Learning Outcomes
- Research strategies and project plans used by agencies to reach a global audience. Share your findings on the Ideas Wall and elaborate in your blog.
- Distill your research to develop your own strategy and project plan for the selected project brief. Write a draft of your strategy and project plan and post it to your blog.
- Communicate the rationale for your strategy and project plan to be delivered through a five slide Keynote presentation. Record yourself outlining the rationale over five Keynote slides and upload the presentation to your blog.
Design strategy refers to an integrated planning process that examines the relationships between how design and business may complement one another. … Don’t confuse design strategy with a creative brief. Design strategy is how we recommend approaching a project while a creative brief frames the goals and objectives
Lecture Reflections
In this weeks lecture the idea of strategy and approach to a given brief was explored. What I found to be amusing and interesting is that while everyone interviewed had their own idea and approach, there were common themes throughout. However this was discussed through the idea that each project is different and no two clients are the same, no two projects are approached in the same way and that you should really find your own path when it comes to strategy and approach to client work. The common themes however were that research is key, understanding the client and also the target market is essential. How you go about this can vary from project to project but communication was also a key take away from this for me. Ask questions and don’t be afraid to dig deeper into a clients response.
Reflecting on the book Creating the perfect design brief how to manage design for strategic advantage peter l Phillips Published on Apr 17, 2017. The similarities of approach continue, There seems to be a range of ideas and questions that are essential to distilling the essential information needed to truly understand the needs of the client. In his book, Phillips describes design management as a well strategic understand of the clients positioning and their values. This is something that I need to further explore with this brief.
A theme that had been discussed through the lecture also identifies the need for understanding the global market and the value of meeting with clients and stakeholders. Through an interview on the website TNW, the electrical brand Phillips understands this very well.
Our approach is to co-create with our customers. Since we are a global company we have chosen to adopt a decentralized approach and have design teams located close to our customers. This also ensures we design with local context and culture in mind.
https://thenextweb.com/dd/2017/02/10/create-maintain-strategic-approach-design-thinking/mind.
Sean Carney, the Chief Design Officer at Phillips identified that external agencies working in isolation is not effective for their brand and their mission. Carney suggests that aiming to improve a consumers experience they need to work with key stakeholders such as Doctors, Dentists as well as support staff and administrators to find all the patient touch-points. He goes on to say that a user centred approach is adapted and while some design agencies are focused on the deliverables their design team use an end to end approach.
Research Strategy: Understanding my target audience and just as importantly the problem that I aim to solve I would like to work with a group of students from a varied age range and talk to them about the contributing factors to their mental health issues. While this can be a tricky subject I believe that working with a group in this way will provide a better understanding of their needs, expectations and again the factors that contribute to their ill health. There has been a slow increase in the number of students seeking out additional support and counselling within the school and this seems to see no slowing down within the future, so how do I best support students who are susceptible to mental health issues? I don’t want to just identify those who are dealing with, but I want to include those who at the present don’t feel that these are issues that are concerned with them. I wish to build a culture of open discussions about how we feel but then also to provide meaningful help and advice, coping mechanisms that students can take away and use. This approach needs to be built into the whole school and adopted by all teachers for this to work effectively.
Things I need to research:
- Identified problems that effect young adults
- Coping strategies
- What is already being done to support MH in schools
- How can I build the solution into the fabric of the school experience?
In this article from the Guardian, published over six months ago identifies the real struggle that teachers have noticed within their classrooms. With a survey of 8,600 senior leaders of schools, 86% had suggested that mental health issues such as Anxiety, self harm and even cases of suicide were on the rise. The article goes on to say that some schools are finding it increasingly more difficult to help and support students with these types of issues due to the increased founding cuts imposed onto schools throughout the country. Roles for pastoral support or even school councillors have been significantly reduced, thus the pressure to help support an increasing cohort of students requiring specialist support is becoming ever more difficult. I feel fortunate that in the school I currently work in, the support network is there and the school does do a great deal to help individuals. I feel that these roles are continually at risk of being taken away due to financial problems but I also worry that they are just a sticking plaster on a much bigger problem. The statistics raised through vast research demonstrates that this is at crisis point and it could be categorised as an epidemic within our society. I believe that we truly do need to reflect on our own actions and the world that we live in now where more often than not, Mental Health concerns are at the forefront of conversation. It is great that we are able to have these open and frank discussions about these issues but clearly it is not enough to provide sufficient support to a generation of young adults who are at risk of and in some cases, taking their own lives due to the societal pressures.
50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24. 10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem3, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-children-and-young-people
Schools have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils, by developing approaches tailored to the particular needs of their pupils. All schools are under a statutory duty to promote the welfare of their pupils, which includes: preventing impairment of children’s health or development, and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/755135/Mental_health_and_behaviour_in_schools__.pdf
More than eight out of 10 teachers say mental health among pupils in England has deteriorated in the past two years – with rising reports of anxiety, self-harm and even cases of suicide – against a backdrop of inadequate support in schools. In a survey of 8,600 school leaders, teachers and support workers, 83% said they had witnessed an increase in the number of children in their care with poor mental health, rising to 90% among students in colleges.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/17/mental-health-young-people-england-crisis-point-teacher-school-leader-survey
Tuesday 29th:
Today I had a meeting with the schools pastoral and safeguarding lead, we talked about the range of provisions and outside agencies that are available to students. She identified an early intervention approach at targeting our youngest students with opportunity’s to identify potential issues and also putting support in place. An initiative called ‘I wish my tutor knew’ provides an opportunity for individuals to write down issues or troubles they wish to get off their chest in an informal way. This enables the pastoral team to identify students at risk. Sure this also opens up to students writing inappropriate things like ‘I don’t like my maths teacher’ but this is good practice that could be revisited and developed further.
The creative Conscience brief is open to interpretation and I have identified a need for better support for students in compulsory education.
50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24. 10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem3, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age.
More than eight out of 10 teachers say mental health among pupils in England has deteriorated in the past two years – with rising reports of anxiety, self-harm and even cases of suicide – against a backdrop of inadequate support in schools. In a survey of 8,600 school leaders, teachers and support workers, 83% said they had witnessed an increase in the number of children in their care with poor mental health, rising to 90% among students in colleges.
Schools have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils, by developing approaches tailored to the particular needs of their pupils. All schools are under a statutory duty to promote the welfare of their pupils, which includes: preventing impairment of children’s health or development, and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
There is an early intervention approach at targeting our youngest students with opportunity’s to identify potential issues and also putting support in place. An initiative called ‘I wish my teacher knew’ provides an opportunity for individuals to write down issues or troubles they wish to get off their chest in an informal way. This enables the pastoral team to identify students at risk. Sure this also opens up to students writing inappropriate things like ‘I don’t like my maths teacher’ but this is good practice that could be revisited and developed further.
The school that I work at does go far to help support students and in an statistically deprived area, where mental health concerns are high the school goes above and beyond some schools to best enable all learners to achieve despite barriers that may be placed in front of them.
Trying to develop a response in isolation would prove to be difficult, to further inspire and inform my research I aim to work with a select group of students and collate information and strategies that are currently in place. There is a need for more than workshops and open conversations. While this does work there should be a shift in attitudes and culture. The effects of social media and screen time is having a detrimental impact on students focus and concentration. Diet and lifestyle choices are also contributing factors. There are external stimulus and distractions that cause students to see out professional help and support when it comes to their mental wellbeing.
I began to think about this problem, less as such and more of a question that could have a logical answer and response. This turned out to be a difficult task the more i started to dig. I soon realised that the work being done within the school is enormous, much more than other schools nationally. I believe that the focus at my current school should be towards the final year and exam preparation. Becoming mentally strong and in-tune with the expectations and realities I believe that there is a need to better support students in the lead up to final exams. Schools are under constant pressure to perform and hit targets, this pressure is put on to teachers and then passed down on to the learner. If each learner is feeling pressure from 15 -20 adults in their life, be that exam and school or home life. Is there no wonder that we have seen a rise in a need for mental heath support.
The problem I am to respond to is; How can schools develop a positive culture to better support students in developing coping mechanisms and understanding the warnings signs of mental health issues such as stress and anxiety.
Pixels and Serifs. 