This week we will have the opportunity to partake in the second and final rapid ideation session of the Development Practice module. The theme will once again be chosen live in this Wednesday's meeting.
Reflecting on my previous rapid ideation session, I wanted to once again try to develop a full app concept and design. I feel like after last week I learnt many time saving techniques. Seeing as I found UI design to be the most time-consuming step in the last sprint, I would like to challenge myself to build an even more effective design system and UI kit in Figma for this coming app. I would also like to try to include more steps from the empathising stage of the UX design process, like empathy mapping (time permitting). Quality human centred-design has a strong emphasis on empathy and it is usually the main focus of the development process (White, 2020).
In terms of technologies I'd like to use, Figma launched interactive components two days before my last sprint deadline (Figma, 2021). This is an amazing time-saving feature and so, because I didn't have the chance to really explore its potential fully in the last rapid ideation session, I'd like to test it out in this sprint.
This week we also studied version control techniques and how essential they can be for managing project progress, particularly when it comes to programming and software development. I learnt from the first rapid ideation sprint just how essential it is to work in a systematised and organised manner that enables me to be experimental and make mistakes while not risking losing all the work and progress I've made up to that point.
Although I am new to the concept of version control, the benefits of working in this way are endless. Spinellis (2005) recommends putting everything under version control - not just code but also design notes, help files, documentation and everything else that composes a project. Using a version control system allows you to work in a multi-directional free flow context and enables you to go back to earlier stages of your content creation without any data loss, increasing your efficiency and productivity (Somasundaram, 2013). Personally I've definitely experienced an increase in productivity and a decrease in the frustration I feel when I make errors and things don't work as planned, because I know that I can navigate back to older commits and identify where I went wrong. This gives me more peace of mind when learning new coding languages and pushing myself outside of my comfort zone.
Cooper, A. 1999. The inmates are running the asylum: Why high-tech products drive us crazy and how to restore the sanity. SAMS.
Figma, 2021. Create interactive components with variants. [online] Figma. Available at: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/360061175334-Create-interactive-components-with-variants [Accessed 4 November 2021].
Spinellis, D. 2005, "Version Control Systems", IEEE Software, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 108-109.
Somasundaram, R. 2013. Git Version Control for Everyone Beginner’s Guide : the Non-Coder’s Guide to Everyday Version Control for Increased Efficiency and Productivity Birmingham: Packt Pub.
White, S.K. 2020. "What is human-centered design? A product framework that embraces empathy", Cio.
