Reflection4

The time has passed so fast that it has reached the end of the course. The class intriguingly gave me the knowledge I expected and the inspiration beyond my expectations. Before taking this class, I didn’t have any design experience or knowledge. I have always been interested in product design, so I took this opportunity to choose this course.

I learned a lot in the course. The course was very instructive and took me to understand the various processes that need to be experienced, from the generation of ideas to the prototypes, and how to promote these processes effectively. After this course, I can perceive some changes in myself. For example, the speed of generating initial ideas and the number of views for each problem have increased. And I have begun not to be afraid of bringing up ideas. For instance, I remember that one of our classes asked us to quickly write a solution to the noise and nuisance of the club customers, who were still making noise after the club closed at 2 o’clock in the night. I was shocked by the idea of ​​killing these people shared by the guests. But now, I am able to begin to propose ideas rather than presenting correct, ethical, and practical ideas. So when I didn’t know what the proper standard was, I had the idea of ​​wanting the right idea and restrained my divergent thinking. But now, when I was drawing graphics in the last lesson, I could generate ideas almost instantaneously. I was reflecting on why I had such a change. I noticed that because I have a specific understanding of how to constrain and perfect ideas after they are generated, I am no longer afraid of whether the initial ideas generated are logical or meaningful. The most crucial factor that caused me to limit the generation of ideas in adulthood- fear of absurd ideas- became nothing. This allows me to focus on generating ideas. The energy initially scattered in thinking is now concentrated on developing ideas, and the speed and amount of thinking have changed. After the initial thought is completed, follow-up processes such as selecting and improving ideas can be started. This course taught me the journey map of proposing a statement itself. Presenting a design idea is not just an idea but the product of many unconscious thinking processes. Because of this understanding, I began to disassemble a journey map like a journey map for many behaviors that I thought to occur naturally to generate a deeper understanding.

At the same time, there is a deep memory in the study of this course, which is to eliminate one’s deviations. Don’t bring things you think you know before starting the design into any of the steps required for the procedure, whether to investigate the background or conduct a test. Constraining one’s known part is very important. In doing the climate change group project, I have often felt how big the difference between the actual facts and “I thought” it would be. Unlike science-related subjects, the reading of this class made me realize that there is no right or wrong for the design itself for every angle. We need to respect each different point of view and attitude. The knowledge we have learned before still has a particular cultural influence. This influence will allow us to add cognitive bias without knowing it, negatively influencing product design. This also led me to try my best to turn my thoughts into a blank sheet of paper before learning anything new.

I like the format of this class very much. In fact, before joining this class, I have been thinking about how to teach or study thinking. But the various ways of presentation in the classroom taught me a new way of thinking. I like introducing some small games before the content of each class every time. It seems that no matter what age, games have always inspired people more than imagined.

I can also feel that some of the thinking I have learned in this course is not the kind of knowledge that everyone can learn in work experience. I participated in some interviews for product manager positions in Internet companies during the period. When chatting with supervisors already employed in the product department, some supervisors could not fully understand or agree with what I said and could feel the difference. When people are doing design-related work, they have different ideas. This strengthened my desire to test what I learned this semester in possible future jobs. At the same time, I also look forward to, if I engage in this kind of work in the future, what different thinking I can get from my experience.

At the same time, I have gained more than the course itself in this course. I am very grateful to my group members. We are a diverse group, and it is the first time I have participated in such a diverse group. This allowed me to accumulate a semester of the group experience with diverse backgrounds. My teammates supported me very nicely. They helped me find a lot of courage and self-confidence. They also help me better understand different cultures. Compared with purely knowledge-based courses, I began to gradually diversify my thinking in a true sense by observing and understanding the various things that happened with them. This is something I never thought of when I chose this course.

I think I had a good time in the semester even though it can be tough sometimes.