Hello! I’ve recently completed a project in Maker called “Using Design to Influence Others’ Lives for Good!”. This project also tied into another project “Using The Reflective Process of Design”. This blog post will be a collective reflection on both. The driving questions for these projects were “How might I Using Design to Influence for Good?” and “How do I use the design cycle to achieve my goals?”. I did many different keystones to help answer the driving questions.
The first part of this project as the brainstorming. As a class we listened to different podcasts to get an idea of what makes a good podcast. We did multiple activities recording our opinions on the podcasts. We also took note of the elements of good storytelling effects. This was a really good start to the project because I started to understand the contents of a podcast and how I could go forwards making one.
After the research I moved onto the creation of my “Podcast Series Planner” within this creation there was many different parts associated with it that contributed to the certain of the podcast. On of the first activities I did with it this planner was my “Podcast vision board”. This was a collage about the topic of my podcast. The topic I chose was softball, specifically how it improves mental and physical health. This vision board had a few revisions, with the help from peers. Throughout this project I think I improved my creative thinking skills.
After my vision board I completed my podcast art. To create my podcast art, the front page of my podcast, I created many drafts. These drafts improved through the help of peers. I’m proud of my art because I think it truly shows the best aspects of my creative and critical thinking skills.
Throughout the rest of this series planner I listed the dates in which I would edit, record and publish. I also wrote and brainstormed the basis of each episode as well as building a tagline.
During the creation of the planner I started to work on developing my trailer, the final product for the project “Using Design To Influence Others For Good”. To create this trailer I did some practice with GarageBand by creating a few songs. I also knew I wanted an intro the was catchy so after many drafts I created a song for my podcast. Then I created transitions, such as a bat hitting a ball, to separate parts of my podcast. I recorded and edited my trailer and uploaded it to Spotify.
After my trailer I started to create my main episodes. I recorded during class and out of class time. Yet, before this I wrote rough script that either was word for word or brief ideas of what to expand on. Some portions of my script where an idea or event and I would use my own memory to explain what happened. These scripts were really important to the consistency of each episode.
I then was able to record my general script and interviews. After I would record there would be extra long pauses or hesitations that I would have to remove throughout the editing process. In the editing process I also included sound effect, intro and outro music to enhance the podcast.
After I would edit I would post my podcast.
I also decided to show opportunities to flex and I created advertisement throughout a social media account @diamonds_areagirlsbestfriend1. I decided to create a story every time I would post a story. I tried to flex my understanding in this project and I think this showed how I can do that with critical and creative thinking.
Overall, this project helped me imporved my presenting skills and thinking skills. Now my s answer to the question “How might I Using Design to Influence for Good?”. My podcast shows that I can influence for good by choosing to talk about a topic that I understand and have a motive behind why it can be beneficial. For the second question “How do I use the design cycle to achieve my goals?“ I think I can uses this cycle to achieve my goals by being organized and reflecting.
Thank you for reading! What would you make a podcast about?
Alicia 😀
Specially thanks to all those who were interviewees in my podcast: