Before I get started I want to thank you both for being such great professors you gave me hell and headaches but it was all well worth the fight and it proves I am that much more of a designer.
Claire I want to thank you, I truly admire and commend you for your decisiveness and preparation, you truly were a co-instructor, always having an answer for us when Patrick was away or engaged elsewhere. You will make a great teacher and I wish you the best!
Patrick, your unfailing humor, enthusiasm, and faith in us (along with an endless supply of Starbucks) were one of the few treasures that got me by this semester. Because of your studio, my craft, understanding, and leadership have significantly improved and I hope down the road you will be teaching 3rd or 4th year studio.
At the beginning of this semester the two of you were so intimidating, but now, in place, is only a deep level of respect. Thank you!
P.S. This isn’t a bribe to get a better grade I just want to make sure you read this before you get sucked into my time warp of word phrases and run-ons. Enjoy! J
Writing……is a hard skill to master. It is a process of internal reflection requiring one to escape the physical distractions of everyday life and materialize their thoughts. These thoughts, though elusive at times, have been following me this whole semester thanks to the constant flow of writing assignments. Through this journey of words, I have learned that writing is an idea processer, allowing me to channel thoughts into cohesive ideas, into illuminating experiences. Where sketch up unfolds models, where modeling perfects craft, where photoshop and illustrator enhance digital prowess, writing sharpens the analytical reflection that gives design meaning. I noticed early on that writing helped understand a space, building, and place conceptually and if I could understand the structure conceptually I could articulate key elements verbally while also highlighting these elements throughout the design process if caught at an early stage. This advantage became prominent in the justification of the site choices during Jenga 6.0 and 7.0. By exploring aspects of a site, I was able to conceptually form an opinion and idea about how the structure would develop and merge from the context. If I have learned anything this semester, it is to read everything within the context in which it was gathered and formulated from. People prefer visuals because they are faster to ‘read’, provide instant information, and often times illustrate displays of illusion. But writing is a much more keen and agile art. It relies on subtleties, persuasion, and description. I discovered this not in the writing assignments but through my role as group leader in Jenga 7.0. As a leader, it is important to keep colleagues organized and focused but also inspired and encouraged. Through a myriad of emails and group meetings, I learned that this meant to constructively criticize followed by a compliment of recent work or an understanding sentiment where other members had been less patient. Being a leader takes on many forms, from being a babysitter to a peace keeper to a role model, much like writing can influence different audiences depending on which way it is read. In a way, having been a group leader is ironic. I have always thought I worked more efficiently by myself, and perhaps this remains true, but after fulfilling that role I feel a sense of accomplishment in being able to guide a collection of minds to an organized yet very energetic design. I believe that writing was the foundation for my leadership and that my ability to empathize with other’s frustration mixed with the ability to articulate my thoughts, and at times, their thoughts truly worked in favor for our team.
Another important aspect I have learned and built upon is the power of body language and its close relation to writing. Patrick and Claire, you pointed out that I am ‘King of the Smirk” and this comes as no coincidence. I have been building upon this smirk ever since I was in high school. It has many connotations. It can mean a polite rejection, an amusing understanding, an ‘I know something you don’t’ impression, a friendly gesture, a boyish playfulness, many times it’s a combination; it just depends on the situation. Overall though, this smirk is my general outlook on design and life, as in most cases I can hardly control it as you well know. Yet, I believe this smirk and my general ‘spacey’, somewhat reserved persona say a great deal about how my writing and design process function. I have learned that my spacey character is actually one of my strengths as a designer, allowing me to reflect on people’s emotions and extract ideas that they have trouble finding within themselves. Yet this also allows me to move frequently into outer body experiences, where I tune people out to enable my own thought processes to emerge where the majority of my creative writing surfaces.
What is odd to me though is that my favorite experiences this semester was when I worked individually and when I worked in a group of twelve, not in between. I don’t know if this was because I felt a sense of control in both situations, working individually and then being a group leader for a team of twelve or if it concerns the balance of designer strengths. Maybe you have some insight on this? Regardless, I felt that the energy permeating both situations was positive and creative, which motivated me to excel.
This entire semester has been a series of achievements one after the next. There is not a single project I regret or feel as though I didn’t accomplish something, whether it was what I wanted to or not. I have grown conceptually, craftily, digitally, communicatively, empathetically, even physically for that matter, though I think I lost muscle tone…. On a serious note, my crowning achievement is the realization that I own leadership skills I didn’t know I possessed, that I am not just the quiet beach boy with a level head, good craft, and a crooked smile. Even more importantly, leadership taught me to own the self-confidence I have on the inside and share a piece of that with fellow colleagues.
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