Communications Team Reflection: New Perspectives Though Collaborative Design

In this blog, the Communications team shares their experience working collaboratively across different design disciplines and what they learned from iterating together.

Written by the Communications team

When our team settled in across from each other at one of the large, hexagonal tables in Room 300 at the start of the semester, we came together as strangers with our own expectations. We expected a stereotypical work environment, where everyone would focus on their own tasks and check in intermittently. How we were going to work together or what that collaboration might look like in a design setting was only a passing thought. Over the course of the term, though, we realized that design is absolutely collaborative. Working together as designers changed our perspective on what designing can be—and how collaboration makes our work better.

Learning Together as Designers

At the beginning of the semester, each of us had our own goals. We wanted to be more organized, more sure of ourselves, to be better and more confident communicators. Even though we were thinking about how that might work in a team, none of us really thought about how teamwork and collaboration would really factor in. Over the past few months, one thing we’ve learned is that designing collaboratively is different than in our academic projects. As designers, we’ve had to be more open to others’ ideas and willing to iterate. Our team reflected on the value of teamwork in communications:

Harneet: “Something I didn’t expect was how our work is grounded in teamwork. We do everything together, from brainstorming to sharing feedback and blending together different ideas. Being on the graphic design team has shown me that an idea can really change and improve through team discussions, resulting in an even stronger final visual. Working in this collaborative environment means working in a community where everyone has different strengths and interests but comes together to contribute to the work.”

Lucy: “Working with the team to develop our team takeover event was one of my favourite memories from my time at iHub this summer. I felt that I was able to get to know my team members better through our brainstorming and co-working sessions. At the end, it was a super fun experience because we got to lead the event for the team and see firsthand how they approached problem-solving together.”

Finding Our Own Unique Style

Going from academic work to collaborative design wasn’t always easy, especially when we were working on different projects. As a team of both graphic designers and UI/UX designers, we had some meetings when we were working in parallel but on very different things. Overhearing feedback in that setting wasn’t always easy, because at first we felt that not everything was relevant between projects. However, when we collaborated as a team and the graphic designers helped the UI/UX team by offering feedback for their prototypes, we realized that the two different design disciplines have more in common than we thought. In hearing feedback from different points of view, we learned more about each others’ thinking when it came to design.

Overall, the strongest work we created was the work that we did as a full team, whether that meant collaborating or offering each other suggestions. Here’s what the team had to say about our accomplishments and what we learned this term:

Fang: “One accomplishment I’m proud of is learning to be more patient in the design process. When our team was working on the visuals for the upcoming project, I didn’t expect the ideating phase to take as long as it did. But during the process, I realized that taking the time to narrow down ideas helped us come up with a solid idea that we could digitize and make creative iterations off of.”

Kimberly: “I really enjoyed working on UI/UX design in a professional setting. I came to the iHub expecting to just focus on completing my assigned tasks, but in the end, I came to enjoy the design process much more than expected.”

Vincent: “Although I didn’t expect the diversity in our team, with every team member coming from a different background, I learned a lot from their experience. Through working on the various projects and collaborating with my team members, I was able to see their different design styles, broaden my own perspective, and start building my own style.”

Growth, Teamwork, and Iteration

Sitting down for our final team meeting in the summer was like coming together with friends. By the end of the summer, we knew a lot more about our different design styles and the choices each of us would make in putting a design together. One thing we learned from reframing teamwork in a design team was that finding one’s own style doesn’t always have to be a solitary venture—in fact, each of us found our own style though working with others and trying something different. We’re looking forward to taking this knowledge with us to our next roles and into the future.