Extraordinaire's Design Sprint
During this first week of school, we Design Lab students were challenged to use the Design Thinking process to create a solution to a problem. We were given different character cards from the game Extraordinaire's, and tasked with identifying a problem that the character has. We then had to come up with a creative, shoot-for-the-stars solution to the problem and build a prototype using secret materials (like paperclips, a paper plate, and pipe cleaners) that were given to us in a closed paper bag.
So here is a quick reflection of the project (for which we had about 3 days to complete and present):
Experience:
We analyzed characters based on visual alone, something we aren’t us
ually asked to do in classes
We were told to use our imaginations create a solution for a potential problem that we found; instead of being told what the problem was and being tested on what solutions had or hadn’t worked.
The interesting part of this design project was that we didn’t have any restrictions set on us, we could think up crazy ideas without being afraid to ‘fail’ or to say a wrong answer.
I was a little surprised at how… relatable this project was to little children’s daily lives. We were imagining a fantasy world for fictional characters and creating a backstory for them (kind of how little children have imaginary friends and worlds). And in the actual construction part of this design challenge we were given ordinary objects that didn’t seem to connect in any way to our character or situation. But the fact that we had so little time to construct a final structure made us go into a hyper-creative mode and make something that met the needs of our character. I still don’t completely remember or understand how we came to our final prototype… it kind of just… happened, I think? We didn’t deliberate too much on what object should be used for what, we just went with it.
Understanding:
I mentioned this somewhere in the bullet points above, but this type of activity reminded me of something a little kid would do. I didn’t mean it as a negative point, and I’ll try to explain why.
I’ll start with saying that the potential that children have to make real change is astounding. That’s a loaded statement, I know. But kids have this unique thought process that isn’t affected by the restrictions that knowledge sets. They don’t know, and probably don’t care, that their ideas might not be physically possible. They just know that their ideas are darn cool and totally work in their imaginations. So things like air transportation tubes that suck you up from one spot and shoot you through a crazy slide hundreds of feet in the air to land, say, in your classroom seat right as the bell rings are not out of the question in a kindergartner's mind.
Kids just don’t have that fear of failure that adults have. Well, some adults don’t have. And nowadays, at a younger and younger age, children are losing the opportunity to do this kind of creative thinking in classes.
As a high-schooler, getting to work with that idea of ‘anything is possible’ was a really interesting experience. I mean, I felt a bit like a kid again doing arts and crafts, but the work we did had a much larger meaning behind it. We created prototypes which show what kinds of innovations we can come up with if we think outside of the box and take away typical restrictions.
It makes me really excited for future projects.
Questioning Myself:
The critiques that we did in front of our peers really made me think deeper about the underlying concepts of our project. It’s funny how a simple card with a teenage vampire drawn on it can lead me to think about issues like stereotyping, racial profiling, inequality, and basically any and all kinds of reforms and movements we have going on in society.
(That purple guy on the right with the scary-looking fangs and blood red eyes? Yeah, that's our cute little nonviolent vampire teen that we named Jupiter)
Several students asked us a similar question, which I’ll summarize; “Doesn’t naming the school “Monster University” undermine the purpose of the structure itself, since it would make students feel stereotyped or uncomfortable in an environments that’s supposed to make them feel safe?” Okay, maybe I didn’t summarize all that well. But it immediately made me realize how difficult it is to create a place where all different kinds of people (or creatures) can live and interact. You have to be very careful how you use words and how you choose your actions, because you could upset many people. Even one upset individual can have an impact on the whole community.
I would rename the school firstly in revising the project, because even though ‘monster’ was just a common term that everyone could relate to and understand, it can be very hurtful and damaging to those who actually attend the school and are getting assigned the status of a “monster”.
After that, I would think more about how different species of creatures would be able to interact and form bonds, because even though they might be all in the same school, they all have different preferences and requirements that could isolate them just as much as they were isolated before.
Other than those two changes, there are many, many more improvements that can be made to the prototype so that it meets the needs of all the people and creatures we are trying to include.
Huh.
Well, no one ever said social reform was easy.
