This is all of my progress and assignments through first AND second semester at RA.
CHANGE MAKER STORY:
Sitting down feeling judged and uncomfortable only wanting to let go and feel a sense of relief. Everyone is dressed up including me, confusion running throughout my body not knowing why everyone was dressed so fancy. Or why there were so many rules like don’t put your elbows on the table or sit up straight and tuck your napkin in your shirt. Being in a confined boring space gave my creative mind no room to grow or explore my surroundings while I eat amazing food. It was almost like being outside of a theoretical box looking inside at all of these people who I knew nothing about, almost like they knew nothing about themselves either. I kept wishing that I could take off my dress, kick my feet up and feel completely comfortable.
I remember sitting in class doodling on a piece of paper and thinking to myself how much I was craving Italian food, and then that got me thinking about how every restaurant seems to be the same, you walk in get seated with the same boring chairs and tables that aren’t that comfortable. I swear every single restaurant you go into are basically identical the only difference is the food they serve. You never really feel comfortable or like you can be silly. It’s very straight to the point with nothing in between. I feel like restaurants now a day’s just want no funny business and granted they are a business but why cant there be more out of the box eating places? Why is it so hard to go out and not feel judged or try to hard to just go out and have a good time surrounded by good people and food with an amazing atmosphere? I really didn’t think I was asking for too much.
Then I thought what would peoples needs be and I remembered back when I used to volunteer at Second Harvest I had to do a ton or sorting, organizing, bagging and counting of food. I’d even have to go back through already sorted bags and pick out any rotten food. Having fresh food is always a necessity to a good restaurant or if you are trying to serve the community and you might be thinking well “duh, that’s a no brainer” But some eating places let their food sit out and get gross that’s why I’m not a big fan of buffets because yes they do make there food that day but they can not control who touches it coughs on it or sneezes on it. Thinking about the thousands of germs that could be spread around a buffet I knew my idea couldn’t be as casual as that. So I kept thinking and came up with an out of the box restaurant like yes you sit down and order but it would just be completely artsy and outside of the box and bursting with creativity.
So how was I going to start brainstorming on this? Well the first thing I had to decide is what type of food would I want to have served: American, Mexican, Italian, Asian. There were so many options but I reflected back to what I was craving when I had my “ A. HA” moment because that would make the most sense right? Well Italian just seemed like the best fit. Plus how much of an oxymoron that would be since Italian is the most traditional, fancy food and types of restaurants to go and eat out at from all the other options. Once I got the type of food that I wanted to serve I figured out I could move onto the names. A traditional name wouldn’t fit the bill so I was thinking since this place would be out of the box weird and straight up quirky, wait that’s it the name would be quirky but instead get rid of the “y” and replace it with the “i” that’s it the name would be Qurki. It only seemed right.
I did a ton of research on seating and tables and cool in-home transportation. The last thing I wanted to do was make this like every other place and steer off from my original idea. So I printed out a ton of wacky ideas like curvy, lopsided, short, long, round, tall, lit up tables, and cool structured chairs that were mounted to the walls, or hanging off the ceiling I even browsed the internet looking for cool couches with different colors and shapes. Or like for in-home transportation using slides connected to stairs or fire poles. I had all these ideas running through my head and it was so hard to just pick one of them. So I printed out like one hundred pictures my ideas went from dining furniture to an outdoor area, bar, kids area, lighting fixtures. There was a lot of thought that went into these pictures.
After I had all my ideas on paper I cut them out and sorted all the chairs, lighting, tables, decoration, in-home transportation etc. When I organized all of the different categories I created. In the process of getting ready for exabition, which is a big presentation that would let our parents know what we’ve been up to this whole semester, I cut those out for exhibition and I also made surveys since I needed more feedback it asked questions like “What kind of seating would you prefer?” or “Would you enjoy certain activities before you get your food” some questions varied from “Would you like an outside area?” all the way to “Would your children enjoy a kid bar?” This survey helped miraculously, because it gave me just the right amount of feedback that I could run with. Since I narrowed down my ideas I could use that knowledge that I got back from the surveys and use that in one of the many design kits. If you don’t know what a design kit is or have just never heard of it before here’s a little insight. A design kit is kind of like a method it shows you a whole bunch of cards and if you click on one it will give you the certain steps and technics you can do to get what you need on the project or idea that your working on. It shows you different angels that you can approach your thinking with. Also from my experience from design kits is that it really helps me stay inline and concentrate on what I need to do so I don’t get off track. So since I got a ton of good feedback I used all the information, good and bad, to my advantage. Because of all of the people’s feedback I was now able to step into our next hurdle and get work done.
I got rid of all of the non-important cards or categories that my peers gave me tips on if they liked my idea or if they didn’t. I cant tell you enough or stress it that you have to accommodate the people around you if you want them to keep coming back. This refers to restaurants, customer service, grocery stores basically anywhere that people spend money at. Thus in this case a trendy new restaurant that keeps tourists coming back. I image my company Qurki to be a small corporation. Not a franchise I feel like once you franchise something it makes it less special because then you could just get it anywhere else. Being able to come to a restaurant that literally is a sight to see and a tourist spot is way cooler then being able to get it in any state, anywhere and at anytime you wanted to. It just kind of makes the whole thing less special to the public and me. It did get a lot of positive feedback and with that I trust that people would come out of there way to see it or drive threw Spokane and be like “We have to stop by Qurki!!” that would be super cool and I trust in that the feedback I received that would be pretty close to what would actually happen.
The next thing I tried to consider was construction like making out blue prints of how many floors I waned to have in Qurki. Or how I would be able to make all of my wacky ideas flow together and work cohesively in a solid and stable floor plan. But until then I still have a lot of work that has to be done. It’s weird to think that this whole idea all started with doodling on a piece of paper and thinking about really good Italian food. I really hope this company can be seen through and given the opportunity to blossom because this could be a really cool and eventful attraction for strangers, tourists, locals, singles and family’s there’s really no rhyme or reason to who or what walks through the door because Qurki welcomes all.
Sitting down feeling judged and uncomfortable only wanting to let go and feel a sense of relief. Everyone is dressed up including me, confusion running throughout my body not knowing why everyone was dressed so fancy. Or why there were so many rules like don’t put your elbows on the table or sit up straight and tuck your napkin in your shirt. Being in a confined boring space gave my creative mind no room to grow or explore my surroundings while I eat amazing food. It was almost like being outside of a theoretical box looking inside at all of these people who I knew nothing about, almost like they knew nothing about themselves either. I kept wishing that I could take off my dress, kick my feet up and feel completely comfortable.
I remember sitting in class doodling on a piece of paper and thinking to myself how much I was craving Italian food, and then that got me thinking about how every restaurant seems to be the same, you walk in get seated with the same boring chairs and tables that aren’t that comfortable. I swear every single restaurant you go into are basically identical the only difference is the food they serve. You never really feel comfortable or like you can be silly. It’s very straight to the point with nothing in between. I feel like restaurants now a day’s just want no funny business and granted they are a business but why cant there be more out of the box eating places? Why is it so hard to go out and not feel judged or try to hard to just go out and have a good time surrounded by good people and food with an amazing atmosphere? I really didn’t think I was asking for too much.
Then I thought what would peoples needs be and I remembered back when I used to volunteer at Second Harvest I had to do a ton or sorting, organizing, bagging and counting of food. I’d even have to go back through already sorted bags and pick out any rotten food. Having fresh food is always a necessity to a good restaurant or if you are trying to serve the community and you might be thinking well “duh, that’s a no brainer” But some eating places let their food sit out and get gross that’s why I’m not a big fan of buffets because yes they do make there food that day but they can not control who touches it coughs on it or sneezes on it. Thinking about the thousands of germs that could be spread around a buffet I knew my idea couldn’t be as casual as that. So I kept thinking and came up with an out of the box restaurant like yes you sit down and order but it would just be completely artsy and outside of the box and bursting with creativity.
So how was I going to start brainstorming on this? Well the first thing I had to decide is what type of food would I want to have served: American, Mexican, Italian, Asian. There were so many options but I reflected back to what I was craving when I had my “ A. HA” moment because that would make the most sense right? Well Italian just seemed like the best fit. Plus how much of an oxymoron that would be since Italian is the most traditional, fancy food and types of restaurants to go and eat out at from all the other options. Once I got the type of food that I wanted to serve I figured out I could move onto the names. A traditional name wouldn’t fit the bill so I was thinking since this place would be out of the box weird and straight up quirky, wait that’s it the name would be quirky but instead get rid of the “y” and replace it with the “i” that’s it the name would be Qurki. It only seemed right.
I did a ton of research on seating and tables and cool in-home transportation. The last thing I wanted to do was make this like every other place and steer off from my original idea. So I printed out a ton of wacky ideas like curvy, lopsided, short, long, round, tall, lit up tables, and cool structured chairs that were mounted to the walls, or hanging off the ceiling I even browsed the internet looking for cool couches with different colors and shapes. Or like for in-home transportation using slides connected to stairs or fire poles. I had all these ideas running through my head and it was so hard to just pick one of them. So I printed out like one hundred pictures my ideas went from dining furniture to an outdoor area, bar, kids area, lighting fixtures. There was a lot of thought that went into these pictures.
After I had all my ideas on paper I cut them out and sorted all the chairs, lighting, tables, decoration, in-home transportation etc. When I organized all of the different categories I created. In the process of getting ready for exabition, which is a big presentation that would let our parents know what we’ve been up to this whole semester, I cut those out for exhibition and I also made surveys since I needed more feedback it asked questions like “What kind of seating would you prefer?” or “Would you enjoy certain activities before you get your food” some questions varied from “Would you like an outside area?” all the way to “Would your children enjoy a kid bar?” This survey helped miraculously, because it gave me just the right amount of feedback that I could run with. Since I narrowed down my ideas I could use that knowledge that I got back from the surveys and use that in one of the many design kits. If you don’t know what a design kit is or have just never heard of it before here’s a little insight. A design kit is kind of like a method it shows you a whole bunch of cards and if you click on one it will give you the certain steps and technics you can do to get what you need on the project or idea that your working on. It shows you different angels that you can approach your thinking with. Also from my experience from design kits is that it really helps me stay inline and concentrate on what I need to do so I don’t get off track. So since I got a ton of good feedback I used all the information, good and bad, to my advantage. Because of all of the people’s feedback I was now able to step into our next hurdle and get work done.
I got rid of all of the non-important cards or categories that my peers gave me tips on if they liked my idea or if they didn’t. I cant tell you enough or stress it that you have to accommodate the people around you if you want them to keep coming back. This refers to restaurants, customer service, grocery stores basically anywhere that people spend money at. Thus in this case a trendy new restaurant that keeps tourists coming back. I image my company Qurki to be a small corporation. Not a franchise I feel like once you franchise something it makes it less special because then you could just get it anywhere else. Being able to come to a restaurant that literally is a sight to see and a tourist spot is way cooler then being able to get it in any state, anywhere and at anytime you wanted to. It just kind of makes the whole thing less special to the public and me. It did get a lot of positive feedback and with that I trust that people would come out of there way to see it or drive threw Spokane and be like “We have to stop by Qurki!!” that would be super cool and I trust in that the feedback I received that would be pretty close to what would actually happen.
The next thing I tried to consider was construction like making out blue prints of how many floors I waned to have in Qurki. Or how I would be able to make all of my wacky ideas flow together and work cohesively in a solid and stable floor plan. But until then I still have a lot of work that has to be done. It’s weird to think that this whole idea all started with doodling on a piece of paper and thinking about really good Italian food. I really hope this company can be seen through and given the opportunity to blossom because this could be a really cool and eventful attraction for strangers, tourists, locals, singles and family’s there’s really no rhyme or reason to who or what walks through the door because Qurki welcomes all.