Written by: Lan 2022 Cohort
This semester ended faster than we would have thought. I have acquainted a bunch of friendly classmates and excellent teachers like Aida and Jason, befriended some like-minded fellows and even met the adorable doggy Momo. Although pre-MDM is more intense than I thought, it’s undeniable that I’ve been through an incredible journey.
Luckily, we were able to work with two real clients for our project simulation and finally managed to deliver satisfying results to them. This is a meaningful experience, as it’s designed for the LGBTQ2+ community. With myself being one of them, I can tell that this project is, without a doubt, going to help a lot since it’s more than complicated and rough for us to figure out issues like sexual orientation and gender identity alone. Teenagers are going to need peer support or simply an outlet. The caring and inclusion shown in this project are very touching.
For heterosexual people, it helped them to learn the cultures of the LGBTQ2+ group and understand the group better. Even I learned something I didn’t know before, like the double-sided axe flag symbol representing lesbians. And taught them to be supportive and inclusive to the minority like them.
Apart from its significance, I also learned a lot when doing this project. We have adopted scrum, an agile methodology, which represents responding to change by following a plan, and individuals and interactions over processes and tools. It’s a process for managing a project that involves constant collaboration and working in iterations. Agile project management works on the basis that a project can be continuously improved throughout its life cycle, with changes being made quickly and responsively. These values are highly admired in the Internet industry, and agile methodology is one of the most popular approaches to project management due to its flexibility, adaptability to change, and high level of customer input. With this experience, I’m sure I will perform better when I become an employee in digital media.
While working on this project, we put much effort into researching a part that has consistently been underestimated and neglected. Research matters more than I thought. Without careful prior research, the project may end up in the wrong direction or contain offensive messages, especially for the LGBTQ2+ group, who are highly sensitive.
As for me, I worked as a UI designer in the team. Due to the limited schedule, unfortunately, I could not implement the prototype as a developer, but working as a designer also brought me a new experience. I taught myself how to use Figma within a day, which enriched my skill set and allowed me to contribute from a different aspect.
In addition, we did much planning and wrote several documents as well. Applying agile methodologies does not mean that we start working on the project directly; without elaborated planning, the client might reject our work. First, we need to find out the problem in this project and propose a proper solution. In commercial projects, it’s necessary to consider budgets and risks. We need to make sure the project is profitable, after all. Ultimately, we must conduct user testing to check whether this is what the users want.
Besides, doing the documentation allowed me to practice my technical writing, and I learned some advanced expressions like “stick to the plan,” “lose your cool,” “meet the needs,” “go beyond my practice,” “run the risk of,” “wrap your brain around the problem,” and so on.
Other than that, in the past two months, the experience taught me that collaboration is key to teamwork. Working with others in our society is inevitable, and we ought to learn to cope with diverse people. We may encounter someone with different values and cause conflict when working with him or her. But we must remember that we share the same goal, delivering the project to our clients. Working is different from personal stuff, and we must treat them separately. Talk to that person and tell him or her your feelings directly, and try to put yourself in the other’s shoes; specialties might work out.
In retrospect, the project went relatively well, as I had these talented and experienced teammates. We did a great job under the leadership of Ty, and Liting has been contributing more than we expected. Han is a dedicated researcher who helped many in user testing and interviews. Cherilyn impressed us with her excellent animation, and Qianhui delivered a satisfying prototype. We would never have gone this far without them, and I appreciate their efforts.
Ultimately, I want to reflect on what we could have done better in our project. We still need more efficiency in meetings, as we always waste time trying to understand each other or arguing over unimportant points. In terms of myself, I still need to be more punctual and stick to the time. It’s not good to keep others waiting for me, and I might miss important information or lack participation. I will do better in the upcoming semester.