Thursday, September 4, 2014

Re: Experimentation & Process

Great start Jen!

Process has always been a huge problem for me. I’d like to think that I’ve come leaps and bounds from my “just throw something together the night before” undergrad years. During that time I didn’t realize how developing an idea was often more important than the solution itself. It wasn’t until I became a design professional when I realized that my process was seriously lacking. That’s when it all made sense to me. I would often find that my solutions lacked substance. The concepts were not strong at all. I would have excellent ideas but because I deprived myself of the exploration process––the solutions ended up looking weak. Without a doubt, procrastination is my number one problem. I don’t put things off because of laziness, well not anymore, but it’s more about being overwhelmed by focusing on the solution. I hinder myself by getting intimidated by the final step, when I haven’t even given myself a chance to work through the first steps. So I would put things off until the very last minute. I would sometimes surprise myself by churring out something beautiful––but then question what would’ve happen if I took my time to work through my idea. My professional experience and my coursework here at UB helped me realize that developing a process is a process within itself. I’m constantly looking for new ways to improve how I arrive at a well thought out solution. Especially, creative steps that don’t involve a computer. Process books and mood boards have been a huge help.

No comments: