GDE 730

WEEK 8

Building New Models and Tools for Future Practice 

This week the focus was on the building of a digital tool, and looking at how collaboration can help in the design process of creating a product. 

The main question driving the week was:

 How do you develop a digital tool, process, experience or artefact to aid the collaboration for future working? 

Lecture: Collaborative Tools – Nana and Dan Parry of Metier Digital

GDE730_Week8Lecture_Header

The minimum viable product concept is one where effectively you are building the smallest version of the product that provides value but it might sometimes just be valuable enough for people to use it for free. The commercially viable product element is making sure that whatever you build does, obviously, create value for the customer in the smallest possible way to start with, so that you’re being lean and cost effective, but it also needs to be something that they are likely to pay for. It’s just making sure that you’re putting that concept and thought into the product.

Nana Parry, Metier Digital

I really enjoyed Dan and Nana's lecture. Often when working with product teams at my job we work with Product Owners who are always going for a Minimum Viable Product, I never used to understand what this meant, and it would seem really odd to me how they wanted to build a product which is essence incomplete. Having gone through this lecture it really clarified to me the intent and nature of what an MVP is and how it can work for designers in a digital environment. I still do not see the concept of an MVP being used in non-digital products however. 

I think the way Dan and Nana broke down the content of this lecture, into a step by step arrangement while explaing each step was actually very clear. I liked their delivery and how they outlined the importance and outcome of each step and what to think about and how to approach it. This lecture was by far the most clear and concise. Some of the lectures often speak in general terms and in the conversation can go on tangents, however these two speakers really did well. 

This lecture really helped me to think about the brief for the assignment and outline a model for the process of The Visual Archive. It also helped me give enough information in the prototyping of the idea to be able to test it and see if it has any merit.

Workshop Challenge

CHALLENGE: Develop a digital tool or process to aid the collaboration for future working from your findings in the previous three weeks. You should ensure this response is to your own emerging ideas on your own working methodology. Present your idea as a designed visual proposal in the format of your choice.

For my workshop challenge, I expanded my idea for The Visual Archive, and built out a proposal for the process and the tool. Here is a slideshow of my proposal document:

Final thoughts and reflection

I had a lot more clarity this week, and really thought about the tool/process that I was creating. I attempted to test it out with some classmates in the cohort and it seemed to garner interest. I got good feedback in the crit and people expressed how they think it would be a really good tool for designers, better than doing a random image searche on Google, and how it's a more personal experience. People also liked that I was exploring both the digital and the physical side of this and how it would open up the experience to many more audiences by taking both approaches.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. 

© Nida Khan, 2020 — All rights reserved.

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