Reflective Essay

Introduction to Social Digital has been an immensely challenging yet enjoyable module, containing a great deal of prototyping, research and idea generation and development. After completing the projects, I can reflect upon my own work and observe my achievements and failures alongside the research that affected my choices for each project.

A great influence over the final project was Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s installations, which focus on the correspondence between visuals and sound. More specifically, his work titled ‘From Here to Ear’ which incorporated electric guitars into a Zebra Finch aviary, which were subsequently played by the birds landing and interacting with them. This interaction between something so man-made and manufactured and the natural behaviour of the finches captivated me and I knew even before my change of idea I wanted to do something inspired by this.

I also found that I was influenced by the classic instrument designers such as Antonio Stradivari who created some of the most incredibly precise and beautiful sounding stringed instruments in the world, despite the technology of the time. It was the science and understanding of how the vibrations created by the instruments influenced some of the decisions I made, referencing classic violin craftsmanship to help my own design produce the best possible sound.

By looking at designers past and present, I was able to design something that looks and feels very polished and successful. On the other hand, I was presented with many problems throughout the module which only served to slow things down and ultimately, affect the final outcome.

One of my main challenges throughout the module was the change of concept for my final product prototype. I realised that by changing ideas at such a late stage in the game, I was risking the cohesiveness of my idea and it could fall apart under the even tighter time constraints. I felt like my new concept worked reasonably well however I am still unsatisfied with the work I produced in the end. I had only been able to really model one component of the final experience and hadn’t provided much indication as to the appearance or scale of the remaining parts. This led to the product’s purpose being unclear to anyone other than myself and I found this to be true, as I was having to explain my product to others during the presentation. In the future, I would opt for a much less convoluted idea, knowing how hard it would be to design and pull together into something tangible.

I found the use of sketchbook throughout the module very useful as it allowed me to note down and draw things into a single destination which kept everything together. Unfortunately, despite being warned, I had a tendency to note things down on random pieces of paper when my sketchbook wasn’t present. Although I transposed some of it across, I know that there are scraps of paper out there with quick sketches, notes and model plans which I may not get back. Moving forward, I want to develop a closer relationship with sketchbooks, ensuring I constantly use it for notes, drawings and ideas as well as developing my style and keeping my writing neater for others to read.

The combination of all three Social Digital disciplines for the ‘mood boards’ project was a challenge, having to work very quickly to turn around three sets of ideas relating to different concepts. I found that the pace of the work was a really good stimulant to churn out many initial ideas which could then be quickly refined into a more realised design. I felt I struggled most with the Interaction design board, hitting a brick wall when coming up with ideas and eventually overcoming it after a few days of brainstorming. I now want to research more into this aspect of design as the three disciplines separate and I will receive fewer Digital Interaction briefs.

Despite the negatives, I found the process of manufacturing my final prototype to be incredibly fun and involved a fair amount of problem solving. From the construction of the body to deconstructing a violin, each stage of the process involved planning ad preparation in order to get the pieces to fit together and to not break anything. At the end of the building process, I came away with something I was proud of, despite it still being a prototype.

This module has taught me a great deal and has been one of the most enjoyable ones, despite my difficulties. By incorporating nature connectedness, it has made the module highly relevant in the world today as we tackle issues such as climate change and the disregard for the natural world. I know that from the different challenges faced, many of which my own fault, I can improve my design methods and produce a greater standard of work with a much more cohesive concept.