Process and Stages: I think my group was quite organized in splitting up the work. Since I was assigned the more writing and photography part, I essentially had researched. I researched websites online and wrote down my notes from which I formed the text for the book spreads. I also made a google drive folder of all the photos I took myself of Union Square Park to share them with my group.
Assignment and Purpose: The purpose of our book was to give people a fun and interactive way to read, learn and color with a book while gaining more knowledge and perspective about the park itself. We wanted it to be informative but still intriguing.
Contribution and Learnings: My contribution to the book was to provide writing and photography. We all decided to work on our strengths and since writing was my forte and I like taking photos, I was the writer and photographer. The spreads I was assigned were Recreation and Current Events and later culture. I learned from my group members to compromise and adjust and to be respectful and flexible with each other’s schedules.
Intended user: Since, this was a more informational book, since we had a lot of research and informative content, this book is intended for the general public of all ages. We also had a dedication in the back cover of our book to the locals and foreigners. By experiencing the photography, illustrations and writing in our book and coloring in it, they are contributing their perspective and vision of Union Square Park.
Connection to Multiple Perspectives: Dedicating the book to locals and foreigners shows how multiple perspectives may be implemented because when they color in the book, they are expressing their vision and ideas of Union Square Park. Additionally, researching different aspects of the park, such as the history, recreation, and culture broadened our personal perspectives of the park having read different articles and writings from different authors, points of views and perspectives. In Seminar, we had an assignment to take photos of strangers at an assigned location. This called for interaction with the strangers, from which we gained a little perception of how that stranger might be: their attitude, temperament, and life. From this, we had to derive writing from their perspective. There is a connection here to the coloring book. The coloring book also caters to an audience which is strangers and therefore forces us to think of a stranger’s perspective. In both assignments, I learned about giving consideration to other perspectives and ideas/thoughts that may be new to me.
Gain from Crits: Most of all, I learned to be open-minded. There are always so many ideas people have for a group project and I learned about how important it was to truly have everyone’s voice heard. In doing so, not only do I gain more perspective, but it also makes for a great compilation for our collective project. We were also very open to suggestions. I loved that Laura recommended that we try to make it into more of a magazine and I love that idea. We could use pro-color paper and saddle-stitch the book to give it more of that magazine feel.
Learning Outcomes: In addition to being open-minded and open to suggestions, I also learned about compromise in working in a group. There was a point when one of my group members was unable to complete her designated part and so one of my other group mates and I had to split her part and take more on our plates, however, this was worth it because of the great end result. I personally, was really happy with how the book turned out. I also learned a lot about perspectives and being open and accepting and simply nice.
