mikey49

I have never faced such an open-ended project like this one before. In high school and all the rest of my classes thus far this year, it was pretty straight forward on what I had to do most of the time. Recently, in a group meeting, a group member commented on how she would never have been able to do such a project as a freshman, as the stress would not be centered on how well to do something, but what to do in the first place. I admit, this project is at least a little daunting and I'm still getting used to the idea of it.
As far as the presentation is concerned, we have a pretty good idea of the format that we are going to use, and I believe that simplicity and elegance are always key in any sort of presentation where a point is trying to be made. Distractions in layout and format do not help anything and should be avoided, but not at the cost of being boring.
After looking at an article in CMYK magazine (online) I now see how the simple design of a page can convey so much more than words alone (although words have immense power, even by themselves). While this brings up the interesting topic of the design being used too much and words too little, I will say that when used correctly, the point can be made more powerful through both words and pictures. Its almost like kindergarten again, where all I read was picture books. In retrospect, I did learn some pretty immense things from picture books, and at the time I suppose they were the only way to get and keep my attention.

Perhaps the picture book of my age now are projects like this. I suppose its nice to revisit the scene again, as books are very fun to read but not always very nice to look at.
So, for this project, I want to do something simple, yet powerful to convey the message.

Posted by richa610 at 7:45 PM | Permalink

The built environment… I guess I’m going to think about the buildings I’m used to, the ones I see every day. Yes, those buildings give me a sense of familiarity, because I know them. They are part of my new home (here at the University). They are familiar only though. In a way this does reflect a bit of my sense of self, because having a home is part of self. However, given the choice, I would change these buildings, as I have changed my room, my life, etc. I do not have this choice (yet). I must live with what other people have created and agree with it. Perhaps I am now realizing that the built environment to this point in my life does not support who I am. I have been places where I have felt comfortable among the built environment immediately. These are the places that I like the most. But, yet again I feel the most comfortable where I can’t see any buildings, or anything man-made. (my blank piece of paper)

I think looking at a city is like looking a piece of paper with pencil marks all over it, trying to decide how do draw something on it. I like to start with a clean piece of paper, so to say. I realize that I may never get to the point where I can actually look at a blank piece of land and have the power to say what is going to go there, and then the power to design it.
I would rather not learn to like something, as that would be changing my basic sense of who I am. Just as I would like not to gain my sense of style by looking at the works of others. I don’t like that. I believe I already have an innate sense of style and that I can develop it.
Clockworks, frameworks, phenomena… all these things I feel like I already have known, just with different words or emotions to describe them.
I guess in the end, I would like to create my sense of self, not simply get used to somebody else's.

Posted by richa610 at 7:08 PM | Permalink