Assignment 5 essay

Introduction
In assignment 5a and 5b i am asked to write about methods that i have learned through the year that i would use to gather information for certain topics.
For assignment 5a i will be writing about what methods i could use to gather information on paranoid thinking.
In assignment 5b i will be talking about the methods i would and wouldn't use for one of my previous projects this year.

Assignment 5a
Paranoid thinking and gathering information:
Paranoid thinking is a wide range topic, it can effect anyone anywhere. Taking this into consideration, the method i would find most useful to gather information would be interviewing people. By interviewing people it would allow me to speak to a wide range of people and not just one targeted group. I would target all kinds of people such as old, middle aged, students, mothers and fathers etc. This would let me into a wide range of information about paranoid thinking i don't even know about. I would target these people because these types of people always have things to think about and there for paranoid thinking may come into place. I would use a base question of, Do you get worried easily?, but instead I would actually ask questions such as, What really bothers you? , Are you worried about something?, What kind of things do you regularly think about and why?. By asking these questions they would be telling me the answer to my base question which is what i want to find out. If i asked them the base question straight away i wouldn't be able to find out the information properly that i want because it would be a yes or no answer. If i had to get any interesting answers and they were letting me into something i would ask the question, why? This would lead on to extra information that i would be looking for.

Why would this method be useful?

This method would help me to understand what people are actually paranoid about and why. Not only that but it may show that people that are in the same category may be worried about the same things.
E.g. Mothers may be worried about their children and how they are doing at school etc. Or even fathers may be worried about providing for their family. I find this interesting because it does kind of put people into groups and shows similarities among different people. Using this method would also be useful because it would let me talk to the people in person, either in a room or just by having general conversation. This would let me see how they would react to my questions and would possibly show if they are up tight or not. If they are compared to others then i may get varied answers.

Why would this method not be useful?

If i had to interview people i know it would not be useful, this is because the person would know me and may not take it seriously. It also wouldn't work properly if the people didn't give me their true, honest answers and there for this wouldn't give me an accurate look on the subject.

What other methods can be used?

For this particular topic i feel that mind mapping would be a good method to use. It would help me to categories people and who I am asking questions to and what about. For example, who?, There would be parents, pensioners, students and middle aged people etc. I would write down that students would be paranoid about course work, getting bullied, money and so on. Its good because it will help me pick and choose what questions to ask. It would show me that i might have to ask different people different questions or just use the same questions for everyone. This method alone can trigger things in my mind and set off information that i already know, about what different types of people think about. Using this method would be a help but would only get me so far. It doesn't help me look deep enough and only helps me write down what i already know. It doesn't give me the true information about the topic I am trying to look into deeply.

Assignment 5b
The methods i would use to gather information on a previous project:
One of my previous projects was designing packaging for an alcoholic spray in which you spray in your eyes. I would use the same method for this project of interviewing people. The spray was aimed at young adults and there for this is the people i would target. To help me form this packaging to be attractive to this particular audience i would ask questions such as, What attracts you to alcoholic drinks look wise?, Would you drink alcohol that has unattractive packaging?, What alcoholic drink has good packaging?. This will lead me to find out if the young adults see the drinks as just being "cool" or they drink them for the flavour. If it turns out to be that they are just attracted to the look then this method would be of great use to point me in the right direction of designing my packaging. This is because i will have found out what looks good and what doesn't and whats good or bad to do. Because i would be interviewing my targeted audience it would help me to see what they would want and not just what i would design. There for I am in contact and really getting to know these people just by asking them questions which would help me to produce something that is more aimed at them. For this project I feel the information would be greater if i interviewed them in a room and in groups. This is because they would be with friends and would be more likely to speak up and tell me what they think. Also i would be the only interviewer so that they feel more relaxed about the interview which would get me more accurate answers. I would also have in the room with me a very wide range of packaging for alcohol and ask them what looks good or bad so i could see myself what my audience would want.

Why would this method be useful?

Speaking to the people in groups in person would let me see how they are reacting to the questions, this would tell me if they really would like a certain thing or not. It helps in general because i would be getting to know my target audience which would help the whole situation of being interviewed and not make it so up-tight. I would generally find out what is good and what is bad from them which would point me in what to do or what not to do. Using this method would possibly help me to think like them because i would be able to see how they're acting towards my questions.

Why would this method not be useful?

This method wouldn't be useful if it was in an unrelaxed environment and the person who is being interviewed aren't comfy with the situation. It would make it harder for me to get more accurate answers. This is mainly the only point that would make this method fail. As long as the correct questions are asked and the people are in groups in a relaxed environment then i would get the answers i need.

Over all view
Using this technique of interviewing people really helps and gives you more information than what you could produce on your own. It gives you a wide range of information from a wide range of people which really helps with projects and collecting information about anything. In the future i will definitely use this technique again, it will help me to produce better work as a graphic designer in the sense that i will e designing for other people and not myself and this is why this technique is very useful as a designer.