Course Overview
This course focused on building the capstone project. My team began by revisiting our top ideas and consulting with our Instructor, Chris Gerlach, for our final selection. Then, we dove into creating a Project Brief to guide our development. This process included exploratory research, market justification, and anticipated milestones. With each Alpha and Beta checkpoint we hit, we recorded a video presentation to track our progress. We created a website to house our project details and deliverables, as well as a Medium blog post to recap our capstone journey. Finally, we presented our final Beta-stage product at The NMI's Mini-Merge Event, where all EM students presented their current products.
While the format of the course was very organized, the process of completing projects fluctuated frequently. Much like any design project that is created outside of a school curriculum there are several obstacles to overcome that change the course of a project. Specifically with our capstone project, there were major pivots taken due to collaborating with clients, meeting project expectations and deadlines, as well as from our intuition. I learned to listen to my instincts, knowing when a project is not being pushed in the right direction, and to speak up to change its course. Ultimately, a project should be guided by its purpose. In our case, our project began in a different path with a different client. When we saw that our vision for the project would be altered due to the client's needs, we took the initiative to pivot our plans and choose and different path. However fearful change may be, progress is only good if you're progressing towards something you're proud of. Time is wasted if you're towards something that you're not proud of. It's safe to say, I'm now very proud of my capstone project.
Check out my projects!
Project Brief
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The Project Brief was the biggest project of this course. It serves as a manual for guiding every decision made for development and marketing of our capstone project. It includes foundational research for our website, the problem it addresses, the market and competition, and the target audience. It is continually updated as development and research continues.
We used Canva to create the living document. During the creation process, we ideated in several different ways. Since our capstone project, Athens Era, is an original brand we crafted, there was much more thought put into its purpose, the problem it solves, and the competitive advantage we wished to produce. To organize and guide our thoughts, I created a brainstorming activity through Figma. This helped immensely with our creative roadblocks. Using different ideation methods, such as mind mapping, optimist/pessimist, and right-braining, I truly challenged my creativity. I learned how to apply several ideation methods to brainstorming sessions. I also learned to embrace the constant change of the design process and update our guidelines to stay consistent.
Project Links:
Brainstorming Session - Figma Document:
Mini-Merge Presentation
The Mini-Merge Presentation was when it all came together. After 4 rounds for Alpha and Beta iterations, the Athens Era website was at a completed Beta stage. Using Wordpress, we developed our site with several plug-ins, such as Elementor and Dokan, to build a functional marketplace. I learned the complications that arise when using plug-ins and how to adjust our designs and plans to best serve our project goals.
During development, we received valuable feedback that shifted our perspectives to design the site for the two distinct user groups that would use the product: the vendors and the buyers. Even when a product is not complete, or feels up to standards to show off, it is so so SO important to get feedback. User feedback and research is important to understanding our audience on a deeper level to best develop this product. We plan to incorporate more research in our next steps. To highlight our capstone journey, we created a medium blog post. Visit the links below to explore more!
Project Links:
Mini Merge: Beta & UX-RP Presentation Video
