By: Marcus Ortiz

“I am Iron Man”, or at the very least, “I am Great Value Iron Man”. Whether it is making a wall of sticky notes or having brand new, innovative, and collaborative ideas with my team; the create phase has easily been my favorite part of the design process thus far. Quite honestly, the most fitting word to describe the create phase is simply fun. Combining what we have been building towards for the past three weeks is just so exciting!

However, the significance of the create phase doesn’t lie in the amusement I have in it, but in how much I have grown because of it. Particularly, in fostering a “yes, and” mindset to encourage collaboration, which has easily been the most difficult aspect of the create phase. It is quite disheartening that our minds are almost trained to doubt ideas rather than encourage and build upon them. However, once you retrain your mind to thrive in a collaborative environment, you begin to notice the wonderful impacts it has. Rather than scrapping an idea filled to the brim with potential, we are able to tap into that potential and create the best possible solution for the user.

By using this collaborative mindset to build on ideas, our team was able to come to a solution that we all love! Now that we have narrowed down our vision, we can not wait to continue innovating it!