This was actually the first project that I got to work on in the New Media class. Arcadia was my group and I’s brain child. We were all building a park finder app prototype that gave users the ability to locate parks to visit wherever they are. This was my first time using Figma, hearing the phrase “user stories” and my first time learning how to design with a team. We built out some cool ideas; our app had a filter system to find parks with certain amenities, and making an experience on Figma responsive was kind of eye opening for me. We emulated user generated results and reviews to help users navigate the right park in terms of safety, proximity to food and even accessibility accommodations.
I really enjoyed the group I was working with. I had 2 other design students and 1 visual media student. We all carried our weight in a different way. I feel like me and the other design student in my specific cohort carried a lot of the Figma work. The other 2 were especially helpful at generating ideas and they even designed a slick logo; when it came to user testing, they were really fast and helpful at rounding up all of the people that we needed. We were entering the hi-fidelity stage and had divi’d up responsibilities for the final presentation. I show up to class and figure out the other design student in our group had dropped out.
He was expressing over the weeks that the work was becoming really stressful for him. I totally wasn’t holding it against him; we are stepping into something totally new and the program was becoming more rigorous. The learning curve is different for us all; I myself struggled so much the first couple months, not having gone to school since 2018. On top of that working a job to keep myself a float financially was posing a unique challenge. I was and still am working harder than I ever have in my life. It took me a while to get used to this work flow, and I still get thrown off at times (like doing this blog post a week after it was due, thank you for your patience with me btw).
The pivot came in having to take over the parts that were not up in the air with one teammate down. I was pretty sad that we couldn’t finish together, and that the pressure had gotten to a new friend and he had to leave for his own sake. We finished their portions of the rest of their Figma flows and tag teamed the presentation altogether.
I wouldn’t say that in the end the result was different than we had originally intended from the start. We were able to preserve our vision that we all had and executed a great product/presentation. It progressively got better and better as we practiced and learned more about the tools and I’m proud of us. I myself feel like I improved a lot in executing ideas and trusting my own vision. My Figma skills drastically improved over Courtney’s module and set me up for success later in the quarter in Erik’s class.
We handled the unforeseen circumstances really well, honestly. I miss our old friend, I hope they are out there doing well.