I was the last student to enter our group. When I found out I was the in a group of designers I was worried I would have nothing new to offer, and really wanted to hit the ground running in this project. I done this by trying to research, brainstorm, idea generate and push myself to play my role in the group sufficiently. Never settling on my first design or concept, development was key in the project to me. I did find this did take up time, but I was willing to put in extra hours to get results that everyone was happy with. Also being my first large group project, I wanted to be opened to everyone’s ideas, to see, listen and learn from everyone else.

Overall I did enjoy this project, but sometimes I did find it overwhelming at times. Sometimes in the project, I felt overwhelmed thinking of the large-scale of all that had to done. I do feel as a group if we used scrum more we could have planned more, and achieved more progress and reach higher goals daily that would have made our project even more successful. But still, without relying on it solely, we did complete tasks and achieve a working installation. At times there was no clear direction on where to go, it was up to the individual themselves to pick up tasks. I found as I wanted to get the most out of this project I tried my best to work on everything I could, even things I had no prior knowledge to. This was both a hindrance and new learning experience. Simple tasks that could take people minutes would take me hours and be exasperated on trying out new solutions to solve problems in coding or Maya that could be easily fixed in minutes consumed allot of my hours on this project. But nevertheless, I was happy I put myself out there to learn new things. If it was experimenting with webpage layout and trying media flex (although unsuccessful in my time) and spending hours in the Fab lab trying to prepare, fix and get the buildings printed. Also making the buildings and my unsuccessful time trying to create an Audio Board.  Or even laser cutting not working out. The project was very hands-on, and with my main focus being on Maya for the 3-d buildings and printing, the graphic language that could be used in posters, website, sprint demos, documents, and the token. I felt I learned a lot on this project. It was my first real-life project and was very eye-opening to be out in the real world. Getting sponsors, contacting businesses. Everything was real life and I didn’t want to disappoint. My initial learning goal was to brand the business, and I feel like I have done so to the best of my ability. I also tried to do this project with an open mind and try new things to broaden my horizons on the design world and further my skills, even if only learning something at a beginner level. Throughout the project, I tried to research and back up what we were doing as we were doing it, I feel I would have liked to continue this on throughout the project but I had to prioritise my tasks. There was many more things I want to create, work on during the project but I just did not have the time.

Sometimes a few group members didn’t show up or where very late to college it could be very dispiriting especially if I pushed myself the previous night(to the early mornings) doing college work and then still staying in late to continue it. It worried me that we would not get the installation done in time when seeing other groups staying late and seemingly put in a lot of effort. During the project, deadlines were not acknowledged to the last minute and a few sprint demonstrations where left a little later than I thought should have been. I would try the night before to push and get the base of the presentation ready to add in more information from the guys the next day. Fortunately, we worked well under pressure and always got on good in the end. The stress would pay off. The guys might not have been in college as often as other students but were still seemed to keep on track of must-haves and should have of the Moscow chart. I was hoping from our individual coaching when we filled in the forms for peer assessment, this could be talked about and a solution could come up. But we were told to just upload them to the drive and never got the chance to further discuss. My doubts and worries were left at ease in the final two weeks when the installation begins to come together. Thankfully the group put a few late evenings and got the installation completed.

Although saying a few absences and slow beginning progress I could not have got a nicer group of people to work with. There are pros and con to have a chill group. Everyone was so helpful in the process of the project, doing their own parts. But if I ever needed help they all willing to offer.

Kaj always helped me to finalize designs ideas such as the poster, help me with the first 3-d print, translate emails to sponsors and partners and encourage me to finalize designs and stop with my many experiments. While also creating a 3-d Maya climbing rock model that I was unable to do and helping me with Maya by showing me tips and tricks. Kaj took on the task of coding the installation when he is a more design focus student, he was the person of all the guys that would spend the most time in college and had the most dedication to the project consistently.

Cedric helped me launch the website as it was proving difficult to find a host that was affordable. He ended up swapping his own personal website he had for a previous project to our website for the meantime. It did take us the morning to do so. He also showed me how to use the laser cutter. Cedric sourced the paint and was very skilled at the gradients on the towers, also he created the database that was used on the website I coded, he had to teach himself something new and done a great job.

Ibrahim also helped me with laser cutting, as when I tried by myself, I kept doing it wrong and burning the wood. Ibrahim created the logo that inspired my icon design. Together we were the main designers and 3D Maya builders. We would confer with each other on designs and try and keep it coherent throughout the project.

Jan has great social skills, he brought positivity to the group and a unique perspective. When he had the designs finalized he was able to work solely on the building and done a great job. As a group, we have no confrontations and in the end, made a working installation.

The guys always seemed happy with my designs and work , and only asked for small changes. They never reacted negatively to my work, and where always content on what I had done.

Overall I found it to be a successful project, and a big learning curve in my studies. It made me think more about my time management and wanting to improve on planning skills. I am happy I tried my hardest to learn new things throughout the project while also developing my skillset I previously have. To get the opportunity to cocreate a working physical installation over ten weeks and see the development from brainstorm to sketch to materialising is an amazing opportunity. And although the project required an immense amount of work it was rewarding to see it all come together.