Well our tradeshow saw the end of DIY Trove and another semester at UQ. All I have left to submit is my portfolio and then it's time to blow this popsicle stand! I'm happy to say that I have enjoyed most of the aspects of this subject. This post will serve as my reflection of design computing studio as a subject and experience.
Looking back to week one I have realised that what I had expected and hoped to learn was quite vague...I didn't mention anything about learning how to use PHP/json etc, but then again I don't think I really knew what to expect. Overall I'm glad I didn't point out too much of what I wanted to learn because in terms of implementation I didn't get to try out a whole lot!
I definitely met my expectation of "adding to my designers toolkit" - I have become familiar with a lot of terms and programs etc. I have a better understanding of code and am starting understand how it all works. To be honest I wish I had already done software engineering as apparently that helps you understand 'coding problems' and how to package and un-package code better...
I found the paper prototyping exercise really helpful. We discovered a lot about our project and how to change it to make it more appealing, interesting and usable. We didn't get the chance to do this exercise in Intro to Web Design (our team was unprepared) and so I was happy to get the opportunity to try it out.
I also found the tutorials (with Michael) really helpful, he's a great tutor and was great at explaining problems from the start through to the finish. He may change your code but he would always explain how and why he did it etc.
In terms of the project and concept - I really like DIY Trove. I think it is a website that I would honestly use and it is a topic of personal interest. I love anything crafty and DIY! The way the project turned out is better than I could have imagined, my favourite aspect is definitely how we managed to retrieve the images from Trove.
The way I approached the project was unfortunately not to the best of my ability...Because our team was so large I think the tasks were spread across our team a little thin. I really wanted to work on technical implementation but ended up focusing more on design and content. I would like to have pressed on the issue a little more but to be honest I just let it slide. I'm not impressed that I did this but I am pleased that I at least kept up with all the goings on to ensure I understood everything and could step in should something have gone wrong.
That said, I am impressed with the work that I put in on the areas that I was responsible for. I got right into the content, design and trade show curation side of things and I certainly enjoyed it. Anything visual/communication is within my skills set so I was in the zone!
For the future I would like to express my goals and standards for group projects and ensure that I know exactly what I want to achieve and what I want to get out of a subject!
I enjoy the way the course is set out and that you can pick your group based on the concept. I think things could be handled differently should there be too many members in one team etc. However, based on my experience with DIY Trove we overcame this obstacle and ending up bonding anyway!
Overall, I had a great experience and loved that we had the opportunity to showcase our efforts! It was great to be able to receive on the spot feedback and interact with lecturers/tutors/mentors instead of just a physical submission.
Until next year :)
Looking back to week one I have realised that what I had expected and hoped to learn was quite vague...I didn't mention anything about learning how to use PHP/json etc, but then again I don't think I really knew what to expect. Overall I'm glad I didn't point out too much of what I wanted to learn because in terms of implementation I didn't get to try out a whole lot!
I definitely met my expectation of "adding to my designers toolkit" - I have become familiar with a lot of terms and programs etc. I have a better understanding of code and am starting understand how it all works. To be honest I wish I had already done software engineering as apparently that helps you understand 'coding problems' and how to package and un-package code better...
I found the paper prototyping exercise really helpful. We discovered a lot about our project and how to change it to make it more appealing, interesting and usable. We didn't get the chance to do this exercise in Intro to Web Design (our team was unprepared) and so I was happy to get the opportunity to try it out.
I also found the tutorials (with Michael) really helpful, he's a great tutor and was great at explaining problems from the start through to the finish. He may change your code but he would always explain how and why he did it etc.
In terms of the project and concept - I really like DIY Trove. I think it is a website that I would honestly use and it is a topic of personal interest. I love anything crafty and DIY! The way the project turned out is better than I could have imagined, my favourite aspect is definitely how we managed to retrieve the images from Trove.
The way I approached the project was unfortunately not to the best of my ability...Because our team was so large I think the tasks were spread across our team a little thin. I really wanted to work on technical implementation but ended up focusing more on design and content. I would like to have pressed on the issue a little more but to be honest I just let it slide. I'm not impressed that I did this but I am pleased that I at least kept up with all the goings on to ensure I understood everything and could step in should something have gone wrong.
That said, I am impressed with the work that I put in on the areas that I was responsible for. I got right into the content, design and trade show curation side of things and I certainly enjoyed it. Anything visual/communication is within my skills set so I was in the zone!
For the future I would like to express my goals and standards for group projects and ensure that I know exactly what I want to achieve and what I want to get out of a subject!
I enjoy the way the course is set out and that you can pick your group based on the concept. I think things could be handled differently should there be too many members in one team etc. However, based on my experience with DIY Trove we overcame this obstacle and ending up bonding anyway!
Overall, I had a great experience and loved that we had the opportunity to showcase our efforts! It was great to be able to receive on the spot feedback and interact with lecturers/tutors/mentors instead of just a physical submission.
Until next year :)
