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Thesis: third draft of thesis presentation

For this version, I started the intro with a story about a small company working on solving social issue in India. Afterwards, I tried to explain how there are many companies working on similar social issues around the world. The introduction ended with describing how these companies and designers both want to work for people in needs but they have difficult time connecting with each other.

I got a meaty feedback this week from the classmates, Eric, Michael Yap and his colleagues. Below are the summary of the feedback:

Introduction

Do not need the first slide

The connection between Krishi Star story in the beginning and the describing other companies mission is not clear and disconnected

Describe the problem more clearly (what is the problem? Talk more about how these two group is disconnected)

Ending

Clearly list the benefits for the companies and designers using bullet points

Explaining the solution (the most important)

Focus on creating a clear system map

Remake the diagram with company and designer circles

Focus on describing the relationship

Utilize user journey (tell a story with an example of a company’s and a designer’s experience)

Use the timeline graphic through out the section to give people sense of the where in the process they are in

Think about a model where there is connection between education, designers and social companion

Language

Do not call people “young designer” but either “junior designer” or “new comer”

Language consistency (company, organization, social enterprise)

In my future, there is at least another version of this presentation. At least I am clear about where to go. Continuing to work on my presentation.

#svaixd #thesis

Thesis: the third draft of my thesis presentation (in progress)

This week, I am focusing on the third draft of my thesis presentation. The process of making a simple version of my thesis presentation will help me redesign my homepage and rethink my content.

Presentation outline:

Introduce a company that is working on solving local problem (show my India research)

Explain how this is not problem only to India, but more universal problem

What is the solution to the problem (while explaining the solution, add why the problem is important)

End with future vision and what impact it will have

#svaixd #thesis

Thesis: Prototype

Working prototype: http://hyphenlab.weebly.com/

Visual mock-up prototype: https://www.dropbox.com/s/60jgx2kbnfqixsw/HyphenLab_v1edited.pdf?dl=0

Class feedback: Generally, I still need to work on the content of my prototype, especially the home page. I realized that creating a website that clearly communicates the idea is not an easy task.

Homepage

Missing what project/problem companies can submit

Missing what kind of project/problem can designers get involved in

Need to point out strong value proposition

Point out call to action

Social impact/good component of the project is not clearly displayed

Try to demonstrate how three user group interact - maybe a diagram or case study

The date on the how it work is not relevant when the company and designers are not committed to the idea yet

Other:

Try to write action oriented headline and be consistent with headline

Be consistent with the name - Hyphen Lab? the Hyphenate Program?

How can you see what will happen once the projects and companies has been picked

The sub-pages (companies, designers and mentors landing page) is more clear than the home page

#thesis #svaixd

Learn about Doberman NYC

This week on a very rainy day, we visited Doberman office in New York City for the Leadership Class. For me how Phi described how Doberman works was memorable and below is the brief summary.

Two differentiators:

1. Type of work Doberman do

Digital products

Service Design - understanding bigger picture

Innovation Capability - training other people

2. Internal thought (business model)

Doberman puts people first and inclusiveness is very important and above is a Doberman triangle:

On top: Well being of the people

Right corner: Quality and craft of the work

Left corner: Profibility

#svaixd

Thesis: Announcing the name

HYPHEN LAB

Thesis: help me name my thesis (round02)

I received very helpful inputs and below are the few that I liked. Now I need to choose one today.

Hyphen Lab

Opening Path

Linking Good

Linking Line

Linking Lab

#svaixd #thesis

Thesis: help me name my thesis (round01)

My prototype is due next Monday (yes in 4 days) and I still do not have name for my thesis (which is a problem). I am really struggling with naming.

I decided to reach out for help I sent e-mails to my friends, mentors and colleagues to ask which name resonated the most with them.

Reminder on what my thesis is... My thesis is a 10 weeks program that connects local company tackling local socially conscious problem with young designers who wants to help and help them to work together to deliver a project.

Below is some options I thought of: Connection theme

Hyphen

Hyphenate

Hyphenator

Connectable

Connectable lab

Linkable

Linkable lab

Linking line

Good link

Linking good

Link Good

Local theme

Local Collaboration

Local Projects (I know this is a agency name, but I like something like this)

Making together theme

Make a mark

Bond and make

Doer United

United Doer

Create Together

Doing good and connecting

Good Weaver

Weave

Starting/path

Path for Good

Setting Path

Opening Path

#thesis #svaixd

Thesis: core idea and content

Continuously thinking of explaining my thesis in a concise way as I finish my prototype. Also, sketching out bare minimum skeleton of my thesis presentation.

#thesis #svaixd

Wisdom from Bluprint NYC

For Leadership class, we visited Blueprint and met Munawar, the founder, Matthew, the partner and Jonathan (in the picture left to the right). I loved their point of view, so I wanted to share some.

On applying for a position you do not qualify (by paper):

Write about your projects from the point of view of the type of job you want

If you don’t have projects to show, write concept, opinion displaying your interest

Faking that you have done the work will always fall apart. Prove why you can do the job

On making mistake:

Own the mistake, apologize and work hard for it (show earnest effort)

Learn to ask for help when it is needed

Reach out to your network for a help

On relationship with clients & co-workers:

The business is all about positioning and relationship

Client needs to trust you

Put yourself in other people’s shoes

Learn to create that relationship

Believe that:

You can make this project awesome

You have good eyes for the talent

You have good ideas

You can communicate why your one solution is good.

Don’t let others label/qualify you. (ex. don’t believe when people say you can’t because you are…)

Have “I CAN DO THIS ATTITUDE!”

#svaixd #ilove #myfav #studio #company

My favorite weather data viz lets me know that the Spring is here for good in NYC!

I am really loving the Dark Sky. Not just because it is telling me good news that the Spring is finally here with data, but because...

When it is a rainy day, the hourly view lets me know when the rain will start and stop.

The 24 hours view is visualized in a line graph. Now you can visually imagine how the temperature will change through out the day.

The weekly temperature view uses the bar graph to show you temperature difference for each day and how it will be rest of the week.

This example demonstrate how the traditional graphs can be used to create clear and delightful experience. You don’t always need fancy. ;)

#dataviz #data visualization #myfav #mylove #ilove

Thesis: Edward Tufte on presentation

On Saturday I went to Edward Tufte data visualization workshop (9am - 4pm) and to my surprise, he shared his take on how to present. Some point were inline with what Stephen discussed the day before. Above picture is a page from the book by Edward Tufte named Visual Explanations.

I guess the universe is telling me I should really work on this presentation thing.

Some tips by Edward Tufte on presentation & data visualization:

Content is very very extremely important. Don’t give presentation if there is no rich content

Try to write your presentation like an abstract/summary of scientific article (reference: https://www.plos.org/publications/)

Think beyond traditional presentation (put information next to each other)

Prepare audience for your presentation by having a one pager

Practice, practice, practice

#thesis #svaixd

Thesis: second draft of thesis presentation

(The name of my project is still in progress - need help with naming)

I prepared second draft of my presentation for the workshop with Stephen Nickson. I presented my second draft in front of the class. For the first one, I started the presentation with my experience in not knowing how to use my design for social good, focusing on the point that the young designers want to work on topics they care about but don’t know how.

People thought this was a bit disconnect, so this time I tried to start with the importance of design and then describe the gap.

Feedback on Intro

My classmate, Eric and Stephen thought that my story about UNICEF did not succeed in describing the importance of design but emphasized too much on how outside resource is expansive (from the slide “Mini = $$$”).

Some other issues brought up was:

Need to describe what designing social impact is

Too many design jargons

Think about how I want to use India story because the project is universal

At the end of the session, I was more confused because I am just trying to communicate too many big ideas and I get lost in it myself. I spoke to Stephen after the class and he suggested that I distill all my thoughts into a “problem, approach and solution” format and then add more meat to it.

#svaixd #thesis

Thesis: Schedule

Almost to the finishing line.

Apr 10: Public Speaking Workshop

April 13: Prototype form and function complete. YOU HAVE ONE EXTRA WEEK to work on details.

April 20: Functional Prototype Crit

April 27: Presentation Crit

May 4: Process Books due

May 4-5: Thesis Defense

May 8: Dress rehearsal

May 11: Festival Takeaways due

May 13: Thesis Festival

May 14: Graduation

#thesis #svaixd

Thesis: Reflecting on my presentation skills

Today Stephen Nickson came into SVA IxD thesis class and made me reflect on my own presentation skills.

Above is the video of me giving an Ignite Talk (5 minutes talk given with 20 slides that auto-advances every 15 second) at Eyeo 2014. Put yourself in my place and imagine presenting in front of 500+ people who you look up to. It was the most nerve wrecking experience and I was shaking so badly from the beginning to the end. Afterwards, I was not satisfied with my talk and was scared the watch the video. This is the first time I am sharing the video (maybe I will watch the video after writing this blog).

I am sharing this video now because Class last Friday reminded me of the lessons I learned from this experience.

The first lesson is that practicing is really important. Let me make a confession, I never practiced for my presentation since I was 4th grade. I don’t recommend this because this method has 50/50 statistical success rate. You might be completely fine or you might be completely nervous and shaking. Unfortunately, I was not as lucky at Eyeo 2014 Ignite talk. Only if I practiced, I would have felt more comfortable.

The second lesson is that you need to believe in the content of your presentation. At Eyeo, I gave a talk as a Design Lead of UNICEF Innovation Unit and through the presentation I attempted to get people excited about the work UNICEF do and ask audience to get involved. However, this presentation was something my boss believed in (who was very good at getting people to join him). It was missing my own voice. It felt like I was wearing someone else’s cloth and that made the presentation more hard to deliver.

I hope to take this lesson to my heart and for the thesis presentation I want to tell a story I believe in and practice practice practice.

#svaixd #thesis #presentation #presentationskill #eyeo2014 #ignitetalk