Final Presentation/Wrapping Up
Posted on | May 18, 2009 | No Comments | by Scott
We had our final presentation last Wednesday during our final session for our New Media Team Project class. All in all I think it went pretty well. We were one of the last groups that got a chance to present and because of that I felt like we were a bit rushed. It would have been cool to showcase some more of the videos that the group created as well as demostrate more of the site. But all in all I believe that the class got a fairly good picture of the concept and final product.
I’d also like this opportunity to post what each of us in the group took away from the project and what we learned:
randy church – even after weeks of design and concept, the visual direction of a project is far from done. during development it becomes obvious what works, and both the development and developers need to be flexible enough to implement and expand the project as needed. designers and animators are also along for the ride as new visual solutions are always needed. delegation is a great way to get pieces of the project finished, but nothing compares to sitting down as a group and working through problems. group meetings, at least once a week, help keep the project consistent and on schedule.
isabel yerkes – sticking to a schedule is important. we needed to stay on track over a fair amount of time, which wasn’t easy. we set our own deadlines and had to enforce them.
scott lanning – lots of testing by both the creators and user is always key. you find many bug and little quirks with your program when you or your users test the program.
matt austin – working with a team has its obstacles, but when a group of people get together and create something from absolute nothing, it’s pure amazement. our project had its ups and downs, but as a team we managed to fight through conflicting schedules, numerous sandbox issues, and a bit of senioritis and create the site we had hoped for. these past 20 weeks have been a testament to the hard work and dedication to those who put forth the effort to make this project great, and serves as a perfect primer for the real world.
joanna belding – the dynamics of a team really rely on leadership and organization. we worked well as a team because we got along and took each other seriously. however, i think i speak for all when i say if we’re ever faced with an large team situation again, we would make sure to delegate responsibilities more clearly. each person would have smaller assets and portions of the project to work on, instead of everyone trying to individually make an entire version of the project themselves, and then have to choose between each. that way, design, interaction, and then finally development all get done within set timeframes.
brooks eastman - i think the biggest problem we had was getting the design concept down. we had all four designers make seperate designs for several iterations and this made the process take far too long. in the future, i think a better practice would be to have all the designers work more closely with their comps, have the differences between them be smaller, as well as work with the development side to more understand how their designs will be integrated with the interface. basically, instead of doing design > development, the process should be more unified. the closer everyone works together the more people are on the same page, and the faster everything gets done.
niraj shah – having all the developers on the same page is key. working on our code together with the rest of the team helped us during the development stages since we were able to help each other out when coming up with ideas and fixing bugs. also, having the developers be able to communicate in person while combining our code made the process significantly easier.
kristen curtze – i think we all learned how having a bit of excitement towards the project and each other can really influence the amount of work you are willing to put forth. i believe our team was fun and we always mixed business with pleasure, but we were sure to get stuff done. throughout the 20 weeks, i heard about a lot of drama within other teams. anytime i heard a bad account of this, i felt relieved that I actually enjoyed working with my teammates and often anticipated seeing what crazy things i’d take away from each meeting (mainly squeaky kittens and questionable song lyrics). did we goof off a lot? yes. but we still have a project of which we can all be proud. we worked hard and we played hard. i think it was a great mix and none of us are ready to kill one another!
as for respect, i think we all had each other’s backs throughout the 20 weeks. should one half of the group miss out on a meeting, the other half would likely show up the next time to balance out the time spent. i usually felt guilty should i not be able to make a meeting, but we respected each other enough to understand that sometimes you can’t make every meeting and to know that i or anyone else missing would likely make the next one. also, most of us ensured that everyone had something to work on or that the work was distributed. of course there are times that some members took on larger obstacles than others, but in the end everyone contributed a significant piece of the project. we respected each other as teammates and didn’t want to see anyone drowning in work. the concept saved anyone from having a mental breakdown and we all feel like we are a crucial part of the project. win/win.
Final Notes:
What was unique about this project was that we each took different roles in the project so each persons experience was a bit different, but all came together in a really exceptional learning experience. I think that everyone in the group learned so much and definitely considers this a very useful experience for what is ahead in the “real world”.
As a group we’re going to be submitting our project to the Adobe Design Achievement Awards, The FWA, and HOWmag Interactive Design Awards for their consideration.
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