When I started MFADT, I was hoping to work on tangible products or solutions. As we started our initial research inquiries for our final projects, I still had that goal in my mind.

When I chose animal adoption as a topic, I had absolutely no idea where I would go with that. I did not start with any output in my mind. This often worried me and made me wonder how I would turn this project into a meaningful or a successful one.

1) Where did you challenge yourself the most as a researcher, classmate, designer this semester?

One of the things I made sure to do during this semester is be open to feedback and flexible enough to be able to guide my project in the direction it was going in. I tried to let the project take its natural turn. I also learnt to be patient and understand how to communicate with my classmates better.

2) What design capacities do you think could still use further attention or development?

I would like to further improve my presentation skills and blog writing. I am a person of few words so I do not tend to say a lot whether it is through blogs or anywhere else. I also would want to set more specific goals for myself moving forward to help me do the work I want to do while still experimenting and learning as I go.

3) What maxims might assist you in future work? Choose two and reflect on a specific moment where you thought about how to consider this and/or where you could improve in the future.

• • “Trust the process” (Hinke) – This was my biggest takeaway through the entire semester at every stage. There were many moments of feeling lost and confused and unsure about how the project was turning out. Before my 7-in-7 prototypes, I had a lot of research but no specific direction to it. It took me a while to reach the refined prototype of an educational game which was a very unexpected outcome for me. At each of these stages, I had to remind myself to trust the process, trust that I was building up to something without being afraid and trust that even if something was unsuccessful, it was still a learning point.
  • “Don’t make assumptions” (don Miguel Ruiz) – I did not estimate how many different perspectives people can bring to the table during feedback sessions. During the feedback rounds for prototypes, I had a lot of assumptions regarding what might work and what might not for my prototypes. Many times I was very surprised by the feedback I received and how they helped me shape my project. Being open to it helped me overcome my assumptions and it is something I would actively try to do in future projects too.