Kick Off

We kicked off by getting to know different types of Thinking Methods, so we each did our research and explained to the others what each method entails.

I actually was kind of lost at the beginning because I didn´t even knew what Thinking Methods were, so as I researched I understood what it was about and I realized I had even used some of them  already. 

Further into the project we would keep using this methods so It was really nice seeing how many we actually got at the end and how each worked.

Bodily Issuses

What challenges do we face each day?

Why does society have such an impact on our Identities?

We used Miro to put together all the amount of challenges faced by bodies and Identities to then analise and discusse them.

I personally  decided to focus on what female bodies face on a daily basis, and also added some other Issues linked with what my partners also put in the big scheme we ended up having.

We then digged further into all this Issues to divide them into different groups that encompass the challenges we had wrote down.

Little did I know that from this point we would actually end up with amazing different projects.

First Step

The next step is the one that finally puts a start to our projects;                     last time we ended up with a large amount of challenges in need of solutions, so we each picked two Issues out of our big scheme and analised the different problems withing the main challenge.

What does the body itself suffer from? What does society pressure us on?

I chose the topics of Body Hair and Disabled bodies.

Brainstorming and scribbles

Now was the time to start brainstorming and scribbling ideas to solve the Issues we had chosen.

We had to choose one specific topic from the ones in our last analisys  plus one Issue from someone else, we each ended up having 3 Issues to find solutions for.

I had chosen Insecurities during sex because of body hair, mental health Issues for disabled bodies and vulnerable bodies.

For each chosen Issue we had to come up with a couple Ideas , at this time I was really excited to scribble and also curious to see what my partners had come up with for theirs.

As I started scribbling I realized I had difficulties trying to solve some of the Issues so I came up with a lot of questions of things I wasn´t sure about. I also realised that many of my design Ideas were in the form of Apps, of which I didnt have any idea about.

Despite all my unsolved questions I was still happy with my outcome.

After showing out first scribbles we had to try and fix the unsolved questions from last time, and try to bring our scribbles to a second step specifying things more.

Last decision

Now after our last fixes, through a votation, we all decided which project each should keep working on until our final presentation, it was hard choosing just one but we eventually ended up with the one we thought would work the most.

Plus we had to choose another project from someone else that we thought had reached a good point for us to keep and take from where they had left it.

I made the decision to keep going with the Lick me project, even though I thought it was the hardest out of the ones I had started, and I knew i would have issues.

Also I chose to take Daniel´s project about Non-Binary dolls a step further, in my opinion he had a really good Idea and I was excited to put part of my thoughts to it.

Lick Me

Throughout the working of my last two project I realized that my Lick Me project was still at the same point as last time and that the main Issue was still there, I couldn't come up with new solutions neither could I fix the one that were already there, so I was basically running in circles and all I could write down were all the unsolved questions I had.

At this point we had to choose which one of our two projects we would present as our final project, so seeing how stuck I was with this one, I made the decision to leave it aside and focus more on the other one.

Non-Binary doll

The whole Idea of the Non-Binary dolls came with the thought of making wooden building blocks for kids to combine the pieces and end up with different gender identities and sexualities out of the socially normative of heterosexual female and male.

The first building blocks ideated had all the same shapes, and they also had the colors of the socially heteronormative Identities, those where the main Issues faced at the beginning so in the next step came the Idea of making different shapes to which kids could also relate to.

From here on I decided to keep on with Daniel's first Ideas and bring them together with mine to end with a final project.

My final project consists of a Place focused on kids and open for families, schools and organizations related to gender identities and sexuality.

It is like a small factory that combines a manual and a communicative part. In the inside of this place we find a big room for the creative part, in which you will find a table full of different pieces made with different materials for kids to build dolls as they please.

Each piece has a QR code on it, kids can take the piece/s they like and bring them to a room where they can be scanned and kids can either record a message about that part of the body or listen to what other kids have said. Manuallity is a really big aspect in the growth of kids but also is communication, so I thought that hearing messages about body parts kids love about themselves or have issues with would give them a welcoming atmosphere for them to feel safe to open up to and get more confidence.

Finally there's an additional but not essential step once kids have made their dolls. There is a computer room to which kids can bring their dolls and give them to one of the workers. There is a sheet to fill with any additional things or changes kids would like to make to their dolls           (specific colors, shapes not found…)  and the adresse for the doll to be purchased and sent home to them. As I said before this is not an essential, just an extra.

The goal of this project is for kids to feel free and safe to learn and be comfortable about their Identities and sexuality by creating something to which they can relate and not feel different to.

Here is the link to see my final presentation :)