Forms in Context: Hybrid Exhibits
Interactive and engaging museum experience (Environmental track project)
September 1st 2020
Understanding Museum Experience
Listening to today’s lecture, I noticed that there are many aspects that I would have to consider when I’m designing this project. The Miller IC gallery space seemed to have very high ceilings and wide walls to provide enough areas to display artworks. The space should be used wisely in order to prohibit people from crowding too much in one area and to easily guide the viewers in the right direction. If the space is planned out in a confusing way, this could stop the people from coming. Designers also have to consider the lightings, which could significantly impact the mood of the artworks. If it’s too bright or too dim, it could disturb the people from viewing the artworks. In addition, the space for bathrooms, elevators, reception desk area, and staircase should be well planned for the ease of use.
From doing the reading, I also understood that designers must really think about how people think and act. For example, it is most likely that people won’t see every single work in detail. Therefore the important descriptions should be short and artworks should be displayed with specific to general or present to past. At the end of the exhibition, everyone should understand the message that the artist was trying to tell. Although no one knows what the people are going to experience, they are never to be blamed for misreading something or overlook some direction.
Interaction
After reading the Redesigning the Museum Experience at Cooper Hewitt, the sentence “Design is for doing, not just looking” really stood out to me. Since design is about providing engaging experiences, the museums have to give the people something new that is enjoyable enough to compete with smartphones, which is extremely challenging. However, I was able to find multiple examples that provide interesting experiences by combining the digital and the physical environment, which succeeded in making people put away their phones.
Sketch Aquarium
After children draw their sea creatures on a piece of paper, the paper would be scanned, and then their creatures would be projected onto the virtual aquarium screen. They can also interact with it by touching the fish to see them swim away and by touching the virtual food bag to feed the fish.
Carrières de Lumières
Although this museum doesn’t provide much interaction, it can still make the visitors feel as if they are in dreams. With the combitionation of music and animation, this museum brings famous artworks into life and allows the people to adventure through them.
Dröm
This is a project done by Cathryne Szczepanik who won the top talent Adobe awards. This grabs the users with fascinating graphic motions and music rhythm games. By providing a game, it accomplishes in giving out fully engaging experiences.
Washington DC Museum
Unexpected shark attacks can make the viewers experience thrill and all sorts of emotions. This could be fun for the bystander but maybe not for the participant.
Picking the Artist
After hearing about this project, I knew that I’d have to consider a lot before choosing an artist since I have to research weeks about this person and understand what emotions or stories he or she wanted to tell through the artworks. Unfortunately, I am taking this course remotely, meaning that I can’t physically go to the Carnegie Museum of Art or the Mattress Factory. Also many well known museums in NYC are closed due to COVID-19. Therefore, I just decided to visit the CMOA website.
One artist that grabbed my interest was René Magritte. His artworks are incredibly unique and mysterious, which made me wonder if there are any hidden messages that he was trying to convey. I believe doing a pop up of his surreal artworks, if done well, could successfully attract people by creating an interactive dreamlike environment.
Displayed in CMOA
Famous Works
René Magritte
He had a struggling childhood after his mother committed suicide by drowning. He also spent his youth as a poor graphic artist and quasi-abstract painter and only began to earn fame in his 50s. In the early 1920s, he realized that he enjoyed surrealism the most. In the beginning of his career, he was creating one piece a day in order to show a variety of styles; however he was only able to meet failure. He soon moved to Paris and became a leading figure in the visual Surrealist movement after befriending Andre Breton.
After doing a research on him, I learned that he wanted to make people wonder about what could be the meaning of his paintings. He enjoyed creating mysterious pieces that can never be answered. He claimed that his paintings mean nothing as mystery is supposed to be unknowable. A lot of his artworks dealt with recurring themes, such as painting within a painting or using inanimate objects to cover human figures. He put emphasis on concealing parts more than what is open to view, which was his way of portraying mystery and dealing with fear.
Series
His works are better “understood” when they are viewed as part of a series rather than viewing them separately as they mostly share the similar themes. These are some of his artworks that can be grouped together.
Apples
Paintings within paintings
The Human Condition
“The actual tree in the landscape — you can’t see the tree itself. You can see the tree in the painting — right there. But you know the real tree is there behind the painting, because your mind projects it out there in the real landscape. The logic of the painting demands this. You picture it in your mind. And that is also how you see the real world in everyday life: you see the world as being outside yourself, but what you actually experience is a mental representation — (he taps his head) — a mental event, inside, in here.”
Abandonment
During 1943–44, when the Germans occupied Belgium during WWII, he created color artworks to express his feelings of alienation in his own country. He also painted fake paintings of Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, and Cezanne.
Concealing
This again, shows the reoccurring theme of hiding. Magritte wanted his viewers to question what would be under the linen and what symbolism these paintings carry. He explored ambiguity rather than exposing the literal meanings.
Words and Images
The relationship between words and images is supposed to make people question what reality is. These artworks dealt with topics such as fiction and truth or reality and surreality. For example, The Treachery of Images states “This is not a pipe” which makes the viewers wonder which part of the artwork is telling the truth or if any truth is there at all.
“We see the world as being outside ourselves, although it is only a mental representation of it that we experience inside ourselves.”
Self Reflection: Meta-cognitive Regulation
What I noticed this semester is that I have reasonable free time, especially on Thursday. In addition, I don’t have to worry about travel or cleaning time since I’m working remotely. Although remote working can be both positive and negative at the same time, if I can focus well, I can use my time efficiently. This semester, I’ll try to work on studio homeworks on the day it’s released so that I don’t have to rush the day before it’s due while working on other assignments.
9/3- Work on moodboards, familiarize myself with CADTools, and start brainstorming for interactions
9/8- Start developing idea sketches after fully developing interactions and mood setting
9/10- Make sure that the space and flow is convenient for the viewers and begin making the physical model. Spend extra time crafting
9/15- Spend some time learning SketchUp basics while improving the exhibition design and craftsmanship of the model
9/17- Begin settling down on the ideas and work from it
9/22- Finalize the design with proper flow and interactions
9/24- Make some final adjustments and begin preparing for the presentation
9/29- Don’t mess up the presentation
Design Concept
September 4~6
Picking Artworks
Magritte’s intentions were to make the viewers question the concept of reality and make them think of the paintings’ meanings. In order to effectively do that, I thought that at least five or six of his works should be displayed. I also wanted to include various types of his works that featured his iconic trademarks, such as apples, pipes, birds, skies, and paintings. It is known that he didn’t want a defined art style because that would’ve limited his paintings from spreading mystery. So if I just displayed a series of apples or skies, then the audience who may not know Magriette well might believe that he doesn’t explore much with his paintings.
Although picking his artworks was very difficult, since there are 371 of them, I decided to go with nine of his works, which are The Son of Man, Golconda, The Empire of Light (1950), The Healer, The Human Condition (1933), The Treachery of Images, and False Mirror, The Lovers series. I thought these diverse paintings could be a fair representation of Magritte.
Mood Board
Since Magritte enjoyed creating surrealistic paintings, I wanted the audience to feel like they were in some sort of dream-like place. I initially thought of making the place look extremely surreal with something like grass or sky patterned floor. However, I soon realized that it would be too distracting for the viewers to observe the paintings. So I decided to make the exhibition fit the mood of his artworks, which were calming yet mysterious and almost ominous. I thought purple, blue, and gray gave a mysterious vibe and would make a good wall or floor color. In addition, if slightly dim and soft lightings were installed, it could help the exhibition to create the right mood. If things are done well, then the viewers should be able to easily engage and focus on his artworks and begin to feel as if they’re in an otherworldly place.
For the typography I immediately settled on cursive fonts. A lot of his paintings were combinations of words and images and he always wrote in cursive. If some important titles were written cursive, it would help to increase help the viewers to become more engaged.
Floor Plan and Elevation
Brainstorming
I personally struggled with coming up with appropriate interactions. Although, I want the viewers to have fun with unique interactive systems, at the same time, I didn’t want those interactions to distract them from actually observing and focusing the paintings.
At first, I thought about visual interactions that could make the viewers to feel as if they are placed in Magritte’s paintings. I really enjoyed looking at videos of Carrières de Lumières and thought that I could get some inspiration. Since Magritte wanted his audience to question reality, I began to think making them enter his artworks could get the job done.
Left one: This was highly inspired by Carrières de Lumières. When people enter, they will first start off with viewing the animations with a giant and curved screen that would make them feel like they are physically in his artworks. I then realized that this is not interactive and would be manipulating Magritte’s artworks since he was a painter. In addition, it is highly unlikely for me to create high quality animations of his artworks with my skills and given time.
Right one: When get near the first displayed art piece, The Empire of Light, the lights would get brighter, allowing the viewers to see the painting better and see how strange it is. At the end, there is a photo booth where people can take a picture with digital backgrounds of the artworks. This would make them feel like they actually became a part of his paintings. However, I soon thought that the photo booth would be distracting the mysterious and ominous mood and that the people might find the lights annoying.
Because I didn’t want anything that would disturb people from genuinely enjoying his works, I decided to take a step back from visual interactions for now and see if I could any find audio interactions. While searching, I found a video of sound dome and thought that this could work well.
Since Magritte was open about his works and publicly commented his explanations of specific pieces and his intentions in general, listening to the creator’s comment while viewing the work might enhance the experience. The idea is that when people go under the dome, they would begin to think more about the artworks and try to get into the mind of Magritte.
Here are some quotes-
The Son of Man: “Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present.”
The Human Condition: “You can wonder about what is imagined and what is real. Is it about the reality of appearances or the appearance of reality? What really is inside, and what is outside? What do we have here: reality, or a dream? If a dream is a revelation of waking life, waking life is also a revelation of a dream.”
Final Iteration 1 and Story Board
When they enter, they will first read some information about the artist. The artworks are placed in order from most recent to least. It also starts and ends with two of his most famous works so that whatever direction people may take, they start off with viewing an impactful work.
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Feedback (Sept. 8th)
- What is the purpose of this exhibition; what should the people get from this?
- As of now, no story is being told and there are too many pieces that will make the space very crowded.
- The wall arrangement is confusing and the middle section doesn’t make sense. Putting a slanted wall would guide the people in the right direction.
- One interaction is enough so I don’t need to add more.
- There should be some indication where people should stand on so that they can hear the Magritte’s quotes.
- I should add a sign that says something like “You can find more of Magritte’s artworks at CMOA.”
Reflection #2
Hybrid spaces reflection: What other types of environments are becoming hybrid? Give at least one specific example and note whether or not you think the hybridization of the environment improves the user experience.
Although some may complain that technology is ruining our connection with nature, our lives have already adapted this lifestyle. Nowadays, it is hard to find environments that aren’t hybrid. Digital technology is continuing to impact our homes, education, careers, and hobbies. Technological advancement is approaching to make our lives convenient in new aspects as well. Interestingly, while I was searching through the internet, I found out that hybrid environments are beginning to change public bathrooms. In Tokyo park, architects came up with a public bathroom with transparent glass walls that turn opaque when people enter. Although the idea of a transparent bathroom might sound terrifying, it does take care of two issues. Without actually needing to go in, users can check the bathroom’s cleanliness and whether anyone is inside. In addition, the walls also shine with vibrant colors so that they seem more welcoming. They look like an art installation rather than a bathroom. This new hybridization definitely overcomes the stereotypical dirty and smelly public bathroom image.
This is an interesting and a pretty way of creating a public bathroom. However, as of now, this new hybrid design is controversial. There are people who are excited about this new and innovative design and would wish that more bathrooms are built this way. But personally, I would be hesitant to go in, even though people won’t be able to see me inside as long as the door is locked. I’m assuming that there will be others like me too. Therefore, this concept brings uncertainty to the public and no one knows whether this bathroom would appeal to the public or not. As mentioned before, this hybridization does come with benefits, such as cleanliness and clarity. However, that doesn’t guarantee improved user experience as it might bring negative side effects, like anxiousness.
Reading about this article made me question what an innovative design is. Can designers step out of the comfort zone without getting criticized, especially with something that deals with such privacy? How can we know when it’s the right time to bring something new to our adapted environment?
The answers are still unclear to me but hopefully, I’ll have a better sense of innovative design in the future.
Iteration 2
September 8~9
Key Questions:
What kind of story do I want to tell to the audience?
Types of stories I can tell:
Focusing on one of the recurring themes; Development over time; Establishing identity.
It was challenging to pick one aspect of Magritte’s art journey since he explored many different styles. Initially, I considered showing his path of finding his identity as a surrealist artist. I was planning show his development in 1920s, as he changed his art style from cubism to surrealism. However, I decided to change my topic once more. I was personally more drawn into his WWII experience and how that changed the way he viewed surrealism. During this time, he became depressed and entered his sunlit period, where created brighter art that could take his mind off of brutality of battles. He commented that surrealism needed to change since Nazi were so much better at making him question the world more than art ever did to him. Although this era didn’t last long due to its unpopularity, I thought it would be interesting to show his way of protesting the war.
Interaction
For this exhibit, I wanted the people to not only notice his changed art style but his changed mindset as well. The best way to do that is to actually let the audience to hear or see his quotes. Since this exhibit is about his Sunlit period, I thought it’d be better to physically show his paintings.
I decided to create an interactive timeline where people can see his artworks made before with his specific quotes attached and see only his quotes after the war took place. In order for this to be touch free, motion detective screen would turn on when people walk by and they would scroll through the slides by using buttons on the floor. Although, it’s not really related to what I’m doing, I got my idea by watching this piano video.
For my second interaction, I wanted to incorporate the sound dome from my first iteration. I also wanted people to actually feel the contrasting mood between his artworks and the war. I came up with a sound room that would have a big screen displaying his painting so that when people enter, they would feel like they are inside his paintings. But at the same time, they would hear noise from WWII, such as gunshots or bombs (example audio).
Floor Plan
For this floor plan, I wanted people to follow a specific path so that they can understand why and when his perspective changed. This exhibit should tell a story and the people are supposed to learn something about Magritte as an artist and a person.
I addition, I also paid more attention to details, such as alignment.
Feedback
Sept 10
- People are likely to take the left path first since that’s where they see the desk so flip the floor plan.
Iteration 3
Sept 11~14
After hearing the feedback, I flipped the arrangement of my floor plan. However, I struggled with the placement of sound room since the interior corners occupied where the room would’ve been. I initially considered blocking the corners completely. However my peer advised that this would not be the best solution of using the space effectively. So I moved on from this design and ended up putting the sound room in the top right corner.
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Other changes
- For the timeline interaction, I removed the stepping part so that people can see the timeline without any confusion. When people walk by, the motion detective screen will appear and people will be able to go to the next slide or the last slide by either raising their right or left hand.
I made the color of the circle on the top to fade from purple to gray to represent Magritte losing faith and falling into depression.
2. I added a painting that people will see when they are about to exit the exhibition. Magritte painted “Great War” in1964 to show how he felt about experiencing both WWI and WWII. I thought seeing this painting at the end could provide an end to the narrative.
Iteration 3 Parti Diagram
Building Physical Model
Although the mood of the exhibition changed, I decided to keep the original colors. His paintings are still mysterious during that time as he kept exploring surrealism. However, he also questioned the point of surrealism and was convinced that the art movement should change and adapt to the society. Also he experienced depression and anxiety during that time.
In my first mood board, I represented mystery with the color purple and I thought that his depression and losing hope could be represented by the color gray.
Building this model made me realize that I have a little more space than I imagined. Also the right side of the exhibit seem to have awkward corners that may need to be fixed.
Tinkercad
For my interaction, I decided to create a motion sensor PIR circuit.
This is supposed to project the screen of the timeline whenever people enter the PIR field. I made the light to turn off 5 seconds after it’s been released to test the duration time.
Feedback
Sept 15
- Try to expand the Sound Room so that there can be less awkward space
- Either have the middle wall slightly shifted towards the entrance or make the timeline screen smaller because people reading the WWII info are likely to be distracted by the timeline since they are so close together.
- Path from 4 to 5 is unclear and people are more likely to go from 4 to 6.
- Having the CMOA info on the side middle wall is not an ideal location to display the information.
Iteration 4
Sept 15~16
Reflecting on the feedback, I created another parti diagram. I ended up flipping the floor plan again because I was struggling to find an efficient way to use up the right interior corners. However this time, I kept the desk on the right so that people could know that they’re supposed to go to the right side. In addition, I reduced the space between the entrance and the middle wall and lessened the angle of the right middle wall from 45 degrees to 30.
SketchUp
Building this model in SketchUp was incredibly helpful as it allowed me to view the exhibition in the first person view. It allowed me to adjust distance and the screen size so that people can view them without much difficulties. The first thing I noticed was that even though I pushed the middle wall to the front, the timeline screen was still big for viewers to comfortably see the screen. I ended up reducing the screen size and leaving more empty space for the right side of the back wall. Another thing I noticed was that the sound room is too small, making people stand right in-front of the giant screen. When I was looking at it through the program, I started to feel dizzy. Lastly, I realized that the museum looks blend. Having one wall color seemed very plain. I did change some of the walls to be gray, however, I am still unsure about all the empty space.
After viewing the exhibition through SketchUp, I made a slight change to my parti diagram. I increased the size of the sound room and changed placement of the screen. Now, people will have to walk in and face left instead of the front. The sound dome will be placed farther away from the screen.
Physical Update
Because I wanted to save the ink for the final model, I decided to just cut out the wall this time. However, I used photoshop to put in the timeline screen to provide some spatial information.
Reflection #3
How is the role of an architect and an environments designer different? Be specific when talking about projects, skillsets, tools, approaches, etc.
Although there are overlapping roles for architects and environments designers, I believe that architects are the ones who design specifically the buildings that will occupy the environment and environments designers design ways for people to interact with their surrounding environment. I would say that the major difference is that environments designers work with buildings or space that already exist and that to be an architect, a proper license is required.
The scale also plays a role in differentiating these two careers. From what I learned so far, environments designers should consider the people’s emotions, convenience, safety, and the narrative of the space. Although architects should also consider those aspects as well, especially safety, they also have to think about the environmental impact, land use, and whether or not that building will fit well with the surrounding environment.
While researching architecture, I came across a picture of Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center. According to this article, this building is meant to provide welcoming, embracing, and directing feelings to visitors through different levels of the interior. Inside the building, the organic shapes of walls and ceilings and the temperature of the lights impact the mood of the people as they travel. One thing I noticed was that this building emphasizes on its beauty and and its look is the main thing that keeps the people entertained. While in class, we discussed about how we can make the people interact with their surrounding environment through the use of technology. We were asked to use the given space efficiently in order to provide a valuable experience for the visitors. However, in the case of this building, the space itself provides the experience.
In addition, environments designers can expand their field by using AR, VR, and IoT to create completely digital or hybrid environment. For example, Pokemon Go could be considered as an environment design project but not as an architecture project.
Feedback
Sept 17
This time, I got to talk to all of the professors and the TA. Some of the feedback that I got were
- Peter liked the third iteration more than last iteration
- There is a dead-zone in the middle where more paintings can be put
- The timeline is not dynamic enough to occupy all that space
- The motion for the timeline should be more natural
- Explain what the sound room is about to the viewers because they might get confused
- Sound room can be bigger
- CMOA info section doesn’t need a lot of space
- Desk is too close to the entrance
- I can try to cover the right interior corners by adding a wall
Iteration 5
Sept 18~21
Because I got a lot of feedback, it was overwhelming at first knowing that if I fix one problem, that’ll lead to a different problem. However, I tried my best to fix the issues that I had.
Changes
Floor plan- I ended up flipping the floor plan again haha
Sound interaction- I ended up extending the sound room into a sound hallway so that this part of the exhibition can be emphasized. I wanted the people to have a dream-like and mysterious experience. I also removed the sound dome so that people can listen to the sound without standing in a fixed location. I was inspired by watching this video.
Number of paintings- This was a last minute decision so it’s not included in the elevation and one painting is duplicated in SketchUp for now. However, I thought the back middle wall seemed too empty with only three artworks.
Timeline- In order to make the timeline more interactive, I changed it so that up to two people can interact with it. I added more pictures of paintings so that people can view multiple paintings (about four~five) from that year instead of seeing just one painting and one quote. In addition, I put timeline steps on the floor to make it more convenient if two people wanted to view it. I also changed the motion from raising hands to swiping up, down, left and right.
Floor plan, elevation, and parti diagram
SketchUp
Iteration 6
Sept 22~23
Changes
For this iteration, I decided to change the background of the timeline to a sky painting of Magritte. Sky is one of the most reappearing themes that shows up in the artworks and it is also visible in all of the paintings. In addition, I thought it connected to the idea of freedom, which he lacked during the Sunlit period.
I added a picture of Rene Magritte to the information wall in order because I thought that putting a picture will be better at grab the attentions of viewers than just plain text. I also decided to add a quote on the wall next to the Great War painting. Although this quote wasn’t said in the 1940s, it had a lot to do with how he perceived the world surrounding him.
I also decided to not add an additional painting because I thought the screen size is appropriate and adding another painting would either mean the screen would have to get smaller or the distance between each painting would have to decrease.
Lastly, although the sound interaction room is just covered with wallpaper for now, I was interested in bringing this painting into life, so that this experience could feel more real for the people. Using After Effects, I manipulated the painting and animated so that it becomes more “realistic.” Although I had this idea from the beginning, I wasn’t sure rather I should include this or not because I didn’t know if this is considered as almost ruining his work.
Visualization
Mood board
Since the current design of my exhibit changed from the first iteration, I made minor difference to the mood board. I kept the color scheme the same however, I wanted the mood to be a little different. I still wanted this place to feel surreal, especially with the hallway, but I also wanted this place to be both charming and depressing somehow. Unlike his colorful paintings, I didn’t wanted the surrounding place to be like be colorful. I highlighted the contrast between the artworks and the environment.
Feedback
Sept 24
- Remove the harsh lines in the visualizations
- The 1940s quotes on the timeline are too wide, making it awkward for the readers
- The timeline is ugly and the font is hard to read
- Don’t center text
- It is hard to tell in the sound interaction room rather the wall is a screen or just wallpaper
- It is okay to put curtains up
- It’s fine to turn the painting into an animation but it’d be more interesting if it was interactive and not just a loop
- Be considerate when deciding on the text height
- Incorporate actions in timeline visualization
Final
Sept 24~Oct 1
With these feedback in mind, I added some minor changes to my project.
Last Changes
- Timeline
I actually had a hard time trying to make the screens look less ugly. Unfortunately it’s still not pretty, but I tried to fix some issues it had. Although I decided to keep the cursive font, I now only use it for big title text. I changed the timeline year font to a more readable font so that viewers don’t become frustrated trying to read the screen. I also removed the harsh lines on the timeline so that it not as ugly. Lastly, I made the text box in the 1940s slide narrower to make it more comfortable for the readers.
- Sound interaction hallway
I made a very short and simple animation of the sound interaction hallway. In order to make this more interactive, I made it so that when a person walks across a certain point, the petals will start falling from the top. I thought that this could exemplify the quote Magritte said, which was “charm and menace can enhance each other through union.”
- Curtains
Since Daphne and Peter agreed that it is okay to use curtains, I decided to put up gray curtains on the sound interaction hallway entrance and exit. By doing so, I can make the hallway more isolated from other parts of the exhibit. Also, people outside of the hallway won’t get distracted by what’s happening inside.
Tinkercad
I added another Tinkercad circuit that can work as a speaker. I wanted motion sensor speaker that would only play the sound if people are near. I didn’t want the sound interactive room to be always loud since that would just be distracting and scary. Although this sounds very rough and terrible, it got the concept down.
Physical Model
Since I’m doing this remotely, I didn’t have a proper human figure to put in my model. I did have a 3 inch Marge Simpson figure, but I decided not to use it because it was mostly her hair that made her tall. I ended up cutting out a piece of board and glued a person silhouette.
In addition, I didn’t have any gray cloth to use as curtains so I just used purple ones that was in my house.
It was a little hard to find a proper shooting studio in my house since the model was a bit big.
Visualizations and Parti Diagram
For my final ones, I made them look a bit more formal and cleaner.
Timeline
Art Display
Sound Interaction
Art Display 2
Parti Diagram
Final Self-Reflection Meta-Cognitive Experience
What motivates you?
I think just the fact that I want to do well at least for once motivates me to work. I came to this school hoping to become a useful designer and knowing that doing these projects will guide me in the right direction is also another thing that motivates me. In addition, I thought this project helped me to see the world with a little different perspective as a designer. Seeing myself grow throughout the process was really interesting and it felt rewarding.
What distracts you?
Sometimes I would get frustrated because whatever I made just didn’t look good. I’d ask myself what’s the point of trying if whatever I make isn’t going to be worth my effort. Another thing was just working alone. In studio, I saw everyone working hard and it was easy for me to focus then. But working alone made me feel less engaged since I wasn’t getting much inspiration from others and no one was there to judge me. However, most of the times I was able to get back on my feet quickly because I felt the need to keep working especially since I’m doing this remotely and since my design skills are not good enough. These projects help me grow as a designer and in order to overcome the obstacles, all I need to do is try my best. Also, it’d just be an extreme waste of tuition that my parents are sacrificing to pay. I’d like to be a less horrible daughter.
What keeps you engaged?
Seeing everyone else’s work and getting feedback during class really kept me engaged during this project. Although I wasn’t able to see my peers’ works physically, I sometimes stalked their mediums and saw their process. It was really interesting for me to see what type of approaches they were taking and what kind of narratives they wanted to tell. It was engaging to see all the different designing methods and results that came out of this one project. Although sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming to see such great works, at the same time, that motivated me to work harder. In addition, when I felt stuck, getting feedback from the professors and TAs allowed me to keep using my head without getting too frustrated. Being able to hear that whether I’m going in the right direction or not, made me ask myself questions, such as “what kind of solution is needed for this problem?” I would eventually answer myself, which often isn’t the best answer so I would ask even more answers and come up with slightly better answers. This cycle would repeat itself over as a result of getting helpful feedback.
