Self Reflection

During our last class we focused on teamwork and were asked to think about the role we typically play when in a group situation. I tend to think negatively about group projects and feel especially uncomfortable when the choice of group members is out of my hands. I've been quite lucky, and have really only had one truly awful teamwork experience. As a general observation it's not the diversity in skill level or creativity that affects a team dynamic, but more so the difference in work ethic that really can become an issue. Attention to due dates, project requirements, and presentation expectations can sometimes be interpreted uniquely by each team member and thats when the head-butting occurs.

I feel that I am a good team member, I might be a tad biased, but I know that if I wasn't me, I'd want to be my partner. Keeping in mind that addressing both my positive and negative qualities is important I identified key adjectives that I feel describe me and my teamwork presence.

Positive:

Assertive, reliable, adaptable, trustworthy, creative, open minded, co-operative, and for the most part enthusiastic. 

For as long as I can remember I have always had the need to be on time or early, as a team member I know that if I say I am going to be some where or complete something I am going to do it. 

Negative:

Unmotivated (sometimes I find it difficult to get started when in a group), disorganized, unrealistic, complacent, and oddly enough also stubborn. 

Depending on the situation I will sometimes choose to back down and just let the decisions of the others guide us, and other times I will stick to my ideas not wanting to stray from what I believe to be right. 

 

Influential Folks

It’s rare that a person influences me in their entirety. I often enjoy snippets of someone’s personality or accomplishments and then I carry that with me and refer to it when it applies. Lets take, for example, my grandmother, I called her Gramma. She was a feisty woman her entire life, and for lack of better words, didn’t take shit from anyone. Yet, she was full of compassion, determination, and love. Stories she told me from her younger years have stuck in my mind reminding me that anyone can accomplish anything when they put their mind to it. I remember a story she told me about being asking to appear on a local French TV show, basically one of those shows that features community events, organizations, and significant people. The catch was that my Gramma was not fluent in French. In the few short days she had before appearing on the show she learned the translations for what she wanted to say. She made her appearance and apparently pulled it off without anyone knowing her little secret.

In addition to my grandmother, my mom also influences me. Growing up her and my dad definitely taught my brother and I manners, respect, and gave us the freedom to explore our personal interests and let us express our creativity. However, as I became older I also began to see my mom as a person, not just as mom. For the past 15 years or so she has been working very closely with autistic children in the elementary school system. She demonstrates a huge amount of patience and dedication, which I find to be extremely inspiring.

Finally, people I don’t even know also influence me. Sometimes I’ll hear a story about someone or see someone doing something that I feel is so extraordinary it encourages me to either work harder or look at things in a new way. For example I remember watching a documentary on Marilyn Manson a few years back. At that time I learned that Manson was so successful at promoting himself that people were admiring and supporting him before they even heard his music. That made me think that there really is something to be said about self confidence!

Personal Manifesto

After discussing Bruce Mau, and reviewing his manifesto in class this week, I’ve been asked to create my own personal manifesto. I’ve come up with the following 11 points based on “rules” I try to live by. It’s not always a success, but these ideas are always in the back of my mind. I’m sure that as soon as I post this there will be more points that I will want to add. So for now we’ll consider this my first attempt with the guarantee that this list has yet to be completed, but is a good place to start.

1. Show emotion
When something’s funny, laugh. If you feel sad, cry. Don’t deny yourself from experiencing what you feel.

2. Say what you mean, and do what you say you are going to do.
I’m sure I’ve read that somewhere but I can’t recall the source. Basically the idea is don’t lie and don’t make false promises. People will begin to lose trust in you.

3. Make the important people in your life feel special.
Why not?

4. Learn the names of those you see every day.
If you are interacting with the same people almost everyday learning their names is likely a good idea. (Neighbours, co-workers, classmates, teachers, etc.)

5. Make your own fun.
Any situation can become a “good-time”, the experience depends on what you put into it.

6. “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” William Morris
Thank you William Morris, I couldn’t agree more. I sometimes lean more towards the beautiful side, often purchasing things that have little use, other than that they make me happy, that must count for something.

7. People watch.
That’s right, check people out. Watch for amusing behaviors, and listen for interesting conversations. It can be delightfully inspiring, shocking, amusing, and irritating.

8. Get out of your house.
Explore your neighbourhood/city. Visit local shops, restaurants, bars. Listen to live bands. Don’t be afraid to dance (even if one of your friends makes fun of you, and later insists that your behavior was pathetic). In the end you might have a good story to tell.

9. Design/draw as if no one is watching.
Basically I feel this way about making art or design. At some point you just have to stop worrying about what other people are going to think of it and just do what you want.

10. Make things yourself.
Obviously you can’t make EVERYTHING, but make something that you think you’ll like. For example it’s nice when someone says, “cool shirt.” And you can say, “Thanks I made it.”

11. Fall in love.
Fall in love with a person, and a pet, and a job, and a hobby, and a home. Be passionate about the things that you do, if you don’t love it, not even a little, leave it.

Word-y Words

A list of design theory-related words, in no specific order:

gather
explore
share
organize
re-arrange
communicate
solution
evaluation
create
scribble
concentration
adventure
admire
perspire
brainstorm
ponder
procrastinate
[just] do
effective
inspire
engage
alarm
motivate
passion
self (ish) (less)

Still considering what design is.

As I try to narrow down my "design is" statement I find it challenging to figure out what I want to change about my current statement:

Design is the gathering and sharing of information/ideas/solutions through purposeful selection and organization.

I definitely feel that these elements are significant. I think of my own process. Typically before I start a project I gather information and inspiration. However, this information my not be directly related to the project. For example when I sit at my computer working away on something I tend to get to a certain point and then need a break or a change of scenery. If I don't feel like I have time to actually leave my apartment I often change the music I'm listening to and browse the internet for engaging imagery. Illustrations, exteriors and interiors of homes, crafts, and dogs (especially dogs in costumes) are some of my common searches. For the most part these topics make me happy, and a happy designer is a, umm...happy designer? Productive designer?
You can view some samples on the mood collage I have included in this post.

So there you have it, gathering is key. Next comes the selection and organizing. Choosing only the most necessary bits and pieces is an area that can be difficult from time to time. We constantly hear "keep it simple" as a prominent instruction. On the other hand we also are advised to be innovative and creative.

At this point I think that I'll keep my statement as it is and over the course of this week try to figure out if it is truly effective or not. Maybe it just needs to be reworded slightly.

What is design - part deux

Design is the gathering and sharing of information/ideas/solutions through purposeful selection and organization.

I thought it would be fun to conduct a little survey as part of my search to discover what exactly design is. Once my own "design is" statement seemed complete I set out to discover what others thought. I asked as many of my friends as possible to define art, design, and then describe the difference between the two in their own words. A group email was sent out to about twenty people. So far only a few people have responded. Their responses are quite interesting and prove that there is no right answer. I don't necessarily agree (or disagree) with their opinions but feel that they give us all something to think about.

Here are the responses so far. Once more people reply I’ll include their answers too.

Person #1: Urban Planner.
1. What is art?
Art is the creation of something beautiful (or not) produced by one's skill and imagination.
2. What is design?
Design is to create something according to a plan (like a plan/building layout) to show how something works. Design is also making something look good.
3. What is the difference between art and design?
There is more room for creativity with art than design.
Design would be creating a plan and in order for that design to be good, art would be used to identify the creativity in design.

Person #2: Painter and jewellery maker.
1. Art, in my opinion is painting, drawing, the use of your body to create an image that is creative, and has no rules
2. Design is restricted, involves planning and reconstructing with sharp lines, basic shapes, used for advertising, many rules and guidelines.
3. Art strikes me as being more free and using traditional methods such as oil painting, Design I simply think of digital layouts and advertising.

Person #3: International Project Management student
1. Art is the expression of someone's own thoughts, ideas and/or emotions. Art can be expressed through any kind of means.
2. Design is the creation of something that is for purposes other than thoughts, emotions and/or ideas. (i.e. it has more of a commercial value, rather than for the pure pleasure of the artist).
3. Design can be art, or it can be for other purposes. When it is used to create something that is not an emotion, thought and/or idea it is no longer art. That's le difference!

Time Flys.

I decided the best way to show my weekly media usage was to create this nifty little chart (click on it to see full size). As my time calculations clearly show, I need to spend a little more time reading the newspaper and perhaps even listening to the radio. I remember when I was younger I would listen to the radio non-stop, often waiting for my newest favourite song to come on so that I could record it on a cassette tape! Up until this past summer I have had regular access to a car. My first car only had radio, no CD or tape deck. The radio and I had a very close relationship. I enjoyed hearing new songs, getting info on up coming concerts and events, and staying current (somewhat) with the news. In any case, I realize I should be more up to date on events and issues.

Another look into my design process

Hmmm… as I flip through my notes on my creative process I find it hard to decide what to post. The collection of notes, scribbles and thumbnails has become personal, almost like entries in a diary. Making these thoughts and ideas public is foreign to me. I’ll give it a try.

So as my previous post states, I need time to think, procrastinate, and think a little more before I start a project. It’s the way that I pump myself up, because when it’s actually time to work the ideas typically flood out (not always, but often). With this project I went over the idea of prologue and how I could show that visually. Complex illustrations were considered. But then I took a step back and wondered what I could come up with if I tried something completely new. Something without illustration, something modern, something simple. I’ve grown to hate when people present their work by saying, “I just wanted to create something clean and simple.” So I hate using the word now. SIMPLE, blah. A better word would be uncomplicated. There now I feel better.

My uncomplicated design came from hours of listening, watching, observing and interpreting. I wont say what I watching or listening to, as that would be sharing too much of my diary-like notes, and I can’t have that! Once I made a decision on the design I was excited to get started. With many other design projects I often will start working on an idea and then change my mind, often more than once. However this time, with the limited amount of time we have I decided to stick with the idea and see it through. During the actual designing I tend to work non-stop for extended periods of time OR I tend to do a little and then busy myself with something else, then return. Well that’s about all that I can share at this time. At this point I feel as if I have seen the word prologue so many times that I keep thinking I’m spelling it incorrectly. Does anyone else have that feeling?

A sample of my design process.

Think, think, think.
Think about researching prologue (takes a few days).
Actually do research on prologue.
Get distracted by facebook…check out friend’s new haircut. It’s not bad.
BACK to prologue!
Jot down notes.
Think about prologue (another few days).
Think about creating thumbnails.
Go to store, get groceries, feel like I should have made thumbnails.
Wander back home.
At home take out button maker, make numerous buttons, still feel like those thumbnails should have been started by now, but making buttons is addictive.
Steve comes home, make something that resembles dinner, forget those darn thumbnails.
Hours pass, start to think about prologue again.
Realize I am a procrastinator at heart.
Flip open sketch book, and you guessed it, start thumbnails.

I create.

For as long as I can remember I have been making things. Making collections. Making drawings. Making possessions that I thought to be pretty and valuable. I created for the moment, not for the future. I began to recall my creative doings of the past after watching Ken Robinson’s TED talk. One sentence really caught my attention. I’m unable to remember his exact words, but he said that a child entering kindergarten this year will graduate in the year 2022. His point was, how can we prepare children for something that far into the distance when we really have no idea what the future will be like. This concept has been circling my thoughts all week. At first I thought this notion to be negative. If we don’t know what to expect, how can we ever teach the children the things they will actually need to know.
Then I remembered seeing a poster in my elementary school library that stated Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten. I couldn’t remember exactly what was on that list so I looked it up online. I came across this:

•  Share everything.
  
•  Play fair.
  
•  Don't hit people.
  
•  Put things back where you found them.
  
•  Clean up your own mess.
  
•  Don't take things that aren't yours.
  
•  Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
  
•  Wash your hands before you eat.
  
•  Flush.
  
•  Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
  
•  Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
  
•  Take a nap every afternoon.
  
•  When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
  
•  Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
  
•  Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
  
•  And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
  

What I like about this list is that it has existed for over 20 years, long before people could simply look information up online. I also found it amusing that according to this list it was once encouraged to learn, think, draw, paint, sing, dance, play, and work each and every day. I wonder when this changed? At some point I’m sure that everyone who is now in what is considered to be a creative field was once told that their creative passions were more of a hobby and could never really be a career. From the discussion our class had most people agreed that while we were growing up the creative subjects like art, drama, and music were viewed as electives, whereas math, science, and English were mandatory. For me entering a lifetime of art, design, and creativity was not an elective, it was mandatory.
In contrast to the list of life lessons we were taught in Kindergarten I was recently introduced to a new list, 100 Habits of a Successful Graphic Designer. From the 100 habits 9 were read to the class. The two that stuck out the most for me were:

•  Travel as much as possible.
  
•  Look at the everyday world for inspiration.
  

As a busy student it becomes a habit to return home each day after class and work away at completing assignments for hours on end. These assignments begin to take priority. Day after day, even weekends we sit at a computer and complete one assignment after another. After really considering the list of 100 Habits, it became even more clear to me that to in order to keep creativity levels high and to keep producing new innovative ideas we need to step away from the computer and experience the world. In terms of travel, I know that I have yet to see all that Toronto has to offer. I should do that. One thing I have always done is looked at the everyday for inspiration. Although in recent months I may not have been looking as much as I could have been.

I currently view myself as an artist and designer. I’m a person that has always been observant. My passion for collecting and making has stuck with me. I have a habit of watching people to observe their behaviors and interactions. Day to day life has always inspired me. Gathering motivation from unpredictable events is a big part of my creative process. Sometimes the process becomes more important than the final project.

So how do I create? I do. I experience, I gather, I reflect, and then I create.

Dear Design, You're wonderful.

Without design, we'd be standing naked in the middle of nowhere. Everything we own and everything we do, has been designed by a person, or a group of people who have set out to create utilitarian items. These people all fall under the general heading of "designer", automobile designers, urban designers, fashion designer, you get it the list goes on. While the number one goal is to accomplish high quality function, aesthetics are also important. Aesthetics are the complicated/playful part. With so many people having different opinions on what's attractive and what's unattractive there are plenty of ways to create unique and diverse appearances for objects that will basically do the same thing. Have you ever noticed how many kettles there are to choose from? Design doesn't only apply to objects we physically use. Design is also used to communicate messages and provide information. In addition, it is used to show personal style, individuality and/or membership.

When I experience good design I either feel happy or I don't notice the design at all. It's easy to spot bad design, you know right away when something doesn't work for you, or doesn't appeal to you. However, when I experience design that appeals to be in every way I feel like I want to have it, or I wish I had created it. I suppose that's why I wanted to become a designer. I want to create design that people crave. Selfish? Possibly. When I design I never feel just one emotion. It's a mixture of excitement, frustration, patience, impatience, happiness, confidence and doubt. 

Design is wonderful.