Design III A Readings Parts 1 & 2

I enjoyed reading Danielle Aubert's Track Record focus statement because she not only gave a great description of what she planned on doing but where her ideas came from and her influences. It's good to read other focus statements because it gives me an idea of what I need to shoot for and how a broad idea like paths and tracing or in my case energy can be really developed into something else. I really liked that she explored what traces could mean or tell about a person and not just the physical tracing of the paths as the pure focus of the work. I also like how her statement is set up how her thought process was to get to the end point of her idea. I think her explanation of the start of the idea to the end is extremely helpful to me because I currently only have a start idea of energy but what about energy interests me that I can explore for my thesis is kind of beyond me at this moment in time but hopefully I'll get there.

Seeing the Unseen by Huy Vu I enjoyed reading because it explored topics that I have brainstormed myself for my thesis such as the idea of seeing the unseen and at the end talking about spirit photography as a branch off of my energy idea. I liked that the article is split up into categories to display the thought process and also all of the examples that influenced them. I found this article/focus statement to be inspiring because you can see how a broad topic can be narrowed into something more personal and the ideas and topics discussed really relate to where my thought process was going over the summer trying to brain storm ideas. They gave plenty of ranging examples that influenced this idea and all were different in their own way.

Jensen Barnes collection of annotated pieces were interesting because there was a lot of variety however they all were relative to the idea of taking things out of their contexts and becoming something new. I like the range of works that had to do with scale like taking something small and complex and blowing it up really emphasizes its complexity and becomes this abstract shape that out of context creates something entirely new. I think the more I gather annotated works of interests and inspiration it'll help guide me towards my thesis. I read my mind through you by Mary Banas I found interesting but a little confusing also. She's obviously very involved with politics and has a fascination with emotions and social interactions. I wasn't sure if she was trying to create an emotional response in her work or to help guide her viewers to having an emotional response of their own personally to them. I think all art creates and evokes some form of emotion because I feel that is its purpose. All of her examples of inspirations were extremely varied but she related them back to works that she has done and relating it back to emotions.

Hands down I absolutely loved Milton Glaser's Ten Things I Have Learned. Aside from being entertaining, he gives useful advice that not only can be applied to the design field but in life as well. I like how in the beginning he talks about relationships with people and the effect of those relationships on ones work. Working for someone you don't like can not only make monday through friday that much worse but can effect the type of work you produce. The choice of never having a job if you have the choice to seems to be this ideal aspiration. However, money does make the world go 'round and the likeliness for myself to be able to not have a job is slim. People being toxic, agreed. Professionalism is something that most people want to achieve but it does act as a limitation. It is creating within the safest means possible like he says about the brain surgery. Less is more/bigger is better..any of those "slogans" are stupid. It is always variable and and designing along a slogan is worthless in my mind. Like he said, just enough is more. Styles are something that tend to be trendy and ever evolving. He mentions that after viewing the same styles over and over again it becomes boring and tiring. That's how designs become dated but as a designer you should be willing to adapt to the changing surroundings to always be prevelant. How you live changes your brain absolutely. I love his metaphor of the brain being an overgrown garden because it is and it's always changing and evolving. Doubt is better than certainty. There can always be room for suggestions and improvements because thats how we learn. Doubting yourself is apart of life and if you never doubt yourself..it doesn't exist..everyone does at some point. I agree with the statement that you can compromise your work but you have to know what to compromise. I think designers today are almost protesting advertising that aren't truthful and don't want to be associated with that field of design. It goes back to the job. If I didn't need a job I wouldn't want to make an advertisement for a product I wouldn't use for myself or recommend to someone but its also the professionalism part of a job. It's the job it doesn't reflect you right? But it does it some way.