REFLECTIVE ESSAY

I still remember the first class of the Design Thinking module, which started with brainstorming. Our first creative challenge was to write out as many uses for paperclips as we could. The second was to draw 30 circles into different things. This divergent thinking can improve our creative and design thinking ability. What are the characteristics of a design thinker? Brown (2008) mentioned that many non-professional designers have the talent of design thinking, which mainly includes Empathy, Integrative Thinking, Optimism, Experimentalism, and Collaboration. Empathy is a way to see the world from a different perspective and to inspire creativity through unique insights. Herrera (2018) mentioned in his article that design thinking is useful, but it requires the right talents and skills to lead us to innovation. It is crucial to develop other skills as well as design thinking.

One of the challenges we faced was to go to the supermarket or the mall with our team and observe people’s behavior and choose a product or service to redesign. The redesign challenge allow us to develop our business ideas, what we observe and feel, including dialogue, to empathize with users, then using ‘how might we…？’ to answer our solution.

The design thinking process consists of five stages: empathy, Define, Ideate, prototyping, and testing. In the first phase, we engage with our target customers, understand their ideas, and interact with them, and this can effectively help us what they need and want. In the second stage, we define our products according to our target customers and target markets. Next, we need to design a prototype for our product and finally test our idea. Stevens (2020) says that at each stage of the process, discoveries are likely to be needed, so go back and repeat the previous step. It is a process of improvement.

(Maurya, 2012) mentioned that Lean Canvas was designed for entrepreneurs, who should make assumptions about the business and verify the Canvas while making profits. The customer groups we target, what problems we need to solve for their needs, the values we advocate, our costs and revenue streams, using lean canvas can make us clearer about the goals and details of our business, it is a useful model tool to improve the success rate of entrepreneurship.

(Rise, 2011) claims that lean startups are a set of practices that help entrepreneurs increase a successful startup. Develop MVP, MVP means the minimum viable product. It is the product that we develop after we find the problem that needs to be solved, it is a low cost, once we start to build the MVP, we can start it, the startup also provides a set of scientific methods, namely five why to investigate, study and solve the problem. The simple understanding of customer needs and design, unique value promotion helps to find the market for products and services. (Maurya, 2012) as to the unique value proposition, it is simple, bright, and eye-catching information that explains why are different. The value proposition canvas describes the key elements that make up a product, such as its features, benefits, experiences, and what customers want and why they buy it. It all helps us understand our customers. (Thomson,2013) says the value proposition canvas is a relatively simple tool that can quickly start building and testing the product with the minimum viable clarity required.

We have another challenge. We have to visit the museum of design, then chose three of the most innovative products to present with classmates.  Behind each product, we should think about the relationship between design and life, behind every product from idea to the study, every little detail, are all designers observed after communication with user information and research results, we should pay more attention to every detail of our life, innovation is the need to be unique insight. Design is the process of creating things intentionally, considering its purpose, function, economy and aesthetics at the same time (Schaefer, 2015).

Face-to-face interviews can effectively understand people’s real thoughts. We need to observe and think about what is most important to them from the perspective of design thinking in a relaxed conversation atmosphere. Every design has a reason.  Their existence is meaningful, and their design is for a reason. In the world, only when there is a need, can there be a solution.

The Empathy Map is to help us build empathy with others. It is not only a convenient tool, but also a way of thinking in design. Empathy map is used to describe what we feel, think and hear from different perspectives. (Bland, 2016) says empathy is a collaborative tool that teams use to get to know their customers. Empathy map canvas visually presented as a result, on what they heard and felt, for example, what are their gain and pain, with that information can effectively develop the demand of people, can provide a solution, it is a collaborative practice, the team everyone to participate in, can understand customer’s past behavior also can predict the future behavior. (Clayton et al., 2016) mentionthat to create products that people need. Companies need to focus on what customers want to accomplish. Customers buy products for a reason.

(Boag，2019) said customer journey mapping as a population tool for visualizing the customer’s experience. A customer journey map is a tool that helps me understand motivations, needs, and fears. Visually represent the relationship between the customer and the business through storytelling. From understanding the customer, collecting and evaluating the user’s data through access, collection, and then building a user model to complete the customer journey finally. Customer journey map includes user requirements, trigger purposes, contact points, tell a story from the customer’s point of view, deeply understand the customer’s thoughts, needs, understand the customer’s overall experience, to provide customers with a differentiated buying experience. Customers’ experience in purchasing products, reasons for purchasing products, concerns, or reasons for stopping purchasing products, we all need to focus on the needs of customers at a particular stage. The customer journey map is a useful tool.

Our business starts from the lean canvas, we put our ideas on the canvas, from customer segmentation, we clear our target customers, only for the clear target customers, the product can be more targeted, closer to the needs of customers. The second is to address the needs, develop our MVP, and test our ideas. Only by grasping the target customers and advocating unique values can we achieve uniqueness and let users perceive our core values and then choose our products and users.

Dragons’ Den, this is our first Dragon’s Den, we have to show the judges, teachers, and students our business ideas, in front of many students, I was very nervous. We presented our ideas, the inspiration behind the ideas, and as a team, we presented our business to the judges within the time frame, and we got feedback, some issues that we did not think about. The idea is a clothing trading platform. The idea was inspired by ourselves, we three team members are all Asians, we encounter the same problem when they are shopping in the UK is hard to find the right clothes, so from this point, we want to create a platform to help, and we have the same problem of Asian girls.

The six key elements of branding include visual brand identity, brand voice, brand personalization, brand tagline, and sensory branding. The brand is not only a sign, but it is also a guarantee, is a kind of differentiation, is a kind of added value. Movahhed (2016) says the brand is a commitment to the buyer, how they feel about buying the product, and how they feel about using it. We describe our ads in emotional, physical, and cognitive terms. Advertising with a strong sense of rhythm, potent, will leave a deep impression. We also created social accounts like Instagram and Facebook, built our online social platform, and increased our brand awareness.

Our first Trade Fair was held on campus. Our goal was to test our customers and promote our brand and concept. One of the lessons we learned about the business, about the publicity, was that our booth was too messy to attract customers, and because we had multiple electronic devices, we seemed to be advertising for electronic devices, and that was something we needed to change. We also got feedback that our logo needed to be redesigned, and the poster did not look right. After introducing our products to others and repeating them over and over again, I could feel that the other side was listening to me carefully from their eyes and smile, and I also gained confidence.

Eden Walk Trade Fair, this is the first time for us to show our products outside the campus. This time, we are not only facing students and teachers of the school, but also real customers. We have prepared exquisite posters and postcards for the market, as well as our website model.  (Steenburgh et al., 2018) mentioned that selling new products requires higher intensity and more attention, so we need to attract customers, talk to customers, sell our products, answer their questions. Fortunately, several people expressed interest in our business and left their contact information. It not only encouraged us, but it was also a sense of trust and recognition, and of course, we got some advice that helped us refine our ideas. Our business card has our brand name, logo, website, and contact information.

Psychologist (Campbell, 2017) says collaboration is a key factor in building a small business. When the corporate environment focuses on collaboration, team members feel part of something bigger than themselves. Everyone on the team should play their role, do their job well, feel inclusive, improve work efficiency, and stick together for a common goal. It is not only in the study group, in the future work and life, to establish a good connection with others will also help us succeed, and the communication with others can better understand ourselves, to move forward. When faced with a challenge, the most important thing is that we can come together, tolerate and support each other, and actively face the challenge. We keep a record of the management of the project and update it after each meeting. The following figure is part of project time management.

Finally, two semesters of business projects, from development, to build, to run, to sell. My team and I not only learned a lot of skills and knowledge but also had an unforgettable time. We are passionate, we are frustrated, we regain confidence, we get encouragement and feedback. We use our knowledge learned in class, management and operation of our business, we harvest advice from teachers and classmates, for me, this is a wonderful year full of passion, to develop our business through social media, learn knowledge of entrepreneurship, creative leadership and coordinated ability, these skills are of great help to my future career. Design thinking, project management, time management, teamwork, social media, business reporting, these are the most valuable lessons.

References

Brown, T. (2008) Design Thinking, Harvard Business Review.

Bland, D. (2016) Agile coaching tip: What is an empathy map? Available at: https://www.solutionsiq.com/resource/blog-post/what-is-an-empathy-map/(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Boag, P. (2019) What is customer journey mapping and how to start? Available at: https://boagworld.com/audio/customer-journey-mapping/(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Clayton, C., Hall, T., Dillon, K. and Duncan, D. (2016) ‘Know Your Customers’ “Jobs to Be Done”’, Harvard Business Review September 2016, pp. 54–62.

Campbell, S. 10 simple was to build a collaborative, successful work environment. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/302126(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Herrera, L. Design Sprint is a flavor of design thinking which is a flavor of EDP, they all work and the three are processes. Available at: https://medium.com/@ludvikherrera/design-sprint-is-a-flavor-of-design-thinking-which-is-a-flavor-of-edp-they-all-work-and-the-three-5481760e90d6(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Maurya, A. (2012) Why Lean Canvas vs Business Model Canvas? Available at: https://blog.leanstack.com/why-lean-canvas-vs-business-model-canvas-af62c0f250f0 (Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Movahhed, M. (2016) Brand Strategy: The 6 key elements. Available at: https://www.handshake.com/blog/brand-strategy-key-elements (Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Ries, E. (2011) The Lean Startup: how constant innovation creates radically successful businesses. Portfolio Penguin, London.

Steenburgh, T., Ahearne, M. How to sell new products. Harvard Business Review.

Stevens, E. (2020) What is design thinking, and how do we apply it? Available at: https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/what-is-design-thinking/(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Schaefer, K. (2015) Designing with purpose. Available at: https://medium.com/experimenting-on-purpose/5-designing-with-purpose-9ab8c1e42a13(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Thomson, P. (2013) Value Proposition Canvas Template. Available at: https://www.peterjthomson.com/2013/11/value-proposition-canvas/(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Bibliography

Brown, T. (2008) Design Thinking, Harvard Business Review.

Bland, D. (2016) Agile coaching tip: What is an empathy map? Available at: https://www.solutionsiq.com/resource/blog-post/what-is-an-empathy-map/(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Boag, P. (2019) What is customer journey mapping and how to start? Available at: https://boagworld.com/audio/customer-journey-mapping/(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Clayton, C., Hall, T., Dillon, K. and Duncan, D. (2016) ‘Know Your Customers’ “Jobs to Be Done”’, Harvard Business Review September 2016, pp. 54–62.

Campbell, S. 10 simple was to build a collaborative, successful work environment. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/302126(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Herrera, L. Design Sprint is a flavor of design thinking which is a flavor of EDP, they all work and the three are processes. Available at: https://medium.com/@ludvikherrera/design-sprint-is-a-flavor-of-design-thinking-which-is-a-flavor-of-edp-they-all-work-and-the-three-5481760e90d6(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Maurya, A. (2012) Why Lean Canvas vs Business Model Canvas? Available at: https://blog.leanstack.com/why-lean-canvas-vs-business-model-canvas-af62c0f250f0 (Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Movahhed, M. (2016) Brand Strategy: The 6 key elements. Available at: https://www.handshake.com/blog/brand-strategy-key-elements

(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Ries, E. (2011) The Lean Startup: how constant innovation creates radically successful businesses. Portfolio Penguin, London.

Steenburgh, T., Ahearne, M. How to sell new products. Harvard Business Review.

Stevens, E. (2020) What is design thinking, and how do we apply it? Available at: https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/what-is-design-thinking/(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Schaefer, K. (2015) Designing with purpose. Available at: https://medium.com/experimenting-on-purpose/5-designing-with-purpose-9ab8c1e42a13(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Thomson, P. (2013) Value Proposition Canvas Template. Available at: https://www.peterjthomson.com/2013/11/value-proposition-canvas/(Accessed: 08 April 2020)

Dragon’s Den

In order to prepare for the last Dragon’s Den, we spent a lot of time to practice. We needed to present our business in an attractive way in less than 6 minutes, including the problems we had to solve, the customers we were facing, our marketing strategy, and our financial situation. We have prepared clear and simple slides and a business report for this purpose. This time we gave a good speech, although our business did not make profits, but we still remain confident, after several experiences, we have done better, we are confident to show our company, show our brand and logo. The judges began asking for more business information and came up with Suggestions. I did better this time than before. I didn’t prepare the cards, and I think this is the result of my continuous practice.

At the time of printing, we spent a high cost, because we wanted the business report to look more beautiful. But it was all worth it for the final Dragon’s Den. On the financial side, we are currently in a state of loss because we do not have any orders. We kept track of every investment, and we realized that we had to get orders in as soon as possible and control our costs in order to make a profit.

Teamwork

I am also very grateful for this opportunity of teamwork. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. When people from different cultural backgrounds form a team, it becomes more important to learn from each other and communicate with each other. Everyone has a different way of speaking and doing things, but when we get together, we are all united by a common goal. We divided up our business report. Together we completed the design, as well as the printing. We assign tasks and timelines to each other, and when that happens, we combine our individual work, discuss and revise it over and over again. We found the data to support our report, we prepared our speech with enthusiasm, so although we didn’t win the prize, in my mind we succeeded, and we learned new skills, Like customer journey maps, empathy. In the face of challenges, we feel frustrated and struggle, but in the end we succeeded, In this process, we are constantly improving and learning.

Social Media Networking

We set up an Instagram account for our business because young people like to use it now. We use Instagram to promote our business and post on our trade fair, hoping to attract interested customers, although we only have three followers at the moment.

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

I am very grateful that this module can provide such an opportunity for me to choose practical projects in the creative industry that I am interested in and develop our skills in the process of practice. My personal project presentation began with CONNECT4CLIMATE, a journey that taught me about project management, development, and delivery. A project from research, management, development, final project delivery, this is a big challenge for me, because it is an independent, individual project practice.

TIMELINE

In order to complete project delivery, a complete timeline is necessary. The timeline will organize the content in chronological order, comb the content, present the content neater, and process the information more clearly. Because information is continuously flowing, keeping the timeline up to date can make work more efficient for most people. I made a timeline according to my situation, supervised myself to follow the schedule to work every week, and changed some information timely. My work became orderly and efficient; for example, I have recorded the work results of last week and update the work tasks of next week.

RESEARCH

First of all, I have a deep understanding of my brief, which is simply how to solve what kind of problem. For my project, in one sentence, to find an idea that will inspire 15-25 years old to change their sustainable lifestyles. I started my project journal from research, my research methodology is including basic research, primary research, secondary research, contextual research, and unstructured interviews. I did basic research on Connect4Climate background, conducted an online questionnaire survey on my target audience, collected secondary data and information online, and conducted online interviews with the target audience. Jenn claims that surveys and questionnaires can be used to gather information about the opinions and preferences of a particular group. So I used a questionnaire to find out what 15-25 years old like, collect information about them.

BRAINSTORM AND ANALYZE DATA

Hal Gregersen said that Brainstorming for questions makes it easier to venture into uncharted territory. After collecting the data and information we need, we need to brainstorm, design a solution to the problem according to all the information, have ideas first, and then analyze. When faced with multiple tasks, as mentioned in the Forbes Coaches Council by the Eisenhower model, prioritizing tasks in four simple steps and completing urgent tasks first is a fantastic way to reduce stress and increase efficiency.

NETWORKING AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Networking is also essential during your project journey, which brings new ideas, new business relationships, and especially later in your career. As Arianna O ‘dell says, networking can be scary, but focusing on building relationships goes a long way. Effective communication can achieve our goals, and empathy is the key to effective communication. In interpersonal relationships or the workplace, be able to understand the emotions and thoughts of others, know what to say in what situations, and put yourself in their shoes. Effective communication from the first impression, for example, Human resources review countless resumes, but only a few will be impressed. Also like speech, most people can not remember the speech bland, JD Schramm argues in the paper says that you never have a second chance to make the first impression, letters, and oral communication, we all need to know what we can write the word to read and hear people leave a deep impression, whether can attract their attention. Nonverbal communication is also very important. It is an expression of a person’s emotional state, such as body language, which is often spontaneous. Gestures, eye contact, even though they are not speaking, they are still conveying information in a non-verbal way. Silence is another way of conveying information.

RESILIENCE

Resilience is more important than education or experience (Couto, 2002). In life and study, we will face various challenges every day, and flexibility can exercise people’s perseverance. Starting from self-knowledge, understanding of themselves, and reliable communication, active in the organization, when encountering difficulties to seek help actively, accept others’ help, accept changes to achieve our purpose. According to the do as Diane Coutu says, some people suffer real hardships and not falter? It was relience. In the course of my exploration, I also practiced a lot about elasticity. Like creativity, flexibility is one of the great puzzles of human nature, Coutu said. Why some people under pressure to give up, but some people can go forward, never give in to the difficulties.

STAR INTERVIEW

The STAR interviews are techniques that help candidates prepare for interview questions. The STAR approach can be used in behavioral interviews to provide resilience, and STAR can help me answer questions more logically. In answering the open mode question, we can use the star method, S – Situation, T – Task, A – Action, R – Results. When we are in an interview, we can use this strategy to answer questions about relevant work experience. As long as the answers are honest and positive, and the answers are short, share the written story confidently during the interview, it will stand out.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Why do we need personal development programs? The personal development plan is a written statement of self-knowledge, defining goals, and identifying your strengths and weaknesses. You can specify a detailed plan for how to achieve your goals. We can set short-term goals and long-term goals according to different situations and achieve our goals by learning new knowledge and skills. Make a list of skills that need to be developed and learned, and use a flexible approach to make adjustments regularly, removing goals that have already been achieved or are not meaningful. One of my short-term goals was to become a professional speaker, and through constant practice, I succeeded in the final speech of design thinking.

20 Key Emotional Skills

To help the development of enterprises and individuals, from individuals to teams, how we can better give and receive. Twenty emotional skills that help us face challenges, Adaptability, Calm， Charm, Communication, Confidence, Creativity, Decisiveness, Diplomacy, Effectiveness, Eloquence, Empathy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership, Objectivity, Playfulness, Purpose, Resilience, Self-awareness, Supportiveness.

Understanding myself and Critical Career Strategies

First of all, understand your learning style, find your interests and First of all, understand your learning style, find your interests and differences, make a personal career list, then do market demand analysis, stay curious, continuously improve yourself, make plans in advance, and update information. Use networking as a way to connect with partners, explore resources and opportunities, spend 10 minutes a week networking, interact with people with whom you have few connections, and benefit from each other. As Susan Roughley claimed in 6 strategies, learning, adapting, and repeating.

Four kinds of tendency, they are Upholder, Questioner, Rebel, Obliger. Before I did the test, I thought I was Obligers. I thought I am an employee who needs to have a boss, and I am waiting for the tasks assigned by my boss every day. However, after I finished the test, I was surprised to find that I was UPholder. “Upholder is easy to make a habit of and has good implementation, self-motivated and productive,” said Rachel McCrickard. The attendants readily respond to external expectations and strive to meet internal expectations. The Questioner is to put forward the reasons for all expectations, and only when you are convincing of its rationality can you meet the expectations. The advantage of Questioner is that it has a durable logic and tends to think creatively. Rebel, on the other hand, rejects all expectations and is a champion of freedom and self-expression. They only choose to satisfy what they want and listen to their voice.

In an individual project research journal, I not only experienced the project practice but also explored the skills in other fields. In the face of the challenge of the specific learning and breakthrough myself, by solving problems, will learn skills to realize its value, I also learned to creative thinking, through the weekly work logging process, from project management, time management, background check, brainstorming, design ideas, and deliver results. This valuable experience laid the foundation for my future work. Every week, I get feedback and encouragement from my classmates and teachers, which is an indispensable strength for me to move forward.

REFERENCES:

Coutu, D. (2002) ‘How Resilience Works’, Harvard Business Review.

Forbes Coaches Council. (2017) 18 Ways To Get Better At Working Under Pressure, Forbes.

Gregersen, H. (2018) ‘Better Brainstorming’, Harvard Business Review.

O’Grady, J. V., O’Grady, K. V. (2017). A Designer’s Research Manual, Updated and Expanded: Succeed in Design by Knowing Your Clients and Understanding what They Really Need. Rockport.

O’Dell, A. (2020) ‘How to be a networking pro when you’re shy and would rather stay home’. Fastcompany.

McCrickard, R. (2018) Upholder, Obliger, Questioner and Rebel: The keys to your productivity. (online) Available at: https://medium.com/@rachel_13162/upholder-obliger-questioner-and-rebel-the-keys-to-your-productivity-f0fbe811b282 (Accessed: 2 April 2020)

Roughley, S (2019) Critical Career Strategies for Disruptive Times. (online) Available at: https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.kingston.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1111/drev.12187(Accessed: 2 April 2020)

Schramm,JD. (2010) ‘Effective Communication Begins with a First Impression’, Harvard Business Review.

The School of Life (2018)The Emotionally Intelligent Office: 20 Key Emotional Skills for the Workplace. London: The School of Life, pp. 31-46.

Continue to research

Funding：

This week I found some evidence of consciousness and behavior, and I summarized my findings in several ways. The key Numbers section has been highlighted in the weekly project log. First of all, from the public awareness of climate change, eight out of ten people I’ve found are concerned about Climate Change, and only two out of ten say they don’t care about it. Secondly, in terms of sustainable consumption of daily life, the survey shows that 84 percent agree that car motor is the main cause of urban air pollution, while only 8 percent disagree, and the remaining 8 percent are not sure whether it is the cause. Interestingly, when asked if you would buy a car if you could afford it, 49 percent said they would probably buy it, and 27 percent said absolutely. The results showed that although they knew the source of the pollution, it did not affect their consumption patterns. So I looked at the consumption patterns of young people.

Only 11% and 7% respectively see their purchase of food and clothing as having animpact on the environment.

There are 20,000 corporate enterprises with over two million employees in China so far. China’s express delivery volume occupies 40 percent of the world, has 217,000 branches and a township coverage rate which exceeds 86 percent. Thanks to the development of O2O services, express packages reached 31.1 million in 2016, and food express reached 3 million. These amazing figures can be seen in the rapid growth of consumption model while the development of e-commerce.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by WU HONG/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock (9975946d) A delivery company courier sorts packages at a university in Beijing, China, 13 November 2018.

These consumer behaviors can actually be changed if we focus on sustainable lifestyles.

Questionnaire Survey

I changed my way and used questionnaire survey instead of interview, because I think the results obtained in this way may be more representative. There are 33 people participating in this questionnaire survey, all of whom are young people aged 15-25. My questions begin with do you understand the concept of sustainability, and whether they care about the topic, and end with open-ended questions about what sustainable lifestyles they have made, and record my findings in my engineering journal.

Feedback and Summarize

A good understanding of sustainable development is different from environmental protection. Chinese young people make the coolest right choice in fashion brands. Next plan, I am going to research these, and find strongly visual evidence.

For me, not only am I following my project schedule to finish an assignment, but I am working on a real project professionally in a creative environment, which is different. In the creative practice, I need to develop my entrepreneurial skills and behaviors to better create value, which is what a professional needs to do.

How to built resilience?

Better self-knowledge helps us find the right job for ourselves. Know our personality, interests, abilities, and resilience. In fact, resilience is more important than education or experience (Couto, 2002). Life is not all good, in the daily life, we will always face various challenges. Each of these changes affects people in different ways, and people adapt well over time, Of course, this is not to say that people with resilience will not encounter difficulties, but people with good resilience in the face of difficulties are more likely to face and solve difficulties.

First, be empathetic and connect with trustworthy people. Get active in your organization and connect with friends, social media or networking. Self-knowledge, understanding yourself, accepting your imperfections, being optimistic and facing challenges. Just as we encounter obstacles when we are working on a project, if we talk to the people around us, we can get some feedback and encouragement from them, which plays a great role in our way of thinking. We can accept changes to achieve our desired goals. When I am in trouble, I will bravely ask for help and look back on what I have learned from this experience.

The Star interviews are techniques that help candidates prepare for interview questions. The STAR approach can be used in behavioral interviews to provide resilience, STAR can help me answer questions more logically.

• S – Situation
• T – Task
• A – Action
• R – Results

When we are in an interview, using this strategy to answer about our relevant work experience can be very concise and logical. We can organize a passionate story according to the four parts above.

Reference：Coutu, D. (2002) How Resilience Works https://hbr.org/2002/05/how-resilience-works%C2%A0 (accessed 15 March 2020)

Branding and The Oscars

In order to better promote our products, a personalized brand is what we need to build, a strong brand comes from a place of truth about what a business authentically represents, and about what its products means to its customers.https://offers.hubspot.com/essential-guide-to-branding-your-company?offset=15&_ga=2.173867626.876186379.1581156291-778417191.1581156291

In preparation for the Oscars on Friday, our team made an advertising that made our product look cool，after discussion, we finally chose the simplest way to present our products. The music with a strong sense of rhythm and subtitles can make it easier for customers to understand our products, which can strike people’s minds and hearts both visually and aurally, leaving a deep impression. Wow, this is very cool!

Emotional: The coolest clothes trading platform. Physical: This is a platform, click to register, choose your favorite clothes can be traded. Cognitive: Don’t worry it is hard to buy or sell your clothes.

Brand is not just a sign, it is authenticity, it is assurance, it is differentiation, it is added value, it is the transformation of experience.Visual brand recognition is all that consumers can see. Brand personality is a series of human characteristics found in a brand. Brand slogan is the value we advocate. Why should consumers choose our products?https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/15407/pages/week-15-branding-packaging-and-display-design

Source: Design thinking for start-ups

Source: Design thinking for start-ups

We had the Oscars on Friday, and each group’s AD video was analyzed based on the content shown above. We also give their own ads are analyzed. Even we didn’t win, but we all happy and get many feedback, it is make sense. For our advertising, on the one hand, our advertisement is very simple, simple consumers can understand the important information, and secondly, has a strong impact on visual and auditory, enough to leave deep impression, it also helps us attract the attention of consumers, on the other hand, insufficient place is that we need to slow down the speed of subtitles, and did not appear in the video of our products, it’s not like a real advertising. We need the trust of customers to trust our brand through our advertising.

For consumers, brand is the image and feeling that affects consumers’ choice and purchase. A good brand can set up a good image for merchants and give them a good emotion, so as to better sell products.

Coca Cola ads are emotional, trying to target younger customers, trying to create a lifestyle that is both fun and hip, trying to connect the brand with the passion of the younger generation. Brand differentiation is the means by which your brand is set apart from the competition, by associating a superior performing aspect of your brand with multiple customer benefits.

Customer Journey Mapping

What is customer journey mapping?

Paul Boag said customer journey mapping as a population tool for visualizing the customer’s experience. what that mean? how to use this tool?

First of all, customer journey mapping is not a accurate express, it is impossible to represent each customer’s experience(Paul Boag). In short, it’s like a tool that helps me understand the motivations, needs, fears, and one of the best tools in business is the customer journey map, which USES storytelling and visuals to illustrate the customer’s relationship to the business over time. Telling a story from the customer’s perspective to gain insight into the customer’s overall experience will create a memorable first impression and provide my customers with a differentiated buying experience.

From the first time found that research, purchasing, shipping, and then to after-sales, the journey of a process is customer map tells the story of the user experience, it not only tells the user purchase experience, also includes some of the problems, such as fear, what is the risk to stop the customer buy my product or service, the cause of their concerns, strong motivation, it allows us to perceive the user to let us know more about our customers. Combined with our startup, our customers can find us through advertising, contact us, and then connect with other customers through our platform.

Customer journey mapping generally starts from understanding the users, collecting and evaluating the knowledge about the users, through access, collection and other methods, then pays attention to the users’ original words, analyzes our understanding, then creates a customer model, completely describes the customers’ goals and behaviors of using my products or services, and finally completes the customer journey. Content includes user needs, purpose of triggering, touchpoints(such as The user interaction), user emotions(such as thoughts, feelings and reactions in the experience), weaknesses, and influence.

The last time I bought it was the day before yesterday when I bought chocolate in waitrose. Because waitrose is very close to my accommodation, the chocolate I bought was given to me before. I think this brand of chocolate tastes very good, so I remembered it, went to the mall and bought it directly. I know what I need. I know the brand, I know the benefits, the features, I know the experience.

From the perspective of the enterprise, this helps us to find opportunities in the bottleneck period encountered by customers, so that all departments and members of the enterprise can understand the interaction between customers and the enterprise from a complete customer perspective, evaluate the level of customers and existing problems, optimize customer experience and improve customer journey. It not only focuses on a certain link, but the whole process of experience. It avoids paying too much attention to details and intuitively expresses what customers want at a certain stage. This is the most useful tool I learned in Friday class, and I think I can use this tool to help me understand my clients better in my future work.

Reference：Paul Boag(2019) What is customer journey mapping and how to start?

Communicating effectively

Good communication skills are necessary for everyone. Effective communication is essential in the workplace, so how do we communicate effectively?

Effective communication begins with the first image, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, Schramm JD wrote. How to design an effective communication, choose the most important and meaningful for the audience. Just as when we apply for a job in the workplace, why many resumes in the vast crowd of results, the human resources department every day to read countless cover letters, write a strong theme, the theme to attract attention is very necessary, consider the first image and make it work.

In interviews, communication begins with our listening skills and our body language. Body language is the use of physical behaviors, expressions and habits for nonverbal communication(Julian Adams). When we communicate with people, we are usually accompanied by nonverbal communication. Your eyes, your gestures, they’re all sending a message to the listener. Even if you’re not speaking, you’re communicating in a non-verbal way. As with every speech, the volume of the voice, the body language, the eye contact between the speaker and the audience, all convey a message. For example, someone may be very nervous, his body will shake, These are all manifestations of emotional states, it can be conscious or unconscious.

The level of our voices when we speak, our intonation. A sentence can have more than one tone, the meaning of different tone expression is different, express your emotions, is anger, anger, sarcasm, self-confidence, love. Good communication skills can solve a lot of problems.

References：
Schramm, JD(2010) Effective Communication Begins with a First Impression, Harvard Business Review.

WEEK 2 Research

This week I focus on the specific sustainable development movement of young people in China. I changed my project timeline. This week I will put an interview next week, so I searched the Internet and my project related articles, watch some video, finally chose two vlog as my research proves that China’s young people use and cans can be repeatedly used bag instead of plastic bags, and personal care for the environment of behavior, and NGOs, the action of picking up the plastic along the coast.

About the feedback, This week I got a lot of good advice, I should focus on a particular area, for example, 15 to 25 people to understand the degree of sustainable development, what is this group of people’s attitude, they know not to know why, or why they don’t want to pay attention to this topic, how they change individual behavior, What obstacles did they meet, what is their impact on the whole, I should be how to communicate with people without a sense of sustainability. Focus on why, Why do they do this. Some of the Research strategies I might use are Basic Research, Contextual Inquiry, Primary Research, Unstructed Interview. I might interview the sample population online, maybe starting with simple questions like do you know what sustainability is, and then being a little more specific. I want to know more about the views of Chinese young people on sustainable lifestyle through interviews, know what they really think, care or don’t care.

I know it’s not easy, but I will follow up my project every week and gain something every week. I am also very happy to receive feedback from my classmates and teachers every week, which is very helpful for me. I will continue my research, gather more information, combine data with information.

The First Trade Fair

On Thursday we had our First Trade Fair. The goal is to test our clients with Minimum Viable Product. The day before we were struggling with many of our problems, we didn’t know how to explain more details about our business, such as website, cost, delivery. We worry about this and worry about that.

Although we didn’t win this time, we get the feedback from the referee and the suggestion, and for me, this is a let me the opportunity to communicate with people more confident, and when I say to the customer and the referee our idea, repeated over and over again, I tried to concise and clear to explain our enterprise, so that they can understand, although sometimes or not to be understood, but after a few times to explain clearly what we mean.

Our business is mainly to provide a platform for Chinese people living and studying in the UK to buy or sell their second-hand clothes and to connect them. And our target audience is women only. This inspiration mainly came from ourselves. Our team consisted of two Chinese girls and a Korean boy. We found it difficult to buy clothes of our own size, so we came up with this idea. Before we started this idea, we also learned from the surrounding Chinese students studying in the UK that some of them bought clothes from China and transferred them to the UK and then wanted to sell them second-hand, which further confirmed our idea. Compared with other competitors, our brand is more Asian style and more fashionable. We also have a cool name, serendipity, in English.

We not only got feedback and Suggestions from the trade fair, but also learned something from other groups. First of all, our logo makes us look like we have something to do with the garden, nothing to do with our business, and we’re going to make our logo look more designed. Secondly, the pictures of our prototypes do not suggest Chinese style, so we will look for Chinese style clothes again. At first glance, our showroom was a mess, with two electronic devices, giving the impression that we were selling electronics. Looking at the backpacks on the chairs, I seem to advertise them as well, although these are small details, but make us look less professional, these are things we need to improve. In addition, we observe that other groups have brochures on the stage, which seems very professional, and next time we will design our own brochures or CARDS, not too complicated, as simple and clear as possible. There were some questions we didn’t take into account, and one of the judges asked if we could take her handmade clothes if she wanted to sell them through us. Perhaps we should think more about how we should respond to the unexpected problems. I am looking forward to the trade fair on February 23, when we will show our ideas more professionally！