sorry this is a day later than it probably should have been written. my schedule has been a little messed up recently, 9 hours of sleep with 3 nights combined is just not enough to function correctly. we were in the shop all thursday night and by 8 that morning, we are done enough with our model to do the skit. there is not a working water fall, but thats ok, its a cool detail but its really not necessary to have it working for now. im really proud of how much work we got done this past week. it took a lot of time and it caused a lot of stress and some tears, but i am proud of what we have ended up with. i would never have guessed that i could have made something like that. i dont have any pictures b/c they are on chris’s camera, but there are a bunch on our tumblr – espresso-te.tumblr.com
Filed under: spring, thoughts | Tags: believe, goal, modeling, random list, studio, success
so this is in place of yesterdays post…didnt get home from the shop until 4 something a.m. and now im awake again about to go work on my portfolio for professional practice. thats due at 1:30, still about 8 more major things on our barista to-do list, but multiple other commitments to attend to in the next 2 days. are we going to finish by friday? im honestly not sure, i hope so.
we got all the counter tops except the curved one on last night and veneer strips along the front to show the thickness of the tops. build one wall (just bare bones right now, no sheet material on it).
i guess i could write the to-do list here, maybe that would help with making sure it gets done,
cover front of counter
finish curved top
build ‘through-shelves’
build rotating shelves
install/figure out river and waterfall
build plant box
finish walls
build lazy susan
make boxes the size of the machines
ok maybe there are 9 things to do…
Filed under: spring, thoughts | Tags: believe, breakthrough moment, excited, modeling, studio, success
Remington Power Fastener…bad ass.
this thing shoots 3 inch nails through a 2×4 into concrete with a noise that sounds like a gunshot. awesome.
chop saw, nail gun, drill, power fastener, climbing metal rails to make shelves, home depot runs. what a day. the frame of the barista station is started and on its way.
still not sure how to make the rotating shelves but that will happen im sure. i guess we will get there when we get there.
Filed under: spring, thoughts | Tags: believe, brainstorming, breakthrough moment, good design, graphic design, job, modeling
today = a little up, a little down. a little bit disillusioned as to why i am putting myself through all of this work. a little bit down on my skills and my perspective on this stuff. a little bit up on getting some good stuff done today. a little bit up on realizing that no matter what i end up doing, whether it is product design or set design or graphic design or no design that i am learning skills that other people do not have. i am setting myself apart from the crowd by knowing what i know and doing what i do and working as much as i work.
yes sometimes i dont want to do so much stuff outside of class time. yes sometimes i cant think of a good idea. yes sometimes i wish i slept more or did easy things like math problem sets. but then…sometimes all i can do is see things in an analytical design way, and sometimes the only way i can communicate my thoughts is by sketching them, and sometimes my friends come to me to help them with design or layout questions. yep, those sometimes win out.
2 weeks left. solidworks…modeling…lots left to do…
Filed under: spring, thoughts | Tags: believe, breakthrough moment, excited, field trip, goal, graphic design, success
new york. we are actually going to make it there. i fully believe that we can get the word out and plan the most kickass trip that any of us could dream up. laura said that her aunt works for vh1! she is going to try and get us in a session with the vh1 creative group. amazing. ive been to new york before as a tourist…but never in the working world. never have i seen the inside workings of real businesses that are on the forefront of design. ive never looked at the moma from the position of a design student.
the website is up. the plan is atually going into action. the video is awesome (my whole family has seen it since i showed my mom and she mass emailed it out). we are rolling. we can actually do this.
Filed under: spring, thoughts | Tags: believe, goal, random list, review, studio
review day. points i learned (some i knew before but didnt take heed to, some new):
know all the details of your product. know how each section of it interacts within itself.
research and know your manufacturing process. dont make something that is going to make you look and feel stupid because the reveiwer points out that you had no idea that it is impossible to make.
3 weeks is not a short project compared to the actual working world. take advantage of the time given to you.
take advantage of ALL the resources given to you: time, tools, classmates, teachers, creative freedom.
start jump-off-a-cliff-crazy and tone down or start calm and work your way to crazy. dont hang out in ‘normal’…there is plenty of that already.
sell what you have. believe in yourself as a designer, even if you hear that you are not doing well. work harder. achieve your potential by busting your ass and proving yourself. prove haters wrong and prove the people who believe in you that they arent wasting their time and that you deserve their faith.
Filed under: spring, thoughts | Tags: believe, good design, sustainability
i was out of town all weekend and as i was driving home today i noticed for the first time what looked like solar panels on the roof of the bp on north avenue. now, they may not even be solar panels and they might have been there for a long time and i have just never noticed them but they got me thinking. i was talking with my friend this weekend about how it feels like there is nothing left for our generation to discover…we have already been to the moon, we already have electricity, etc…but these panels made me really optimistic for the future. we have the potential to make a difference in the world because of how we interpret problems and how we solve them through developing alternative solutions for power. we, as designers, are the driving force behind this revolution…and that is a pretty amazing feeling.
Filed under: thoughts | Tags: believe, breakthrough moment, good design, success
i am not a designer who cares more about money than producing good designs.
so i was reminded again how hard it is to explain what industrial design is. i was visiting my sister up in athens this weekend and got to see one of my good friends from high school. we were talking about what his major actually means now that he is about to graduate next semester and then we got onto what does ID mean for my future…hmm…how do you explain it to people who dont know what it is?
well in the product design world it is everything and it is nothing. we come up with how things look and function through that look and why our design is better than the next guy’s. we design the whole thing. but then at the same time we dont get the credit. our materials teacher said that he has designed all of these tools for sears and his name is nowhere on them because sears hired him so they are not his products. you can design furniture, toys, cars, packaging, toothbrushes, wheelchairs, and any number of other things. we are involved in pretty much every aspect of people’s lives, what they use, come in contact with, or see…why is it so hard for people to understand what we do?
i have been thinking a lot about the review that we just finished and david’s reaction to it and talk yesterday. i guess i didnt think it went that badly when it was happening because everyone always has things that they could work on more. nothing is ever done to the point where it could be put into a store that evening. looking back though, a lot of the projects left something to be desired. ps i am not excluding myself from this statement. i feel like i got a lot more done in the 2 week project than i just did in the 4 week one and im not sure why that is. i think, as david told me, i had a good concept but i was in the first stages of that good idea…and that just is not good enough. not getting boards done is not good enough. not having answers to simple questions regarding your product is not good enough. not designing to the potential that i know this class has is not good enough.
its time to step it up.
whatchu know about that...i know all about that. 