For this project we worked as individuals but had a 'work based learning group' with which we shared research in the initial stages of the project and participated in the workshops we had with Joanna from Uscreates. As part of the assessment for this project we had to show our group research and how we'd been communicating throughout the project. Some groups decided to go with a blog which they each posted research on but we decided to rather meet face to face as a group to discuss research and how we were each getting on. We also had a Facebook page to interact with each other and had group chats on Skype. All this was then compiled into a pdf so that our research could be easily seen without having to sift through pages and pages. Although I was rather skeptical with 'group research' at first it proved to be really useful.
In the first stage of the project we researched Uscreates, and our audience: their clients, associates, peers, volunteers and interns.
We also researched postcards, their history, usage and how the traditional format of a postcard has been altered in various ways to produce interesting, innovative postcards.
I also did some research into the act of 'keeping in touch' and how both people and businesses do it.
In our sessions with Joanna we did various research and idea generation workshops which were really helpful.
In one workshop, as a group, we thought of 100 ideas which was quite fun but most of what we came up with was quite silly :)
We then focused more on generating our own ideas and developing them.
To get some feedback on our ideas we had an 'angels and devils' workshop where we had to present 3 ideas. Those given devil badges had find weaknesses in prototypes and those with angel badges had to only say positive points. We swapped round a few times so everybody got the chance to share their ideas, be an angel and be a devil. I think the feedback was very useful but the whole day itself was surprisingly exhausting!
During this workshop I came up with the idea of involving a whiteboard section to my postcard or fridge magnet. Uscreates could write a message to the recipient if they wanted and the recipient could use it afterwards on their fridge (and therefore often be reminded of uscreates). I decided to combine the puzzle piece and fridge magnet idea so that a bigger section of whiteboard could be made up on a fridge with each piece of the puzzle (they would each be sent individually and could be used as mini-whiteboards on their own).
The designs of both the magnets and the envelopes they would be sent in were slightly different for each recipient group. There is also a space inside each envelope for a handwritten message.
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