Thursday, September 17, 2009
We were curious to find out what the Hyper Island Interactive Art Director 2010 students have experienced since beginning the program in August this year. Here's what four of the students had to say:
How did you find Hyper Island?
Google and destiny. :) I was searching for inspiration last January, and I found the DM09 website. At that time I had no idea about what Hyper Island was, but I was very curious, so I went to the Hyper Island's web page and the more I read about the school and the programs, the more I felt I had to be a part of it. I don't regret my choice at all, I'm loving the Hyper Island experience.
What's been your two biggest learning experiences so far?
There is a continuous learning experience about how to work with groups. This experience is so great because it is useful not only within the Digital Media world, but you can apply in whatever group you are part of. We learn a lot about ourselves and others, become more tolerant with differences and start to see them as a positive aspects of life. Our class is based upon diversity, and that is a great learning experience: people from different countries, cultures, ages and backgrounds, sharing their knowledge and life experiences. More than interacting with technology, we learn how to interact with people, and that is something very valuable.
What was the first module about? What did you learn?
The first module was about understanding group behaviour and leadership, and how to build teams. It's a deep experience, since it is based upon a lot of reflection and feedback and this is something that we usually don't learn at school, at least in Brazil, where I come from. I became more aware of my attitudes, enhanced my perception of how other people behave and became more tolerant. I also learned how to give and receive feedback, not avoiding conflicts but actually learning how to deal with them, which is definitely not something easy to do but extremely important.
What's the new module about and what's your group working on?
We have a great client for this module, a really challenging one: IKEA. In the next 7 weeks we will be working full time in order to find an interactive and digital solution that can attract more people to IKEA's stores. This is great, since the company is successful, open-minded and global. How to take something great to the next level? We shall find out the answer to this question by the end of the module.
Most exciting thing at Hyper Island this week?
Hyper Island has always something exciting happening, whether it is coming from the staff or the students. :) For example, this week we started with workshops, organized by the students who are experts in a certain field and are willing to share their knowledge with the rest of the school. We have no teachers, no books, no homework, so this is a great opportunity to try something new and take the initiative to teach, to research more about what you love to do or always wanted to know about, to improve presentation skills, share and raise the good vibe among the students and of course, have fun! This week, we had workshops about Programming, HTML and CSS, Processing and a lot more are scheduled for the coming weeks.
How did you find Hyper Island?
My dad's company worked together with some students from Hyper Island. So he gave me the link.
What were your expectations before beginning the Interactive Art Director program?
I was really looking forward to work with passioned people, people who lived for digital media like me. And besides that I had really high expectations on the lectures we would get, and the study methodology Hyper would have.
What was the first module about? What did you learn?
In the first module, we researched the current digital industry and tried to make a vision of the future. It was something I wanted to do for a long time, and finally gathering all the information I've been researching in the passed few years together with the research of the other group members, really gave our group good insights. It became clear you had to do this almost every year, so you could keep track of the trends, and keep in my mind what really is the future.
What's the new module about and what's your group working on?
In the second module we have to come up with a new idea for Ikea on how that can improve their services in the future. We're still in an early process and figuring out the bits and pieces. At this moment, we're doing research, learning more about Ikea, the company, the future, the competitors and their marketing in order to find holes or malfunctions where we can work on.
What's been your two biggest learning experiences so far?
The first one was the UGL. It made me realize reflection and feedback are really important when it comes to working in a team. And besides that I got to know myself a lot better.
The second one was the first task we had: the research task. I worked together with really interesting people who taught me to expand my boundaries and think further than I normally do. I made me smarter in some kind of way...
Most exciting thing at Hyper Island this week?
I think that would be the workshops that are going on. I gave mine yesterday, and was really pleased with the result. And I'm curious about the coming workshops since it will handle the material I've been wanting to learn since long.
What do you think you can learn from your classmates?
A better question would be: what can I not learn! The people here are great, they all have their experience, knowledge and own interest. I haven't met anyone yet who couldn't give me an interesting talk. I think the best thing you learn from your co-students, is the fact that you'll see a solution from different angles, which helps a lot!
How did you find Hyper Island?
I found Hyper Island after watching an animated flash self-promotion video by one of the Digital Media students in the previous crews. I think that was about 7 years ago. I was excited to come here after I attended their recruitment tour 2 years ago, I recommend the experience.
What were your expectations before beginning the Interactive Art Director program?
I wasn't sure what to expect, actually. I described it to people as "a digital experiment: what would happen if you stuck x-number of creatives in a room for a year and had them make a handful of amazing projects."
What did you learn during the first module?
The first module included the UGL course. It was helpful in gathering insights about self vs self, self vs group, and the Collective Experience. I wrote about it here.
What's the new module about and what's your group working on?
The current module revolves around 7 weeks of ideation for furniture giant, Ikea. In addition to conjuring up some forward-thinking and fun ideas for the brand, our group is making creative "webisodes" (web+episodes) documenting the process of working together. Check out the teaser and the first episode of our show, LapOfLuxury™ here or follow our daily progress on our website here.
Most exciting thing at Hyper Island this week?
Aside from LapOfLuxury™, I'm probably most excited about all the wonderfully executed programming workshops by some of the Hyper Island students. Today we cover the Processing language, I'm looking forward to it.
What do you think you can learn from your classmates?
Aside from learning skills, I'm looking forward to the discovery process of what I can learn over the next few months.
How did you find Hyper Island?
I heard about it a few years ago, that it was a really good education, but I never really understood what they where doing. Last year a friend of mine went here and I heard from him what they did and how they did it.
I went to a few "Open Houses" and got really impressed.
What's been your biggest learning experience so far?
Importance to actually practice how to work in groups. It's hard sometimes, but the only way to master it is to practice.
What did you learn during the first module?
I learned so much about myself. And how people around me see my actions. To change my own behaviour I need people around me to tell me what I do.
What's the new module about and what's your group working on?
We are working on a new way for Ikea to communicate with their customers.
Most exciting thing at Hyper Island this week?
When Mary got lost at IKEA and Fatih had to call her on the speaker system. Hilarious!
What do you think you can learn from your classmates?
If I have a question I ask the classmate with best knowledge about it. Almost whatever I ask them about, we are so many people with different backgrounds and knowledge.
More important, I learn about myself by receiving instant feedback all the time!
Thank you all! Can't wait to see what your groups come up with for this module.
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