Hey guys Kimmy here its been a while but ive been in a state of life thought for instance all last year I was so worried what i wanted to do or what will become of me when I leave uni when i was only in SECOND YEAR!!! Anyway after doing bunch of events throughout May and finishing my anxiety project I began my journey of looking at product design as I hear over the waters their briefs are tailored to benefit someone which I strive to do! I then went to do a module called critical making which was a product design module and learned that what we made is in a way providing a service to people through craft an thats were my interest in service design came from and this blog is just my own personal journey to find out more and if I wanna go down that path (sound really dark!)
So what is this Global Service Jam!? Well its a bunch of people from around the world who work together in groups to make a service or product to benefit people. I mean personally Im trying to learn more about it myself i guess you could say im on a sort of journey :p
Dundee’s Global service jam happens of a space of a full weekend (48 hours) you sleep in between of course but its from Friday night till sunday afternoon. This years service Jam was in the Vision building and our task wasnt given to us later on in the night so besides being involved making the badges I also participated in the Jam there was an ice breaker which involved introducing yourself when jute was thrown at you and then that would create this massive (yet tangly ) web! (The highlight of that was when Mike Press got serious and took of his glasses hehe!) We then got different talks about service design and what it could do for us and also be encouraged to make a service I found it interesting s one point was about how there was one project about teaming up with NHS and using lego as a way of prototyping (its not just for kids!)
The big reveal came the theme globally was “HELL O-O_O” strange right!
We then split into large groups and placed sticky notes that would interpret what you would think this means. There was some that interpreted this to noise/sound, some people interpreted this as communication, some was about breaking the barriers. I found it very interesting how one Onomatopoeic word means something different to others. As we all congregated and then gravitated to a group which appealed to you and because of my love of music of course I gravitated to “SOUND”
We met our group and then further discussed the word “SOUND” things like looking at the deaf, sound through memory and looking into the physics of the sound (trust the product designers to think outside the box!)
Day 2 was about further developing the word “sound” so we took to the streets to ask the public about what they thought and they all came to the conclusion of music one in particular was when we went to ask a busker and his response to music was “Why isnt there a music scene in Dundee?” This is very true so collating from music an again looking at sound waves and acoustics as inspiration the Busk Box was born! At first we were solely thinking of the busker and his box but it seemed very enclosed and claustrophobic so a space seemed better. Now this was a place to give performers a platform to play love music for the public but also a space for the public to enjoy a great atmosphere.
Day 3 we decided to refine our idea by thinking more about our prototype and asking the public about “Busk Box” We felt that music increases positivity, something the streets of dundee lacked and also bring such colour into the town as colour influence the attitudes of people and how beautiful the atmosphere would be when the sun shone down. Alot of people loved our idea and would consider performing in there. This was a breakthrough for us but another strand that had to be considered is income (the boring business side :L) but its interesting we broadened out thoughts and thought what if we could hire this out right to festivals, perhap as well since it’s a space for the public it wouldnt be consumed with just music that would be a bit overwhelming in the one area; what if there was a space for coffee/ drinks and a space for art work such as prints or jewellery. A place for people to enjoy activities, each others company and bring a sense of escapism from the stress of everyday life.
Behind the Scenes we were preparing a structured business plan how would this work in terms of funding and workers these are the things to consider. So we carefully thought about this applying to national lottery fund maybe getting city council planning permission as well is a factor and also looking into crowd funding as well as it looks like something the public would actually want in there town. With this considered we also made a storyboard so that it would make sense of the public and what situation they might find themselves in i.e they come back from a work or a stressful period of shopping they hear music and sit down and enjoy it.
Next thing was to present our findings this was nerve wracking for me as I hate public speaking however throughout my course lately it seems like all i’m doing so if nothing its actually helping me overcome my fear! Mike Press did a talk about how to present and I was interested in body language and how to stand as I’m always that guy that sways! So foot in front of each other one hand with notes the other hand explaining (and not in pockets!) Projection was also key as i never know if i’m loud or quiet so I just project enough that i don’t feel like i’m screaming. I did feel slightly relaxed as i introduced the product but i feel i should’ve talked naturally instead of having my head in my notes as I love just talking about our though process, research and development as i was apart of that so i should be able to talk about it naturally. Moreover, we also had a short Q&A this enabled alot of tough questions in terms of funding but we rebutted quick, smart and sharp we were very confident in our concept.
Overall I enjoyed working with my group and the time I spent at this Jam it was both informative and working in such a cooperative group were we each played to each other’s strengths and we kept pushing each other in good ways. I have learned that such big projects like this service Jam cannot be done by yourself it is a group effort that requires likeminded passionate thinkers. The feeling of doing something to benefit someone else is a great experience well providing the public with a service be it product, space or even an app doing something to benefit another is a gift we give and the gift we have for yourself is our creativity and our passion to see it through. #BUSKERBOX
Kimmy xxx
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