Way-finding: Evaluation

Personal Involvement

My personal involvement within the process of ideation and putting the pitch together started with the beginning, brainstorming initial ideas and selecting the idea to move forward with. The next step was research, my role in this was to carry out surveys, which looked at people’s creativity, the existing way finding system and representations of their courses. This was an important part of the design journey as it made our team aware of the issues that existed with the current system and interior of the university, and what would make people thrive creatively in their environment.

 I also oversaw the design process, making sure that the designs and ideas related to our findings from the surveys. The next step where I played a large part was the production of the pitch itself, putting together the presentation. Making sure that it showed our journey and ideas in a simple yet engaging way. I also presented the pitch itself alongside another member of the group, making sure we got out ideas across and that people understood them. It was also important to make sure it showed the journey of our process. Overall my role was mainly in in research, overseeing ideas, art direction and culminating the pitch and presentation itself. 

What I took from the Exercise

From carrying out the brief and this project, firstly was teamwork and working in a creative team, sharing ideas, compromising and allocating different jobs. It was also interesting to take on such an open and large brief, which impacted us and our fellow peers and students. It was exciting to have no boundaries, however this did make it hard as there was infinite possibilities and it was difficult to hone in on the most important aspects. 

Pitching and presenting wise, it definitely was an experience to reflect on as it was the first chance we had been given to pitch. It was great to have an opportunity to have an insight into what being a part of a studio and creative team and also see what it could be like to pitch to real clients and companies. It definitely increased my confidence with presenting to large numbers of people and I feel every time I do it, I get better and it gets easier. 

Overall it was a great exercise to learn from, as it was our first time and I’m excited to practice and get more confident at sharing and pitching ideas, whilst also  being better at thinking bigger with no limitations. 

How we worked as a team

We worked well as a team, I felt as though we all had different interests in the brief which made it easy to allocate roles. We got on really well as a team and also as friends which always helps. We were able to bring together different ideas and also make compromises taking the best of everyone ideas. 

We were also all able to work from a distance using google drive, which worked well. It meant we were all able to work on the pitch together, everyone putting in their work, time and effort. We all had different strengths and this was shown through the different stages of the brief and what we all brought to the table.

In terms of presenting as a team, two of us who were the most confident chose to present, which again worked well and showed how we all used our strengths to come together. 

Was it successful and professional 

In terms of success, I feel as a team and as a design pitch as a whole, the idea wasn’t as innovative or out there as it could have been. We should have taken more consideration into technology and the future and the lasting effect of the interior and way finding. Looking at more positive aspects of the design, was how we focused on the history of the university as this was an aspect which management liked and already existed and therefore could be developed. 

Ways in which it was successful as the pitch itself, as we feel we got the idea across, showed the journey and got people on board with our ideas. Also the pitch was presented professionally and as a group were able to answer questions about our design idea. The design of our presentation itself was professional in terms of the layout, typefaces, images used and the continuity of pitch. 

The way in which we worked as a creative team was also professional, having regular meetings whilst also evaluating and sharing ideas. To improve, our ideas need to be developed and expanded on, looking at how they could be joined together with technology and consider the longevity of the ideas. 

Overall the pitch and presentation itself was professional and successful in sharing our ideas, however the success of the design idea itself didn’t reach it’s potential and I feel with more time we could have developed it further.