Author: tegansereno

When designing my first board game, I decided that I wanted to present something simple, straightforward and fun. All of my gameplay experience has revolved around games that exemplify all of these qualities so it was important to me to showcase this in my own, unique way. I wanted my game to be family appropriate and for it to incorporate elements of humour as this is what I, as a game player, can relate to and what I enjoy so I feel a certain passion towards the project.

When first ideating this project one of the first decisions I made was to keep this as a simple roll and move board game. I wanted to incorporate cards and dice, and have a high level of player autonomy. I first began drawing out what I wanted my board to look like. I then began the brainstorming process for the actual gameplay. As previously stated, I wanted this game to incorporate elements of humour while keeping player interaction and flow quite high.

My Game!
Now for the exciting part. My game will be called ‘The Silly Soirée Showdown’ and will be my take on a modern, fun family board game. As previously stated the industry I will be targeting will be the family industry. These games are classic as they occupy a central position in the current market and are designed to entertain individuals of all ages, especially children. I will be incorporating the genres of Ameritrash due to the high level of luck as well as the colourful stylisation of my game.
While my audience is quite specific (family games are typically aimed at entertaining younger children), I want my game to be an experience that entertains people of all ages. The use of player autonomy and humour through challenges and fun competition will hopefully attract fans of uno and more adult games like ‘Cards Against Humanity’ to take part in this family fun activity.

Background research is vital when designing a board game. It is imperative to know where your game might sight in the current market and how other games with similar themes and styles have performed over time (BCM300, 2023). I investigated three separate games that have similar styles to what I am designing to see what may or may not work within my own board game.

1. Cranium: This game involves different types of challenges that players have to complete to advance on the board, such as drawing, sculpting, acting out, or answering trivia. It doesn’t have a system for choosing to avoid challenges or go back spaces, but it does incorporate a variety of fun and silly tasks.
2. Pictionary: Though not exactly a board game with a path to follow, Pictionary does involve drawing challenges and can get pretty silly. Players or teams draw a word and their teammates have to guess what it is.
3. Charades: Similarly to Pictionary, Charades doesn’t have a board or tokens, but it does involve players performing tasks (acting out words or phrases without speaking) for others to guess. It’s easy to make this game more silly or challenging by adjusting the difficulty of the words/phrases.
   As listed above, the current board games in the market incorporate aspects of what I am trying to achieve e.g. completing tasks to advance or utilising a pathway for the board game to follow, however, my board game has increased player autonomy by providing individuals with their options to avoid challenges by moving backspaces to increase competition. I want to delve further into ‘Cranium’. This 1998 board game (Board Game Geek, 2023) incorporates some of the very features that excite me about gameplay. Cranium allows players to complete activities to win the game. This board is divided into four sections and asks players to complete challenges such as drawing, sculpting and answering trivia questions. This model of the game acts as a sort of base model for what I am attempting to create with Silly Soirée Showdown. When investigating the ratings of this game, I can see that it holds an average of 6/10 on Board Game Geek. With a similar audience to mine (ages 13+), I was extremely interested in viewing some of the comments from players.
   Many players commented that while Cranium is a “fun party game” it can be “confusing when trying to keep track of everyone’s scores”. I considered a scorekeeping method within my game but decided that the simple route of advancing on a spot-by-spot basis around the board would be a cleaner way of deciding the game’s winner.

While there are similar games within the market, I believe there is space for Silly Soirée Showdown. With the increase of apps such as TikTok, I would want my game to be a source of fun that younger people might play and create their challenges and fun with. I believe players can make up for their challenges and incorporate their own rules and way of playing, further increasing player autonomy. I want my board game to have basic rules and guidelines, but I want the players of SSS to make the gameplay their own experience and twist it to mould what they want out of the game.

Before delving into the game rules and gameplay, I want to touch on the themes, game loops and narrative to ensure that we can understand the full scope of what I am trying to achieve with this game design. My game has incorporated the theme of being child-focused. I want to use bright colours and humour to fit the current standards of this theme. Games with this shared theme include Guess Who, Cluedo and Mousetrap. All games are highly stylised and are bright in nature and gameplay. Mechanics are also vital to consider. The Silly Soirée Showdown will have features of options and bidding. What makes my game unique from other children’s games in the market is that it will allow each player the chance to compete through my individualised task creation. This will therefore enhance the individual’s position in the game and will increase competition among the players. The further into the game we travel, the trickier and more humour challenges might become, therefore giving players the option to compete or back down. This incorporates the mechanics of bidding as it provides the player with a choice and will affect their position within the game. When considering my game world, I wanted to ensure my game was based on the ‘actual world’. As there are no external fictional characters, my inventory of individuals will be the same as the actual world. Cosmology is one world that users play within to escalate their gameplay. Logic is usually respected but may be occasionally violated due to the silly nature of tasks that individuals must complete to advance in this world. This is not traditionally logical as one would not have to traditionally perform these tasks in the normal world.

Title: Silly Soiree Showdown
Components:
• A game board with spaces forming a path from start to end.
• A 6-sided die.
• A deck of cards with challenge instructions.
• Player tokens.
• A stash of reward tokens.
Setup:
• Each player chooses a token to represent them on the board.
• Shuffle the deck of challenge cards and place them next to the board.
• Each player places their token on the start space of the board.
• Decide who will go first.
Gameplay:
• On their turn, a player rolls the die and moves their token forward the number of spaces shown on the die.
• There are three types of spaces on the board: Safe, Challenge, and Super Challenge. Safe spaces are neutral and nothing happens when a player lands on them. Challenge spaces are marked with a small icon, and Super Challenge spaces are marked with a bigger icon.
• If a player lands on a Challenge space, they draw a card from the Challenge deck. The player has the choice to either complete the challenge or move back one space. If they complete the challenge successfully, they receive one reward token.
• If a player lands on a Super Challenge space, they draw two cards from the Challenge deck and must choose one to perform. These challenges are intended to be more difficult or silly. If they complete the Super Challenge successfully, they receive two reward tokens. If they choose not to do the challenge or fail at the challenge, they move back to two spaces.
• Challenges can be things like “Speak in a funny accent for your next three turns” or “Invent a one-minute dance routine”. Super Challenges should be more difficult or potentially embarrassing, like “Pretend you’re a mime stuck in a box until your next turn” or “Make up a song about another player and sing it”.
• Players can interact with each other by cheering for or helping each other complete challenges, or by playfully trying to distract each other during challenges.
• The game continues until a player reaches the end of the board. However, reaching the end doesn’t automatically make that player the winner.
Winning the Game:
• Once a player reaches the end of the board, every other player gets one more turn to try and earn as many reward tokens as possible.
• After everyone has had their final turn, players count up their reward tokens. The player with the most reward tokens is the winner. If there’s a tie, the player who reached the end of the board first wins the tie.
• The end of the game should always involve some kind of final Super Challenge, possibly performed by all players at once, to add an extra level of excitement and silliness.
This game should provide a lot of laughter and fun, and even though there’s competition, the main focus should be on having a good time together. The challenges can be adapted to suit the age and comfort level of the players, making it a versatile game for all kinds of family gatherings or parties.

I was then excited to enter the playtesting experience. I wanted to ensure that what I had envisioned for my game would work out in the gameplay world. To do this I decided to design a board game and a set of sample cards with set challenges that a sample group might be able to use in their play experience. When designing my cards, I wanted to consider that my audience is predominantly family-based. I wanted a fun, colourful palettes to match the light, humourous nature of the game. I wanted my board game to be eye-catching and bright to ensure that the younger audience was drawn to this game when it was sitting on the market shelves.

After designing and making physical copies of my game, I then decided to play with my sister. Whilst experiencing this game, we both noted that the colours worked extremely well at drawing our attention around the board. We had a sample of 5 cards each with set challenges to complete and found ourselves laughing and having fun, whilst also engaging in the competition of wanting to be the winner. We noted that the challenges I had chosen e.g. speaking in a funny voice for the next 3 moves’ were easy enough to follow whilst also significantly challenging the user. I took on this feedback as I wish to keep this game at a family-based audience level.

The board is rectangular with a glossy finish, making the colours pop. It is divided into several consecutive squares, forming a path that leads from the start to the end. Each square is filled with a different colour, creating a visually appealing and dynamic game board.
In the centre of each square, there is a bold and eye-catching number, ranging from 1 to a higher value, depending on the length and complexity of the game. The numbers are displayed in a variety of vibrant hues, contrasting with the background colour of the respective square.
The start of the board is marked by a prominent arrow or a designated “Start” area, indicating where players should place their game pieces. The end of the board is similarly marked with a distinct symbol, such as a checkered flag or the word “Finish,” signifying the goal that players strive to reach.
In addition to the colourful path, there might be various illustrations or thematic elements sprinkled across the board to enhance the overall aesthetic and create an immersive experience for players. These illustrations could reflect the theme of the game, whether it’s a fantasy realm, an underwater adventure, a futuristic setting, or any other imaginative concept.
To complete the visual experience, envision players actively engaged around the board, moving their game pieces and strategizing their moves. The anticipation and excitement grow as they progress along the colourful path, striving to be the first to reach the end and claim victory in this vibrant and engaging board game.
I wanted my cards to be bright and colourful, matching the vibe of the board itself. I wanted these playing cards to tie in with the theme of the game, being light, fun and humourous. I decided on a colour palette of pinks, yellows and oranges to draw the audience’s eye whilst not clashing with the board itself. I have included my prototypes below.

Completing my final presentation and interview was an experience that taught me a lot about myself and the person I was interviewing. It opened up my eyes to stared experiences and also taught me that active listening is one of the largest parts of our community today.

I decided to Interview Hayley Taylor, my coworker from an old publishing house that we both used to work at, over zoom. I wanted to gain an insight into what Hayley’s opinion on toxic work culture was and how this opinion had changed overtime.

In preparation for this interview, I sent Hayley a few key points that I wanted to delve into. These covered who Hayley is, how our connection was formed, how Hayley’s path has changed and what her future looks like. I also decided to take the route of touching on overwork and toxic work relationships. Hayley had decided to pick up early in her publishing career and turn towards a career inTV journalism, a role that she has never regretted taking. She has attributed this to the key points below:

1. Turning away from toxic overworking habits
2. Prioritising her life and her relationships
3. Reevaluating what work means to her
4. Making her dreams a reality

Hayley and I discussed how overwork is a very real and toxic culture in the job market at the moment. We turned the discussion into how important this topic was and how vital it is that we are taught how to deal with toxic emotions in the workplace early. BCM313 had taught me a lot in regards to this, always directing workplace culture overtime and leaning towards an attitude of safe working levels, despite the growing reliance on technology and the expectancy to be constantly working.

Hayley reinforced that toxic work cultures were a thing of her past. She explained how she was wrapped up in “being the best” and “always put her relationships second to her job” in order to climb the corporate ladder. But what does this get us at the end of the day? Hayley stated that it was vital for young people to realise that they could work as hard as possible and burn themselves out and some companies would still find a replacement for them within a week. Although some jobs see people as just a number, we have to turn away from this idea and make sure we aren’t thinking of ourselves this way.

My interview with Hayley was one that informed me of workplace cultures and refreshed me in the sense that I was made to believe that we don’t have to adhere to this. We can choose tot urn away from these norms and pick a lifestyle that is healthy and fulfilling while still having the career we choose.

Thank you!

Hi all!

The process of creating and sharing my digital artefact was one that has challenged me, enlightened me and taught me things that I never knew about myself. In the past, Digital Artefacts turned into ideations of projects gone by and I didn’t feel like I was particularly challenging myself when it came time to reflect on the work I had done and lessons I learned. Throughout this BCM cycle, I feel as though even though my project didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned, I have learnt a far more valuable lesson. I have learnt what I am interested in as a person and I have narrowed down what I truly value in life. I can’t wait to show you how I came to these conclusions and what I learnt through this contextual report. 

A brief recollection of my project:

I was inspired to create ‘Hey You Should Read This’. You can read all about my original ideation here but in short, HYSRT is an online Instagram community within the Bookstagram realm aimed at 18-30 year old women who want a modern, cool way of sharing what they’re reading in an inclusive space. Based on my background research (more also here) and knowledge from the book industry, Bookstagram reads are currently sitting at a consistent #1 position on all data and have remained there for 12 months. There is a booming opportunity to market oneself on this platform, however, I wanted to take this in another direction. I decided that I would reach out to local businesses and attempt to launch a ‘Blind Date with a book’ business, entailing a wrapped up books with no distinguishing features being sold at a lower price to true book lovers.

Where we are now:

While I was originally very excited to take my ‘Blind Date With a Book’ journey, I decided fairly early on that this journey was not one I was ready to embark on. So how did I come to this conclusion? To start, I recently started a full-time job at HarperCollins whilst also studying full-time. Starting a business (albeit a small one) was not feasible and would not translate to my best work. I wanted my project to remain fast, inexpensive, simple and tiny and starting a business would be the furthest from all of these things! Instead, I took a step back to reevaluate what was important to me but what I could also contribute to the book lovers community. I decided to take my love for marketing my book photos on Bookstagram and mix this into my work life by volunteering my time to create book displays at Dymocks. This was perfect for me because I would be building on a part of my life that already exists whilst also giving back to the book community by building beautiful displays for the book community. Fast, Inexpensive, Simple and Tiny!

There are 3 stages of development when creating this project. These include producing content, aggregating content and curating content. 

• Producing content: Whilst I would be helping to build displays for Dymocks, I wanted to link this to something thatI believed in which is my bookstagram! I decided to share my pictures and promote our HarperCollins Dymocks windows on this platform to link my two worlds together. I decided to do this my advertising on Instagram stories. 
• Aggregating content: I aggregate content by using canva to make beautiful templates for my posts. I also have utilised the help of students to market my Instagram by utilising their tips and tricks for photo sharing. 
• Curating content: I have been curating content for my instagram for months and it is something I fell in love with. I wanted to take this a step further by curating content for not only my coworkers, but Dymocks and my HarperCollins Coworkers. 

In terms of FIST my digital artefact is fast, inexpensive, simple and tiny. How so you might ask…

Fast: While this project was originally going to be quite long-winded and drawn out, my second ideation of my digital artefact would be faster than ever! I decided to work smarter, not harder. I drew on resources that were already accessible me such as my workplace and Instagram. I merely built on these factors to make a project that would suit my style and would also give back to the community. I wanted this to come together quickly so I immediately reached out to my work’s marketing team who I already had strong relationships with and offered a lending hand in the construction of Dymock’s window displays. 

Inexpensive: This simply cost nothing! I offered my time during work hours, displayed my, content on a free account and utilised the amazing and free content curation site, Canva (see my Instagram stories below). Comparing this to my original project, production prices for packing materials and shipping costs would have made this project not at all marketable or profitable. 

Simple: This project while fast and inexpensive, was also quite simple. While my first ideation would have taken at least 2 months to bring together whilst also creating contacts and building connectionsfrom scratch, my final digital artefact was already partly produced. I had connections on Bookstagram already and simply utilised my workplace to give back to myself and the book community. It couldn’t have gotten much simpler than this! 

Tiny:

My DA was tiny in the sense that everything is accessible easily. I can access photos, marketing and my HarperCollins team from the one space. Like I stated before, downsizing this project was the best possible thing I could have done!

My social utility

I want to delve into how this gives back to the community  and who this project is targeting a little bit more as I believe this is such a big part of the design.

This project is relevant to book lovers as it:

-Showcases HarperCollins’ latest releases in a beautiful, fun way

– Creates community on the bookstagram space

This project is relevant to me as it:

-Allows me to develop posts that I actually feel passionate about

-Allows me to be more creative at work

This project is relevant to others as:

-It provides Dymocks with beautiful window displays that attract clientele to their store.

At the end of the day, I wanted to feel connected to my project by creating aesthetically pleasing photos and books (the biggest love of my life) whilst also giving something back to the book community, which I feel I was successful in doing.

See a collection of my Dymock’s related Instagram stories below!

Learning Moment 1: A big learning moment for me throughout this project was actually defining a social utility. During my first ideation, my social utility was quite murky. I knew that I loved books and wanted to create something surreounding this. While I wanted to give back to the book buyers community by creating a business that offered cheaper, motor sustainable ways of buying second-hand books, this project was not incorporating the FIST factors and wasn’t practice. I learnt that sometimes, we have to scale things back to create something more sustainable and beautiful in the long run. 

Feedback Loops:

Another valuable part of this project’s design was the feedback loops I created. I have learnt through the BCM Digital Artefact process that feedback from my peers is the most valuable asset to a project’s development. In saying this, I utilised my peer’s feedback and considered this is parts of my new design.

I found Thy’s advise (my BCM peer) incredibly valuable and took on a lot of what they had to say. 

I found Thy’s comment “this is a lot of work for Tegan to do on her own” highly valuable. I reflected on this and came to the same agreement. I decided to then lean on what I already knew and built my project off of this. I also had a conversation and received marketing tips and tricks from The Digital Memo. With this advise, I was able to build up more of an Instagram following by following the below tips:

1. Stay specific! Post what you know and what you know your followers like
2. Pick one aesthetic
3. Relate parts of your real life to bookstagram. People like having a glimpse behind the curtain.

Following this advice also allowed me to collaborate with others to better my project. Having the opinions and knowledge of my peers available was incredibly valuable. It allowed me to reach out to people in my targeted demographic who may know more in a certain field than I do.

I also utilised the below feedback from Thy which contributed to my project’s successful moments.

I decided to reflect on what Thy had stated about marketing. My original Bookstagram had remained stagnant since my last BCM project so I decided to ramp up the content! I started to interact with my peers and posted more often! I posted content that stuck to an aesthetic that suited my personality to draw in a crowd and stuck to sharing my Dymock’s post’s mainly on Instagram stories. Marketing is such a valuable tool and I learnt how to properly utilise it and my peers this semester.

Learning Moment:

While I feel I learnt quite a bit in regards to marketing, there are definitely parts of this project that I would improve on. Instead of posting mainly on instagram stories to share my Dymock’s photos, I would have utilised Twitter and my main feed to showcase my work. I feel that this could have allowed my posts to gain more coverage. It is known that the use of hashtags and Twitter is incredibly valuable as it allows people who might not follow my account to see my posts. While Instagram stories are quick and convenient, I would have broadened my marketing to include more aspects. I also wish i had defined my project’s use earlier in the semester as this would have provided me with more time to connect with my followers and share my content in other ways. This is all part of the learning experience!

As mentioned by Thy above, the use of BookTok can be really valuable. I took this advice but catered it to suit me. I was much more comfortable with instagram reels and had filmed videos that I then broadcasted over my Instagram stories for the world to see. We can also see people glancing at our display in this video, which is evidence that we are drawing attention to Dymock’s through our display!

The Future!

Going in to the future I have big plans! Instead of allowing this to be a fleeting project like my other BCM ideations, I plan on growing this side of my Bookstagram into a permanent fixture. I want to combine both aspects of my life to create a hobby for myself that doesn’t feel like work. I will be incorporating aspects of my work at HarperCollins as a main fixture in my Bookstagram and will be relying more on the community aspect of this social media space to gain a following and give even more back to the community! Needless to say I can’t wait!

Story 1

Beginning my first full-time job was a challenge to say the least. I had just come out of a casual job that I had become so comfortable in that it was second-nature to a job wherein a LOT of people relied on my consistent effort and work input. I was picking everything up by my 4th month until I made quite a large mistake that shook the belief I held in my abilities and affected the way I thought people viewed me. To put it quite simply- I felt awful. Instead of letting this mistake ruin my entire workday I decided to sit with it for 30 minutes. I stepped away from my work, had a coffee, (cried) and then picked myself back up and continued on. There were consequences and I had to reassure my manager and myself that I would learn from this mistake and pay more attention to detail in the future. I listened to what my manager had to say about why the mistake wasn’t great but also communicated that I was sorry and that I would try again. I wanted to create the impression that I wasn’t out of control and knew how to handle tough situations while mainly staying self-aware. At the end of the day, we are all working and we all make mistakes so I have used this experience to remind myself of exactly that. 

Story 2

As I previously stated, starting full-time work this year has been challenging. Learning an entirely new role while balancing family, friends, university and self-care has been one of the biggest challenges of all. I found myself starting to fade quickly. I was becoming moody, making mistakes at work, falling out of touch with friends and losing touch with myself and what I liked to do in my spare time. I decided something had to be done. I took this issue to my tutors at the time and explained my situation and was assured that nothing was wroth risking my wellbeing. I took a step back to reset. Instead of leaving university to the last minute, I chipped away at assignments throughout the semester. When I was at work, I focused completely and at 5pm, I logged off and had my me-time. I found my happiness growing and I started to find myself again. I want to be the best worker I can be but that can only happen if I am the best version of myself first.

Story 3

Coming from a casual job where communciation wasn’t the object of the day, moreso pouring beers for customers, learning new styles of interacting was a huge challenge. I didn’t quite understand email etiquette, how the tone changed between formal and informal when it came to Teams and don’t even get me started on Zoom (camera on or off?!). I felt like I was speaking a different language to everyone else for the first 2 months of my job. I knew the only thing to do to rectify this issue was to tune in to my surroundings. I started to pay clear attention to how everyone else communicated and matched their tone in emails and meetings. If I wasn’t sure, I asked in a friendly, confident but polite manner and it hasn’t failed me since. I figured that the only thing I could do was to be confident and when in doubt, always ask questions. This was I gave off the impression that I cared enough to ask about what others are comfortable with while remainly professional and light in my mannerisms. 

Essay

When deciding what to expand on for this part of our assignment I really wanted to sit back and think about my experiences as a young person who is new to full-time employment. I thought about all the challenges I had experienced and decided that I wanted to expand more on communication and emotions in the workplace. As I previously said, communication is something we do everyday in the smallest of ways, however, it isn’t something that is always relied heavily upon in every workplace. Previously, my main focus at work was clocking in and ensuring everything was clean and customers had their products. Going from this automotive job to a role that relied on my communication skills and interactions with others was quite a jolt. This challenge allowed me to really relate to week five’s topic of ‘emotional labour and professionalism in the workplace’.

As a person, I have always been quite good at regulating my emotions and communicating. I have found picking up on social cues quite easy which I feel lucky to do because I understand this isn’t easy for everyone, especially in new environments. I found discussions in week five around emotional labour and the role of communication (Bowles, 2022) at a human level, extremely close to how I feel on a daily basis. The reason I decided to discuss this topic was because I really resonated with the quote “As we’ve moved through the semester, we’ve stepped further from the factory floor or coffee shop towards the kinds of workplaces that we associate with professionalism.” (Bowles, 2022). This is exactly how I felt regarding my transition from working casually to full-time.

The main concept that I had to come to terms with was navigating other people’s emotions in the workplace. This is called emotional labour (associated with sociologist Arlie Hochschild). I found it interesting that workers are having to hide their authentic feelings in order to optimise the workplace experience. I can recall during the first week on at my new job, having to regulate my emotions and almost put a blocker on what I was truly feeling in order to act professional and make a good first impression to my new coworkers. I found this challenging as I wasn’t sure how casual I could be, how to address my superiors and how to properly communicate with buyers outside of my immediate working group. Feeling on edge like this led to feelings of anxiety and doubt within myself. I decided to delve a little bit further into this topic by reading ‘The concept creep of emotional labor’ by Arlie Hoschchild (2018) which absolutely struck a chord with me. I have always struggled with  the concept of imposter syndrome and reading up on why this might truly helped.

Emotional labour being described as “the unpaid, invisible work we do to keep those around us comfortable and happy” (The Atlantic, 2018) was the perfect description for me. The work we put into mediating ourselves for others in the workplace can be draining! My imposter syndrome was really taking a toll. I found asserting myself and asking for what I needed while remaining professional really hard and found common ground with what Hoschchild was saying when they stated “If in the course of asserting yourself you find that you are having to brace yourself against imagined criticisms, or people are looking disapproving and you realize your job may be in jeopardy, all of that bracing and anticipation and experience of anxiety I would count as yes, emotional labor”(2018). I realised I needed to respect my emotions and tune in to what my mind was telling me at work and if this was a true representation of what was happening at the time. I decided the best thing to do was ask my coworkers how they felt about my work and take their answers on board to reduce the tension and stress I may have been feeling unnecessarily.

The idea that professional work would lead to a higher esteem in society and in funds also added to the stress I felt at work. Balancing the pressures of uni while trying to establish myself in my job was proving to be an emotional labour that I was starting to crack under. The differing ideas of professionalism also blurred this line even further for me because this led to taking on the toll of figuring out what was expected of me at work. It was comforting to see that “emotions being difficult to manage” (Bowles, 2018) was acknowledged in this week’s content. I have found the most useful way to combat these internal pressures (that mainly come from within) is to talk to my coworkers and communicate expectations because at the end of the day, we aren’t saving lives, we are all trying to accomplish the same task. Sometimes it’s not about taking all the pressure we feel off of ourselves, but having that pressure respected and acknowledged that matters. 

When I was told that the BCM302 cohort were undergoing two consecutive peer reviews I was so excited. It was interesting to see what feedback my peers had on my work but I always wanted to follow up, to know more. Now we get the chance! I have touched base with both Trent and Carla to see how they’re going with the amazing projects they are working on.

Trent – B29 Team

At first glance, Trent’s twitter wasn’t showing any progression reports or updates which made discussing and providing feedback a bit of a challenge. In saying this, I decided to dig into what Trent had originally pitched and find out how the building 29 team were coming along with this general ideology. Trent had stated within his pitch that the B29 aim was to educate students on what services were available in the building while also teaching them how to use said services and technology. 

I would suggest that Trent uses his personal twitter to provide updates in really get across what his part of the B29 team is. It is evident that Trent has contributed amazing work through the team’s twitter page but it would extremely helpful to see these updates from his perspective. In saying this, B29 have been tweeting updates that align with what Trent was wanting to achieve with his part of the team design. Examples from what I found are below.

Here we can see that the instruction on how to use certain technology is available, aligning exactly with what Trent stated he wanted to achieve in the B29 team.

A large part of Trent’s pitch was surrounding his background in marketing and media. He had pitched differing logos to the BCM302 cohort and had planned to discuss and use this feedback to settle on a simple yet effective design. I have seen through the setting up of B29’s twitter that once of these drafts has been chosen after careful consideration and inclusion from Trent’s classmates. Trent’s mood board has also influenced the media and marketing style that B29 has been putting out and really suits the vibe of the whole project.

Trent states that having a feedback loop was an imperative part of his project so it would be really interesting to see some updated information regarding what his peers are saying about the B29 project and what they need more of to succeed in using the facilities. 

Carla – CafeAmigos

Upon searching through Carla’s Twitter for project updates I found an absolute abundance of progression and discussion which was amazing. Carla’s project ‘CafeAmigos’ was one that really stood out to me in my first peer review, mainly due to her originality, design and eagerness to bring her peers together. I originally stated that I was interested to see where the project would go and gave advice regarding TikTok advertising and marketing. What specifically caught my eye was how quickly and efficiently Carla had set up her sign up page.

If you enjoy coffee and chats this club is right for U! Sign up today and stay connected coffee amigos #BCM ☕️☕️ the coffee is going to get cold if you don't sign up right away 🤣👀 https://t.co/3yhf6ZbDmR pic.twitter.com/ajExfyhICS

— Carla Cavancha💗 (@carla27885132) August 8, 2022

I was really impressed with this as I found that this was a crucial first step in implementing exactly what CafeAmigos was all about- community. Carla had also been plugging her socials through Twitter, had showed her podcast script progress and had even gone so far as to post her first blog and podcast online.

#bcm302 The website has finally launched and I've uploaded our first podcast/blog🥳 check this out 👇https://t.co/E3HtZdzSk9

— Carla Cavancha💗 (@carla27885132) September 18, 2022

Another thing that struck me was how easy it was to see Carla’s narrative from starte to finish due to her natural updates that followed a casual timeline. This took the reader (me) on a start to finish journey for CafeAmigos which made providing feedback super easy. I felt caught up in no time. It was interesting to see how Carla had stuck to her original pitch goals. 

If I could give any advice, I would love to see updates and sneak peeks about the people Carla instends to interview as I feel like this will be a big drawing card for the upcoming episode. To have teasers will allow students to see people they may know and want to tune in (not that her amazing marketing wouldn’t do that anyway!). One thing that I noticed and took into consideration for my own project was that Carla stuck to her production plan. Within her pitch post she stated that she wanted to create a “prototype” and “ will start off firstly by producing YouTube videos, TikTok and Instagram reels.”. Carla has clearly done this and has utilised this feedback to create her first podcast. This has inspired me to follow along her journey and understand her projects utility as well as the whole purpose of CafeAmigos. 

I also noticed that Carla had implemented her original research into her project’s progression. She had originally sourced design prototype ideologies from Richard F. Gerson. This “explores the quantitative and qualitative measurements we need to collect in order to analyse and understand business climates, so that we are able to make appropriate decision making to exceed customer’s expectations of our products and services.” CafeAmigos has clearly done this by testing her audience and using these tests to make improvements and provide her audience with what they want. I’m really excited to see more with this project. 

Feedback makes the world go round. It provides people with the opportunity to grow from other people. At the end of the day, we are all so different, with varying ideas to offer each other so why not benefit from that?

For our second task, we were challenged to review two other pitch posts in order to provide helpful commentary on what we liked and what we can offer advice on. Here is my take!

Peer Review One- Trent

Trent will be utilising the B29 Research Challenge as a means of “targeting current and future TAEM students to inform them of the technology building 29 has to offer and how to use it.”.

Comment:

Hey Trent!

I think what you have going here is really brilliant. There is such a demand for knowledge in the technology sector, especially with so much tech replacing other systems in the workplace and uni so having a fresh set of eyes that will be able to deliver info to students will be nothing short of instrumental. To begin, your tone and the way you explain information is really clear and engaging. You have kept your pitch to a concise 2 minutes but have still explained yourself so well that I completely understood what you were trying to say. I think the idea of a website is also really great because you’re then able to use this as a platform that can be embedded into twitter, Instagram and even facebook. There are so many ways of advertising websites so this is awesome! I think your utility is great as there is a real need for what you are doing (I had no idea about what I could use building 29 for myself). An idea regarding your marketing of this website could be using polls and letting students have their say. Instagram is really great for this as it allows students to actually write what they’re needing a bit of extra support with. Another tool could be advertising this website on UOW’s website. I’m not sure how that process works but it could be worth embedding a link on building 29’s information page itself. I can’t wait to see where this is going and I’ll excitedly look out for updates! 🙂

Peer Review Two- Carla

Carla’s pitch is involved in the creation of a podcast set to interview members of her club ‘UOW Cafe Amigos’. Her aim will be to get to know her members through design thinking and asking set questions that will lead to a greater understanding of wants and needs.

Comment:

Hey there! I really love the idea of this pitch! It’s presented in a super cute and fun way that kept me engaged throughout the whole presentation. I feel like your colour palette suits the vibe of your project really well and everything is super in keeping with what you’re trying to achieve. I would really love to know a bit more about what kind of questions you hope to ask your interviewees. I think it’s really cool that you have the aim of getting to know your audience and club members a bit more but I would also love to know if there were conversations topics you had in mind? I would also love to know a bit of the history for UOW Club Amigos! This sounds like such an amazing idea and I think the marketing really sells itself. I think a great way you could advertise your podcast episodes could be showing videos of your conducted interviews on TikTok. The Shameless Media girls do this really well and I feel like it gives your audience a bit of insight and lets them know whose voice they’re hearing in order to break down barriers that podcasts might create. I can’t wait to see more! 🙂

Personal development and change in the workplace is an idea that, before this year, I was completely unfamiliar with. Pre-2022 I was quite happy to potter along in my casual job that I had held for over 3 years, studying full-time and drowning in spare time. Of course I had to come to terms with adjusting to work in different ways during this time (hello COVID). I was one of the lucky few who kept their job as I was deemed an ‘essential worker’ but university life had changed to a technology wonderland. I had to adapt to Twitter (follow me here, shameless plug), Zoom and Discord and what seemed like a thousand other superhero sounding names for communicating with my peers online. Although I knew this was an adjustment, I had no idea what change was until I started my first full-time job this year.

When I first got the email notification for my job interview, I was going through a really stressful period of change. My casual job environment had turned toxic with staff shortages and what seemed like a lack of real care for the health and safety of staff. I thought it seemed like as good a time as any to accept an interview at my current workplace, my thought process being that I would use the interview as experience for future offers and I would continue my studies until the end of the year (graduation). This plan was great, until I was offered the job. I knew I had a huge decision to make, one filled with change and turmoil but I knew that if I didn’t accept this opportunity, I would regret it forever. I tuned in to the part of myself that values new experiences and the need to build my career and I said YES! Looking back, I’m so glad that I made this decision, however, the change that I have experienced, especially in the balance of personal life and overwork has been overwhelmingingly relevant. 

When week 3’s topic regarding ‘Remembering conversations and the problem of overwork’ (Bowles, 2022) emerged, I immediately felt a connection with what we were discussing. I took vivid notes and repeated quotes from my peers like mantras. 

“I’m exhausted but I know it’ll be worth it when I have the career I want”

“The technology at my work is insane, I’ve had to learn to adapt in so many ways”

“Full time work is so different to my café job, it’s panic-inducing”

I resonated with everything I heard and found so my connections to my own story. I really want to begin by touching on the idea of “the norm of a five day working week plus a two day weekend” (Bowles, 2022) and how this has offered a longstanding “means of balancing the twin risks of overwork and underwork” (Bowles, 2022). Before my full time job offer I was entirely accustomed to the idea of casual work and having what seemed like endless free-time. I could balance uni work while also earning my wage each week without even considering the idea of a “burnout”. This idea is supported in the quote “when I was at university casual work was the perfect option for me to bring in an income working around the demands of studying” (MentorYou, 2022). I started to truly feel the shift of working on my life when Monday-Friday whilst juggling a part time uni load became a very real thing. I used my transport time to write assignments, my self-care time to join tutorials and my work-time trying to build a sustainable career. I started to burn-out and quickly. 

This idea of working and ‘hustle’ culture can be extremely toxic. An idea that resonates with me personally is the idea of quiet-quitting, which implements perfectly with what we have been discussing surrounding our week 3’s idea of overwork. This was described perfectly in the statement “workers are deciding to work within the hours they are paid” (Bowles, 2022). What’s wrong with that? This ideology that is ingrained in us (and especially me) is that we have to be the hardest working in the room to make it in niche industries and we have to be tech savvy to keep up with latest trends. I really struggled with the idea that work could now follow me home and that I was ever only a phone call away. I saw messages such as “away from my desk for a personal day, will be on emails intermittently throughout the day!”. I found myself losing interest in the things that made me who I was and was instead thinking about work and stressing about being better at all hours of the day. 

The BBC states “If you take a plant and put it in a pot and don’t water it and give it lousy soil and not enough sun, I don’t care how gorgeous the plant was to begin with – it isn’t going to thrive” (Lufkin, 2021). This can be said about how I have found the shift from working casually to having multiple people depend on me doing my job. I have found it extremely helpful in my first 3 months of work to challenge myself to not get swept up in overwork. To step outside, get some sun and close the screen at 5pm. It’s something that I am constantly trying to better myself in but we must think critically about how we are working to change the cycle.

References–

Ball, J., 2022. Council Post: Hustle Culture Can Be Toxic—Here’s How To Navigate It Successfully. [online] Forbes. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/03/31/hustle-culture-can-be-toxic-heres-how-to-navigate-it-successfully/?sh=7fbb632244e1&gt; [Accessed 24 August 2022].

Bowles, K 2022, ‘Remembering Conversations’ Moodle slides, BCM313, University of Wollongong, viewed 19 August 2022.

Lufkin, B., 2021. Why some narcissists actually hate themselves. [online] Bbc.com. Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210414-why-some-narcissists-actually-hate-themselves&gt; [Accessed 26 August 2022].

Mentor You | Website. 2022. THE BENEFITS OF A CASUAL JOB FOR SCHOOL STUDENTS | Mentor You. [online] Available at: <https://mentoryou.com.au/the-benefits-of-a-casual-job-for-school-students/&gt; [Accessed 28 August 2022].

World Health Organisation. 2019. Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. [online] Available at: <https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases&gt; [Accessed 22 August 2022].

Hello again! Hey You Should Read This is back but this time we’re making moves to be bigger and better than ever before. First, a little bit about me.

My name is Tegan Sereno and I’m in my final year of my degree while also working full time at the book publishing house, HarperCollins (my absolute dream).

Throughout the last 3 years of interning, I have gained knowledge in the areas of communication, social media and networking whilst learning how to find common ground with people. I have also learnt what it is about books that make people tick. For some it is the idea of collecting whilst for others it’s an escape from the everyday, which is what made me fall in love with books in the first place. 

I have learnt to utilise this knowledge in the communities that I am involved in. I have my wider work community which is filled with book-lovers like myself. I also have my micro level communities being my friendships and local book club. Reading has allowed me to escape to worlds that I never thought possible and I feel so strongly that reading soothes the soul.

This inspired me to create ‘Hey You Should Read This’. You can read all about my original ideation here but in short, HYSRT is an online Instagram community within the Bookstagram realm aimed at 18-30 year old women who want a modern, cool way of sharing what they’re reading in an inclusive space. Based on my background research (more also here) and knowledge from the book industry, Bookstagram reads are currently sitting at a consistent #1 position on all data and have remained there for 12 months. There is a booming opportunity to market oneself on this platform, however, it is what I’m doing differently that I want to discuss. 

While I originally started this project as a means of sharing cool  pictures, I believe there’s more to offer here. I want to offer, through the original curation of posts and a website, the opportunity for my audience to buy quality-second hand books based on their personality. I will be designing an online store that offers the consumer a personality quiz based on who they are as a person and what they like to read and through this, they can buy a “blind date with a book”, creating a unique, modern way of freshening up the reading experience. I will continue to re-engage with my original built audience of 140 followers and build this by consulting with BCM marketing experts. It is vital that this relationship is based on trust and engagement. I will be sustainable and eco-0friendly with packaging and the use of. Quality, second-hand books. 

My project is relevant now as it provides young women (or anyone who loves HYSRT’s vibe) the opportunity to engage in sustainable reading practises and gives the user tailor made shopping experience. Searches on bookstagram and Booktok show millions of results for “what should I read next?” And “book recommendations” so why not give the user this for the lower-price of a second-hand book. This is a passion of mine and while extra money on the side is great, my full time job allows me to pursue opportunities like this with inside knowledge of the industry whilst also being able to fully focus on my audiences needs and not my own. In saying this, my project remains relevant to me as it builds my portfolio for my early career in the book industry and allows me to gain knowledge of who I am selling books to.

I can’t wait to take you all on this ride and hopefully sell you your first Blind Date Book on Hey You Should Read This!

Hi everyone!

It’s really quite exciting to be writing this blog post because the future of work is something we all need to be interested in (and it’s my final semester! Yay!). I want to kick off my online presence by quickly chatting about a skill that i’ve learnt, both through uni and by naturally growing in life within my family, friend and work circles.

When I was younger I would find sparking conversation in a natural and confident way really quite difficult. I would find having to speak to strangers or in front of large groups of people almost impossible. Not being comfortable enough to develop this skill made uni life hard to manage because this was a huge part of communicating, especially post-COVID. I knew that something had to be done about this so instead of running away from opportunities that involved public speaking, I turned towards them. I practised until my feigned confidence turned into real-life confidence.

Nurturing this skill, while still not perfect, has made my work-life and personal life noticeably better. Having the ability to communicate clearly and with confidence is vital and it is a skill I found helped immensely with assignments and even the job interview that I undertook to score my dream job. I’m continuing to learn and grow this skill and i’m consistently open to receiving help with this from other people, something that was once impossible for me to do.