Reflective Journal – Personal Development

For this entry I would like to reflect on the whole journey of working in a business team on the SnoozeBox project. Mainly I would like to blog about what I have learnt about myself, what my strengths are and what areas I could improve on.

Looking back on these last few months, I can say with confidence that I am a good team player. According to Belbin (Skillsyouneed.com, n.d), there are 9 team roles that any one person can take on in a team as seen in the image below.

I consider myself to be great at 3 of those roles; Implementer, Completer and a Team Worker. Whenever a task was assigned to me, I always managed to complete it at least a week before the deadline so that I would have time to discuss my findings with the team and finish up any loose ends once all parties agreed. A key strength I possessed was that I always managed to turn ideas and talk into action.

I also find that in any relationship, whether it’s business related or family, it is always a huge bonus to maintain a hospitable environment, be co-operative, be a good listener and try to avert friction. A downside to this however was that to sometimes avert confrontation, I kept certain ideas to myself.

During one of the meetings that we had with our mentor, we were going over the SWOT analysis that I did a week before and in one of the strengths of SnoozeBox, I mentioned that it was eco-friendly. The mentor then asked me why this was so and I blanked out. I had no way to answer it and had totally forgotten. Sometimes I find myself in these type of situations where I wouldn’t have backup to support my argument and this is something that I need to improve on, because this makes me feel really embarrassed.

To avoid this I need to start noting down the why’s and the how and think of any possible follow-up questions that the other person might have and answer back confidently. This will help me in every aspect of life, would make my word more genuine and people will believe me more.

References

Skillsyouneed.com. (n.d.). Effective Team-Working | SkillsYouNeed. [online] Available at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/team-working.html [Accessed 13 Apr. 2019].

 

 

Reflective Journal – Taking a lead

For this entry I would like to reflect upon the times when I had to act as a leader and when others were leading me.

There were certain times during the period of working in my business group where I had to take charge and speak for the team, because no one wanted to do a certain task. One time was when I did the initial presentation proposal. I felt good about myself because I manged to go out of my comfort zone for my team and speak on behalf of them.

Being a leader makes me feel good about myself, however there are other times where I feel as if being a leader would make me appear being bossy to my friends probably because I am really self-conscious about myself and so what I usually do is I take a step back and let others do the leading and I usually agree with what they say, even if I don’t quite agree.

This has happened with the business team where one of them was giving an explanation to the mentor and us about the location that he thought was best for our service. I had another idea in mind, but decided to keep it to myself at that time and so when no one spoke, it was agreed that the location was settled and afterwards, this made me feel annoyed at myself.

Having experienced this in the previous meeting, I now feel as if it is rather foolish to just sit and just be lead without giving an opinion when having one.

For next time, the best thing I should do is just speak my mind before anything is done and settled. That way I would have a clear conscience that all ideas were explored and the best one was chosen for our business idea.

Reflective Journal – Teamwork

Up until now, we had 4 meetings with our mentor and 2 meetings between our team and so far, I feel great about the way our team is performing and I think that there are several reasons that support why our team is performing so well and why I feel so good about being a part of this team.

The first reason is that we are not strangers to each other. Four of the people in my group are close friends of mine and we always give our 100% in anything we do. I did not know the other person from the business section that joined our team, but with time we got along together well.

The second reason our team is so great is that we ALWAYS listen to each other and take each other’s opinions into account. Most, if not everyone, likes to have his opinion heard, and being on our team is not going to be a problem. If there is a debate and we don’t agree on something, a vote is taken and the majority wins.

The third reason is that we are very understandable towards each other and try our best to reach a compromise. Case in point is when we have to set a meeting and choose a location. We have always managed to find a date and time where our schedule was good for all parties involved and the location was agreeable for all.

The fourth reason why working in this team is great is that we are all actually invested in this project and are always giving our best.

So far the only challenge I have faced when working in a group is that sometimes you can’t always have it your way if the majority doesn’t agree, but overall working in a small group such as this one is great.

Interactive Object Design Task 2

The idea behind this project came about after our Entrepreneurship unit last semester where we had to come up with a business concept between our group and develop it into a feasible business idea. After a bit of brainstorming, we settled on the idea of “SnoozeBox”.

SnoozeBox is a self-service (through the use of an app) highly interactive sleeping capsule located close to the airport that travelers can access at any time of the day for a few hours’ rest in case of flight delays, cancellations, layovers or having a cheaper alternative resting place than a hotel.

The main scope of this project is to create a good and simple UX design solution (the application) for tired travelers to make use of SnoozeBox. Furthermore, a 3D print of how SnoozeBox will look is also to be included in this project to bring the business idea as close to life as possible. The 3D print model will have an LED strip attached to it showing the feature of mood lighting and a prototype of how the app will look would also be provided.

Figure 1: A rough sketch of how the 3D model will look like. After it is 3D printed, LED lights will be attached to the ceiling of the model

For the application itself, I created the first mockup design concept using Adobe XD of how I envision the app to look. The application is still in its early stages (prototype) and would require substantial usability testing before it is finalized and the UI elements are implemented.

In the meantime, a design guideline for this project could still be proposed. A survey was included to help identify certain design aspects for the project. The design guideline could be found by clicking this link SnoozeBox

Different versions of how the app could look aesthetically is also shown below:

 

 

Interactive Object Design Task 1

Revolut is currently changing the way traditional banks work and will soon enough become the digital banking app that most people use, and this is currently my favourite interactive object in the market. Revolut makes it effortless to transfer money to people with just a few taps and you don’t need to copy and paste a friend’s IBAN number to transfer money or having to worry about using cash (coins and paper) to pay your friends (analogously). Revolut want users to have one app where they could control every aspect of their financial life without ever having to include banks again (meeting users’ needs).

Nowadays, users’ expectations are very high and when using an app they want their experience to be as smooth as possible and Revolut meets most of those expectations.

The application itself is very easy to use as well and has a lot of interesting features that traditional banks fail to meet. One feature for example is called ‘Vaults’. In just a few seconds, the user can simply set up a vault by tapping on ‘Add new Vault’ -> giving it a name -> and then either lodge a specific amount of money from the account every week or month or alternatively the user can choose to spare the change and round up the money from day to day transactions and be put in this vault.

Another interesting feature of Revolut is that you can set a budget where you can set the maximum amount of money you can spend per month, which is useful for people who are bad at saving money (myself included) and the app notifies you every time you buy something with the budget amount left to spend.

The physical card itself is also contactless and this makes it even more appealing to the user to use Revolut, because it’s fast, easy and secure and does not involve the need for cash or entering the PIN number and will easily keep track of payments you made. All the user has to do to make a payment is touch the card against the reader.

Revolut also allows the user to freeze the card immediately using the app itself if it is thought to be stolen or misplaced and if found can unfreeze the card again with a simple touch of a button. Furthermore, Revolut also gives total control to the user on how the card works, such as turning off contactless, making online payments and ATM withdrawals

In the near future, Revolut also aims to provide a better service where they would allow their users to deposit their salary directly into the Revolut account and will be protected up to €100,000 under the European Deposit Insurance Scheme. They are also going to be offering personal and business loans across the EU at competitive rates which could all be done through the app itself, thus taking the experience of digital banking to the next level.

“Our vision is that retail and business customers will be able to apply for a loan in just two minutes from within the app, and then have the money in their account almost instantly,” Revolut said. “We’ll remove the bureaucratic process and come in cheaper than traditional lenders.”

Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky said. “Our vision is simple: one app with tens of millions of users, where you can manage every aspect of your financial life with the best value and technology.”
Additionally, Revolut makes it easy to buy, hold, or exchange cryptocurrencies as well. One can swap Ether, Bitcoin, and Litecoin with one of 25 different flat currencies.

To sum it all up, Revolut has a frictionless experience from user sign up to currency exchange and money transfers. In fact, it has managed to win Best Transactional Experience in UX UK awards in 2016 making it a credible product and providing the user with a smooth experience.

Additionally, from a personal point of view, one thing I really like about Revolut is that it’s so transparent, meaning that everything is clear and there are no hidden fees which is something that traditional banks tend to do, and that induces distrust and a feeling of uncertainty.

One disadvantage however that Revolut has is that there are no actual physical branches.

Understanding what Entrepreneurship is and it’s importance as a unit

Entrepreneurship is a process that consists mainly of three steps. The first step is when an entrepreneur has an idea with a unique selling proposition and discovers opportunity. This can either be through problem solving, trend observation or gaps in the marketplace. One must ask himself if it is worth investing money in the opportunity that has risen and do market research, surveys and consider needs and wants. Let us take for example a hawker (sole-owner) which sells fruits. The hawker comes up with the idea to start advertising, that he can deliver fruit and vegetables to any location for small shops. Another example is a small company (partnership) which specializes in computer hardware sales and the company comes up with the idea of also starting to fix computer hardware as a service apart from selling new computer hardware. The third example is a limited liability company such as Gasan Mamo Insurance Ltd Company. They came up with the idea to become a limited liability company because it injects more funds, gets more leverage to get funds from banks and liability is limited.

The second step is Concept Development which is when an entrepreneur develops a business plan. A good business plan involves knowing what the required resources should be, gathering the resources and successfully manage the resulting risk, even if it does not go to plan. These include financial resources, human resources and capital resources. The best way to do this is to identify potential investors, hire employees and apply for assistance, grants and loans. Of course one must always be aware of the actual budget that one has before attempting to do all this and constantly monitor the budget carefully at all times. Continuing on the hawker example, he should consider whether he’s got the resources to do so, the time it will take, the fuel that will be wasted going from place to place taking goods and also if any assistance is required to hire someone to help him. Following up on the computer company, they must see the number of people that they need to hire to provide such service and the financial resources needed to implement a new workplace for such service to be held. As for the limited liability example, a company is much more expensive to run and this should be taken into consideration.

The last step is Actualization which is when the company starts to make money from the idea that has been implemented. The entrepreneur must always manage the growth well if he is to succeed and also expand his strategies when needed while also solving arising problems and issues effectively and as soon as possible. If the hawker sees that he is doing well and making money, then he might try and expand the number of contacts and also maybe advertise more. On the other hand if the computer company is doing well or maybe too well, then one might consider also opening a new shop somewhere else.

This unit will be helpful for me because it will teach me about the do’s and dont’s when coming up with a good business idea of my own and the approach needed to take my business idea to the market.

This unit will also help me become more independent as a learner because I will be the one in charge. I would of course make a lot of mistakes as I go along, but from every mistake I make, I will learn something from it which would in turn help me grow both in terms of character as well as skill development (mainly entrepreneurial), and next time I face something similar, I would know how to deal with such issues and make better decisions. This would in turn also help build my confidence and become less dependent on other people.

 

References

Ali, A. (2013, August 08). Chapter 2 Steps in entrepreneurial process(entrepreneurship). Retrieved January 16, 2019, from slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/afzaalali14/chapter-2-entrepreneurship-lecture-3

Hisrich, P. R. (1998). The Entrepreneurial Process (I). Retrieved January 16, 2019, from https://www.oxford.co.za/files/lookinside/9780195983548.pdf

Week 15: Ego, Id and Super-Ego – The Sims

Sigmund Freud came up with the theory that our brains are split into three main parts, with each having its own function: the id, the ego and the super-ego.

The id is responsible for our instinctual drives, that is to have its desires fulfilled. It exists only for pleasure and wants immediate gratification and is, simply put, just a collection of urges. The id does not consider what is realistic, nor does it consider what is logical or moral. These factors arise because the id does not have any awareness and according to Freud, these drives express themselves as aggression and sexuality. While playing The Sims, a person has the chance to act on his id a number of times.

The ego is ‘that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world.’ – (Freud, 1923, p.25). The ego allows a person to think things through and observe reality and decide between what is rational and realistic and furthermore, allows for our minds to act at will, for example asking a person about how their day went. A safe question which was influenced upon us by the external world to make small talk and play it safe.

The super-ego is our conscience, and it makes a distinction between our sense of right and wrong. Like the id, the super-ego does not think about anything which is realistic and simply wants moral perfection, for example one can have moral perfection in The Sims by apologizing or give a heartfelt compliment in an unpleasant conversation.

This is why the ego mediates between the two to create balance. Too much id results in a person acting in inappropriate or destructive ways. Too much super-ego and a person would become a rigid perfectionist (Lapsley, 2012).

References

Lapsley, D., 2012. Id, Ego, And Superego. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237306175_Id_Ego_and_Superego&gt; [Accessed 10 June 2018].

McLeod, S., 2018. Id Ego Superego | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: <https://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html&gt; [Accessed 10 June 2018].

Week 14: The Psychology of Fear in Horror Games – Dying Light

What makes Dying Light scary? How does it manage to instil fear in us? What visuals, audio sounds and effects did the designers of Dying Light use to manage to turn Dying Light into a horror game?

Designers make use of several elements to make good horror games. Uncanny behaviour is one of the main psychological aspects that designers use to tap into our subconscious and Dying Light manages to make very good use of it (Extra Credits, 2012).

Uncanny behaviour is when we have certain expectations of an object or being with regards to how it’s supposed to look and act. For example in the case of a human, we know that they can walk, talk and interact with each other, but this perception is altered in a game such as Dying Light which uses zombies, where it leaves us, the viewers disturbed and unsettled because something is not quite right and the uncanny induces feelings of fear because it challenges our own concept of subjectivity and stability, leading us to question our own identities (Tinwell, 2010). Dying Light’s monsters are unnatural, but for them to be frightening they must also be convincing and many people believe them to be so, including me which is why they may come across to us as “scary monsters”.

Human like zombie. Uncanny behaviour include the fact that the zombie still walks toward the player even though both his hands are cut off

Dying Light, as well as many other games uses darkness to instil fear in us. Fear of darkness and the unknown has its roots in biology and throughout human history, dark meant danger, and fearing it meant taking precautions to stay safe. We are visual creatures and our fear of darkness is mostly caused because darkness could be hiding something dangerous and it leaves us vulnerable and exposed (Romm, 2016). In the case of Dying Light, stronger, faster and scarier monsters come to hunt at night which in this case, the developers used our fear of darkness against us.

Tension and vulnerability during night time leaves room for the imagination of the player to fill in the gaps of what could be lurking behind the corner which is important for the feeling of fear.

Blood and gore is another fear-inducing factor, but it should only be put in good locations. For Dying Light, the best places would be on zombies’ clothes and mouths and on the floor where some human was eaten alive.

One of the most notable fear-inducing factors that Dying Light uses are the audio and sound effects. The audio sounds used are distinct, memorable and believable and the sound effects send chills down your spine. Sound effects such as gun shots, footsteps, breathing, light switches, doors or in the case of Dying Light, a zombie screaming at the top of his lungs need to be the loudest and the game play around these factors perfectly.

 

References

Tinwell, A., Grimshaw-Aagaard, M. and Williams, A., 2010. Uncanny Behaviour In Survival Horror Games. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45456813_Uncanny_behaviour_in_survival_horror_games&gt; [Accessed 10 June 2018].

Romm, C., 2018. Why Some People Never Grow Out Of A Fear Of The Dark. [online] Thecut.com. Available at: <https://www.thecut.com/2016/10/why-are-people-afraid-of-the-dark.html&gt; [Accessed 10 June 2018].

Extra Credits. 2012. Symbolism 101 – How Horror Games Instill Fear – Extra Credits. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmV7iugxqEw&gt; [Accessed 10 June 2018].

Week 13: The 4 Temperaments – Mortal Combat X

The origins of the four temperaments dates back to c. 460 – c. 370 BC, where a greek physician by the name of Hippocrates, incorporated the four temperaments into his medical theories in order to treat illnesses related to humorism (a system of medicine detailing the makeup and workings of the human body) and believed that four bodily fluids affect human personality traits and behaviors. This theory was later rejected by modern biochemistry, however some elements regarding personality type systems are still used nowadays to distinguish between different personalities (Merenda, 1987).

The four types of  temperaments are:

• Sanguine: blood – These are the type of people that are lively, sociable, optimistic about life, adaptable, are good communicators and entertainers and are also very likeable, however they have a tendency towards being naive and a low tolerance for boredom since they’re constantly seeking variety and pleasure (Psychologia.co., 2018).
  • Cassie Cage (Mortal Combat X character) is a clear example of the Sanguine personality type. She has a sharp wit, an overconfident attitude, is carefree and also lacks authority.
• Phlegmatic: phlegm – These are the type of people that care deeply about others and tend to seek interpersonal harmony and close relationships. They tend to avoid conflict and prefer to keep peace and harmony (Psychologia.co., 2018).
  •  Takeda Takashi (Mortal Combat X character) has a phlegmatic personality type. He is diplomatic, kind, has a sense of calmness and is usually the peacemaker of his team, where he tends to put a stop to arguments between Cassie Cage and Kung Jin.
• Choleric: yellow bile – Choleric people usually possess leadership-type personalities. They are also obedient and goal-oriented and are usually impulsive when making decisions. They want to achieve a lot in a short period of time and are practical and straightforward which can make them seem aggressive (Psychologia.co., 2018).
  • Kung Jin (Mortal Combat X character) has a choleric personality type. He is egotistical and rude and will often say what he feels without thinking twice, even speaking offensively to his own team. He is reckless, cynical and most times he is insensitive towards others, however he protects his friends in times of need, even if it means killing him.
• Melancholic: black bile – Melancholic people are usually very loyal people towards their beliefs, families and friends. They do not like things which are unfamiliar to them and are not the adventurous type. They are highly sociable, likes order and accuracy, and likes to think of every possible outcome, which makes them good at management and organizing goals (Psychologia.co., 2018).
  • Jaqui Briggs (Mortal Combat X character) possesses this type of personality. She is loyal and takes life serious and is also very protective of her family and likes to spend her time with her allies and family.

 

References

Merenda, P., 1987. Toward A Four-Factor Theory Of Temperament And/Or Personality.. [online] EBSCOhost. Available at: <http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&sid=b977c46e-3137-46c7-bb1b-778f9f6eed25%40sessionmgr4010&gt; [Accessed 7 June 2018].

Psychologia.co. 2018. Four Temperaments: Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, And Melancholic Personality Types | Psychologia. [online] Available at: <http://psychologia.co/four-temperaments/&gt; [Accessed 7 June 2018].

 

Week 12: Conformity – Runescape

In the literature of psychology and economics it is frequently
observed that individuals tend to conform in their behavior to the behavior
of similar individuals. Individuals that belong to the same social groups would typically have commonalities of language, social and behavioral norms, as well as customs (Wooders, 2005). This is also present in games, especially MMORPGs.

But why do we conform?

Researches have found that many people tend to conform for a variety of reasons such as looking at other people to search for clues that might help us in our tasks and to also follow other people that have a better understanding than us, so we conform because we think it may be beneficial to us. When we are unsure of something, we also tend to conform with others, so as to avoid the possibility of looking foolish (Cherry, 2018).

From the perspective of game theory, this happens as well, for example in Runescape, a lot of player killers have very similar levels and quest completion and the type of armour worn are all very similar, even though there are thousands of different types of gear to choose from. As one can see in the image below, a lot of player killers tend to use the same gear (image taken from different sources).

This shows that even though there are thousands of different options to choose from when it comes to wearing clothes and levelling up, a lot of people tend to wear the same items and from my experience of playing Runescape, I did this as well. When starting an account, I looked at how other players progressed through the game, what gear they bought, what quests they made and how they levelled up and I do admit I was influenced by these factors and conformed myself as well.

What influenced me the most was that I found that certain tasks were hard to complete with certain gear and levels, so I opted for conformity. Also, when I saw that a lot of players had similar gear and similar combat-stats, I wanted to be like them and fit in, with the hopes of joining in their clan. Most of my friends who played Runescape also were player killers with level 1 defence and so I didn’t want to be the only one left out which led to the creation of my level 1 defence account.

References

Wooders, M., Cartwright, E. and Selten, R., 2005. BEHAVIORAL CONFORMITY IN GAMES WITH MANY PLAYERS. [online] Accessecon.com. Available at: <http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/VUECON/vu05-w13.pdf&gt; [Accessed 7 June 2018].

Cherry, K., 2018. Conformity: Why Do We Try So Hard To Be Like Other People?. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: <https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-conformity-2795889&gt; [Accessed 7 June 2018].