Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve updated, but I hadn’t had a chance to take any photos, so I was waiting until I could snap a few more. Today I got a couple of shots of the outside of the Motorola building, which is as far as a camera can go without special permission. I’ve included a shot of the front (yes, the building is so large that I had to stitch two photos together), and a shot of the back of the building. The back is where my entrance is, and you can barely see through the trees a large band of window across the back of the building, which is where the Innovation & Design department looks out. Last Thursday I was finally given my summer project. They have an idea for an area of the market that hasn’t been thoroughly pursued by many companies, and they want me to do some research and develop a design. They want to look into improving the restaurant business by incorporating some kind of digital device, potentially utilizing Mobile Point of Sale. MPOS is basically centered on the idea of a mobile device that can read credit or debit card data and do transactions, eliminating the need for a cash register—except that for most retail environments, a receipt printer and bagging station would still be necessary. The beauty of MPOS for a restaurant is that there is no bagging of purchased items (except for the leftover “to-go” box, which wouldn’t change). So I will be doing research in middle-tier restaurants to identify what the problems of the industry are, what the needs of employees or consumers are, and how they can be solved. Monday, a few people from the Innovation & Design department came along with me to Chili’s, where we had a delicious lunch (courtesy of Motorola), and I was able to begin some observation and interviewing. I have spent most of this week compiling data and working out a Summer-long schedule for each part of the design process. Most of this month is dedicated to the research (and more free food, yay!), July will consist of design conceptualization and modeling, and August is designated for final computer modeling and summarizing the final design. Tomorrow, I have a meeting to present my schedule as well as my research protocols that I will be taking to each restaurant that I visit. From there, I will be able to fine-tune my research method and finalize more dates for specific eatings-out. The final intern, Jason, started this week. He seems nice, but we don’t see much of him because he has only had one year of school at this point, and is mostly stuck doing design busywork. I was trying to figure out how a rising Sophomore was able to land an internship like this, but today I noticed a man with a nametag that had the same last name as Jason (and unless LeGoff is just some common northern last name, I would say the puzzle is solved). Nevertheless, most of the “real” design work (at least as far as interns are concerned) is being left to me and Ally. It has been drastically hot here, and I have not enjoyed our lack of air conditioning in the house (multiple fans have now been purchased). Even at work yesterday the A/C was broken, leaving me no escape from the heat. For the past three nights, I have gone to bed with my room thermometer reading above 90 degrees—the record peaking at 93.7ºF (INTERIOR temperature! agh!). Today was much cooler (relatively speaking), and I am now feeling very comfortable at a chilling 86.2. Hopefully things will continue to cool down, and work will continue to go well. More to come!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Yesterday was my first day at work. Everything went well—the building is huge. Even some of the people that work there weren’t 100% sure of how to get to certain conference rooms! Most of my day was spent being introduced to people, filling out paperwork, and attending meetings. I received a photo ID badge, a laptop, and my very own cubicle (name plate on order—jackpot!). Mike also informed me that I will be receiving my own Wacom Cintiq© tablet for the summer—for the non industrial designers, this is an awesome piece of technology that consists of a 20-something-inch screen which can be drawn on with a digital stylus. Today basically entailed two of my superiors giving me mixed signals when each had respectively left the room. I was told by one to rearrange some furniture and re-organize some display models for potential customer tours. When I was in the middle of it, the other came and told me to stop what I was doing and put everything back (apparently Guy in Charge #1 didn’t inform Guy in Charge #2 of his intentions. After they had their own mini-discussion, I was put to work with a digital floorplan under the instructions to fit a certain number of cubicles in a certain amount of space. Of course, neither #1 nor #2 were available for most of the day, so most my inquiries fell on my co-workers (all of whom are in the same boat as I am in regards to this project, which has supposedly been in the works for months with no progress). Finally, at the end of the day, #1 (Shane MacGregor, by the way—my manager) and #2 (Curt Croley, Senior Director) got together with me and discussed my proposed plans (and of course, what I need to change tomorrow). Although this sounds somewhat tedious and that this entry is taking a turn towards “whiny”, I am hopeful for the rest of the week—although I expect tomorrow to be similar to today. Shane insists that on Thursday he will brief me on what my main project will be for the summer so that I can get started on ‘real’ ID work. Overall, I enjoy the atmosphere so far, and all (not most) of the people are really nice and seem very interested in my development as a designer. I was starting to wrap this up, but now that we’re on the subject of people, I will note that although the design team is very diverse in age, it is also comprised of a decent number of younger, fresh-out-of-school folks. I would say that there are about 20 people on the design team, which is comprised of Marketing Strategists, User Interface Experts, Human Factors Experts, Liaisons to other countries (Japan and Korea mainly), and (duh) designers. There are also probably numerous other disciplines as well, but I am not exactly sure what everyone does yet. There is also another intern named Ally (a Human Factors major from Cornell) and Jason (who will, along with myself, be an Industrial Design intern, but has not yet started yet). Ally is very nice, and (depending on how Jason is) I think we will have a fun “class” of interns this summer. Everything at “home” is going pretty well, I have added a few more photos of the house, one of which was taken because I was finally fortunate enough to park my car under the covered “car port” outside (which is surprising because it is attached to our house, and none of my roommates own cars…). Anyway, I apologize for the “stream of consciousness” style I have adopted here, but you probably know that I’m not a big fan of editing and doing extra work of any kind (kidding). I will keep updated on the latest developments!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
630B
Main StreetPort Jefferson, NY 11777
I am fully moved in, and mostly settled. My roommates are very nice, although I see little of them because the downstairs common area is rarely inhabited—I regret to admit that this is most likely due to the fact that there isn’t a television on the main floor. On this floor there is a small kitchen and one bedroom (shared by a married couple named James and Paola), as well as a few couches and a large tank containing a pet snake (which I’m told doesn’t escape often). My bedroom is one of two on the second floor, and the other upstairs inhabitant’s name is Glenn. The upstairs has a large hall closet and a small bathroom, which is shared between the four of us—for now. I’m told that Paola and James will leave for their home country of Ecuador on June 25th, and that 3 weeks later only James will return. I feel better knowing that only 3 people will be sharing that bathroom for most of the summer. I’m looking forward to starting work on Monday, and will keep you updated. I am also working on taking some more pictures of the house, but I am trying to do so without being seen by my roommates and therefore looking like a weird person.
