Throughout the week, we have mainly been meeting with the organizations and working on the community project that will be launched in later weeks. It is my honor to be able to collaborate with Muuch’ Creative which they harness the power of creativity to tackle global challenges by fostering economic and social development through the promotion and support of creativity and entrepreneurship in artists and artisans. After 2 virtual meetings with Muuch’ Creative and their collaborative artists from @iin_ki_kalante, my groupmates- Isa, Pearls, and I had come up with several ideas regarding what we would like to launch in the following weeks. First, we will be doing a social media campaign for promoting and interviewing the artisans from @iin_ki_kalante. The posts and videos will be in bilingual format as we aim to reach out to a more international audience. Besides, we are also planning to hold an interactive art-and-craft workshop to help promote both Muuch’ Creative and products made by artists of @iin_ki_kalante. More detailed logistics will be further discussed next week, but we had a really great time collaborating with the organization and we cannot wait to see how the event will go soon!

Apart from working on our projects, we also had another training regarding design thinking. The session focused primarily on brainstorming interventions for current social issues, ideation and prototyping, and developing socio-environmental projects. The session was enriching and provided a deep dive into the creative problem-solving process.

During the “ideation” process, the emphasis on creativity and quantity over quality at this stage was thought-provoking. It helped foster a non-judgmental environment where participants were encouraged to share their ideas freely, no matter how outlandish they seemed. This "no boundaries" approach helped in broadening our perspective and thinking outside the box. I have also learned more about how to develop SMART goals. It offered a structured way to define the project goals, ensuring they are realistic and achievable within the given time and resources. This methodology helped us to align our project objectives with the needs of the target audience and the organization.

Whilst for “prototyping”, we learned about the different types of prototypes - physical and digital, and their respective features. The notion of running a 'mock event' to foresee potential challenges and gather feedback was a practical exercise in preemptive problem-solving. It underscored the iterative nature of the design thinking process - test, get feedback, adjust, and repeat.

In conclusion, this session was a comprehensive guide on how to approach social issues creatively, with empathy and a user-centric focus. It reinforced the essence of design thinking - human-centered innovation that combines empathy, creativity, and rationality to meet user needs and create successful solutions.