katieandpenny

[katieandpenny]

Primary Research

[katieandpenny]

Interview 3 - friend

1. Tell me about the last time you moved house? Where did you move to and why? The last time I moved was from my flat back into home. I had to move back home to be able to save money to go on an overseas exchange.

2. Did you do any planning or preparing before the move, if so what did you do? The only preparing I did was a week before I was due to move I started to pack things in order and get rid of things I no longer needed. Because I was moving home I could also start taking stuff home which took some stress off the move.

3. Were you on a budget for this and if so was it big or small?  for example, did you hire movers or get friends and family to help you?

I did not hire any movers so there was no budget I got family and friends to help me.

4. What would you say was the most stressful part and why? Time management and moving large pieces of furniture up and down 3 flights of stairs. I left a lot of moving of big furniture to the last day which made it very tiring and frustrating!

5. When did you feel settled in the new house and what in particular made you feel this way? Because I was moving home i felt pretty settled straight away but did feel like I lost all my independence which was hard to adjust to.  

6. What would you say was the best part about moving – if any?

Saved a lot of money!!

7. Is there anything specific you do to help with stress? Tried to be as organised as possible and stay as calm as possible. Not get frustrated at the people helping me!

8. Describe one part about the moving process that you would have liked help with to make the whole process easier? For example, the organizing the help on the day, the packing, the getting settled after the move? Please be specific.

Would have been good to connect with people that had larger cars or trailers so I could move more stuff at once but not have to pay a rental company a fortune.

[katieandpenny]

Interview 2 - Sister

1.     Tell me about the last time you moved house? Where did you move to and why?

I moved house (from my parents to a rental with my boyfriend) at the start of this year because we wanted to live together, ideally in our own place. We moved to Hutt Central. As it was a great fit for us in terms of the house size, the location (close to work/transport and also our families).

 2.     Did you do any planning or preparing before the move, if so what did you do?

Not a whole lot, we checked utility providers ie. gas, electric, internet & so on, we did a budget and we bought some of the essentials (things like appliances, crockery).

 3.     Were you on a budget for this and if so was it big or small?  for example, did you hire movers or get friends and family to help you?

To an extent, we’d budgeted the rent we could afford but that’s kind of it, in respect of getting things we needed for the house we just tried to get the cheapest available, making use of classified listing auction sites like trademe or boxing day sales. We also got help from our families for things like moving personal items and the bed etc, it was very low cost on that front.

 4.     What would you say the most stressful part was and why?

Hmmm… Probably choosing which utility providers to go with as we had nothing to base our usage off so it was difficult to budget accordingly.

 5.     When did you feel settled in the new house and what in particular made you feel this way?

When the majority of the stuff was unpacked and put away. It made it feel more final and homely surrounded by our personal items and items we could actually live with!

 6.     What would you say was the best part about moving – if any?

It was really exciting, felt really grown up and I got to have a Friday off work to do it – three day weekend haha!

 7.     Is there anything specific you do to help with stress?

Nothing at all really, I’ve never actually implemented any stress relief techniques into my life, might have to consider doing it at some point!

 8.     Describe one part about the moving process that you would have liked help with to make the whole process easier? For example, the organizing the help on the day, the packing, the getting settled after the move? Please be specific.

Would have been cool if there was a guide or package or something set up for first time renters that incorporated a checklist of sorts and provided good suggestions for utility providers (dependent on how many people were living at the house) and so on. Even if it included a budget spreadsheet where you could fill in your own details, I dunno something like that would be pretty handy for a lot of people. Other then that, nothing really – we had it pretty easy! J

[katieandpenny]

Interview 1

Situation/context: My mum (50 year old female)

1.Tell me about the last time you moved house? Where did you move to and why

We moved to England because Dad got a job there.

  2.  Did you do any planning or preparing before the move, if so what did you do?

Yes we did a huge amount.  In order to rent our house out while we were away we needed to finish an extension to the kitchen, create 2 new ensuites, build 4 new wardrobes, paint 2 rooms, install a dishwasher and put down a new lawn,  We had 2 sets of builders, three painters, 1 plumber and electrician and some odd job men. There were usually about 11 workman all there at any one time. All this was going on at the same time as the packers came in to pack the gear I had had to label as store, ship and get rid of.  We also had to get all the kids passports done and liase with the people in England about schools and possibilities of places and homes to live in.  The mayhem was also added to with having a property manager coming in to bring prospective clients who may want to rent as well as trying to manage all the children getting to school and kindy each day.  Most of this went on while Dad was in England still working and preparing for our arrival.  It was a hilariously mad few months.

  3.  Were you on a budget for this and if so was it big or small?  for example, did you hire movers or get friends and family to help you?

Because it was an international move brought about by the BNZ transferring our family and we were on an Ex Pat arrangement everything was paid for so our budget was pretty generous.  We did hire movers.  That was a big process as well because we had to get quotes from 3 different movers and trying to get them to all quote on a house that was being renovated with furniture and things all over the place was no mean feat!!

  4.  What would you say was the most stressful part and why?

The most stressful part was juggling all the different workman and packers and property manager and kids all at the same time because with so many different things going on and so many people around and often needing guidance and advice it was very full on. It was also a lot of fun at times too. I also planned 2 farewell parties and school and Kindy farewells at the same time so that just added to the many things to think about.

  5.  When did you feel settled in the new house and what in particular made you feel this way?

I fell in love with our new house immediately.  It was the house I had dreamed of when I imagined settling in England.  We couldn’t have been luckier!  I had always imagined having a garden with a hedge with walk through arches and we had two of them!

  6.  What would you say was the best part about moving – if any?

The best part of moving was the fact that we were going to live in the only other country in the world I wanted to live and we got to live in an idylicc country farm house in a beautiful village in a beautiful town.  We were so utterly blessed!!

  7.  Is there anything specific you do to help with stress?

I don’t often get stressed but when I do I don’t generally get too wound up but really just try to go with the flow!  I probably just talk about it to anyone who will listen!!

  8.  Describe one part about the moving process that you would have liked help with to make the whole process easier? For example, the organizing the help on the day, the packing, the getting settled after the move? Please be specific.

 Probably just having a little more time so that I felt everything was finished to my satisfaction before we left!  We had to leave my Mum and Dad to finish off some of the decorating but they did a splendid job!

[katieandpenny]

Some General User Profiles and Their Needs:

These have been put together based on our interviews with different demographics and the insights we gained from these.

[katieandpenny]

Week 2.2

News Headline

For our news headline, we wanted an eye catching title that we came up with from an article we found which was about a survey in the UK where people rated their life events from the most stressful. They found out that moving house was more stressful than divorce, having a child and changing jobs. We don’t think that enough people know how stressful moving can be unless they have been through it themselves, but students usually haven’t done so before especially by themselves. We thought this survey was great to use to show people that is is actually a really stressful life event.

[katieandpenny]

Week 2.2

Interviewing friends 

How was the moving preparation?

Setting a date was a big deal and letting work know. That had to be done way ahead of time- like over 6 months so they can prepare projects etc that might be affected. Money was the biggest barrier to overcome though. I knew I needed a couple grand or more to cover bond and the move and buying all this furniture I would no longer have. That wasn't too stressful though until it got closer to the date but the most stressful part before hand anyway was finding a place. Finding a location wasn't that easy when there was only sam to look and auckland is massive and traffic exists so we couldn't live just anywhere. Plus it couldn't have too much double rent plus you have to think about security/ water (which costs money up here), parking and rent prices.There are so many factors that come into play

What about during the move?

a piece of cake. Packing wasn't that hard its nice getting rid of heaps of your shit like spring cleaning of sorts selling my own furniture luckily wasn't too hard as the new tenant wanted it. The drive up was fun as

What about after? Settling?

That didn't take long in the new office it was pretty easy but I already new everyone up here from work which is lucky again. The city is massive so settling into that i guess will take a while but that isn't daunting but more fun! Settling into the flat takes a while longer in terms of building up furniture and moving in with a partner again but its fun making a space for the two of you.

Positives and Negatives?

Negatives- finding 'the perfect flat' especially the whole 'if we say yes to this one what if a better one pops up next week'

Stand out positive: Great life experience i think to move around have a go in a new city

From this we got the vibes that beforehand was more stressful than the actual moving day. There are heaps of articles online about how to move and organise yourself on the actual day, but there isn’t many articles on starting the move. 

[katieandpenny]

https://www.german-way.com/travel-and-tourism/germany-for-tourists/city-guides-germany/berlin-and-potsdam/the-reichstag-in-berlin/ 

Example of a design response to a social or civic issue. The Reichstag parliament building of Germany was an example used in experience design and it was a really good one. They’ve basically literally incorporated the idea of transparency in the building so the public can see into the chamber and walk above them which is also challenging the hierarchy and system previously used. Very interesting piece of architecture and design that responds well to a social /civil problem given Germany’s past.  

[katieandpenny]

Week 2.1 Random insights:

People are stressed by the uncertainty of the future 

People don’t actually use stress relief techniques and instead just go through it.

The pre-move is stressful as you get overwhelmed with all the individual aspects / small tasks that need to be done - solution: would a timeline info graphic help here to organise all of these?

What about Pets! How would a move effect them?

What if your on a low budget to move so cant afford a moving company but don’t know anyone who you can ask for help?

There’s a scale for moving - on the one side would be say moving flats or even rooms and the other extreme would be relocating to a new country.

Its the small things like what to do with the memorabilia? Its precious to you but ts kind of useless and takes up space at the same time.

Katie & Penny 

* We can keep adding to this as we find more insights*

[katieandpenny]

 Week 2.1 : Our In class Journey Map:

Katie & Penny

[katieandpenny]

Week 1.2 Brainstorms:

We found that the common theme between all our topics/readings was the stress factor so with another group we then broke this down and tried to identify all the different aspects of our topic in relation to stress. An interesting outcome of this was the idea that while some pressure is good in terms of making you do something too much pressure leads to stress which is impacts people negatively. Another interesting find was that the main reason for stress during a move is the idea of “Change” and the fear of the unknown.  

[katieandpenny]

Week 1.2

Another aspect we were interested in looking into was moving with children. We discussed this a bit in our group on Friday, how New Zealand families are moving much more often these days, probably due to renting and moving for work. This has a huge impact on the children especially the more often they are relocated. I discovered that moving can be more stressful than divorce for the parents and the children.

The report ‘Moving House in the first 1000 days of life’ is an interesting report I found, it describes how often and how far New Zealand children are moving at the start of their lives. It also identifies some of the features of the families who are moving, and the types of houses that they are living in. This report began in 2013 and releases a yearly report on it’s findings on how the children are growing up. (In the latest report the children are now four and the study will end when they are eight)

One report from Growing Up in New Zealand found that between birth and two years of age, just under half of the children had moved at least once, and over a third had moved twice or more. A small number of children had moved house up to eight times before they turned two.

The results in brief

Moving house is a frequent event in the lives of New Zealand families. The level of residential mobility described in the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort is greater than that demonstrated in other comparable cohorts such as that of the Millennium Cohort in the UK.

Between birth and two years of age, 45.3% of children had moved at least once, and 38% had moved twice or more.

The average number of moves between pregnancy and two years of age was 1.4, and the maximum number was 8 (the situation for less than 10 children).

Of those children who remained in New Zealand and moved house once only between pregnancy and nine months of age, the average distance moved was 28 km (standard deviation of 95 km), and the median distance moved was 4.7 km.

Just over half of children moved less than 5 km from their previous home.

http://www.growingup.co.nz/en/news-and-events/news/news-2014/growing-up-in-new-zealand-launches-residential-mobility-1-report.html

https://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/growingup/research-findings-impact/GUiNZ_Now%20we%20are%20four%20report.pdf

https://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/growingup/research-findings-impact/report05.pdf

Relocation a prime cause of stress

The chief executive of the Great Potential Foundation, Dame Lesley Max, said moving house could be extremely stressful, and children needed stability and familiarity in their lives.

"Social scientists assess life events which cause stress - relocation is one of the prime ones, and for that stress to be experienced not once, or twice but maybe three, four, five, six times in a child's life is very damaging because it's stress on the whole family."

Karen Billings, operations manager for Bernardos children and family services for the lower North island, said high mobility could leave children vulnerable.

"The move can really impact on the social connections of the family, and things like their access and their knowledge of health services or registering with a GP, so children can be made more vulerable when they lose that visability."

Dr Atatoa Carr said the next step of the study would look into why families are moving and the impact it has on them.

It said families moving from house to house over a short period of time make it harder for service providers such as nurses and other healthcare professionals to keep an accurate record of where young children live.

As a result, some children were not receiving the help and support they needed to grow into healthy children.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/261316/children-shifting-house-a-lot-says-report

- Penny

[katieandpenny]

week 1.2

One of the aspects we were looking at was the people not just moving house but moving from one country into New Zealand which would be even more stressful. These are some statistics on people moving from other countries, how and why they came to New Zealand.

http://www.stats.govt.nz/

Which countries are people moving from?

“People moving to New Zealand include those arriving for the first time, and people born in New Zealand or elsewhere who are returning to this country.

An estimated 41,300 New Zealanders returned to live in New Zealand in the two years ended March 2007 quarter. This number represented 35 percent of all movers from overseas (119,600) during that period. Nearly 40 percent of these returning New Zealanders had previously lived in Australia, while nearly a third had been living in the UK.

Of people born overseas (78,300 or 65 percent of all movers from overseas), the most frequent source was Asian countries (29 percent), followed by the UK (27 percent). Other countries comprised 17 percent, of which South Africa was the main source.”

What age are people moving to New Zealand?

“Movers within New Zealand and from overseas had a young age structure, while people who had not moved between the March 2005 and 2007 quarters had a slightly older age structure than the resident population. Movers from overseas had a slightly younger age structure than movers within New Zealand, reflecting the high proportion of Asian ethnicities coming to study in New Zealand secondary schools and tertiary education providers.”

“The contrast between the younger age groups and the older age groups was reflected in the pivotal point at ages 40–44 years. People over 45 years were more likely to have reached a more settled stage in their lives: they may have school-aged children, have achieved a satisfactory level of work opportunities or work outcomes, and have already established homes. The younger age groups were more likely to be in the process of developing these experiences, skills, and assets prior to putting down roots.

People under 40 years of age who moved to New Zealand from overseas tended to be older than movers within New Zealand, reflecting international migration trends. A much smaller proportion of international arrivals were in the older age groups.

There were only slight differences in the age group distribution between returning New Zealanders and overseas-born. Most of returning New Zealanders were aged from 20–39 years (68 percent of those returning). This compared with 64 percent of the overseas-born moving to New Zealand aged from 20–39 years.”

What are their occupation?

“About half of overseas-born were employed at the time of their move to New Zealand in the two years ended March 2007 quarter. This proportion compared with 60 percent of returning New Zealanders. The occupations recorded for the overseas-born reflected the skills that were attracted through the immigration policies at the time. Interestingly, the distribution of occupations for returning New Zealanders and for the overseas-born were very similar, with a third of occupations in the professionals category (included in the legislators/administrators/professionals group which accounted for nearly half of those employed moving to New Zealand).

A larger proportion of overseas-born were not employed and not seeking paid work (41 percent). This group included overseas students (who generally cannot work as part of their visa requirements), and partners not seeking paid work.”

Why are people moving to New Zealand?

“Returning New Zealanders and the overseas-born were about equally likely to cite social reasons for moving to New Zealand (one-third of all reasons provided). Social reasons were most common among the overseas-born, while a large proportion of returning New Zealanders (41 percent) stated they were returning from work or travel overseas. Among the overseas-born, education and employment reasons were also important, followed by (but to a lesser extent) environment.”

“Although social reasons dominated among all age groups, education-related factors were most important for the 40- to 49-year-olds born overseas who moved to New Zealand between the March 2005 and 2007 quarters. People in this age group may already have gained considerable work experience and may want to seek new opportunities and advancements in career development, and better education opportunities for their children. Environment-related factors were also important for those in the 30–39 and 40–49 age groups.”

How did they rate the move to New Zealand?

As one might expect, given existing social networks are disrupted by migration, social life had the highest ratings of being worse or much worse (nearly 40 percent). Housing also had a less favourable rating with about 30 percent saying it was worse or much worse in their current situation.

Ratings of employment, outdoor environment and overall were similar for both returning New Zealanders and the overseas-born. Employment opportunity and standard of living had slightly better ratings among the overseas-born. Housing was rated more favourably among returning New Zealanders, but previous experience or expectations of these conditions would affect their ratings. Also, knowledge and networks could enable returning New Zealanders to secure better housing which landlords might be reluctant to let to new immigrants.

Both outdoor environment and overall ratings were very favourable for both population groups; 80 percent rated their experience of migration or return migration to New Zealand as having better or much better outcomes.

http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/Migration/internal-migration/moving-to-nz-reasons-and-patterns-of-settlement/how-did-migrants-rate-their-move-to-nz.aspx

- Penny

[katieandpenny]

Week 1.1

For the first class we were introduced to the subject of ‘Wellbeing’ after the introduction in the Pit, we went upstairs for studio time. Here we got into groups and were given 3 different readings, stress from driving, stress in the city, and stress from moving. Our group was given stress from driving. We spent time discussing the reading and why we think we get stressed out from driving ourselves and what we can do to avoid it. From here we took this information and split up into different groups with different readings to hear about what they discussed. 

For independant study we had to pick one of the readings which interested us the most and do some more research on it. I chose to carry on with the driving idea but also decided to look into the stress while moving. I found that there are heaps of blogs and articles on moving and how to make it less stressful, there are heaps of tips and information about how to make it easier, there was also check lists and moving videos which could be very helpful.

- Penny

[katieandpenny]

Week 1.2 Independent Study:

Using techniques I learned in Experience Design, I decided to Journey Map my hunch about the moving process. I then conducted an interview / chat with a friend who had moved a lot to try and gain insight and validate my hunches about the stresses / feelings involved in a move. 

Interestingly, after having a chat, one of my hunches about the packing process was contradicting as I imagined the packing process would be hard to do to part from items and have to throw away /give away a lot of possessions and that this would be more of a pain point in the journey. However, from my chat this part of the packing process was the only pleasure point as they found it really satisfying to “de-clutter”. This just shows that it really depends on the person.

Penny and I have decided we will need to conduct more chats / interviews with a wider range of people to gain a general understanding of how people view moves and to find the commonalities between them. 

[katieandpenny]

Week 1.1 independent study

For independent study I looked into some stats around people moving within new zealand and also read alot of blogs about peoples experiences when moving to New Zealand from overseas. Below is some of my findings / some tips for how moving can be seen as a positive. 

https://e2nz.org/

Migrant arrivals to New Zealand are at a record high of 129,500 a year.

Those 129,500 people arrived with the intention of staying for at least 12 months, Statistics New Zealand says.  

Have you recently migrated to New Zealand?

We want to know why you decided to move here. Was it for opportunity? Employment? Safety? Adventure, perhaps?

Did you find Kiwis to be welcoming, or did you experience a bit of culture shock?

https://nzready.immigration.govt.nz/

http://www.cab.org.nz/vat/gl/ci/Pages/Immigration.aspx

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/89854233/net-migration-hits-71000-as-kiwis-turn-their-back-on-living-overseas

1. Moving abroad takes you out of your comfort zone

The moment you arrive at your destination your new life starts. Your new life in a place you have never been to before, with a culture that is often completely different to your own. Everything here is new to you. From the streets you walk on to the food they eat here… You get to experience everything for the first time… it sounds like an exciting new adventure! But, unlike the tourists you’ll probably see around you, you are charged with errands and chores now and unlike the locals you have no idea how to accomplish anything on your to-do list. You’ll have to figure it all out, over time. And although at times it will feel overwhelming and you will feel hopelessly lost, after a few weeks you’ll look back and be amazed at how much you have achieved, how much of a life you have already created for yourself. Starting over has taken you out of your comfort zone and challenged you to make the most of it and, without realizing it, has shown you what you are capable of doing.

2. Starting over is great for your social skills

You just moved abroad alone, you’ll now have to meet people to make your stay enjoyable. I’ll be the first to admit that that was, at least for the first few times I started over, the thing that worried me most: how will I meet people? But trust me on this, it’s much easier than you think! Locals in general are quite curious about ‘the new kid in town’ and expats have all been in your situation and are therefore normally very willing to help you get settled. And yes, you probably will feel lonely at some point. When the new wears off or when it takes you a bit longer than you hoped to make new friends… but that’s all part of the experience and will make you a stronger, more independent person in the end.

  3. Moving abroad teaches you to question the status quo

There is almost nothing you’ve learned that is incontestable — everything from table manners to hygiene is culturally relative. Every culture has it’s clear distinctions on what is acceptable and what’s not. However, to the outsider coming in, who brings with him a set of different, but still clearly marked, cultural “dos and don’ts”, it can cause quite the clash of viewpoints. From getting used to eating with my hands in India to trying to understand and respect why many men in the Maldives want their wives and daughters to wear a headscarf… Living surrounded by so many different cultures and making friends in all those countries has truly broadened my horizon and has made me question my beliefs.

Living abroad gives you the opportunity to look at life through someone else’s eyes and that is priceless.

4. You’ll learn material possessions do not equal happiness

You don’t have to move abroad to realize this of course but there is something about moving abroad with one suitcase and starting a new life that really proves it’s not about what you own in life but what you do with your life. I cherish pictures and little gifts from friends but I’ve learnt that owning an expensive TV or an fancy coat won’t make me as happy as experiencing a new country, tasting its food and talking to its people. The unique experiences you’ll have while living abroad will stay with you forever and enrich your life.

5. Anything seems possible

Starting over shows you what you are really capable of doing. It shows you how strong you are and how you can overcome pretty much anything. You are free now. Free to start over again, free to stay or free to go home with an amazing story to tell.

6. Moving abroad truly changes you

You have experienced a new culture, a new way of life and you have built a life for yourself. Believe me, it won’t be a perfect life, as no life is, and as any other life it will have had its ups and downs but you did it and you’ll notice that you have changed, grown, experienced so many new things and learnt quite a bit about yourself along the way.