OUGD101 How To...

This was my first actual assessed piece of work on this course and I was really excited to get cracking with it. The whole class were split into teams of 6 people and given a question to answer starting with the statement "How To...". My group got the question "How To... Live With People Who You Don't Like". This is pretty ironic, you will understand as you read on...

MONDAY 21.09.09

When we first received our question, we set about thinking up ideas and what research we could collect to help us in our design. Most people live with someone who they don't get on with, but my view was that if you don't get on with someone you don't really feel the urge to make yourself friends with them. Its a bit more tricky if you live with someone in this situation as you would feel like avoiding them. We had a few humorous ideas flying around the table... such as how to get them to move out etc.

We could have been so creative with this idea (using something similar to the Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley - shown above as a starting point). Some people in the group clearly wanted to go down the "serious" route. My concern was that we were aiming this at students... As a student, if some piece of paper was advising me how to get on with my flatmates I would look at it in disgust... I think we all know by now how to get on with people and start a conversation enabling us to decide whether we get on (or not as the case may be) with another person.

As a group we decided to go down the route of a pack we could give to new students moving into shared accommodation where they may not get on with everyone. Basically, instead of solving the problem, we would just help the situation not to escalate and become a blood bath. Suggestions were bought for flatmates ward such as earplugs, if someone was really noisy or liked loud music at unsociable hours and a personlised dishcloth maybe saying something like "use me, I like filth!" for who don't clean up. We went away and decided as a group to do personal research into which approach might be the best and most useful.

WEDNESDAY 23.09.09

On Wednesday morning me and 2 others were ready to get going and went up to a free studio to share our findings, while 2 others were in the cafe waiting for the last member of our team. In the studio 3 of us were working really well together and we shared our research.

Karl had asked some of his friends for stories about bad flatmates and how they resolved the situation... It was clear through reading these that none of the issues got resolved, they just seemed to be living in a more uncomfortable living situation as the time went on. This made me think... theres no point in trying to make a serious product as nothing seems to work! Its life... done people you get on with, some people you don't. I suppose you just have to make the most out of a bad situation or keep it cool and quiet to avoid tension.

I bought in a pack which I received when I moved into my accommodation including things such as student guides and small samples. It was basically a survival pack for living away from home. The 3 of us though we would scrap the pack idea as it had clearly already been done and we wanted to be more creative.

I'm not sure how we got to the concept which we used for our idea... but we were just chatting about how a cup of tea seems to help any situation. It is calming and homely. "Make Tea Not War" was a line I have read in Yes Man by Danny Wallace. It was a hit with the other 2 instantly and we went to tell the others and get their views. I was anxious that they wouldn't be happy we had created an idea without them and really wanted to do it. Luckily the rest of the group took to it quite well and even though there was some murmors about how "we decided on the pack and should stick to that" no case was bought forward against the idea.

Jonny went to Costa and picked up some tea holders which was also an instant hit with most of the group. We decided quite quickly that was could do a product based around the "Make Tea Not War" slogan involving cups and tea bags. We were also thinking about presentation techniques and though it would be nice to present as a team wearing t-shirts with the slogan printed on. It was only after a while whilst buying cups and t-shirts that it became clear one member of our team was not a happy chappy. Richard refused to wear t-shirt and said that it wasn't viable to produce a product like this due to costing issues. I tried to get my point across that we are not product designers, we are graphic designers and we think up the initial ideas. This product is clearly not going to be put into production by the College of Art, so costing is not a major concern right now.

Tensions were rising in the group between a number of people so a good idea (which ties in great with make tea not war) was to go to a Costa and sit down, have a chat, and sort out any issues we were having as a group. It was decided as a group that the "Make Tea Not War" slogan would stick and we would continue to go down the route of a packaging design which housed 2 cups with printed slogans on, inside of which sat 2 tea bags with stories which should make the drinkers feel a bit better about the situation they were in... these stories would be printed on the tags and fold out. Gemma was going to design some tags, Rob would make a net/template for the packaging and the rest of us would think up brief designs for the packaging/mugs. I left this session in Costa feeling stressed and seriously not looking forward to the next day when we would share ideas. The group was not working well as a team and the cracks were on show for all the see. As a result... I wasn't in the mood to design and the creation I did produce was shockingly bad and obviously wasn't used! Phew! I asked quite a large number of my friends for their stories from sharing accommodation with people who you don't like and got some great responses which I though we could mix with Karls and use on the fold out tags.

THURSDAY 24.09.09

Thursday saw the first day we worked best as a team, yet also possibly the worst. We sat down first thing and shared our designs. It was great that everyone had done something.

Gemma had done some really student orientated tag designs with bright eye catching colours and illustrations. Rob had his layout. Richard had done a complete design of the packaging... all made and ready to present. It was quite frustrating when he got in a huff because the rest of the group didn't think it fitted with our audience. We all said "brief design" the previous day. Karl had done a wicked idea for the font. He had made tea stains though a stencil and created a whole identity for our product! I really liked his idea and so did everyone else. Richard wasn't happy with the group and felt as though his ideas were not being listened to and evidently walked out Thursday morning... However, we worked so much better as a group after he had left. We decided on the design for everything and everyone seemed pleased with where we were by the end of play Thursday. I booked us a spot to print on Friday morning and talked with the print guy about what we needed to print and worked out costing, sizes and numbers. I also bought tea-making supplies as we thought it might be quite nice and interactive to make tea for the group. We though it would illustrate our point quite well. We all took stuff home to do over the evening, ready to decide upon presentation techniques and printing Friday morning.

FRIDAY 25.09.09

Friday was a real rush. I love deadline day normally but this was something else... I found it really difficult to work as a team member on Friday and just found myself telling people what to do and asking why some things were not happening and where people were and what they were doing. I think we needed someone to take charge and organise the team, however sometime I may have gone a bit OTT and sounded more bossy than I should of. I was just concered that we would run out of time. Luckily, we finished everything just in time. The tea making was he only thing which held us up... and our digital presentation not working!

During the morning, as well as taking a more Team Leader role, I supplied the group with the work I had done the previous evening (quotes for he cups) and produced the tags in the same style as the packaging with the text supplied to me from Gemma. I also ran through the presentation with Jonny.

I think the rest of our group worked really well, giving the circumstances and we all showed different strengths/weaknesses. We kind of demonstrated without meaning to that there are some people who you just can't get on with... and there is no real way to resolve a situation like that other than grit your teeth and bear it, or alternatively... have a cup of tea. Make Tea Not War. Peace out x