I…clearly haven’t been keeping up with this that much in the past month or so, but to be honest I’ve felt so busy that I haven’t really had time to stop and write in-depth about what I’ve been working on. Not long after that last project wrapped up we had our Spring Break (read: as soon as the review was over, literally) and during SB’10 I moved from one apartment to the other and spent forever painting it, etc. I still don’t feel entirely moved in, but that’s beside the point. Then, on to IDSA Conference in Charlotte, NC. Always fun to mingle with new designers, but not enough fun to make up for this dreadful head-cold that I’ve had the past week+ since then. I’m finally starting to feel more alive and alright today, but still debating whether a trip to the doctor would be good or not…
MY FINAL STUDIO PROJECT EVER is due in a week and three school days or something absolutely crazy like that. And Thursday of this week we’re selling the products we designed at the beginning of this semester for ‘micro-manufacturing’ – 10 uniquely engraved D.I.Y photo-cards! Ugh! Oh boy! I’m pretty excited that my parents are coming down to visit and *hopefully* buy some of my postcards.
I feel like there is never enough time to get things done because that is the truth. I hate that this last studio project (again, please note that this is my LAST STUDIO PROJECT EVER even though I am not graduating this May; still my last assigned studio project for ID at Georgia Tech ever for real studio class which is totally weird) is so squished time-wise. I wanted to do so much lunchbox research! Because, oh yeah, I somehow assigned myself to solve the “problem” of storing your food in a communal fridge -like an office or dorm situation.
To be honest, I sort of feel like all of my projects this semester are turning out to be sort of cheesy. I don’t know if there’s enough of that emotive quality I strive for in any of the solutions I’m creating, and I don’t know if it’s my fault, the assignment, the teacher or what…This just isn’t what I thought my last semester of studio to be like! Especially considering that Shakespeare is my hardest class right now (also enjoyable – not a knock on Shakespeare). I’m hoping that with some extra work that these can become things I’m more proud of, but I’m obviously questioning myself right now – and not in the way that I would want to be if I were about to graduate! [YIKES! If I were about to graduate right now with the state my portfolio and apparent sketching skills are in right now I would probably be sick!]
My independent study has been rewarding and challenging at the same time – trying to find the time to work on the projects without cutting into other stuff or forgetting about it all together…
And on top of all of this, I’ve been sort of concerned about the pros + cons of putting all your design work and design thought on The Internet. I had a (semi-really-sketchy) “eco-friendly” design blog find one of my projects and make it into one of their posts…the problem being that it isn’t a manufactured item yet but if I WANTED it to be in the future….it could already have been stolen… Plus part of the studio class (one day) I’ve been taking talks about IP, etc. and so I’m just uber uber nervous.
I plan on taking a lot of pictures of the ‘process’ of laser-cutting these postcards out over the next 2.5 days. I realize that one of the things I unfortunately lack the most in my designing is ‘proof of process’ and that bothers me, since I do try to do a decent amount of testing/modeling/what-have-you.
And to conclude, without a decent transition, I have realized this semester that I am really good at solving problems if a problem is handed to me but NOT good at choosing a problem to solve. I.E. “Paint a picture” vs. “Paint a picture with an eco-friendly substance of a landscape” – > I can think of some really nifty eco-friendly paint substances (juice, fruit, tea, etc.), but I would sit for days and days trying to think of all the different paints and paint styles and orientations and subjects to just ‘paint a painting’ and probably end up not doing anything all that spectacular….
I feel like this is something I’ve thought of/shared/written about before, but regardless, there it is.
I can creatively brainstorm and solve problems, but I cannot determine problems at the drop of a hat.
[I hope that admitting this doesn’t mean that I will never be able to do design as a job…but I feel as though a lot of what design is is figuring out how to solve something with a lot of given constraints – match this already-made brand’s branding form, what else could we add to this product line of cheese graters to make more $? why isn’t this thing that looks pretty selling? how could we make ______ for so-and-so better? – instead of coming to the firm and being like “Y’all! Let’s make _______!” I guess I’ve just decided that I don’t want to be an inventor? To be honest, I just want to learn more and enjoy whatever it is that I’m doing, while making enough money to live. That’s all! Not so much to ask!]
Also unrelated: I’ve taken up that whole picture-a-day-for-365-days thing. So far it’s been fun. I’ve done it for 6 whole days so far! I’m just excited to use my camera, and so far I’ve been using the MerriamWebster.com Word of the Day as inspiration. I think in the future, when I grow tired of the WOTD, I will move on to some sort of ‘alphabet’ set ((but that only gives me 26 days to work with…)). We shall see!
And super finally, I don’t really know 100% what is about to happen in the near future, or exactly which semester it is that I end up graduating but I do know that, despite my current stuffy face and cough, I am decently happy – which is decently nice.
Marvelous Things 