Wednesday, January 7, 2009

An Introduction

My entire life, up until college, I’ve felt like a spore. Waiting, in suspended animation, until that day I arrived at the Savannah College of Art and Design at which point I was activated. The reality of my instinct and skill became apparent to me and for a time seemed limitless. When I eventually hit an obstruction, I demanded it be removed. Thus, one year later, I was enrolled and attending the Industrial Design program in DAAP at the University of Cincinnati. Naturally, I am a driven individual; but under the direction of Cincinnati’s magnificent coop program my abilities have matured. Over the past three years I have worked for quarter at New Balance shoes in their advanced products division and two quarters at Ethicon Endosurgery in their harmonics division. Both Coops taught me so much when it comes design techniques and design process, but also how to be a productive member of a design team.

As a designer I believe it is my job to create experiences and feelings in people through my work. And as a designer I feel there is no better gift then one that will expand and further develop my understanding of the world, people, cultures and ideas that grace its vastness. Thus, as many of you know already, I have pursued and achieved the opportunity to take part in the UC/Germany exchange program. This means that in three months i will begin classes a the Universtat Wuppertal. The opportunity excites me greatly, representing a chance to fully immerse myself in a culture which i have always admired but only ever received in exports.

Many of you know i am dyslexic, so the thought of learning another language has always been a tedious process and a challenge i have not yet overcome. One of my goals this quarter is to learn German or at least as much as possible in the time period so that i am as prepared for my travels as possible. In other words proficiency is my goal for this quarter. To do this i would have liked to have taken a German class at UC however due to conflicts with my schedule Rosetta Stone language learning software will be my primary resource.

When it comes to designing, there is always room for improvement. In the summer o8 quarter I bought the 12wx cintiq, believing that such a tool would enable me to stream line my design process by going entirely digital as well as making my work easier to archive and store then the more traditional pen and paper. That said its been a few months and I'm still not as comfortable with the digital media as i am traditional. So for this quarter I want to learn how to and become comfortable with working entirely digital work flow. By pushing myself to use this tool for every drawing assignment I feel that in a matter of weeks I will be well on my way to achieving this goal.

I want to become a presentation master. Three quarters ago, I bombed my final critique. Two quarters ago I struggled through it. Last quarter, I worked it and even enjoyed it. The difference was sleep, and preparedness. The first one i had none. The second i was just holding on, but during the third one I was ready. I knew what i was going to present, but not exactly what i was going to say. This quarter I want to do better. I want to make a presentation i don't want to just present a thing. If there is one thing I've learned while being on coop, its that people don't want crap. If you have a crappy idea and a good idea but the crappy one is more finished 9 times out of ten they will choose the crappy idea. Same thing goes with presentations, your concept might rock but if you cant present it then your not doing your job correctly. In order to achieve this goal I will strive in two ways. First and foremost i will make sure i get the proper sleep, because with out it, I'm worthless and secondly i will prepare and practice running through a speech or detailed outline of my presentation.

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