Course Reflections

The last part of this class – planning, building, and testing design ideas – has been the most enjoyable for me. I learned a quite a bit about the culture of the city, marketing, and branding through research and class readings but I've grown the most as a designer by actually designing. Although the foundation of the class was absolutely necessary, this is the part that is the most exciting. As a team, we've worked together to make sure our concept works with our client and is accessible to our target audience. We've brainstormed and planned and now we're beginning to actually construct the design we've spent so many weeks developing. At this stage we are faced with a whole new set of problems – many that hadn't even occurred to us while creating our concept - and I've learned a lot about the design process by coming up with solutions for them. With the goal of evoking a particular idea in people who pass the storefront windows, we've tried to capture an emotional or cerebral moment with various materials arranged in just such a way.  Perhaps this seems like a simple project, and in some respects it is – at least the idea of it is.  But translating a thought to a physical medium is a challenge, albeit a very rewarding one. I've learned that this is what this sort of design seems to be about: conveying an idea or mood visually, simply and clearly. While my team is still in the beginning stages of building our final design, we are making lots of progress and are thrilled to be a part of such a unique class and learning opportunity.