Creative Conscience: Evaluation

I will be evaluating my work with different questions this time to see if I can be more reflective and think more about what I am learning.

In what ways did you consider Designing backwards or application of systems thinking to your project

In this project, at the start with the group work, I could only consider working backwards because I was confused with the first task of making a persona and then thinking about what manner of product/outcome I would have to design or make for this persona.

My group decided to work backwards during this task because it felt like the easier thing to do and was more within our comfort zone.

In terms of systems thinking for my personal project X, I acquired ideas from my peers because I will admit that I am not the best at coming up with initial ideas so I would ask around my classmates and just throw my personal ideas at them and ask for their feedback. I come to rely a lot on my classmates because I respect their input as fellow student designers and sometimes I find that I swallow my pride and have to ask for their help when it comes to ideas.

This would continue on throughout the design process but I am not limited to just my classmates for inputs as I would ask my family and friends for their outside input as well as I know I will always get some insightful ideas from those with not artistic background and that is displayed in my work.

In what ways have you considered the sustainability of your project process and outcomes

I have not really considered the sustainability of my project process and outcomes until today (Monday 11th February 2019). I find myself not thinking about these things and to be honest I do feel like I ever do enough. All I focus on is the outcome and how I personally feel about it. I usually feel proud of what I achieve but I think it is time I started considering how my outcomes and processes affect those around me directly and indirectly which I feel is quite difficult to do.

In what ways have you considered the ethical implications of your project process and outcomes?

It is my full intention for my designs to be beneficial, to be a design for good. My aim is to always be able to help others in anyway I can through design. I had been designing in the past to be more commercial for the sole purpose of trying to be good enough for companies to hire me based on my skills but I feel like my calling lies in designing for good.

I had not considered the ethical implications of my project until today but I am learning to think about the bigger picture. It may be impossible right now for me to cater to every ethical standard but hopefully in time I will grow to consider them more.

Also I feel like my statistics are misleading because it include the numbers 96 and 30 which do not add up to 100 and are part of different statistics so it was not ethical of me to mislead audiences like that by including them in that way. However, it was my intention to hail and communicate a more urgent message but I can see how the inclusion of the statistics could be discrediting.

In sustainability and ethical terms in what ways was your work in this project an improvement or a backwards step for you as a socially conscious designer

I feel like ethically, this was an improvement for me because I designed something I really feel strongly about and used those feelings to design my posters the way I would want others to feel about the importance of blood and organ donation. I tried my best to not guilt the audience into donating and I want them to donate of their own free will but there could be messages in my projects that say otherwise.

I do feel like I am designing for a plaster to the actual problem which is the poor health of others which could mostly be avoided through change of lifestyle where they could be healthier but as of now I do not have the means to address these issues for I did the best I could do with the time and resources at my disposal.

What targets can you make at this point for your work in the future as a socially conscious designer

• Think about the systemic problems and realise that sometimes I am designing a plaster to the problem instead of fixing it.
• And that is okay right now because I am still a student and I am still learning. What is important is that I carry these feelings I have on to design for good in the future.
• I need to consider and think about the ethical and sustainable implications my designs and their processes will have on the world around me – the people I may affect or the resources I may have to use in order to bring my products into existence.
• It is hard to make sure everyone is happy with your designs, I think that as long as the intention of good is there the design will reflect that.
• Design what I believe in.
• Think more critically of what and for whom I am designing for.