Final Project Video :)

Thoughts on Final Class Session

So, today was a full house. I noticed a lot of people showed up to class which was cool. The professor then came in the room and handed out a magazine that was about sustainability in the design world. I was looking through it while in the class, and it was really interesting. The professor was reading off some of the cards we had turned in the first day of class and wrote what we thought we were going to learn on them. I don't remember what I wrote being that was 10 weeks ago, but Im sure what i wrote had not fully come true. After that, the professor asked the class what the positives and negatives were to the class. When it was my turn, I said that one positive thing I got out of the class was Game Day in which we all played board games. I had lots of fun that day and got to know more of the people in class as well. After everyone named the positive and negatives things within the time spent in class was, the professor talked a little more about his experience with this class and what he would do for future Art 220 classes. After that, the professor talked about the final project one last time and then excused us for the remaining time since we were pretty much done. Well, now onto finishing my final project and mandarins. Good luck everyone! See you monday. :) xoxo

Thoughts on Class Session May 25th

Today, the class was talking amongst one another while the professor was chatting with one of the students in class. I was talking with one classmate about what classes we were going to take in the Fall quarter and we both noticed that we have to take Art 308 so we were both excited about that. Its nice to take classes with people you get along with and can hang out. Then the professor wrote on the board the last few days of class and told us the breakdown of what time we had left in the class. Since its a holiday on monday, there is no class which leaves June 1st which is the last day of regular class and then our final during the following week. He took the next 10 minutes to talk about our final project and told us how important it is to finish it within a timely manner so that if any problems arise, we will have time to fix it. Then the professor asked us what we wanted to do since the class is ahead of schedule according to the calendar. He then told us we could spend time on our projects but we didn't have to be in the class to do it, so half the class left and I stuck around with Candy for a while.

Its kind of weird that its pretty much the end of the 9th week for me, minus tomorrow since I have one class, but its hard to say whether the quarter went really fast or it went really slow. I am glad though that its almost over. See everyone in a week from now. Don't come to school Monday! Haha.

Thoughts on Class Session May 23rd

The class started with the professor letting us know that he noticed we were extra talkative today than usual. I think it could be a mix of knowing we have two weeks left of the quarter as well as feeling good about the day or something. Then the professor had us move the tables back and sit in a large circle. He then had a block in his hand and had us play a game. The game was much like Telephone but on crack. So, the professor started off and turned to one of the female classmates sitting next to him and said this is a what. Then she had to say A what?. Then the professor stated A What. Then she said Oh a what. Then she turned to the girl next to her and started the whole process again, but then it made its way back to the professor who then reassured the question that it was a what and so on. To be honest, I couldn't get into the rhythm of the game, only because I couldn't tell what statement came up next. When the turn got to me, Hector said this is a what. I then blanked out and didn't have an answer. Some of the class laughed as I did too. I remember telling Margarita and Hector who were sitting next to me that I was sure I was going to mess up and I did. Haha. Finally after several tries and other hiccups by other classmates, we managed to make it all the way around the circle and ended with the professor who started it. It was a great accomplishment. Then, the professor had another challenge for us and he added a second object to the game which was a type of keychain and that was labeled as who. So it was the same premise as the what, but this time both the what and the who would be going through the circle at different parts and the climax would be when both objects met at the same point in the circle. Boy, was it tough. I believe we went through 4 rounds before the professor ended it and we had to move on. It was a really challenging game to play but it was very amusing and enjoyable. If ever I am at a family function, I am going to suggest a game like this for sure.

After the game, we watched a lengthy video on a talk by Sir Ken Robertson. It was very interesting and way more informative than the actual lecture I went to featuring John Coy. In the video, Robertson talked about how the education system in the U.S. is today and how it relates to people. I think it was very interesting, and I have to agree that with so many people obtaining degrees now than in the past, they are going to depreciate in value if not already. So then, it makes you think, if a bachelor's degree is equivalent to a high school diploma 10 years ago, does this mean we are going to need a masters degree to one up the competition? It is bound to happen. If everyone has bachelor degrees, then the next way to weed out potential candidates is to choose those with a masters degree. I am so thankful I am not kid going through elementary right now, they are going to be in for a rough ride as will all of those that aren't in college now. But there is some hope to all this madness. Robertson said the three most important things to have other than a degree is the ability to work well with others, to have great communication skills, and to think differently than others. So as long as you have these three things, you should be good to go... Hopefully. 

2 more class meetings then the final! Woo! :) 

Stage 7: Production Reading Response

The final chapter in the book and quite possibly the most important one is Production. First off let me just say that there was an image in the chapter of a man throwing a fish into a pile of other dead fish and my heart broke. I hate things like that.  Anyway... So, in this final chapter the author wants the the readers to understand that although the design itself it complete, that in the production stage, the work has really just begun. This is the stage where both you as the designer and the production team need to work together in every sense of the word. If the production team doesn't understand something about your design or an issue arises, you have to be available to assist in anyway possible. I assumed this would be the case, and i couldn't imagine myself just running off to go on a vacation like the author states might happen.

The book then goes into prototyping where it lists three different types; concept, throwaway, and evolutionary. Testing is crucial and the last stage during production that allows the designers and production team to see what works best with the design such as fabrics or materials. Its also a good way to test the functional aspects of the design and see how it fits into real world scenarios. I think this is a very crucial aspect to production because testing is important to find weak points in the design itself.

Other important areas of concern when in the production stage is for designers to understand their budget limitations as well as scheduling everything in a timely manner in regards to the design production. Even decisions on materials need to be made. I think reading about these aspects really made me understand how important every last bit of detail is since the production stage is the most important.

The very last bit of advice the author gives is at the end of the reading where he explains the entire process of design one last time. He talks about how designing a new project can be difficult and that it is part of a learning experience for yourself as a designer. I agree, I have no experience with professional designing yet but I am sure that the more i am working in the field, the more experience I will have and be able to use that experience to my advantage when working on similar projects.

Thoughts on Class Session May 18th

On Wednesday, after class started, we all sat in our seats and waited for the professor to start class. He was siting in the back and asked us what we wanted to do. Then he said that he heard about math on the radio in the morning and wrote down 1, 10, 11, 100 on the board and asked us what the next number was in the sequence. After examining it myself, I came to the conclusion that it was 110. Since all the ones that appear in the order are in front of the zero. Then the professor asked us if we wanted to do two or three groups and he decided we do two groups, one group consisting of males and one consisting of females. I wasn't happy about this, but once we got into groups, we started figuring out what the next number was. After about 10 minutes, the professor came back and asked if we were done. Then Astrid went up for the females and explained their thought process and reasonings for picking their number which I believe was 111. Then one of the guys went up to explain our answer and did a terrible job at it. Even I was lost. I thought it was so funny because he was one of the people in the group who was putting so much effort into finding and explaining his answer and yet couldn't explain it to the class. Like the professor said though, it was a language issue. Part of being a designer is knowing how to write and speak. Then the professor had him sit down and had another male student go up and explain our answer. He did a better job but the professor still wasn't convinced, and so Gilbert went up and explained it which I understood the best. Then the professor gave a lecture on how important communication is when it comes to working with clients.

After this, the professor had us sit in a large rectangle and he talked about the John Coy event and asked us our thoughts on it and had each of us share one thing that we took away from the experience. When it was my turn, I mentioned how John Coy said that there is no competition in the working world and that we all will find our own unique spot in the designer world. I thought this was interesting because I always thought that life in general is all about competition but since he is the professional designer with years of experience, I have to believe in what he said that night at the speaker event.

The last part of class, the professor asked us if we had any questions about our final project and told us to start on it, if we haven't already, since we are nearing the finals period of the quarter. I have some ideas for sure and thankfully I have some experience with After Effects so that will help me with my final project.

Thoughts on Class Session May 16th

On Monday I walked in and took my seat and noticed that the computer and projector were also in the room which meant that we were going to watch the movie that the professor had told us about the week before. After we all situated ourselves to the front of the classroom, the professor played a film titled Dreams, by Akira Kurosawa. It turned out to be a collection of 8 dreams. The first one was titled Sunshine Through the Rain, which was very interesting, and wondered to myself what caused this person to dream of something like this. I was wondering to myself, what would my dreams look like if they were made into short films and I got a sense of that as I was watching this movie. The dream that was my favorite was titled The Weeping Demon. I related to this dream the most because most of my dreams consist of a demon or creepy creature. The Weeping Demon was pretty scary at the end when night fell and the creature's demonic voice came out and it scared the man away. It reminded me of my dreams. 

Other dreams in the film included The Peach Orchard, The Blizzard, The Tunnel, Crows, Mount Fuji in Red, and the Village of the Watermill. They were all interesting and all had some type of special metaphor or meaning to them. I really enjoyed the film and would see it again with family and friends. The fact that it was two hours was crazy because it didn't feel like it when the class was watching it. 

After the we viewed the film, the professor talked to us about our homework which was to dream about our final project. We had to lay in bed and right before we dosed off, we had to think about our final project and how we were going to put it together that way when we fell asleep, we would dream about it.