Contact

In the last contact session, Lorna gave us a brief introduction about uploading the portfolio to this course host through FileZilla. And then we started the report-back to discuss ideal physical forms and user experience of our project and some burning questions for the preparation of the final exhibition. Also, we checked the description and titles of our team’s projects on the exhibition site. My responses to the report-back session were:

1. A lot of restrictions were lifted 1 June, what are you most looking forward to doing?

The thing I’m looking forward to doing is getting all my assessments done, and then take a break, maybe go to Gold Coast or have a picnic with my friends.

2. One sentence recap of concept.

A tree-shaped device can help young singing-lovers practice the abdominal breathing technique used for singing.

3. If you had a magic wand and could wave it over your project, what would you want it to do? (Be specific here, I know you all want it to be “finished” - what is that ONE thing that you really want it to be able to do?).

If I had magic, I would like this breathing tree could have a more polished appearance, like having a hook in the middle of the tree to hold the microphone and making all the wires disappear.

4. What is your burning question right now? (Doesn’t have to be project related, could be more broadly related to the course, uni, life & the universe).

There are some burning questions for me. First, final touching up my prototype, making the portfolio, and running a test run for the exhibition. getting myself better prepared for the upcoming demonstration for my thesis project and continue writing my thesis.

Workshop

For our last workshop session, Clay, Alison, and Ben gave us a nice wrap-up. We shared our online course experience this semester and some suggestions for possible improvements. They also guided us on how to upload files to the exhibition site. Also, we done the last report-back session, my responses were:

1. What do you still have left to do?

For my project, I have almost finished my prototype, including the ‘tree’, ‘microphone’, and ‘belt’ parts. Things I have to work on are making the portfolio, filming the video for a live demo, and running a test run for the prototype before the final exhibit.

2. How are you feeling about the exhibit next week?

Actually, I’m feeling so excited, because I have finished the demonstration of my thesis project yesterday, and the final exhibit of this project is going to be the last demo of my degree. Also, I have spent a lot of time and effort to get this project done during a difficult time, so I’m very happy to share my work with the audience.

3. Any questions for us?

No. I think all of you guys are very adaptative and helpful. Although we have lost the fun of working together in the workshop this semester, we also got a lot of help online and had a great time with you all throughout the semester. Thank you all very much.

4. What are you most looking forward to post assessment?

Take a breeeeeeeeeak! There are so many things to do this semester, and I haven't had many chances to have a meal with my friends, do some outdoor activities, go shopping, etc., so after the assessment is done, I want to take a break and socialise with others. :)

5. 1 way to improve online teaching?

If it was possible, you might have a try to give a funny skit in each session, hahaha.

Team progress

In this week, our team talked about uploading files to the exhibition site and making the portfolio. Each of us shared the basic layout and design of the portfolio and gave some feedback on each one’s portfolio. Apart from this, Paula, Wally and I made our thumbnails of our projects, so that the potential audience can get the first impression of our projects before they browse the whole portfolio in detail. Also, we have assigned the tasks to each team member for writing the final team report.

Individual process:

In this week, I mainly worked on final touching up my prototype and running a test run for that, and making my portfolio.

To make wires of my prototype look less cluttered, I fixed them behind the ‘tree trunk’ with transparent tape so that no messy lines can be seen directly in front of the ‘tree’. I then tested the prototype's functionality and was happy to see that it was all good (except for the occasionally unstable values from ‘belt’ :(

Also, I drew a logo for my project and applied it in my whole portfolio. It consists of a tree and a microphone, and some lines represent the ‘breathing’ action. There is a long wire to connect the microphone to the bottom of the tree, which means to light up the tree by breathing into the microphone. For my portfolio, I basically divided that into four parts, which are Product, Process, Build, and Coursework. The product page shows the problem space, intended user experience and actual use; the process page demonstrates how the project was evolved through three design iterations in detail; the build page gives information about the physical and technical components of my prototype behind the scene; and finally the coursework page provides links to my previous deliveries in this course.

Agenda for Monday and Tuesday:

1. Filming and editing the final live demo for my project (Monday)
2. Identifying success criteria for demonstrating my prototype on exhibition (Monday)
3. Conveying my prototype to 78-209 for final exhibition (Tuesday)

Reflections:

In terms of preparing for the final exhibition, I think it’s very important to conduct a test run of the project before the exhibition really gets started, since ensuring that each component is working and that the wiring and appearance are as expected is the most basic condition for providing the audience with intended user experience during the exhibition. Also, when preparing for the portfolio, it’s necessary to take the diversity of the audience into account. This is because some users may be interested in the technical parts, while others may be interested in the concepts and how the project is evolving. This means that the portfolio content should be targeted to multiple groups of users.