Research for Project 3

For Project 3 a group of us in the class will be creating flat packed holiday decorations to send off to troops overseas. The project aims to serve as a reminder to individuals in the community that while it may not seem like we are at war, there are still troops serving overseas, and putting there lives at risk.

I like this project because it does not force you to accept the reasons that our troops are there, merely to recognize the sacrifice they are making. As well as encourage the individual to remember that the holidays are about thankfulness, not solely a time for presents under the tree. 

We are identifying and choosing the troops through a site call Any Soldier that allows one member from each platoon to set up an account and post requests.

http://anysoldier.com/

Inspiration for tree and ornaments: 

5 W's for Project Three

So these are the 5 W's for Project 3 as I see them.
Who: Busy holiday shoppers
What: A homey structure decked in holiday decor where they can take a moment during their hustle and bustle
Where: Outside of busy shopping areas
When: At various times nearing the holiday season
Why: To slow people down, and provide them with ideas of how to bring the holidays home.(Decorating ideas, gift ideas, expose them to local buyers guides
How: By utilizing the various skills of our awesome design team

Project 3: Brainstorming

For the final project in this class I wanted to do something associated to the holidays and the current economic situation. There for I thought that a local buying guide could be a good idea.

I found a few sites that are already addressing this subject.

Buy Local Baltimore

American made holiday gift buying guide

Green Businesses

So I am trying to come up with a way to keep the same topic but address it differently....

Social Design: Project 2 Reflection

For our third social design project I teamed up with Megan and Shannon.
The idea for the project originated from a conversation I had with Megan late one night that went something like this:
Me: "So! How are we going to save the world next?"
Megan:"I don't have time to save the world."
From which stemmed the idea of college age students "not having time to care"
This concept was brainstormed over numerous times, and finally arrived at the idea that we needed to find a way to get people to Pause, and think outside of their everyday routine.
We approached this by making snazzy business sized cards that gave the receiver of the card a task or question. I truly enjoyed working with Megan again and Shannon was a great addition to the group.
We each did designs for the cards, and I was a bit worried mine would not be up to par with theirs. In the end I feel that I did pretty well, and was glad to hear in class that it was difficult to determine their were multiple designers. In retrospect I wish we had printed more cards, but we can always do that in the future. Overall I feel it was an A worthy project.
Below is a link to our presentation of the project:
http://prezi.com/pwoigznx7m4o/pause/

If we were to persue the concept further I would like to see it take form of a game, along the lines of http://freerice.com/
That way we could set up categories of questions such as: Social/Political, Science, Math, and World View
In each category we could have questions pertaining to current events and important historical events. I feel it would be a fun and interactive way to engage students.