Proposal Development Week 1
Self and peer assessment activity
Date: 7th May, 2022
Today, my ninth month in London has kicked off. We all know the cliche sentence that would have followed this one but let me still do it- It feels like its only been 9 days. I have, in this span of time discovered the city as a tourist, a student, a designer, an artist, and more only to find myself on the verge of exploring a range of opportunities. I also find myself in the midst of thinking whether or not this will be my final academic project, and the very thought scares me. It is time for the cohort to start thinking about a topic for our masters degree project and a proposal is expected towards the end June. Seems like a long period of time to think about this topic but the fact that I have been exposed to an immense amount of directions in the past few months is making me wonder if this is the last time I will work on an academic project it better be the best one I’ve ever worked on. Honestly, I haven’t found myself in a spot like this one before but to help you walk into my head, I have a a few sentences- I am a multidisciplinary designer, who has been trained and has worked in fields of industrial design for manufacturing and research; user experience and; textile & furniture design along with Sociology. I am now pursuing a masters in Service Design and intend to explore the impact of Design thinking on society using adaptive Service Design methodologies to influence positive change. Having worked on numerous projects I find myself on the verge of taking my knowledge and understanding of the domains to the world outside in a scale that I haven’t yet explored which is- urban spaces and communities.
What sounds like set of comprehensive sentences is a web of thoughts that were noted down in an organised fashion thanks to a Self and Peer Assessment Activity that was conducted recently as part of the process of proposal development at MA Service Design. The activity was conducted in numerous stages where were reflected on our- Passions; fields of Skills and Knowledge, Future plans; Complementary skills in others and; the Possible Networks that we would require to deliver or enhance the impact of our major project.
To what extent did it help?
Other than advising the formulation of a chain of thought around what domains I can explore, this activity helped me to build an understanding what my peers think about my passions, skills and future plans based on our interaction as team mates and classmates over the previous terms of intensive Service Design Research and delivery. The activity was simple but to the point as we all agreed to listed attributes of individuals that they were able to communicate to the rest or add to their list of words what we saw in them. For me the activity was fruitful in terms of knowing how I was able to represent my skills to the teammates I have worked with. The plus one (+1) feature (seen in images attached here) that we used as a tool to vote on skills helped in developing a clear understanding of what I do better among the listed points. This is how my assessment sheets looked at the end of the activity:
Passions: Art; Rugs, Emotions around objects and spaces, Design Justice for representation and policy building.
Skills: Visualising Concepts and Research, Prototyping, Communication, Sketching and Ideation Methodologies.
Future Plans: Urban Planning and landscape architecture through communities, Start a Rug Atelier, Product Development, and if nothing else works- find a rich very very very girl to marry.
Peers: I’m glad the most of the peers I thought have a similar wavelength to mine did mention a +1. Perhaps, helped me understand that I am self aware to a large extent.
Networks: Policy lab Uk/Gov.uk, Local Artists and craft persons, Studios working on delivering positive impact on communities through design, urban planning/architecture studios, etc.
What didn’t work for me?
The fact that I was opened to four extremes in terms of passions has thrown me in the middle of an ocean with four shores to choose and I am most definitely not the best when it comes to being spoilt for choice, specially in a situation like the one I find myself in at this point. The question of whether this is the last academic project is keeping me up at night as I don’t want to disappoint my past or future self.
Hopefully the coming few weeks of intensive reading will help me shape a direction to assume for the major project. Till then
Yashovardhan