Thursday was a major milestone for our team. I believe we have a cohesive problem statement that incorporates each team member’s insight. This problem statement was the third one our team created over the entire process. The Ideal facilitation guide was a useful tool in allocating time. When we came into class on Thursday we were in the process of merging our first two problems statements into one cohesive statement. At first we had scheduled 20 minuets to finalize our final project statement, but it only took five minuets! We updated out facilitation guide and used our phone to alert us of the time. Unlike Tuesday’s brainstorm, we drew and illustrated some ideas on postcards instead of simply writing. Even though the illustrations were drawn quick, having visuals made our ideas feel tangible. One component our team and I kept forgetting to do throughout the process was verbalized the headline as we posted it. I believe we forgot to do this because we were immersed in our own thoughts and reading what was on the board. When we recognized that we forgot to do this step and began to verbalized the headline as we posted the process became more efficient.
1. We didn’t have to pause the brainstorming session to read what others had posted
2. Listening to others ideas increased idea generation
3. We were able to bounce off each others ideas
On Tuesday, our two dimensions were not specific enough to easily put our ideals into four quadrants. On Thursday our four quadrants were clearly defined with social vs physical activities/social and individual vs community lifestyle. We put a few of our ideas on the line of the quadrants because they could go into both. We were each given 7 votes. The votes were spread out which I think is beneficial because we had allot of good ideas. Our two most popular ideas were guest bedrooms for visitors and maximize shared spaces which don’t change as care needs increase.
Brainstorming was a key component of this process and I felt myself being restricted by my own judgement. As the reading, Reclaim Your Creative Confidence, highlighted, you can’t be creative if you are constantly censoring yourself. Half the battle is to resist judging yourself. If you can listen to your own intuition and embrace more of your ideas (good and bad), you’re already partway to overcoming this fear. I experienced this fear most predominantly when coming up with out of the box ideas. I think critically and logically and had a difficult time coming up with crazy ideas. I have censored my thinking process for a long time. This class and this project has been a breath of fresh air in helping me rediscover the creativity I once had. The readings this week allowed me to realize that I had not been using my creativity. Creativity is something that needs to be practiced and nurtured. I am looking forward to prototyping.