FLARE PROTOTYPE SURVEY:

1) Would you like to buy customized fabric sizes that reduce wastage and are cost effective and why?

2) Do you think this idea would effective on a global scale?

3) Do you think the customized fabric sizes would solve issues in laying out patterns to be cut?

4) Do you think it would be better to demand a certain size, or have preset sizes available?

5) On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate this idea?

The collaborative process

Our group has been focusing on the wicked problem of textile waste produced by the fashion industry and found information which was a shock to us at times when the numbers came up but has been an eye opener as all three of us in the group are IDP fashion students. Its amazing how the three of us work on the lines when doing our individual research and yet always learn more from the others at the group meetings. I am very happy about the way each one of us always has something new together.

The design process for us has really been guided with knowledge from the lecturers and readings.  At each step of our journey and infact each lecture addressed just the guidelines we requires at that point in the process.

Starting with mapping the wicked problem based on the neccesity of mapping and visually expressing our ideas and information made the bulk of information easy to assimilate as well as guided us to the next stage of problem solving and new ideas. The next step was the problem statement and design breif which opened a whole new arena of information and we had to narrow down to a specific problem which after discussing amongst ourselves and our professor was a completely new and evolved result. This result was specific and really gave us the potential problem i.e. The textile waste produced by the fashion industry. Then moving on to an extremely powerful topic that of diffusion of innovation really got us to a solution after the helpful feedback we recieved from our classmates and professor along with hours and hours of brainstorming and working together. Even though we are still working on the final solution we can finally see everything coming together and us reaching the point of completing the puzzle.

My "new" design thinking

MY EXPERIENCES:

t is very interesting as to how each reading and lecture of the design thinking course is being given emphasis and importance to in my other classes.  The reading titles "diffusion of innovation" was a major topic of discussion in my marketing class where i teacher discussed the principles of the reading as a practical implementation in the real world. For my marketing final project i have been refering to the diffusion of innovation reading from time to time as i feel it is forming the base of my project based on a line extension for tory burch and how an innovation and introduction of new products from time to time under the tory burch brand is a profitable proposition and is adding to the sales and global growth of the brand.
Infact even in my merchandizing class last week we had a site visit to an extremely interesting lady by the name of Ielene dianching where she talked about the need for designers to create products the consumer wants or needs and not what the designers assume they need. She spoke about how essential it is in todays day and age to cater to the consumer desire and the importance of testing the success of a product.

Little did i know at the beginning of the semester that each reading in this course would be a golden lesson for life applicable in each and every design situation.

Infact, even for my faculty meeting with lara penin the importances of those lessons and how they are the golden rules or guidelines or even a pathway for success for a designer today.

Examples

The readings and presentations that have influenced our process of discovery so far are as follows:

The design thinking presentation influenced us in a manner which made us reflect upon a particular issue in our field of research. Through visual thinking and mapping, all three of us were able to find a common issue of waste under the umbrella of fashion. We firs defined the problem, then we went further to do research on it. And currently we are at the ideation/elaboration stage. The ideation stage would be us trying to write a problem statement and and design brief which includes a potential solution, in our case we determined a manner in which to recycle fabric that is being wasted in the initial process. Furthermore, the systems thinking presentation is now playing a role in determining the systems around our issue. As our group has discussed this includes several systems that surround the production of textiles. Lastly the diffusing innovations and innovations presentation allows us to think of ways in which we can implement our design solution. We are able to see the way in which our solution (which we are still working on) can pass and intercede the systems in order for a solid result.

collaborative process

The collaborative process and experiences of our group have been helpful in a lot of ways. We were first introduced to solve wicked problem that somehow related to our area of studies. Even though all of us have different backgrounds, we are able to brainstorm ideas from our past experiences. We as a group are able to communicate with each other with our ideas. Even we may not all agree on something, but we are able to take apart and think it through, then form another new ideas that we all agree upon. I think that’s what make our group experiences successful. I think it would have been better if we could some how incorporate the ideas and techniques that we learned from the readings or from the lectures to our group discussions. Even we received the same information from the readings and the lectures, but we might have very different ideas a on certain subject. And by sharing our thoughts and ideas to each other, we could all learn from each other and opens up variety of perspective.

My take away

From both the readings and lectures, I gain a lot of knowledge. And such knowledge introduced me a whole new way of thinking and new ways to approach to design problems. I could now used some of the techniques that were brought up from the readings or discussed in the lectures to many of the assignments that I’m working on in the classes at Parsons. One major benefit that I gain from the readings and lectures is that now I pay attention to details that I’ve often neglect or didn’t even put efforts to think it through. By looking at the details, I would more likely to find solutions and be able to form constructive conclusions to design problem.

Response to "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning"

The article written by Horst W.J Rittle, and Melvin M. Webber clearly distinguishes wicked problems from tame problems in how their specific characteristics differ and even the solutions and the manner in which they are sought for differ. I find it particularly interesting in how complex wicked problems actually are. When observing a mathematical or scientic problem that is extremely complex in nature, as this article states - there is always a true or false answer, so its either black or white, no shades of grey. Whereas wicked problems have so many factors that can continuously change, leaving quite a few things ambiguous. After reading this article, you get a clearer picture of the nature of wicked problems and how the actual "defining" of the problem is as complex as the "solution" of the problem. I think this article has given a great insight to the nature of wicked problems and addresses certain aspects of the defining/finding a solution process, that go unnoticed.