Looking back over the whole term, I’m happy to end the Idesign course with the project Aerolithe. I pulled out almost all of my abilities: hand sewing wing patterns and embellishments, programming LED strips with positional variations that change with dance movements, communicating with others, and even schoolmates who have graduated, and also a newfound appreciation for soldering and splicing LED strips. I proposed this project with dance as my interest, but I was really happy that the testers, who don’t know how to dance, were able to use (play) it happily at the end. I witnessed how versatile technology can be.

At the beginning of the project, I found Madeline’s journal by chance, and after communicating with her I realised that the Idesign classroom felt so much like a place to belong, no matter what time of day it was. The group members who think together, the TAs who help enthusiastically, and Audrey who rescues the code when it’s critical, this enthusiasm deeply moved me to step out of the front zone, and I had the autonomy to look up a lot of code and learn a lot of hardware knowledge. I think the happiness from this sense of belonging is mutual, and we will move forward together because of the positive feedback from each other. I remember one of our requirements for documenting the process was “Ideally, anyone who reads your site will be able to reproduce the error and the solution.” As I read through Madeline and my log again, I understood this statement with renewed insight. The accumulation and guidance of fellow students are all bridges to each other’s success.

Of course, the development of this project did not go smoothly. This includes the production of the light strip itself, the coding of the tilt sensor and Neopixel, and the debugging of various lighting effects. The further back I got towards completion, the more I felt there was still room for improvement, until I found the mindset I should have had, and thus achieved a balance between expectations and needs. This is the point I will remember most. 

My expectations change as I become more flexible in my perceptions of the production process, and it determines the upper limit of the quality of my work. For example, I would compare the effects of having different numbers of contact ports and also search for many cool LED choreographies. The demand value comes from the effective feedback of my testers and mentors, which allows me to gradually grasp the extent to which my wings need to be aesthetically pleasing and functional, and a tangible example of this being how to design the straps so that people of different sizes can carry the wings on their backs. These questions and proposals are the things that need to be fulfilled in order for my work to be viable. 

When these two directions of expectations and needs overlap that is when the end is reached. And I will be glad that this time I witnessed the reunion of the two.

I hope that a lot of what I learned from this session will be used in other ways that I am comfortable with, such as the sense of belonging and mindset adjustment I mentioned above. Whether it’s managing a project at work or school, or customizing a long-term plan, I’ll be more comfortable with it, not afraid to step out of my comfort zone, and more positive about communication and interaction.