mattyunijourneybrief7

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Project Reflection

After the presentation, we sat down in our group in the eating and drinking area at HOME to discuss our final preparations. 

It is time for our group proposal, and we needed to allocate at least a section to each member to split the workload equally. I am tasked with the Design Proposal, which I am confident in tackling. I truly believe in our idea so I will make sure the proposal section best describes our idea.

The Design Proposal

When visiting HOME, we were presented with their vision and how they operate. It was a striking realisation that the staff were given more of an opportunity to make a difference, for example with Carbon Literacy Workshops, which the customers didn’t have access to.

Joseph Beuys famously said “everybody is an artist”, which inspired our group to send the same message within the context of climate change; that the customer can be just as influential in making a difference than the staff at HOME, and to give them the platform to ‘be an artist’ by ensuring a fair balance between the staff and customers.

HOME have taken many actions to combat climate change, such as installing automatic lights in each room to keep the use of energy down, using metal bins instead of plastic, reducing the quantity of print, using glass walls to keep electricity usage down to use sunlight as a light source, repurposing sets used in theatre shows, as well as a multitude of other actions. When we visited HOME for the first time, these actions were not obvious to ourselves or other customers.

As soon as we were informed of these actions, it influenced our own perceptions of HOME. It made us aware of our own actions and made some of us feel a sense of pride for not owning a car and taking public transport to travel. Beforehand, many of us didn’t process what actions we were taking, which made our group refer back to the HOME customers, and how so much more could be done to influence them.

The aim for our project was to influence visitors and audiences at HOME to make more environmentally sustainable choices; in the HOME building, where a customer resides, and online. With this in mind, we knew we needed to carry out two actions; direct and indirect. We needed to communicate the message and influence the audience.

Our first objective was to convince HOME, and in order to achieve this, we made sure our project outcome didn’t overhaul their current behaviour; instead altering it by offering an extra perspective. We feel that in order to convince, it wouldn’t be a good idea to inform the client that their current performance is unsatisfactory and to go back to the drawing board.

To begin our project, after visiting the building, we analysed where customers were going and how the building was used. The current direct communication HOME has with their customers is located on a small wooden tree on the wall next to the toilet, as well as an animation that is shown before cinema screenings to promote sustainability. As a group, we came to the conclusion that the toilet area was not an area where the message should be communicated. Our proposal was to use the entrance area which had a large empty space where we felt customers could be influenced. It was important to our group that customers were instantly aware of the message.

We targeted this area as the place to inform customers of the goals of HOME, as well as an interaction point where the customer can be influenced. We explored the idea of having a physical object such as a tree to visualise the environment, as well as communicating the message with a new screen above the interaction point.

HOME is an arts centre, which prompted us to explore the idea of using sculptures related to climate change created by local artists as a centre piece, which would give artists a platform to showcase their work, as well as influencing customers by communicating the message of HOME.

However, after reflecting on the idea of having a physical object such as a tree as a centre piece, we decided that this idea would prompt a large number of changes to HOME, which contrasted our original plan of a slight change instead of an overhaul. This prompted our group to focus solely on how we could influence the customers.

HOME currently has 3000 members and 250000 non-members of their current HOME membership card, which highlighted a problem that we felt confident in solving. Being part of HOME to us was a vital cog of the machine of promoting sustainability for both the staff and customers. In order to achieve our goal, we needed to reach out to non-members by creating a new more efficient service, which we decided to be a digital app.

The UK average of using a smartphone daily is 3 hours and 23 minutes, so the integration of an app would enable HOME to influence customers at home and online, as well as the building itself. We decided that a points system would encourage users to change behaviours, whilst feeling a sense of belonging to HOME.

Our design proposal was to first of all communicate a simple but effective message: “We are HOME You are HOME”. Combined with the hashtag #OurHOME, the purpose of the message is to tell the customer that they are just as important and influential as the staff in becoming sustainable. We want HOME to be an inclusive family with shared goals. The message will be told through 4 mediums; a HOME card, an app, a visual animation and print/digital advertising.

To enhance the message, we decided to split the two sections: ‘We are HOME’ and ‘You are HOME’, to differentiate and to visualise the joint forces of customers and staff. We proposed to include an environmentally friendly colour for the ‘You are HOME’ section, as well as their current burnt orange colour for the ‘We are HOME’ section to avoid confusion and keep within their current branding guidelines; again, referring back to our plan of offering a slight change and not an overhaul.

The purpose of the HOME card is to promote the app as well as HOME’s sustainability. The card will visualise the campaign perfectly; it is double-sided, combining the two sides ‘We are HOME’ and ‘You are HOME’. To match the card, the poster is a two-tone colour design with both colours of the campaign, with a visual of a tree placed in the centre to represent the family unit of HOME. The two parts to our slogan share two halves of the space, in order to represent an equal balance; contrasting together to create one poster that sends a clear message to the audience.

To relate the printed material to the digital app, we proposed to include a QR code on both the card and poster, with a purpose of linking the user to the app on their smartphone. The app is there to replace the current membership card HOME offers, and to provide the customer a sense of belonging at HOME. However, it was important for us not to differentiate the app from the website, so we included the main features from the website to provide a similar experience with the aim of keeping familiarity.

When the app begins, the message is displayed clearly as a splash screen, leading the user to a login screen. Once logged in, the user is presented with a membership page with a personal QR code and a points system embedded. The points system prompts the user to change their behaviours outside of HOME, as well as inside the building. It was important to make sure the user interface visually matched a physical card layout, to ensure minimal confusion.

We included the Events and News pages from the website to give the user another way of booking tickets and staying up to date with the news related to HOME. The final section on the app is a sustainability section which teaches the user about the climate impact of HOME and what actions they are taking, as well as providing the user an opportunity of pledging to take action themselves, with points rewards to give the user initiative to keep interacting, thus enabling them to use the building more with the rewards they gain throughout their sustainability journey.

The animation was the final piece to our jigsaw which was crucial in terms of getting the message across to the audience. First of all, we evaluated where the most effective place was to place it.

It is essential to our group that the message is told instantaneously, which prompted us to choose the box office area in the entrance. The box office is a place where many customers go to buy tickets before going their separate ways within the building. By placing the animation on the screens at the box office area where customers are accustomed to already, it utilises the current behaviours of customers.

There are three sections to the animation: the campaign message, two regularly updated goals of HOME that themselves and the customer can work towards, and finally the app advertisement. We had a goal of keeping the animation under 45 seconds to make sure the customer had enough time to take in the information. The campaign message was included on both the beginning and end of the animation to drive home the idea of a shared HOME.

With all of our campaign materials, we wanted the message to be communicated effectively in a loud and clear manner. We as a group feel we have achieved this, and we are proud of our final outcomes.

Customers of HOME deserve to be informed about climate change and given the opportunity to change as much as the staff. After all, we all share the same planet, and we can all make a difference together. We as a group want the staff at HOME and the customers to join forces and work towards the same goals, which can be done by communicating the message, in order to influence others. As HOME is an arts centre in the heart of Manchester, there are many potential spheres of influence.

In order to strike a balance between the staff and customers, we created an effective message which encourages customers to make changes to their own behaviours. This message will be told through advertising with posters, social media, cards within the building, as well as an animation. The current digital revolution gives humans the opportunity to spread a message across the world in seconds, so we have utilised this opportunity by creating an app for users to change their behaviours online, in the building, and at their places of residence.

The worrying reality of undertaking this project has opened our eyes to the fact that the message isn’t being sent out enough, which has prompted groups such as Extinction Rebellion to take action and protest. It is upsetting that a child called Greta Thunberg on the face of it seems to be the one human being on the planet to be pioneering the message that human action is needed now on climate change. You would certainly assume this would be a job for world leaders.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed tackling the project and we hope that we influenced the client in a positive way with our ideas. The project has certainly influenced our own actions going forward to protect the planet.

A Personal Reflection

To begin with, our ideas were good, and our intentions were there, we just couldn't manage to glue the whole thing together at times, and it took a discussion whilst preparing for an interim presentation with the client to give us the motivation to complete the task in hand to the best of our abilities and work together as a strong unit.

Overall, looking back on the project as a whole, I am pleased with the outcome myself and my group came up with.

This experience has been different for me, as I am used to designing apps and user interfaces. I was eventually tasked with the design of the animation, which I enjoyed. Adobe After Effects is a fantastic programme that gave me the tools to create what I believed to be an efficient outcome.

The only negative aspect to my animation would be the link between downloading the app and the message. There wasn’t a strong enough call to action, which was the result of my own efforts to keep the time of the video under 45 seconds.

My group members were great to work with in the end, problems within teams are commonplace in team work. It is why we do it at university; to improve and get better. To the next one..

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The Presentation

How to deliver an effective pitch presentation

Sociologist James Hughes once said "The art of communication is the language of leadership."

This quote stood out to me on an article I found online on steps towards a perfect pitch. It is crucial that we as a group make sure we deliver our pitch in a way that instills confidence in the idea. The only way we will be able to do this is if we communicate our idea with clarity.

I am personally equally very nervous and very excited for this presentation, as I truly believe in the idea we have come up with. We have taken the brief objectives and provided a solution that we believe could work in a real-life environment; with development of course. It is important to also remember that no design is complete, they are always evolving for the better.

The main points I took from the article on how to deliver a perfect pitch were:

1. Get to the point fast

This particular point was pointed out to our group in the feedback we were given for our initial presentation, so we have taken a minimalist approach to the presentation, with minimal slides and text. We plan to do the talking ourselves, as people remember visuals more than text.

2. Don’t use too many slides

Beforehand, we used slides we didn’t need to; we should have merged them and provided more visuals for the audience to engage them better.

3. Establish the need

The audience will be wondering throughout the presentation ‘what problem is this group trying to solve?’. It is important for us to make sure the message is clear.

4. Introduce the team

We will make sure we introduce ourselves so the audience know which presenter is speaking and what role we played in the project development. This is important to me. I would liken it to reading a book; you need to know the author first, right?

5. Be prepared for questions

We need to be prepared for this, as we need to do everything we can to sell our project to the client. We were given feedback in our first presentation with the client, and we expect to get live feedback this time too.

6. Don’t show fear of not being successful

This is absolutely crucial. If you can’t convince yourself, how can you convince the client? We have prepared by memorising our lines that we are going to read out to combat this, so we sound confident when speaking to the audience.

We have also decided to have a physical prototype as well as a digital prototype in order to engage the audience in a different way, thus hopefully creating a more immersive presentation that will stay in the minds of the client.

We have printed a poster as well as the cards to give the audience a new perspective and to bring the message to life.

Below are slides 1-13 (Slide 10 isn’t included on this blog as it is a blank white screen with the Animation within it):

References

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/12-easy-steps-to-a-perfect-pitch/

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Final Outcomes

The Poster

The Cards

The App

The Animation

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Looking at the Colour Scheme

How important is colour in design?

Colour is so important in design, as it can either draw you in or turn you away. Either way, it holds the power to create an emotion as powerful as music does. Colour is insanely recognisable, and helps the audience instantly understand a message or a feeling a brand is aiming to portray. 

After some further discussions with our tutor, we decided that we needed to explore the use of colour to differentiate the two sides of our message: ‘We are HOME’, and ‘You are HOME’. 

Because the purpose of the message is to promote sustainability among other things, we tried to visualise what colours best represent the environment. All of us instantly thought of Planet Earth in this instance, and we started to look for colours of interest:

The colours we came up with for our design was Green, Blue and Yellow. The blue represents water, the green represents the land and natural world of earth, the yellow represents sunlight and the burnt orange colour is HOME’s primary brand colour which we need to include.

After experimenting however, we felt that the colours were too much, and took away the instantaneous message. We believed it took slightly longer to read than if it were one colour, so we chose the green colour.

We felt that green represented sustainability more than any other colour, and it compliments the orange. It could represent two sides of the seasons-spectrum too, with the orange representing winter/autumn and the green spring/summer.

References

https://blogs.wwf.org.uk/blog/climate-energy/colours-climate-change/

https://simplygraphic.co.za/2016/05/06/important-colour-design/

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Development of Animation

Before I began the development of my animation, I looked at what animation HOME currently have for customers to make sure my animation was in keeping with their current graphical layout and feel.

It is a short video at just under a minute, so I will make sure my animation follows suit. At the presentation, HOME mentioned that this video is shown before cinema viewings, so I will design mine with this in mind, although we aim to place mine above the screens at the box office.

Development

Beforehand, I jotted down what I planned to include and drew the structure of the animation:

1. Campaign Message

2. HOME Goals

3. App Advertisement as a call to action

Before creating the animation, I designed the graphics in Adobe Illustrator:

To begin developing the animation, I used Adobe After Effects and imported the illustrator files:

To make sure the transitions were smooth within each keyframe, I ensured the tool ‘Easy Ease’ was selected, and adjusted the graph to a 30-70% shift instead of 50%-50%.

Overall, I am pleased with the outcome of the animation. I believe it tells the message clearly, and gives the audience enough time to soak the information up whilst still in the queue for tickets.

It was an enjoyable experience using Adobe After Effects; it has a mind-blowing library of tools and effects. It is certainly a software that I can improve in, and I will look to do so as I progress in my career.

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Final Meeting with the Tutor

After discussions with the tutor and deciding that temporary cards would not be sustainable, we have decided to focus on 3 sections:

1. The App

Will be there to replace the current members card, and give the user a place to accumulate points for rewards, buy tickets and access sustainability training amongst other features.

2. The HOME Card and Poster

These will exist to promote the app as well as HOME’s sustainability message.

3. The Animation

The animation will need to visualise HOME’s sustainability throughout the year

Taking inspiration from HOME’s current ‘#SustainableHOME’ card, we plan to visualise our campaign on a HOME card that would dedicate each side to each part of the campaign: ‘We are HOME’ on the front, and ‘You are HOME’ on the back section.

Our plan is to complete the presentation and proof of concept for next week so we can prepare to present on the 4th December at HOME. 

I will be undertaking the task of the screen visuals providing the group with an animation that hopefully tells the message clearly and lives up to the expectations of what we set out to do at the start of the project.

Whilst discussing, we decided as a group that we should include a ‘Pledge’ section on the app, in order to drive home the need for the customer to be sustainable outside of HOME. 

The sustainability section will also include a timeline of HOME’s sustainability journey and tips that they can share to the user, thus promoting the need to share the responsibility of being sustainable. 

What do we know so far about what the visuals need to represent?

- We are HOME

- You are HOME

- HOME was opened in 2015

- Committed to become zero single-use plastic by 2020

- Greater Manchester Ambition: Zero Carbon by 2038

Visuals like the one below (taken from the presentation at HOME) are striking, and the use of colour helps the audience to memorise the fact. I will need to make sure that the information is clear to read and that colour is used appropriately.

- HOME ultimately want to save the planet like the rest of us

- Be a part of the change you want to see 

- Download the App

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What does the App need to Include?

Because the app will be replacing HOME’s current membership card, I need to ensure it doesn’t have too many features, ensuring usability by minimising actions needed to provide an exceptional user experience. 

The new service needs to be there to create less confusion, and it ultimately needs to be a better service than they currently have. Otherwise, there isn’t any purpose for our group to create one. 

Simplicity is for me the single most important aspect of user experience and user interface design. It is the designer who must do the work in order for the user to not, it should be a walk-in-the park for a user to navigate their way through an app or digital service.

I made it a priority that the main website features were part of the app, as this would give the user more ease of use among the whole HOME experience. It wouldn’t be fair to have a customer navigate onto their HOME app, then to the HOME website when it could easily be placed within the same service. 

This will hopefully provide a seamless experience for the user and make them feel more of a part of HOME, as a part of HOME will always be in their pocket on their smartphone. 

There are 4 Main Areas I have handpicked that I believe should be included:

- Membership Card with QR Code

- Points

- What’s on? Events

- Digital Channel (News)

These 4 areas I believe will enable the users to be sustainable within HOME, at their own homes, and online.

To present back to the group, I created a basic wireframe to represent how I feel the app should look based on the sections I have chose to include. I believe the interface on the Events and News sections should be identical to the website, keeping with brand consistency to make the transition from the website to using the app seamless for the user.

References

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gabrielshaoolian/2017/06/07/5-mobile-app-features-your-customers-want/#632bcb3a47bf

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How could HOME include Non-Members?

Currently, HOME have 3000 members and 250000 non members, which is an issue for our idea, as it focuses on membership and feeling part of a family/club all following the same goals.

Could this be due to the costs of the membership card? There is clearly a problem here as the numbers of members and non members are vastly different.

With a loyalty programme, a potential customer is more likely to sign up to become a member, as they offering incentives such as rewards from points accumulated. The attraction of rewards will encourage the customer to become a member. Other attractions such as exclusive benefits to members can entice non-members, as they would want to be included in all offers available.

Another option to include non-members would be to offer referral discounts and free products, as HOME is an arts centre that showcases theatre, art, films etc the likelihood that a customer travels there alone is slim, albeit still a possibility. 

Humans are sociable beings, so referral discounts and free products could appeal to an audience. The other way we could appeal to non-members is to have temporary paper cards that they can scan as a non-member and collect the points as a normal member would. 

Whenever they want to sign up, they can transfer the points they have accumulated. To keep the card sustainable, once the customer has finished with the temporary card, they could recycle the paper in a central place in the building.

References

https://ducttapemarketing.com/6-tips-for-converting-one-time-customers-into-recurring-ones/

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A look at UrbanMind

UrbanMind is an app created as a research project by Kings College London which has a purpose of understanding how city living is affecting mental wellbeing amongst human beings. It measures the users experience of urban or rural living in the moment. The user is prompted three times a day about how they feel and about the environment that surrounds them.

Within two weeks of using the app, the user is sent a report which summarises their experiences during the time period. The results are taken and evaluated with a purpose of helping to design healthier cities.

The app idea is fantastic, and one that we can definitely take inspiration from. It informs the user of their behaviours, which could prompt a response and a change in behaviour. 

UrbanMind offers a different perspective on a users life which the user wouldn't have any knowledge about. A feature similar to UrbanMind that focuses on sustainability could massively benefit HOME users and help with their sustainability journey as many of us are unaware just how high our carbon footprint is. 

Nearly a fifth of the average British citizen's 10.92 tons of CO2 - 1.95 tons - is emitted through recreation and leisure. Small changes such as walking to the gym instead of driving can make a massive difference, and I’m sure it was one HOME users would make if they were aware of the data they were producing.

References

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/your-carbon-footprint-revealed-climate-change-report-finds-we-each-produce-11-tons-of-carbon-a-year-427664.html

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Presentation with HOME

As the presentation with the client was an informal sit-down and the last chance for feedback before we go on to develop our visuals digitally, we wrote out our idea with simple visual icons and large easy-to-read text. We divided the idea into sections to piece them together and make it easier for the client to understand. It was crucial that the presentation was straight to the point and that the idea was understood from the get-go.

To help with the presentation, I mocked up some visuals of our idea to give them a visual sense of the idea and to see what feedback we could gain from it, whether that be positive or negative. We want to know exactly what they are thinking so we can improve the idea as we go along.

This first poster below is a visualisation of a treehouse, promoting the idea of a family where people travel to using sustainable options.

The second option was inspired by my research into how perceptions can be changed, and by telling the customer of other customers behaviour, it can create a chain reaction. The only issue I have with this is that people prefer to keep their privacy.

The positive aspect to this poster would be that it promotes a family at HOME, visualising customers being part of a movement. It would get a potential customer to recognise their own actions as achievements if they were regular bus users, which can only be a good thing; it would encourage them to keep going.

Here is a visual idea of the space, from a birds-eye view and a 3D perspective. This is so the client can understand how we plan to use the space.

How did the presentation go?

The presentation itself went really well in the end, after some group issues that we needed to iron out in the morning had threatened to destabalise our performance I thought we did exceptional in delivering a clear pitch to the client.

What was the feedback?

Overall, the client liked the idea that we presented to them. They especially liked the fact that the idea isn’t prompting a complete overhaul, instead drawing on existing ideas.

They mentioned to us that HOME currently have 3000 members and 250000 non-members, so we need to look at how we can target non-members. We felt collectively as a group and with the client that the app features were not concrete enough and needed to flow better.

HOME were particularly impressed with the points system, which they told us that they have actually thought of implementing in the past. This was fantastic to hear, as we are clearly on a similar page in terms of idea generation. 

With the name idea on the poster, the client shared the issue that I originally had that people would prefer to keep their privacy.

After our presentation, we assigned tasks to each member of the group based on the feedback we were given from the client. We found a tool called Trello (that we should have been using from the beginning!) to keep on track of our tasks.

I was assigned with analysing how we can include non-members, as HOME currently have 3000 members and 250000 non-members. As well as this, I will look into what the app needs to include.

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Week 7 Lecture Materials

A look at 15 Actions to become a Zero Carbon City

The Manchester Climate Change Plan is Manchester’s shared plan to tackle climate change. I have chosen 3 examples to look at out of the 15:

Commit to Zero Carbon 2038

The commit to Zero Carbon section allows businesses and organisations in Manchester to reduce its CO2 emissions by at least 13% a year, and becoming a zero carbon city by 2038. In order for Manchester to reach its goals, they need all organisations, communities and groups within the city to join in and help Manchester meet its targets.

HOME itself has committed to Zero Carbon Manchester 2038, amongst 28 other businesses and organisations. It is good to see the likes of Manchester City involved, who are now a global brand who can hopefully influence Manchester United as well!

Measure your CO2 with World Wildlife Foundation

The environmental footprint calculator from the World Wildlife Foundation is an essential tool. Yes climate change is happening, but if a person believes they are helping enough then they wouldn’t see a reason to change. This environmental footprint was a reminder to me that I need to do better.

I travel using public transport and walk everywhere, but that isn’t enough. My carbon footprint was 12.4 tonnes, which I have to say shocked me a little bit. This is enough proof to me that by being aware of how much you are consuming on a daily basis is essential to change, as you have to recognise there is a problem before action is taken (on a personal level).

Water Conservation

One of the easiest and most convenient ways to save energy is to do so by saving water. The more water we as humans save, the less we need to use from rivers and reservoirs. As climate change is real and is happening right before our eyes, it has never been a more important time to save water.

On average each person uses 142 litres per day, which sounds like a large number. The United Utilities website provides information for users on how to save water and help towards saving the planet.

Here are three tips I found that I believe are easily achievable:

Providing the audience with the information is the first step to change, and I truly think that one of the major issues we face with climate change is the fact that people are not educated enough to know how to make a difference.

A look at Sustainable Resources

https://theoceancleanup.com/

The Ocean Cleanup is an organisation that has the aim of getting rid of the plastic from the world’s oceans by developing technologies.

It was founded in 2013 by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat. Every year, millions of tons of plastic goes into the sea. As the plastic stays in the sea once there, it makes the job of solving the problem of ocean plastic pollution twice as difficult. It requires a mix of stopping the flow of plastic into the sea, as well as cleaning up what is already there.

It has developed technologies such as a passive ocean cleanup technology, that moves with the currents just as the plastic would move with the currents. Vessels and nets would be using up carbon emissions, whereas this system doesn’t, thus saving energy in the process of saving plastic from the ocean.

https://preciousplastic.com/

Precious Plastic are a group that are combatting waste by making an entire plastic recycling workspace inside an old shipping container. Inside, plastic is collected, shredded and turned into something new. The best part about Precious Plastic is the fact that they share tutorials and instructions on how to build the workspace yourself.

I absolutely love this idea. It is so so effective, the fact that the workspace can be built anywhere by anyone is so powerful and I’m shocked that I haven’t heard of this beforehand! There is an online community of helpers, plus an online market place to buy and sell products that have been created from the recycled plastic. 

Precious Plastic has given people the tools to set up a recycle business by turning plastic waste into valuable things. 

The online process seems simple enough, I might give that a go in the near future it sounds extremely interesting.

This example is perfect and stands out from the rest of the examples. It provokes a behavioural change by giving a primary reward in money generation from sales from the online marketplace. Meanwhile, plastic is being recycled, so everybody is a winner! This reinforced the notion that our points system idea is one that will work in terms of incentivising being sustainable.

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A look at Reflective Writing

What is Reflective Writing?

Reflective writing is essentially the evidence of thinking reflectively. Reflective thinking will involve analysing a past event or idea from different perspectives, and explaining the idea with reference to past research.

It is important to also reflect on how the idea made you feel and how it prompted you to make an action. I am a student at the moment, which involves a lot of learning by being told information and experimenting with that information until a desired outcome is reached.

This video below from the Skills Team at Hull University describes reflective writing perfectly by using a visual animation. It mentions that looking forward after an event into the future is just as important when writing reflectively.

SkillsTeamHullUni - Reflective Writing

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqCsc31xg24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoI67VeE3ds

http://www2.port.ac.uk/media/contacts-and-departments/student-support-services/ask/downloads/Reflective-writing---a-basic-introduction.pdf

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Further Research

Julie’s Bicycle

Julie’s Bicycle is a London based charity that supports the creative community to act on climate change and environmental sustainability. 

‘We believe that the creative community is uniquely placed to transform the conversation around climate change and translate it into action.’

Instantaneously, this passage from the website of Julie’s Bicycle (above) reminded me of Joseph Beuys. 

Julie’s Bicycle are there to provide the creative community with the skills and tools to take action, using their creativity to influence one another, audiences and the wider movement. 

Julie’s Bicycle remind me of HOME, as they want to be the nucleus of change. The more positive influencers we have to combat climate change the better.

HOME and Julie’s Bicycle are linked together, as HOME work towards the energy reduction targets of Manchester Arts Sustainability Team. They use the training and resources that are available through Julie’s Bicycle in order to manage and reduce energy and environmental impacts.

The Colour Green podcast by Julie’s Bicycle gives listeners a fascinating insight into the worlds of artists, activists of colour who are at the forefront of social innovation. Its purpose is to connect climate justice, race, power and inequality.

Podcasts are a huge platform today, with nearly 6 million adults listening to a podcast in the UK every week, in a study by Ofcom.

‘The number of weekly podcast listeners has almost doubled in five years – from 3.2m (7% of adults aged 15+) in 2013 to 5.9m (11%) in 2018.’

Almost 1 in 5 young people aged 15-24 (18.7%) now listen to podcasts every week. This gives Julie’s Bicycle and ‘The Colour Green’ a huge opportunity to raise awareness and inspire the next generation into either being more sustainable, or just to be more kind to people, and fighting for justice amongst society.

References

https://juliesbicycle.com

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2018/uk-podcast-listening-booms

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Week 5 Lecture Materials

Sarah Pink - Why the world needs anthropologists: designing the future

In this lecture, Sarah Pink talks about Anthropologists, who are known for studying human interaction. Anthropologists have known Automation will be increasing in our lives.

People appropriate and improvise with technologies to get their everyday needs; and we also know that people shape their uses of technologies socially and culturally.

Collaborating with Unilever, Sarah was on the ground collaborating with people in order to find out what people are experiencing first hand with their products.

One of the stand out moments in the research project for Sarah was that Nadia had asked them why don’t you use the washing machine to wash the clothes. They use the spin cycle, which was translated as the drying cycle. As the research project developed, they understood that the clothes got damaged whilst in the washing machine.

Dominant narratives continue to be led by the belief that technological solutions can solve societal problems.

How is the dominant narrative that technology will help us in our group a concern?

With our group ideas, we know we won’t be able to solve a societal problem as big as climate change. We do believe however that we can make a slight change by offering a service that HOME has not had before, yet their audience is very familiar with.

Apps and user interfaces are commonplace now, and more and more people are using smartphones around the world to interact with.

We simply want to bring HOME into the digital world more than they are currently, thus creating a more powerful message than they currently have.

Ethnography and Design

It is not the designers job to ask users ask users what they would like from a new service they are offering. 

To many, this may seem to be the best and most efficient way to conduct user research. The fact of the matter is that users don’t know, and I don't blame them. It isn’t a users place to come up with an idea for a service.

It is solely down to the designer(s) to find out the problem,  notice the most efficient solution and to ensure that their design solution works properly. 

This is the task we as a group face in providing a service for the customers of HOME; we must conduct our research, collect findings and present the best possible outcome from the findings.

It is important as an ethnographer to collect data through visuals such as photos and videos, and observe behaviours and cultures whilst living and breathing the area that they plan to provide a service for. 

When we visited HOME, we used the visit to our advantage to observe behaviours and what spaces are available for an interactive space/service.

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A look at ways Perception and Conversation can be changed

When looking at how perception and conversation can be changed, it is important to observe and notice how people react to your business. Ultimately, you can’t force someone to change their ways, you can only give them the tools to think and make a decision themselves.

There was a campaign that caught my eye last year in Manchester which I had to document. It served as a reminder to me that I was actually making a positive contribution by using public transport which I wouldn’t have noticed beforehand as it didn’t cross my mind, I was simply taking public transport to my destination and back day after day.

The Clean Air Greater Manchester campaign is a campaign that helps to fight pollution by encouraging people to use public transport instead of a car for example. Manchester offers an array of public transport such as the Metrolink tram system, the train stations, the free bus service etc.

I myself use the public transport systems within Manchester so when I noticed the campaign through a poster at the tram station I felt a sense of pride and the campaign has further encouraged me to continue what I am doing.

To be told you are making a difference is hugely important and it gives a reward to the sacrifices you make.

Changing perception and conversation can be as simple as using information to inform someone of something that they didn’t know about.

For example, the media constantly attempt to change perception with ‘fake news’ such as political propaganda.

In the video above, Steve Martin, the coauthor of ‘Yes!: 50 scientifically proven ways to be persuasive’ mentions that by pointing out specifically what a person does at a certain place, it can persuade the other person to do so. 

For example, he mentions that informing people with the number of previous guests that had used a towel in their hotel room beforehand was significantly more effective than informing people about the impact that towel and laundry detergents have on the environment.

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkyFshwASrQ

http://theconversation.com/how-our-unconscious-visual-biases-change-the-way-we-perceive-objects-109039

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How can you Market a Sustainable Business?

If a business or charity wants to be sustainable, it is essential for them to market effectively, and this is done by firstly knowing their customers.

It is very important that the customer is made aware of why being sustainable is important to them. For example, HOME use reusable plastic cups instead of plastic cups in order to help the environment. The problem however is that the message of why the reusable plastic cups are used isn’t as prominent as it should be on social media for example. 

A simple message such as ‘by using the reusable plastic cups, we save a certain amount of plastic each year’, with a visualisation such as an illustration of a sea creature with less plastic around it in the sea would put the use of reusable plastic cups into perspective with the customer. 

Ultimately, it isn’t rocket science so we all know that reusable plastic cups help the environment, but it is more about marketing the sustainability of HOME that would ultimately attract more customers who care for the environment and want to make a difference.

When marketing for a sustainable business, it is a good idea to use customer oriented marketing, customer value marketing, innovative marketing, sense of mission marketing and societal marketing.

There are 3 Main Marketing Strategies that companies use to market sustainability:

1. Prove that you are committed to sustainability

Empowering employees is recommended, for example training them Carbon Literacy; which HOME already do. It is also essential to communicate the values, which I believe HOME need to work on. Another action HOME have taken is to have sustainable marketing practices, such as reusable cups to drink with.

2. Being Transparent

Communicate effectively with the consumers, and let them know what energy you are saving and what actions you could take to become better at being more sustainable. It is better not to hide bad news, as consumers can get angry when they suspect that companies have information they cannot get hold of.

3. Focusing on primary benefits

This method is certainly preferred, as it can have a high success rate. Focusing on the primary benefits such as this example ad for Sears' Kenmore HE5t Steam washer, which uses 77 percent less water and 81 percent less energy than older models, gets the attention of the consumer with the message: ‘pay for the washer. It pays for the dryer’. We are going to attempt to implement a points system into our app idea for this very reason, we believe offering incentives to customers will persuade them to act more sustainably.

How do Businesses tell their Story and portray their Ethos?

The technological revolution and the explosion of Social Media has made people in society more aware of businesses and how we identify with them. 

With climate change becoming a crisis that people care about and want to help solve, as well as political movements or for manipulation that is called ‘fake news’, people are more aware and they take more persuasion to trust a brand.

Before social media, the only real form of advertising was posters and TV adverts, whereas it is now critical how a brand looks online. It could be visualised as consumers spying on brands with 24/7 supervision as any bad press will go viral within seconds.

Both social media and sustainability are authentic, transparent, community driven, innovative and creative. By empowering people and telling them that their voice matters and that they can make a difference, the sky is the limit for brands and sustainability.

I believe if HOME can portray their sustainability ethos more, then big change within Manchester can be made. I have spoke to people who have visited HOME recently and they were not as aware of the sustainability efforts, and I know that these people would welcome more sustainable actions for HOME.

References

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/282244

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azM4n0zf4jw

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/01/14/five-strategies-avoid-taint-greenwash-your-business

https://www.dba.org.uk/how-to-communicate-your-business-ethos/

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/communicating-sustainability-social-media-storytelling

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Presentation HOME Feedback

The Presentation itself was not what we hoped it would be; we included a lot of text, and it needed to be more to the point and the idea needed to be communicated more effectively. 

In terms of preparation, it wasn’t as organised and professional as what we envisioned it to be. We planned what we were going to say, but it simply took too long for the idea to be delivered to the audience. I personally struggle with confidence issues, which I know isn’t an excuse as I should still be able to deliver a presentation to a good standard. 

As a group, we believed in our idea, we just needed to deliver the idea to the client and make them believe in it just as much as ourselves. There is work to do but we know we can do better than this presentation and we will learn from our mistakes.

Below is the feedback we were given from the tutor:

We are really appreciative as a group to the honest feedback; it is exactly what we need as a group and individuals to move forward and provide the best possible solution to the task we face.

Once we sat and reflected, we discussed as a group what our objectives are going forward, and how we plan to rectify our problems.

Once we had each problem written down, we allocated objectives to each group member to complete for next week: