Week 7, Spring Break, and onto week 8

There is a lot to catch up on! Although technically I am just a module and 1/2 behind on journal entries, over 2 weeks has gone by because of spring break.

Let's see... week 7. It was spent re-working my "educate" program grow kit. I spent a day pushing things around and hating it more and more. So I put the old stuff aside and started over. I realized that I completely forgot to research kids and look at this through their eyes. I kept designing with the parents and general "City Farm" in mind, which is pretty bad on my part. I was burnt out, not thinking creatively and not in the mood to do this school thing at all anymore. Starting over and knowing I had a break coming up (from work and school) was what got me through week 7. I researched and sketched more ideas and found myself in a good spot with "educate". I updated my box die to include a handle and a different shape. It is better for kids to carry and easier for me to design. I also updated the "Little Farmer's" T-shirt and graduate certificate to be a bit more personal and fun.

Then came "spring break". I went to Florida to be part of a wedding for 4 days. It was great to spend time in the sun, in flip flops, hanging with old friends and making some new one's. I felt my shoulders drop down where they belong, my stomach stopped hurting and my mind was free. It was awesome. When I got back I worked pretty casually on my school work and drilling away with stuff at work that piled up. I just sort of generated ideas and worked ahead a bit. I felt creative and really happy to be working.

Then This Monday hit. I was back to work and starting week 8 when everything hit me and I began to feel a bit depressed. I have a lot of work to do with my thesis to get where I want to be next year and will need to work in between semesters to get there. I am so scared of failing final, so I decided to go full on with my work. But, knowing that has made me feel so isolated. It was so nice to have a little social life in Florida and I really miss my friends and family. I am beginning to wonder if I will have many friends left after school is over and if my husband will resent me for being so distracted and grumpy. I feel as if I am always on edge and I am always tired, even though I am getting enough sleep. I am training for a run so I get a lot of exercise in, which is great for stress, but not all of it. I'm just not sure what else I can do to save my sanity aside from dropping out of school. I just keep hoping this next year will slide by before anyone realizes what a terrible friend I have become.


Looks like week 8 will end up OK. Good thing I worked ahead because I came down with the plague this week. I could not stand up yesterday and the day before I was pretty out of it. If I had not worked ahead I would be pretty far behind right now. I will just do what I can and figure out the effects later, I guess.

Truckin' on....

Week 6 recap

Not sure where week 6 went, but I am sure I lived through it based on dates of email interactions. Beginning the week, I did not feel like I had an enormous amount to do, but apparently I did because I had a really stressful week. It may have been a combination of insanity at work and the regular school workload. Either way, I hope I don't have a week like that again.

I did the last few refinements for my "celebrate" and "eat" program and I put them aside for now. At the end of the semester I plan to have one large critique with my advisor and a few other people I work with. So for now, I feel comfortable with calling them "done".

I also went ahead with explorations to my educate program (named Little Farmers). This is a program that donates pods on the community growing floor for schools to grow in. Students are able to grow, harvest and eat their own food. This teaches them to appreciate food and nutrition and is also a fun way to learn. I had some parts of it started from last semester, but I wanted to try out new ideas with my updated brand. I also expanded the items in the program. The explorations are OK. I guess it was good to get them out of my system, but I am not really happy with them. My advisor agreed, and suggested bits and pieces of what I did on each variation to try for the next round.

The items I am designing are:
// a pod sign for the kids to decorate
// take-home grow kits
// t-shirts
// graduate certificate

I am glad I have them all started because that is the hard part. I always have a hard time being creative when I am generating ideas for materials and gathering text. It is like my brain can only concentrate on one creative thing at a time, then it shuts off. Boo to my brain.

This coming week will be fun. I will be beginning the work for my "sell" program which will be packaging materials for items sold in the produce shop, like jarred foods, baked items and loose foods like mushrooms. I have a lot of research done already and some ideas. So I get to draw and be creative all week! I also need to go to the grocery store to get ideas of what foods I will jar and package and to research current packaging. I love all the time I am spending surrounded by food.

Week 5: Recap

Week 5 had some big ups and downs, mainly all due to my brain working on overdrive.

My ups came when I finished the details for my "Celebrate" program. Of course I will refine till the cows come home (which is when I have to present) but these are all minor changes. I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I put all of my items together. It gave me ambition to make my "eat" program just as unique and interesting.

So I went ahead and refined the "eat" program. After putting all of the items together I was really happy with how it was taking form. I saw a lot of areas for improvement and my advisor, Matt, agreed. He also pointed out some details that will help it overall. I am excited to get to those and see the work as a group next week.

My down came about mid-week when I called the school to set up my summer and fall classes. It took a lot of back and forth because these are the last few classes I have in my MFA program and I need an extra class in the spring. I had to change up my plan because the last class has to be portfolio, which I didn't know. (makes sense) It was all really simple, but for some reason I got a huge knot in my throat. Seeing my final classes out in front of me as this tiny list, rather than this huge pile was exciting before I actually made my schedule. Now It scares the hell out of me. The back and forth kept reminding me, and I grew more and more anxious.

I began my freak-myself-out-fest by looking at all the work I was proud of just a day before, and thinking there was no way I will pass my final. Is it good enough? Is it MFA graduate level work? Will it inspire people? Will it inspire me? Am I going to get torn to shreds during my final presentation? Will I fail? Am I even a good designer?

Luckily, my advisor listened to me while I discussed the rampant thoughts that go through my head and we set up a game plan for the end of this semester. He is going to call on a few of his designer friends and put me in the final presentation situation. I will present, and they will all tear apart my work like a pack of wild cheetahs at their weekly lunch. This is going to be a great way for me to get brutally honest feedback on my work and also get used to random questions being fired at me. It is also good to get some fresh eyes to view my work. 

For now the knot is gone and I feel more optimistic again. I want to keep my final presentation in mind, but I need to focus on the task at hand.

Here are some images of the celebrate and eat programs. These are not final images, but more work-in-progress pieces I use for my critiques. Don't mind the crappy photoshop and presentation work, it is all for placement only.

Farm food, wall and hand-held menu

Farm Food eat-in elements. Tray and serving

Details

Take out baggie and liquid container

Take-out wrap, salad and sandwich containers

Celebrate Invite front & back (left) and closed ticket box (right)

Ticket box inside and detail

Ticket plate to be used at the event