Do I Really Talk Like This...

Writing for me has always been something completely separate from the designing aspect of things but this semester that was not the occasion. Patrick almost always challenged us to write and think about things before we physically did any of the designing. Looking back at my first blog entry for studio I illustrated my goals for the semester which included furthering my ideas, engaging people in my creations, and having fun as well. My list included more but these were some of the most crucial ones, but I realize I should have possibly added another which would definitely be the writing process. I know that writing is just as vital as really making it in reality but it’s putting my thoughts in my head onto that paper where the challenge arises. Aside from writing I would say my other goals matured, not yet reaching their full potential but getting developed as I myself develop and grow as a designer. 

I’ve always been a bit nervous of group work, having not worked in that situation too much throughout first year but Patrick forced us to work in groups throughout five of our seven assignments. And I can say I have quite a biased opinion about them now after doing them all semester. I would say all my group projects I liked, it’s just that I liked more than others. In the early stages of 3.0 working with Abigail and Austin I really appreciated because we all shared similar work ethics and worked and fed off of each other. We would constantly say “WE’RE JIVING because we really were which was both fun and ironic. Joining with ALLURE in 5.0 we formed [E] MERGE which was still a positive adventure but this is where that group dynamic clearly started becoming more visible. When more people become involved it’s harder to divvy up work and harder to arrive at the same decision when facing anything really. By the time we got to 7.0 and being with twelve other members forming PORTMANTEAU, we knew we weren’t going to make everyone happy. A lot of it came down to time, we might not all have collectively decided the same thing but we had to just agree and move on for times sake. 

So what I’m really striving for is that as I grow my writing will become more of an integral part of my overall design process. Another problem I tend to have as I’ve heard is that I basically write the way I talk which is probably true. It’s always easier for me to write things down essentially as I see them in my head without adding the wordiness of an English dictionary. Right now I know that it’s still easier for me to sketch something out or just do it versus writing things down or talking about it. However I know that needs to change, both have there own time and place, and I need to learn both worlds. Being skillful in both realms can help me and others see my vision in a more holistic approach rather than being solely words or vice versa. Writing also requires thought and patience and I feel like designing I don’t think about as much as I have to when I sit down to write. It allows you to take a step back from the construction of things and focus on smaller details and work those things out before a problem arises. So writing is most definitely something I will continue to work on and strengthen as my ideas strengthen as well, both will become integrated together to hopefully be something that intuitionally makes sense. 

A First Year Review

Tuesday we were asked to attend an hour of the first year critiques which were all centered around the same idea. They were all taking an existing space on Walker/Tate Street called St. Mary’s House and creating a writers retreat from that. They could create an addition if deemed necessary as well. I chose to review Kristy Stroud’s presentation in which she displayed technical drawings, hand renderings and a model too. Kristy’s technical drawings helped communicate the overall floor layout and where exactly furnishings and built ins would be placed. Sections were key in showing me just what I was seeing in this space in more depth. The renderings she worked on were just vignettes on various perspectives which promoted materiality throughout the space. I would say what guided me the most through her presentation though was the model itself. The other presentations I witnessed and all I could really see was poched walls that stood out boldly to me. However Kristy’s model gave me more of an idea of what it physically felt like to be in that space. Overall Kristy’s spoken words, drawings, renderings and model building technique created a nice effective presentation style that worked in her favor. I would say a general comment for her and many of the other presentations I saw would definitely be line weights, they’re instrumental in reading exactly what comes first and what comes afterwards. And with being further away than some, technical drawings become very flat and difficult to understand but line weights will just help anyone and everyone out.

JENGA 7.0

So finally the time has come where we are done with the JENGA projects! For our last project in the series was to team up once again with another group of six. The group we were paired with was Trepide. Their group consisted of Dajana Nedic, Sharon Fraizer, Blakeni Walls, Kelly Harris, Kara Kooy, and Cassie Bradfield and you can see their board here. Our name we arrived at for our group of twelve PORTMANTEAU, which simply means the joining of two or more words to form a new cohesive word. 

Within 7.0 we had to do work for 7 different categories, those were: site, building, public space, circulation, unit, component, and finish. And within each category there were many different deliverables which were due. As well a +7 category that included three models, one film, one experience, one prospectus and a custom element either being a furnishing or component. These are just some of the various group deliverables we chose to present as well as the individual deliverables. 

INDIVIDUAL

GROUP

MODEL

Trying Something Different

Part of our new JENGA assignment which has a post coming very soon was to do some perspectives but we wanted to incorporate hand as well as the digital world and this is an attempt at doing just that. 

A Little Cheaper By The Dozen Humor

More Is More... Plus Some More

Continuing from my last post about the Bordeaux House in my Visual Communications class, our next two assignments and final assignments were to construct a board and model about the structure. Working with two other classmates, we had to built a 20" x  30" board as well as create a conceptual model about the place. This is what we came up with! 

We Tried

Mac n Cheese

Today me and Kacie Leisure gave a presentation in a series of presentations by fellow classmates. Our topic of discussion was craft and not the macaroni maker either, instead we developed ten ideas within craft and described each a bit. As well as providing individual quotes for our peers which you'll see below.