Individual Self Reflection
Tool Information Designers has been an interesting course, as I thought it would’ve been all coding and totally different from what we have been learning during this semester. The difference in this course made me look at information design in different ways! Which what makes me realize in those couples of labs and especially the last main project that there is a different way that doesn’t need coding to complete a task because the Entrepreneur Tools website (Keyhani, M. n.d.) is very rich with lots of tools from developing a simple logo to complex website. It has all the tools needed to start any project, or even the way finding maps that group 4 put together which was very impressive.
Tool Information Designers showed me a lot of tools that I did not know it existed to help me go on with my project in the future with less time. And the main thing that I will be talking about in this reflection is the last project which I enjoyed the most as it was a very fun project to work and develop and discovering a new tool that I did not know or did not even know how to work with it even!
The last project has a very wide and open options for us as students to chose from which what made it more challenging and difficult for us to choose an idea and go with it. The range of the ideas was overwhelming, but we tried to do some brainstorming exercises to help us come with an idea that is unique, new and helpful to everyone, so we started by thinking about the challenges that we are going through in our daily life (just like you recommended in class) to help us put some thoughts down and narrow the options. This procedure helped us discover all the choices which was a surprise for me, as we are surrounded by a lot of technology, apps, websites and tools to help us live the best and easy life, but till now we don’t have every thing we need which led me to think when will we ever have enough? And do we think we are making it easier by adding all those technologies and tools to our life or is it just making it more complicated and not as useful as we think it will be. Kris Hans said something in class that I still think about it, and I am starting to use it when I am talking to people. He said “ not everything needs an app.” and YEAH not everything will need an app and there is in the market more apps than we need.
This fact stayed with me, and it changed the way I think. Which what led the company that I work for to think about what they are developing. I work for Guess?. Guess? is an American clothing brand and retailer( site). The head office sent us some iPhones 10 which will be working as a register, and it has a pin pad machine attached to it, so the customer can pay and just get an email receipt. But did we really need it? The register has been giving us a lot of trouble, and we are required to use it for some transactions during the day to show that we have been using it. But I took the challenge and when our district manager was in the store I talked to her and I stated the points and I used this phrase “ not every thing needs to have an app”. She looked at me, and she was like “ you are right, either it has to be a better app or you shouldn’t be using it”
After our conversation we are not required to use the app anymore which is a relief, and it felt like something I won using what I learned during class time and just from our conversation!
The course did not feel the same at the beginning of the semester and I felt kinda lost, and I know that happened because we were online. Even though the tools that we got introduced to were just life-saving tools like the logo generator (site) and the Wix and so on, but completing the labs were so hard as we weren’t completing it in the class together which would make it a lot easier to follow, and it would’ve been more engaging.
But honestly completing those labs were very frustrating at some points but getting it up and done was very rewarding!
Over all this course was very interesting with all the unique sources that we got introduced to, but if I were to retake the course I would have done the individual project differently. I did an interview with an information designer which was very interesting and informative as well, but I took the easy path and I should have done the deep dive on one of the apps that I intended to do at first, but the walkthrough of the website and every thing scared me and I just decided to not get out of my comfort zone, but funny enough I planned to do the deep dive on Glide apps, and then I changed it to the interview. But in my final project I had to use Glide apps to develop Hummus, so by the end I learned the new tool.
Doing the deep dive would have saved me a lot of frustrating and worried as I did not know what to use to develop Hummus. And that could be an advice I would give it to a friend or even me if I would to take the course again.
Thank you for everything!
References
Entrepreneur Tools. (n.d.). ZEEF. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://entrepreneur-tools.zeef.com/keyhanimo#block_84767_logo-design
Design tools Icon — Download design tools Icon 182573 | Noun Project. (n.d.). The Noun Project. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://thenounproject.com/icon/design-tools-182573/
Griffin, J. (n.d.). The Value Of A Well-Written Thank-You Note. Forbes. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillgriffin/2018/08/07/the-value-of-a-well-written-thank-you-note/?sh=2188b2136500
GUESS Logo | Symbol, History, PNG (3840*2160). (n.d.). Logos-World.net. https://logos-world.net/guess-logo/
Save Countless Hours Of Frustration — Frustration Logo, HD Png Download — vhv. (n.d.). Vhv.rs. Retrieved April 10, 2022, from https://www.vhv.rs/viewpic/TTJTioh_save-countless-hours-of-frustration-frustration-logo-hd/
