The process: summary

I sit here, exactly a day away from giving my final presentation for City Farm. I'm actually really excited, but also nervous. Up till now, this blog has been a way for me to keep track of my thoughts, and collect the images of my process. Tomorrow, when I present to panel, I will be directing them to this blog should they wish to view my process. Since I tend to ramble on a bit, I decided to post a journal summary. So.....

Hello panel! I hope you have enjoyed my presentation, and are gearing up to share it with people you know. Below are some images with captions of my process, and easy links to posts that I consider milestones in the process.

First some links:

The presentation book
http://issuu.com/mschrenker/docs/cityfarm

My portfolio (website is about 90% completed as of today) 
Website: http://cargocollective.com/schrenker
Book: http://issuu.com/mschrenker/docs/portfolio


Now for some quick links to earlier posts:

The original project overview: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2010/06/project.html
Semester of work: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2011/05/final-presentation.html
Farmer market visit: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2011/06/back-at-it.html
Images of the assembly: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2011/06/staining-messing-up-and-having-fun.html
Images from photo shoot #1: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2011/08/final-presentation-for-summer.html
Experimenting with recipes: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2011/09/fall-2011-ready-or-not.html
First book binding test: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-1-done.html
Images from photo shoot #2: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-2-felt-like-week-12.html
The City Farm typeface: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2011/10/week-4-re-cap.html
Early stages of the website: http://cityfarmthesis.blogspot.com/2011/10/week-8-complete.html


And now... visuals!

name brainstorm

testing stain and paint for the "thank you" box

testing the iron on application for the "Little Farmers" t-shirt

the first book binding test

photo shoot day 2

prepping pieces to photograph

the staining pile

the line up for photos

painting the Farm Food picnic tables

photos of the little food delivery bikes

the constructed pieces ready to photograph

my work space

photo shoot day 2

the bank of words made of hand made City Farm type

shoot #2

shoot #2 with some of my hand models in the back

The identity crisis continues....

This week in the "I have no idea who I am" saga, we focus on Missy's issues with defining who she is as a designer, and watch the dramatic cycles of doing work over and over. Will Missy lose her mind? Or, will Missy figure out who she is, and once and for all commit to a concept!

Based on my introduction to this weeks post, I guess I am losing my mind. Oh well.

I'm having a hard time nailing down my concept for portfolio. After some back and forth on my incessant list of concept ideas, I have found that I was actually on the right track to begin with. I just did a poor job defining what I meant.

So I am back at the beginning to work out just what was going on in my head, and to refine my thoughts so others can understand. To do this, I am back to loud music and booze. (Oh great. I'm a design drunk) No Beck tonight. Tonight I am enjoying the soulful voice of Adele, and bashing the songs, and terrorizing the husband, with my voice above it.

Thesis book: It sits next to me as I type this, judging me, filled with markups I need to refine. I shed tears on it everyday that I have no time to work on it. I'm looking forward to this 3-day weekend and my "day off a month" on Thursday to get it finished. What. A. Nerd.

Last weekend I shot one of my portfolio pieces to test out my new lights, and to practice different shooting styles. I think it looks OK, but I have not posted to class yet, so I may find I have to do it over.

Anyways, here are a few samples.

the page numbering system

title page

interior spread

Oh, hey there!

I haven't written in a while. I was not planning on keeping weekly posts because I am not technically in a thesis class, and I don't have much to show every week.

But, I think I need this blog. I have been writing in it since thesis started, and now I feel like I can't "feel" like I am in a semester unless I write about it each week. So here goes.....

Break was good. I worked ahead for my portfolio class, and also worked on my thesis book. It only felt like 20% of a break, but that is better than 0%. I thought I was behind where I wanted to be, but I'm not. At the end of the fall semester, I freaked out and wrote myself this insane 3 month to-do list and apparently added weird items to my list that were the same as others. It feels good to double-cross off to-do's!

So here I am in week 2 of my LAST semester. Mixed feelings. I want to be done. Badly. But, I also love school. Will I have this collaboration and challenge on a daily basis when it's over? Will I keep excelling, or fall into a "suck trap"? I know I will miss this. My school is great. Good people to work with and good teachers to pull the best out of us. I will probably cry at graduation for being happy to be done, and being sad to be done.

This semester I am refining my thesis book, which is super kick ass! I love it, and when I refine it, I will love it even more. Of course, I have these awesome ideas that are going to take so much time, so I hope I have the energy to get it done. (was that a run-on?) Instead of typesetting all my type, I am hand-typing it on my typewriter and including those actual papers in my book. (world record for using the word "type" in one sentence) Times 3 books. My fingers will kill. I have no idea how people used to type on those things all day. They hurt! But, screw it, it will look and feel so awesome!

I also have portfolio this semester. I am having a slow start. My brain wants a break, but then I tell my brain to shut it, and wait till May. It hates me. I am having a bit of an identity crisis, which is not good when you need to define who you are to compile work about yourself.

To help me out of my funk, I came home from work, lit smelly candles, put on a warm hoodie, blasted Beck, drank some wine, and got to work. It's working. Now all I need is some food.......

Shooting for thesis. My apt is too small for this. But, it's fun!