Follow the Money (FTM) is a BostonIxDA project which aims to produce a visualisation tool demonstrating the relationships between our elected officials and those who contribute to them financially. That is a the end goal, the means to that end and motivations for this project are;
Collaboration between Developers & Designers:
The developer-designer divide is something we hope to bridge with this program. The project itself will effect the cross pollination of thinking and skills. Developers curious about Design Thinking will learn from team members versed in those methodologies. Designers will expand their overall understanding of development processes.
Processing for Designers:
Through the act of learning a language created for Designers it is hoped participants will improve their understanding of the developer’s environment, therefor enabling them to communicate and collaborate more efficiently in multi-disciplinary discussions.
The application of design methodologies presented at BostonIxDA events:
IxDA Boston has been putting on events for a number of years with a focus on hands-on learning through workshops. With Follow The Money we will focus singular events at FTM depending on the stage we’re at in the program. For example;
March: Interviewing Users. This event will teach people how to better prepare and interview clients & their users. The FTM team will act as a client for the event. In the end we hope to come away having learned about interviewing and gathered research data for the project
April/May: IxDA Boston will hold a Design Critique event. Teams will be given FTM’s brief (special interest visualisation tool) and brainstorm solutions to that problem. The FTM team will have some of the brightest designers work on their problem!
Team
Currently on-board;
Johnny Hujol | Pauric O’Callaghan
Julie Rodriguez | John Booker