HOW TO... Self Evaluation

What problem did you identify?How to buy a diamond engagement ring. The material out there currently is all rubbish, tacky material. We wanted to design a fresh version.

What evidence did you find to support your decisions?
Primary and secondary. Qualitative and Quantitative research was carried out to begin a plan. This involved gathering vast amounts of information on-line, followed by finding common trends within this gathered information. We then used this to write a suitable list of questions to ask friends and family. We did this because the questions regarding wedding rings were very personal and we felt only negative feedback would be given on the street as it were.  

What methods did you use to gather your evidence and what forms did it take?(categorise your research using terms primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative)
Primary: We asked family more personal questions about the topic. I also interviewed several peers to get their views on engagement rings as young adult males (target audience). This gave us mostly qualitative information.

Secondary: The library has very little information regarding wedding rings so this was entirely carried out on the internet. We found mostly quantitative research this way regarding personal statistics. However once again, being a very personal subject this information was very limited! We also found lots facts about the characteristics of rings and hints and tips regarding purchasing rings.

What methods of research did you find useful and why?
My favourite tactic of research was to find out facts and information on the internet and then do a comparative study on people I know. This allows us as a group to really pick and choose what information was important and what information could be thrown out.

How did these inform your response to your problem?
Well it allowed us to have a broad view of the information we needed and then also collect more personal views from individuals. All in all our final design was always going to be pretty utilitarian and straight to the point. This meant that most of the useful information we used was hard fact and the questionnaire/ survey model of information gathering was totally unnecessary.  

What methods did you encounter as problematic?
Gathering all that personal information ended up as pointless. We made a no bullshit information pack. We didn't need any emotional personal information in it. So some research I felt was pretty pointless stuff generated so we could hit targets. We also found that people we surround ourselves with have very little knowledge of engagement, chivalry in the jewellers romantic terms is dead it appears.

How did you overcome this?
By not including it in the final designs. We went as a group and chose exactly what we needed and what we didn't need at all. At the end of the day we all understood what information could be disguarded. We also had to turn to the internet unfortunatly to get most of our good information, because it allowed non-bias views.

What research could you have carried out that would have proved more useful?
We should have talked to a professional jeweller. We decided not to because we had so much information that was clearly correct already but it could have all been backed up by a professional to make it a solid fact. Also we could have tailored our questions on a more useful level. Instead of finding personal information which was mostly trivial.
List five things that you have learnt about the design process over the last two weeks.
1-Working with others is very rewarding when communication is strong.
2-Generating primary research is difficult if the subject is very personal.
3-The internet can be a useful tool, but is also full of lies!
4-The first most obvious path is not always the best
5-It takes several editions to get it right.

List five things you would do different next time.
1-Do more personal research.
2-Make sure everyone is working at the same speed
3-Dont print on waxy stocks
4-Generate interesting and solid questionnaires
5-Collect all information before starting design work