Tutorial with Ian and Cato

I had my tutorial with Ian. I showed him what I have been working on and he said that I should think about compartmentalizing my ideas and experiments. I totally agree!! I have been busy doing material experimentation and reading research papers. I did not even have time to think about it more systematically. I kind just pursued ideas as they emerge during my project and I think it is a good idea to reflect and look back at this point (the end of project) to think more about categorizing these ideas and tick off some boxes!

So I listed all my ideas and categorized them into three big categories based on their potential application: As raw materials, as finished products, as part of a service/system.

I had two approaches to generate ideas:

1. Looking for products that are made with synthetic plastic and see which new bioplastic can be a suitable replacement
2. Looking at the materials I have created and see what I can do with it

As a result, I was able to compartmentalize my creations and it helped to evaluate my current ideas within each category and to think about what other possibility this material has within that context so I was able to came up with more new ideas.

Cato is a working designer with professional industry experience. So he suggested me to structure my presentation better to communicate what I am trying to achieve with this project. It was very practical advice. He suggested that I start with bringing up my research about biodegradability of bioplastics and evidence that with stats and examples. Because my entire research and investigation of this project depends on the advantage of biodegradability of bioplastics. And then I will lay out my project objectives and what I have done in an organized and logical way. Also I did not have to worry about being too scatter brained during my presentation.

He told me in the industry, at this stage of the project, you only need to present a solid concept. People are not expecting a finished, refined ideas. And it is ok to present failures from experiments as long as you present the plans to improve or further develop them.