Evan Samuels - Blog post #11

1) My interpretation of kaizen is useful improvement and only making changes that are the most beneficial yet won't be too overwhelming. Likewise, the 'theme of good design' that is closest to my interpretation of kaizen is "more craft than art". Yes, designs should be aesthetically appealing, but the main goal of any good design is its usefulness to different users in different contexts. Craft is useful, but with art, this isn't always the case.

2) For project 6, our goal was to improve the experience of waiting in line, while emphasizing health and wellness, as well as storytelling and adventure. Before we really sat down and thought about our concepts and applied kaizen to them, we had no clear view of what to do and how to do it. It was easy to include storytelling into our concepts because it was Disney and we had some prior experience with the adventure of Disney. However, our main issue was 'how can you exercise and move around in a small space like a line?" We were also throwing around ideas about mental wellness vs. physical wellness too. Everything was a mess and we weren't going in any direction.

3) When we finally sat down and thought out our concepts using kaizen, our goals finally become clear. We changed our focus from forcing activity and wellness outright to more of a storytelling focus as a way to engage our customers and entertain them. This change in focus allowed our group to focus on core goals of the project, which is to: 1)keep with the main storytelling theme of Disney; and 2) give customers something to do in line. By focusing on engaging customers and not forcing wellness, we make wellness fun because they aren't thinking of the pressures of working out, but on entertainment, thus reinforcing healthy habits. A extra plus is that it takes their minds off of the boredom of waiting in line.

We also have separate spaces where the actual physical activities are performed and where the informative reflective sections are so the experiences and benefits last beyond the moment. This is opposed to having everything happening all in the same time and not extending the benefits beyond the moment