Experience
Starting the project we were divided into partner/triad's, each assigned with one little buddy. I got assigned Juan, a first grade boy at the Monarch school. Our group was told that he was very quiet and extremely shy. This concerned me, seeing it would be much more difficult to communicate with him compared to other groups. Our first meeting went slow but productive. The questions period for us was shorter than expected since Juan was answering with 1 to 3 word answers including just yes and no. Later on we got to spend time to draw and read to Juan. We were able to communicate more efficiently on what he liked by having him draw freely rather than feeling pressured to answer our questions. We left that day joyful for having this experience but also with important notes that guided us to our final design result. With our next two meetings Juan slowly opened up, being more talkative, starting conversations, memorizing our name, and opening up to us about his family. Between the meeting period we drew napkin sketches and brought them back to Juan to critique and choose the one he favored most. We spent time together playing games and explaining to him our project and what we were designing for him. Our third meeting came and we presented a draft of his final thoughts. Though there were some problems we redesigned and adapted future drafts based on what we had noted down and modified simple ideas to be more intricate. In the end I definitely had a better relationship with my buddy than where I had first started and I feel grateful to have the opportunity to make a night light for him to always remember me and my group.