RMB (Team 12)
Author: Roy Yan Zibo – zyan4194
Team Members: Bening Wardani – bwar5236 / Minyi Tsai – mtsa6146
We have implemented an iterative design process throughout the project. Rigorous testing along with the feedbacks and suggestions that we have received have been utilised to improve on our design. Our progress is as follows:
Throughout the project, our group faced four key challenges that made us reflect on the aesthetic and technical aspects of our installation.
The first issue that we faced was that the initial idea with recycled materials was proven to be difficult. We had to experiment with three different materials to be able to create an aesthetically-pleasing artefact. Our group then decided to use paddle sticks and wood offcuts as they allow us to create various objects in different shapes and also strong enough to create a robust foundation for the installation.
Our group also had the difficulty of trying to relate our installation back to the site (skatepark). Our first idea, which is the beautiful and interactive flower sculptures have no significance to the site. We took the suggestions from the tutors and did more research before we finally decided to transform our garden into a Whimsical Miniature Garden. Due to these changes, we had to change the location of our installation to the small, empty, flat ground located at the south-west side of the Secret Garden.
The third issue that we had was failing to calculate the power needed and current of our circuit. None of the members in our team had a strong background in Physics or Electrical Engineering, so we tried to read various articles on Ohm’s Law to understand the difference and relations between voltage, power, and current. You can read the full blog post about the issue here: https://idea9202studio2018.wordpress.com/2018/10/24/week-12-progress-challenges-team-rmb/
The last big hurdle that we had to brace was receiving the critiques from our fellow classmates and tutors about our installation during the dry run that we had 2 weeks ago. The results from our peer testing session indicated that the interactivity elements of our design can be improved. The tutors also suggested that we could create more complex interactions that correspond to the spatial design of our installation. Our group got together to re-think a new set of playful interactions that we can build within the span of 5 days. It was definitely a major breakthrough / improvement to our design and you can read the full blog post about it here: https://idea9202studio2018.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/week-13-improving-interactivity-elements-team-rmb/
Reflection
All team members of Team RMB learned a lot this semester. Besides Bening who just learned that RMB means Renminbi (she thought it stands for Roy, Minyi, Bening all this while), our group have developed a stronger design, writing, and coding skills. Applying an iterative design process really taught us the importance of continuous testing and user insights. In terms of our soft skills, the interviews and presentations that we did throughout the semester also increases our confidence in public speaking. We received a lot of suggestions from our peers and tutors throughout the semester and we are looking forward to applying those feedbacks in our future projects (eg. using switch cases in our code).
Playful Cities 