9 Strangers in a room

Our first meeting on Tuesday, 3rd February, involved discussing potential project names, developing initial poster ideas, and just breaking the ice. Hard Hat Café was the brilliant outcome raised by Samira, with no help at all from ChatGPT. As excited as we were to meet the collaborator, unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances delayed our initial discussions.

The poster team produced a strong range of drafts, and we collectively decided to move forward with Yuxiang’s idea, which emphasised our group’s design intent. We discussed visiting the site, and although we would ideally all like to go, Pendle (East Lancashire) is too far for us each to take the venture out (we’re thinking of sending a small strike team instead).

Since the meeting, Michael from In-Situ has reached out and helped to communicate their expectations, and we’re excited to meet him in person after the February half-term.

Minecraft Soundtrack = Creative Mode

Week 2 was us sharing vibes and brainstorming for the less glamorous but very necessary bit: getting the project properly organised. We split into smaller teams to tackle different tasks (planning, timeline, ethics, engagement, risk, and budget), then kept regrouping to compare notes and make sure we weren’t all quietly building different versions of the same project.

We also pushed the design forward and wrapped up the posters. Working in mini groups helped us move faster, but the best part was coming back together to review them as a whole team; lots of debates, a few ruthless cuts, and a shared agreement that clarity wins (even if we were emotionally attached to certain layouts).

In parallel, we started properly sharing design references and early ideas, building a quick inspiration board, swapping case studies, and throwing around thoughts on temporary/lightweight/movable structures. Nothing too precious yet, but enough to get everyone on the same page and start shaping a shared visual direction.

Can we speak without a Mic

With the weather so good and the meeting with our collaborator, Michael, still pending, we prioritised efficient blog post creation during our 3rd session to maximise our time in the rare Mancunian sunshine. The session also gave us a chance to deepen our understanding of the module brief and to refine a list of questions to ask Michael during the scheduled meeting. Escaping the UoM Uni Place building by 3.30 pm, we left a note for our group supervisor explaining the reason for our absence.