I think a main component of my Exploration A process was letting go. It was hard to let go at first and not fall back into my heuristic biases but I feel like by the final project I had completely let go and allowed for new ideas to come in and I am happy with where this project led me.
At first I was nervous taking a long time to decide what word I was going to pick for my everyday object. The first assignment coming up with words I didn’t allow my mind to wonder. I was almost “stiff” in my execution. It wasn’t until my first group meeting with Sam and Ed that I saw the potential that could have been if I was more organic. With that in mind I went back and redid my concept map. I allowed my mind to go to the impossible. I think the most important factor was that I stopped trying to figure out what the final part of the process was going to be and tried to see the exploration.
I think this was the most influential part of my success. Letting go of the idea that I needed to figure out what the solution was and just enjoy and focus on the exploration. I never approached a problem like this before.
I have to thank my classmates for giving me the confidence to go for it, not settle for the very good but to go for the extraordinary. My group meetings were my favorite part of the assignment too. Ed and Sam pushed me to be the best I could be, our sessions were very productive and I feel like I learned so much from them. We decided to keep in touch via iphones because our work schedules were crazy and we wanted to make sure that if we saw something we could send a picture text to get instant feedback. I never thought you could be connected and feel this type of camaraderie from fellow students in an e-learning class.
When I think about what could have been missing I think maybe better execution in the final idea. After the exploration stage I felt that there were so many design opportunities available and deciding what solution was difficult. If I had more time I think I would continue this exploration and not settle for the one solution but try many solutions so I could see what would be the best solution.