User & Society.
In ‘Design <> Research’, I learned that qualitative requires total immersion into the target community's world. Through thematic analysis, combining text, quotes, and photos to identify behavioural patterns, I learned how designers can amplify a community's voice through creative outcomes such as probe kits, revealing a strong connection between U&S and C&A and how naturally U&S fits into the early stages of a design process.
User & Society is the ability to understand human behaviour, needs, and context through research, empathy, and continuous feedback to ensure a design serves the people it is made for. My development here progressed steadily through Years 1 and 2.
I now view understanding human nature, habits, culture, emotion as essential to any concept's early stages. In Project 3, I managed user questionnaires and introduced a weekly ‘cookbook draft’ to iterate on our AI model, cooking AI-generated recipes and reflecting on outcomes, integrating user-centric input directly into the design cycle. In ‘Business Innovation Methods’, I designed an MVP experiment canvas and conducted user interviews to validate my concept.
My B3.1 internship was an expected highlight. Close client contact, adapting to the client's wishes while proposing new ideas taught me how communication, research, and understanding can shape and evolve a client's vision towards the most viable outcome. I also contributed to the UX/UI development of our product's app, giving input on interface layout, button placement, and user flow.
