Reflection Journal: From Planning to Rethinking the Direction (10/6–11/2)

1. Initial Plan and Research Intention

At the beginning of October, I created a four-week action plan that aimed to move my Unit 4 project smoothly from research review to intervention testing.
The plan outlined a clear linear path — building the framework, designing the experiment, conducting the test, and analysing the results.

However, as the process unfolded, I realised that creative research rarely follows a straight line.
It is less about completing scheduled tasks and more about navigating uncertainty.
The unexpected pauses and rethinking moments became essential turning points in understanding what I was truly researching.

2. What Actually Happened: The Need to Slow Down

While reviewing my Unit 3 outcomes, I noticed that most of my data focused on audience perception of AI-generated visuals, but very little on how designers themselves think and feel when co-creating with AI.
This realisation prompted a shift in focus — from analysing audience responses to questioning the creative process itself.

Instead of rushing into execution, I chose to step back and redesign the logic of my research.
I rethought my observation methods, refined ethical considerations, and clarified how I would document emotions and behaviour.
Gradually, I began to see that designing the observation was, in fact, a form of research on its own.

Slowing down became an act of care — not a delay, but a deliberate move to understand how creativity and emotion unfold when humans and AI interact.

3. Reflection on Deviation from the Plan

At first, I felt uneasy about not completing the intervention on schedule.
But soon I recognised that this deviation was not a failure — it was a form of progress.
It allowed me to question what “completion” really means in action research.

Through this pause, I gained three key insights:

1. Depth over speed – I learned that slowing down deepens understanding rather than delaying it.
2. Ethical awareness – I became more sensitive to participants’ emotional experiences and authorship rights.
3. Focus refinement – My attention shifted from testing AI’s performance to exploring how AI influences human creativity and empathy.

This stage helped me reframe “efficiency” itself: sometimes slowing down is the most human thing one can do in an AI-driven process.

4. Key Learnings

• Iteration as Method
  Each modification of the plan became a learning tool in itself. Reflection was not separate from research—it was the method.
• Humans Over Tools
  Technology facilitates creation, but meaning comes from how people experience, feel, and interpret it.
• Documentation as Evidence
  Keeping reflective notes and logs made invisible thought processes visible, helping me trace how ideas evolved through uncertainty.

5. Next Step: From Thinking to Observation

The next phase of my project will move toward an observational approach — to witness how AI genuinely shapes creative decision-making, emotional flow, and authorship in practice.
Rather than rushing to execute, I want to design spaces for observation and interpretation.

My guiding questions are shifting from “What do audiences feel?” to “What happens when humans create alongside AI?”
Understanding this dynamic will be crucial for the following stage, where I begin to observe creation itself.

I have learned that understanding is not the result of action — it is the beginning of it.

Keywords: Reflective Practice, Action Research, Creative Behaviour, AI and Emotion, Process Learning, Research Shift