Ma Design For Communication
Design Research Method – Critical Reflection
Identify a daily journey - either your own or someone else’s - and improve it in a way that improves it for many people
Make People look forward to their daily commute.
When starting my research for my RSA projected headed “The Good Journey”, I looked into daily commuters journeys. My main focus was to see how journeys could be improved for people on a daily basis. I undertook many different methods of primary research such as group brainstorming, online and verbal questionnaires, class criticism and site analysis, enabling me to focus on a potential target audience.
Whilst researching into the issue's daily commuters have during their journey, I observed a common occurrence, that commuters struggled to interact with others and the media around them. It was made evident from the survey, that the majority of commuters had at negative attitude towards commuting. Majority of the research gained, verified that commuters tend to travel alone and have very little to do whilst on their travels. Findings from the survey showed that the majority of people would read the newspaper, listen to music, read books or prepare notes for work. Evidently seen from my site analysis (on the underground), conveying the London Underground as not a very friendly environment, where people can converse with one another. In regards to this project, I feel that, commuters need to focus on more positive aspects of life, aspiring to build greater communication skills whilst en route their daily commute.
The research gathered from the survey, had great effect on my project. This helped me with constructing specific focus groups and getting suitable feedback from the potential audience. At this stage I decided to either build a social networking platform for commuters to interact with each other, making it a more friendly and welcoming environment to commute in, or choose the route of self development, enabling people think different about their time spent during their daily commute, becoming engaged in self help, making slight changes to become a better being.
It was evident from my research, that there was a need for change, bridging this divide created by commuter’s persona's. It was evident from the findings that the self-development route would be more suited, as it would be engaging and challenging peoples minds further into thinking about positive attitudes.
The questionnaire I created, helped me decide what age group the project would be aimed towards. My findings showed that only 18-29 year old's answered the questionnaire, therefore I felt that they were more open to the idea of talking to strangers during their daily commute.
I felt at this point I had enough research, to start developing my design concepts. When coming up with a company name and logo, it became difficult as I needed to create something that made a bold enough statement in ones mind regarding self-development.
A typical scenario would be, where one would be on the platform, waiting for their train to arrive, being surrounded by fellow commuters, listening to music, reading newspapers etc. After careful thinking I came about with the name 'Positive Platform', this links in well with the briefing of making ones traveling experience better, so that instead of being glued to either news papers or listening to music, it makes people see that together everyone can achieve more. I wanted commuters to consider the possibility’s of self-development, such as the ‘Law of Attraction’ 1(Secret) and ‘The Past does not equal your future’ 2(Robbins).
[1] The Secret, You Tube, 18 Jan 2007, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8.
The logo for 'Positive Platform' is followed by a strap line, ‘Idea’s Worth
Sharing’. The logo is aimed to commuters; which incorporates the London tube line colours, this indicated a link to commuters that there was a relevant purpose behind the colour theme, making it more recognisable. I felt that the logo was only completed when after researching; I noticed that it sent out the message that was intended.
My next step was to put across a series of posters, this being the central hub of the Concept, which reflects self-development to passing commuters. These posters would work along side a website, iPhone App and T-shirts, all helping 'Positive Platform' be noticed across different mediums. My first attempt of designing the poster was considered, however due to class criticism and feedback I was made aware that it was not showing the intended purpose, there was a poor use of layout and it was not aesthetically pleasing enough.
After finalising my concept, I successfully created a series of posters. Each poster is numbered, so if one poster were viewed by a passing commuter, this would encourage them to look out for the next one. This method helps create a step-by-step action for self-development. Commuters are able to follow with a gradually, treating the posters as a beginners guide, which helps keep the target audience engaged.
The 'Positive Platform' posters consist of words that are associated with self-development, conveying an attitude to change passing commuter’s personas. Each poster was themed with a central phrase for example; “Get Off To A Good Start”; surrounded by up lifting words that help build the imagination in the audience, such as; 'exercise', 'alarm bells', 'breakfast', 'healthy body', 'no snooze' and 'communication'. This helps put across a more positive attitude. Another was “Be Free And Break The Chain”, whereby the related words here are, 'be free', 'chain of thought', 'lose patterns', 'be spontaneous', 'broaden your horizons' and 'just try it'.
The iPhone App and website both consisted of the same objective, to give more information about 'Positive Platform' as a whole, letting people keep up to date with the latest self help tips, Iconic positive quotes, merchandise and a page where the user would be able to register and exchange tips with a fellow 'Positive Platform' members. Both the iPhone and website, are user friendly and can be used on the go, as most commuters have stated they have access to smart phones.
To test if my concept worked well, I held a focus group with my target audience; this helped me achieve my intended goal. They showed great enthusiasm to self-development as a whole and were pleased that it would help commuters be more positive about there daily travels. The target audience discussed how the t-shirts worked well to put the message across. The visualisation is striking, making the passing commuters interested, wanting to read more. The posters have a very unique approach, as they do not show conventional techniques. Most posters have imagery, however, 'Positive Platform' focuses on typography, capturing the audiences minds and influencing the chain of thought, helping to build there own personal mental image.
Building this project from ground up, allowed me to become knowledgeable of how important research is. Looking back at the project, this was one of the most important processes. Choosing the target audience and finding the right tone to convey the concept is crucial. The benefits of creating a project like 'Positive Platform', allows me to visualise the future potential. I would consider other mediums, such as a Blackberry App, potential jumper and jacket designs and also transport for London uniforms. Further development could lead to the passing commuters across the whole world, therefore showing the potential of being successful worldwide.
Bibliography
Listverse. top 10 tips to self improvement. http://listverse.com/2007/09/28/top-10-tips-for-self-improvement/ .
Robbins, Anthony. you tube. Feb 25, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxS731BtTsQ.
Secret, The. You Tube. Jan 18, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8.
Survey Monkey. 1999. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CGPXHNZ .
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