Reflecting on our design going into the the prototyping stages, it is evident that we may have overestimated how technical we could make our website. Originally we were looking at having an interactive game where you can scroll around the North Tyneside area and play along with in game challenges – it is now clear that we will not be able to design and create such a complex website. From this we have learned that design isn’t just a good idea, but also being able to fulfil. Now we are focusing on keeping the core principles of our design but making it more feasible and less design heavy. By doing this we should be able to have a sharper end product with less hiccups which should in turn create a better output for the end user. One thing that we have decided to stick with however is the website, as we can link it through the school as previously stated. We believe that this gives us the best approach to creating the most convenient and suitable channel to reach the young people and build a clear point of reference for where our digital prototype may sit. For us as a group digital civics has allowed us to from a new mindset in terms of planning and how we can use platforms to make a change on a more modern level that engages with a younger generation – something that is currently fundamental as we see a lack in interest from younger people with regards to their community. In addition digital civics has given us an opportunity to engage with stakeholders which is something new to all of us, and has therefore given us a new insight into something that we will come across in our planning careers. If were were to have had more time during the process of our project I think it would’ve been very beneficial to meet up with the stakeholders on a more frequent basis. Although this may be difficult, we believe that this would have provided a larger insight into what exactly our stakeholders want and in turn improve our final design. Finally another possibility with additional time would’ve been a more complex final output, and even though we still have time to do this, with an additional few weeks (like anything) we could’ve provided something that perhaps tackled more environmental problems within the Tyneside areas.
Hello team, this seems to be a combination of posts in response to questions issue for week eight (detailed prototyping) and for the final design log (as to the meaning of digital civics to you and what you take away from the project overall). There is a very interesting account as to the challenges of prototyping a product in all its complexity. You seem to have found a good middle ground by reducing the complexity of your prototype, perhaps by focusing on the essence of your eventual product (a quiz / game for educating young people on environmental protection of their neighbourhood). This kind of account may be very helpful to appraise your project in your final reflective log. I look forwards to your final submission.