PledgeMusic // Evaluation

This has been one of my favourite briefs of the year, as it was really refreshing to challenge myself to design in a way that is purely and wholly functional, driven by user interaction, functionality and commercial interests. This is a very different approach to work that either me or Andy have done in the past.  Through this brief, I was able to incorporate much of the spare-time reading I had been doing around UI and UX design and the tips and advice I had picked on placement at web agencies in the summer for the first time. Using the design sprint to its full potential, we structured our week in a very strict way. On the first day we conducted thorough research and were able to deeply understand the context that the PledgeMusic service existed in: It’s relationship between artists and users, competitors, features and identification of its existing and potential USP. This gave us a fantastic base form which to start designing. We wanted to redefine PledgeMusic with a focus on the ‘journey' of the artist through the funding process and shift focus away from rewards, where other competitors have an advantage. 

Our strategy for this brief was to make all design decisions on paper, redesigning elements with functionality, not aesthetics, as a primary concern. This proved to be a much stronger way of working for me. At the time, the class was working publicly in the gallery space and we were displaying all of our design sheets on the wall as we went along. At the end of day 2 we had covered the entire wall and it really made us appreciate the scale of the design challenge we had taken on. By working separately through the idea generation stage of the print, we had developed different solutions to identified problems with the current site. One of the bets parts of the project for me was conflict resolution, where we had to note down conflicting solutions of a post it note and go through to pick the best solution, compromise between them or develop something new. This reassured both of us that we had explored all possible avenues before choosing the most appropriate solutions. 

In the end I was extremely proud of the outcome, which demonstrated that I could utilise my time management and organisation skills and translate these into a functional design process to produce a considered and appropriate solution to the design problem. This is the kind of work I would love to do in the future and I was pleased to have the opportunity to develop some key web skills through this brief and feel that this is a strong addition to my portfolio.