This thesis, formally the final project to prove that I'm a well-rounded designer, was the perfect opportunity to apply everything I've learned in the past 3.5 years into a design project that can shape the way I want to proceed in my professional career.
Although I enjoyed nearly every class I took at CMD, I've had a special interest in the underlying incentives to apply design practices. My open-minded but critical attitude (mostly towards myself) made me question my participation in booming, powerful, and unpredictable industries like smart devices, the Internet of Things, AI, blockchain, and various others.
How can I justify working in an industry that is known to cause problems involving mental health, privacy, and safety?
I couldn't really justify this. The one thing that I could come up with is to use everything I learned to participate in a movement that aims to steer this industry's direction to a more people-friendly direction. So that was my plan.
It was easy to see a problematic system that's in place. It was a lot harder to view the same situation and look for opportunities to improve. Being in this situation led me to a personal milestone:
Unlike most of my peers (to my knowledge), I did not start with a problem or challenge that was created by a third party. I didn't have a first draft that I could personalize to fit my personal goals, I created my challenge from scratch and I had to reach out to experts, the target audience, and other stakeholders. I was able to find these experts, to find communities of people that experience this problem heavily and I came in contact with people that are also working on solutions. Especially without a third party with resources, I am pleased with the connections I was able to make. I expanded my professional network and I practiced reaching out to people that I wouldn't approach before.
Another important and slightly unique aspect of this project was the fact that due to the Covid pandemic, I only worked from home. Despite having experience with working from home during my internship with a London-based internship, I occasionally troubled to find a structure to maintain a healthy and productive working schedule. Yet, I still achieved another personal milestone:
I didn't think about the physical distance to other people, I only considered workable timezones. With experts, the target audience, and other invested people being located anywhere on this globe, I was able to get their input despite being on another continent. On top of that, I practiced and reassured myself that I'm comfortable in interviewing people in English without any problems.
I did occasionally struggle with sticking to my intended working hours and set goals. Though I'm probably not the only one who experienced this, this is something that I intend to keep on improving. Specifically:
I assume every designer shares this goal with me. At the end of the ride, it is desired to be able to have a final product, in whatever form this may be. This doesn't exclusively mean tangible and working concepts or designs, this could also be a created method or a philosophy for the desired effect. The thing that differentiates designers from other researchers is, in my perception, the ability to create. We don't just observe and point out problems, we try out, we validate, we fail (partly) and we try again. This belief translates into the following achieved milestone:
My final concept, Human Phones, was the best I could do in 20 weeks. In my conclusion in the Design Rationale, I state that I am aware that this won't fix the problem. The problem is simply too big. What I do think, is that because of the methodology that I used and the various concepts that I tried to validate, I was able to cross out a few options and basically rule them out for any similar future attempts. I believe that even if my concept itself would prove to be insufficient, my design process can be a source of inspiration in the right communities. I will continue to share my work and engage with others that are on a similar mission as I am because I'm passionate about the incentive of my work. In that sense, I think my final deliverables can prove to be especially valuable.
To come back to the objectives of this thesis project, I trust that my project will deem sufficient to prove the final milestone:
As a CMD student, I am required to demonstrate all 9 competencies in my final year. All of my acquired skills, knowledge, and practice in the previous 3 years, served as the foundation to be able to successfully complete a self-initiated design project.
Without any third party, I demonstrated my ability to create a sensible design challenge to build a project around. I utilized various primary and secondary research methods to create an understanding of a complex problem. I created multiple concepts, which I validated, altered, and critically evaluated to create the best fitting solution for the problem I'm trying to solve. Throughout this process, I've strengthened my research skills, I've learned tons about behavior and addiction, I made lots of different prototypes and I've been able to present and defend my design choices.