Final presentation

Today was my last meeting with my advisor for the semester. It was really nice to present all of the work I have done to date and see it together as a whole. I am really happy with the amount of work I got done this semester and really happy with how much I have learned. I am really lucky to have an advisor who is a great teacher and is excited to share everything he knows. I do not think City Farm would be where it is now, without all of his help, insight and suggestions.  


Although I have gotten a lot done quantity wise, I still have a lot to do with the quality. This is not a new discovery, it is exactly where I knew I would be at the end of the semester. The way I usually work is to hash out all the thinking and renderings before I dive into the details. I usually get clouded by the amount of work and I have a hard time just having fun with the design. So, once the bulk of the work is done I can more easily see the areas that need improvements and I have more of an open mind, which makes refining easier/better. I hope with time this process become quicker so I can present more refined ideas early on, rather than semi-okay mock ups. Something to work on. Discovery is the first step. :)


The rest of this week is being taken over with an insane amount of work for my other class, so I won't have time to touch City Farm till later in the week/next week. I am not in much of a rush really, but I do need to self-critique, refine and gather materials so I can begin my summer work on time. I plan to give myself a 1/2 week off, then work at a slow pace the rest of the week before I dive back in. I am getting pretty burnt out and I need a mental vacation even if it is just for a few days.


Now off to get back into binding 8 books for my Identity class. My poor fingers may fall off from all the cutting/sewing, but I really love binding books so it should be fun! I should take pictures of the mess my apartment is. I have taken over pretty much every inch of our place with binding materials and a photography station that used to be our table. I love the creative mess, but I do look forward to being able to walk around easily again.


Here is all of the work that was done the past 14 weeks. 

Proposed location

Research

Sketch style research

Quick sketches of City Farm building and surrounding area

elements to be used for location

Sell items

More sell items

delivery bike for shop

shopping bags

recipe cards

eatery menu

eatery items

take home stuff

elements for the eatery area

grow kits for educate

t-shirts for the little farmers

certificate of completion for the little farmers

poster and invite for the celebrate program, harvest celebration

ticket for the harvest celebration

research for photography style (work I will be doing end of summer)

Week 13: re-cap

It seems that my mood and desire to be in school changes every hour.

On one hand I am exhausted and in need of a break. I am also the mood to be artistic in ways other than design. Some days I wish I could get out and take pictures, draw or to paint again. I miss my arm being covered in graphite and the smell of oil paint and turpentine.

But then another day will come and I wish there were another 24 hours in a day so I can work longer on my projects. Most days this past week I ended up leaving my office earlier than I wanted because either, I was hungry or because it was getting dark out. (I walk home). Those days I just wished I had a cot set up so I could sleep over and work all night. Psychotic, I know.

I had a great week that ended up surprising me. I figured when I got working on my "build" program I would feel lost, not creative and felt like I would have accomplished nothing. But the opposite happened. I found the research I was doing was really interesting. I looked at various building comps and architectural design ideas and felt as inspired as I do when I read my Comm Arts magazines. I explored the area of City Hall (my proposed location) and found it to be inspiring. The week was fun and my meeting with my advisor was also fun. We tossed ideas around and he took me to a new level of thinking with the building and the space. Then I realized that I was covered in graphite and I will soon be painting parts of the drawing for the presentation. I will also be photographing environments and my pieces. It all comes full circle.


All of my random bits of research are beginning to network together and are becoming more of a reality. The space of City Farm is becoming more clear and the pieces will soon have a home. I am so anxious to finish writing this and get back to brainstorming and collecting ideas. I am also anxious to see the drawings completed, and to get my book designed. It has been a long road from concept to initial proposal to the beginning of my thesis work. Now, I am so close to seeing everything as a whole and I can't wait to see what evolves from here.


The semester is technically over next week and I am so excited. Yes, I am excited for a "break" but I am more excited to have a couple weeks to gather my ideas, pieces and elements to get me set up for my summer thesis work. My other class is pretty hectic right now and it is so awesome. But, I am torn with time and it will be nice to focus on one thing for the summer.
 

Boston's City Hall. Ugly, but torn down presents a great location for City Farm.

Onto lucky week 13!

I had a pretty good week plowing through all of my work. But, to be honest, this Saturday when I got up to do my day of homework.... I wished it was just a dream and I was on break instead. On one hand I was so excited to get to the computer and get working on the ideas I had, but on the other hand I was just in the mood to relax, cook and take a walk around the city.

School work won, of course, but it was a fight! The work for my other class has been growing and becoming pretty overwhelming. Luckily I knew this would happen. So I set up my thesis calendar so that the beginning of the semester I would load on the work, then have less at the end. Yay, for good planning.


Sell: I refined the work for the sell program early on and then put it aside for the final critique. Mostly minor changes, but they all work to make the pieces stronger.


Shop: I worked out my computer refinements for the shop program. It is helpful to see how they may look when they are actually produced, but the mock ups are pretty lame. I don't feel it gives a good representation of how it will look to other people, it is really just helpful for me and my advisor. So I guess they are successful.


The pieces for shop are: Delivery bike with attached cart that holds the delivery crates. Recipe cards with a display for them to be in and produce bags and shopping bags. I got the bags in, but not the mini bike. Apparently mini bikes are a hot item because they are out of stock till June. Oh well. I guess it will just be one of the last pieces I produce.


Build: I will spend the next couple weeks working on this program. This one is probably the most important. This will end up being the actual drawings of what the building could look like, and the environments for each program. So basically, I will take these drawings and place my items into them to have a really nice presentation of the pieces. Build also includes my proposed location for City Farm. So I have to get the write up done for that.

I have a lot of research/brainstorming to do, so I can have an engaging way to showcase the work. I am really excited about the creative thinking I will be doing. Mainly because it will involve me getting away from the computer! My eyes will be pleased.

Lots to do this week for my other class as well. I am sure week 13 will be over before I realize! 

I have some serious typesetting to do and details to work on, but here are a couple of the recipe cards...

Recipe idea for when you buy apples

Recipe idea for when you buy tomatoes