Reflection-Visualization

Challenge     We as graduates in different departments within our organization have been  grouped to design an application that can address one of any socio-economic  challenges we face as the South African country. We aim to address the issue  of unemployment and our focus area is on Waste pickers and recycling. What  we discovered during our empathy phase was that the waste pickers are  poverty-stricken, they are homeless, have little to no education, and face  issues such as; safety, poor hygiene, transportation, and inconsistent  payments. The biggest problem we observed was that they do a lot of work  but get paid very little for the waste they collect and resell. We then challenged  ourselves to see how we can close the gap of inconsistent payment and  sometimes lack access to recyclable waste through creating a digital platform  that will give them access to more waste. The idea we came up with is similar  to that of Uber, where one can request for a picker to collect recyclable waste  and then resell it to get a source of income.    Selection    The tool we used after gathering our ideas and deciding on which ones we  were sticking to is that of Visualization. Visualization as described by the  Lecturer, Cristiane, is a vital design tool and a component that plays a  significance in the way we communicate and want to get our message across.  She deems it important because she sees it as “a way of unlocking a different  part of the brain”. She further described Visualization as a way of thinking  non-verbally. We used this design thinking tool after we had gone through our  ideation phase to see how our ideas would look like. We did this by creating  infographics to display the user journey of the App we want to create.    Application    We used the tool of Visualization by using the different user cases we had  come up with to get an image of how we would like individuals to interact with  our Application. We replaced words with images in a platform called Canva.  We did this to see how it would look and to see it the words made sense in  reality and to get a feel and visualize the ideas we had come up with. We  created infographics for both the Requestor and the Waste picker.     Insight    The infographics brought a twist to the process, a positive one. After weeks of  collecting data and playing around with ideas, it was great getting to see

exactly what we have been working on. It gave us even more motivation to  keep researching for ways to better the process and make our App a success.  It looked great and ignited even more creativity in terms of seeing what was  necessary to be included in the App and what wasn’t. It also gave us an idea  of what of which aspects required us going back to the drawing board and  asking more questions about our idea.    Approach    Our approach was based on simply taking the ideas we developed during our  Ideate phase and putting them in a way we could visualize them. Another thing  we also did was make use of a website called Marvel during our prototype  phase which also helped put our ideas to life and help us see where the room  for improvement was. It also helped in stimulating more creativity in terms of  making the App look more interesting.


Reflection - Visualization Challenge We as graduates in different departments within our organization have been grouped to design an application that can address one of any socio - economic challenges we face as the South African country . We aim to address the issue of unemployment and our focus area is on Waste pickers and recycling . What we discovered during our empathy phase was that the waste pickers are poverty - stricken , they are homeless , have little to no education , and face issues such as ; safety , poor hygiene , transportation , and inconsistent payments . The biggest problem we observed was that they do a lot of work but get paid very little for the waste they collect and resell . We then challenged ourselves to see how we can close the gap of inconsistent payment and sometimes lack access to recyclable waste through creating a digital platform that will give them access to more waste . The idea we came up with is similar to that of Uber , where one can request for a picker to collect recyclable waste and then resell it to get a source of income . Selection The tool we used after gathering our ideas and deciding on which ones we were sticking to is that of Visualization . Visualization as described by the Lecturer , Cristiane , is a vital design tool and a component that plays a significance in the way we communicate and want to get our message across . She deems it important because she sees it as “ a way of unlocking a different part of the brain ” . She further described Visualization as a way of thinking non - verbally . We used this design thinking tool after we had gone through our ideation phase to see how our ideas would look like . We did this by creating infographics to display the user journey of the App we want to create . Application We used the tool of Visualization by using the different user cases we had come up with to get an image of how we would like individuals to interact with our Application . We replaced words with images in a platform called Canva . We did this to see how it would look and to see it the words made sense in reality and to get a feel and visualize the ideas we had come up with . We created infographics for both the Requestor and the Waste picker . Insight The infographics brought a twist to the process , a positive one . After weeks of collecting data and playing around with ideas , it was great getting to see exactly what we have been working on . It gave us even more motivation to keep researching for ways to better the process and make our App a success . It looked great and ignited even more creativity in terms of seeing what was necessary to be included in the App and what was n’t . It also gave us an idea of what of which aspects required us going back to the drawing board and asking more questions about our idea . Approach Our approach was based on simply taking the ideas we developed during our Ideate phase and putting them in a way we could visualize them . Another thing we also did was make use of a website called Marvel during our prototype phase which also helped put our ideas to life and help us see where the room for improvement was . It also helped in stimulating more creativity in terms of making the App look more interesting .