What did you learn?
By diving into. my topic, I learned a lot about skincare, clay, topsoil, and the environmental insights. By going through the entire process from start to finish, I learned about the concepts of system thinking, research and interviewing, metaphors, and choosing the right form. Also, connecting between the 2 topics was quite challenging, and learned how to find a mutual point from system mapping & make it creative but also with a critical stance.
What feedback did you receive? Any reflections on critique itself?
I think the general feedback was that I could do deeper into the topic, and do more research regarding how to make the skincare brand more environmentally friendly. I focused more on how clay can be beneficial, friendly and safe for human skin, but I also touched a little bit on making it non-harmful for our environment, which could definitely be expanded more if I had more time.
What might you do differently in terms of process or content?
I completely changed my project direction in the middle of the process. Because all of my initial research was about erosion and degradation of the topsoil, what causes it, the impacts, challenges and how we can restore it. So my initial approach to the guide was making a documentary book. But until I did my system map and during class we discussed with each other, I gained much more insights and realized there are more creative ways to approach this topic. Then, I did another round of research. Therefore, I think changing the order - system mapping & discussion first and then research & interview would be much more efficient.
What was inspiring? What parts?
Everything in the process was inspiring in its own ways. Research, interviews and system mapping were the inspiring learning process as more insights were gained. Creating the guide was more like presenting what I learned, putting information al-together and making it look beautiful. It's like the process of diverging and then converging.
Revisit the assignment prompts: how did your project relate to the original prompts, in terms of critical lens, audience, tone, etc…
Skin: Topsoil - I made a close connection between the 2. In terms of critical lens, I'm trying to create a loop: using clay (from topsoil) for human skincare, in return, urging humans to protect the earth's skin - topsoil. So when creating this magazine ad of this new skincare brand, I emphasized the brand's definition of "skincare" - not only human skin but also the earth skin, our environment in general. Audience: consumers of skincare products, environmentalists... Tone: casual but persuasive.
How did you balance research and experimentation? Which is easier for you? How can you focus more on the areas that you shy away from
I balanced them equally - probably spent about the same time. Experimentation was slightly easier for me but only because the research area was too broad initially and I felt lost. And due to limited time, there were a lot I could've researched on more but did not & some I spent time researching but was not used in my guide. To avoid this inefficiency, I should focus more on planning better in the initial stage.