Play Lab Reflection
The lab started with exploring microfutures and trying to find a topic that we’re interested in. I liked the freedom we had it felt like we were released out in the wild and free to go explore whatever part of the world. But, I ended up focusing on some petty details in daily lives such as bathroom hygiene, beer opener, shuffling music, etc. I found my topic about generation gap in technology by looking back at an encounter with a senior community last Summer. It made me realize when it comes to picking topics, I feel more confident in subject that I have some personal experience with and somewhat of a research background in. Microfuture observations were all from my personal thoughts I had in life but, the senior community seemed like a more reliable topic because, I had previously done some design research with the stakeholders. It may be a CMU design habit, needing some ‘research’ background for any design project.
Anyways, I first started out diagramming the environment in which the current senior generation, baby boomers, interacts with the internet. It was interesting to find their online forums talking about various topics such as, music, children, retirement, and getting back to work. But, there was a lack of participation on the web compared to other generations. And thinking about a near future, I turned the scope towards imagining the future for the millennials. This is my first year being introduced to speculative critical design. Before Play lab, I did a scd project in another class but, every time I felt quite unsure about decision I make because, I wasn’t sure how far I’ve gone. There must be a line that determines ridiculously or stereotypically futuristic vs. believable but different enough to initiate conversations. But, the example we saw in class: GI Joe veteran toys, e-fork and walking stick, etc. set a good gauge to follow.
I’m glad we weren’t pressured by high-quality, crafted prototype. I went from creating a mock-up website to a mock-up interface experience. Bruce’s input was really important in making this change. As an industrial designer, creating this project into more of a CD driven result made me unsatisfied in a way. I was unconfident entirely relying on the website layout to communicate my concept even though, it would have more focus on the content written on the website. Bruce suggested having a physical interpretation of the future web, off the regular projection or monitor screen. I had worried about creating something too stereotypically futuristic but, having a rough prototype helped to just suggest the idea of different-ness and omit the details, left for the audience to imagine.
Overall, it was an interesting project in many ways. It was interesting to see how we all chose our own topics and some ended up co-relating with one another. It was a good class promoting discussion among ourselves and left room for sharing ideas and inputs. The balance between the freedom for developing our concepts and the guidance from the instructor was great. I really appreciated the encouragement I received throughout and the class introduced methodologies and examples that helped to carry the initial development of the project more easily.
