activities and Q&A interactions. And the content of the entire semester is progressive, and the content of each lesson is interlocking. Course-related materials include readings, videos, and blogs. Everyone has the right to choose a book of interest and publish reflections, which is very helpful for divergent thinking and deep thinking.
What impressed me most was the adaptive projects and collaborations. It is embodied by Lego games for conception, prototyping and collaboration. First, professor let us make a fish and a tower from different Lego pieces. From the initial surprise to the final composition of the fish, the team members found it incredible. Later, a restriction was added: each team cannot talk to each other and connect the two objects together. Finally, there are a few more minutes to create the story. For this activity, due to the limitations of the Lego block, the whole group started brainstorming for design. The team members have the same goal, to release creativity in the process of collaboration and all teams come up with an innovative story. This illustrates the power of storytelling: how Lego bricks inspire storytelling, and how we need narratives to help understand an idea and make it vivid and attractive.
The five steps of empathy-defining the problem-ideate-prototyping-testing run through the entire semester. It is a human-centered design and problem-solving way of thinking. To understand the real needs and suggestions of users. This is an iterative process, which is non-linear and can be looped repeatedly. When solving problems or thinking, use why to find the root and reframing problems to find other solutions. For example, the elevator example cited by the guest speaker. We look at problems from different angles and ways to avoid the limitations of traditional thinking.
In the teamwork, I learned from it how to communicate effectively so that everyone can eliminate unnecessary trouble caused by understanding deviation. Each member has his own ideas and perspectives, as well as his own way of presentation and expression based on different cultural backgrounds. But when these insights are putting together, they will form a solution that is the best solution compared to thinking by one person. Also, our interactions every week boosted up our collaboration and productivity. Our group started from scratch and designed an app to help students to solve food waste. From the proposal of the ideas to the continuous optimization and finally determined the model, every step is of great significance to me.
The Design Thinking course made me realize my previous misunderstandings about the design process, and how I can and should apply more to the problem-solving environment and research, including data analysis, technical consulting, product design, and so on. Currently, I have selected more books from reading list and review blogs of our class, and plan to further study human-centered design and design thinking strategies. And it can be applied to any problem solving in future work.
