GoalsThe goal of this project was to spread information about the impacts of clothing, and what you can do about it. To accomplish this, I created four pages on a webpage and an Instagram account. The Four pages are the home page, which cycles through photos relating to the industry. The Facts page give people some unambiguous information interjected by some images relevant to the topic. The You page I wanted to be the most accessible; this page is where you get the information about how you as an individual can take action to reduce your impact with clothing. Lastly, the Join page has posters to download, so you're able to take the information with you. I also started an Instagram page (twitter is dead, and Facebook is dumb), where I have been posting some of the facts from around the website while adhering to the brands aesthetic. The target of the Instagram is the eco and ethical brands (to do collaborations and build community) and their consumers (to enact change). Behind the nameAt first, I chose the name Wear. THen when looking to get a domain name, I discovered wear well was already taken. So then I added, "The" and "Project" I added the both because without the "The" it The Wear Well Project had the same acronym as the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), as well as sounding awkward without the "The." I used the word wear because it applies to how we use our clothing (wearing them) as well as how they age. The well developed both because I liked the alliteration of the WW and because it is the proper modifier for the word to visualize the action I would like people to take; being better, doing well. Brand IdentityColor pallet. I used a variation on the CMYK color pallet. I wanted the information to be clearly and unbiasedly (ish) presented, and the CMYK color pallet enables the clarity, while also being punchy. The Typeface. I chose Helvetica for the same reason I chose the color pallet: I wanted it to be unaffected and to influence the understand the text minimally. I also really love Helvetica. The Iconography. I like having a strong iconography use, and with the three in the photo above* I don't think I did as well as I could have, but throughout the rest of the work, I did a lot of like drawings of clothing or other symbols where were consistent and well used. I used the icons this way * Currently, I can't get the picture to load, and I don't know why. WEbpage
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Goal of this project
Target Audience(s)I had a hard time deciding which direction I wanted to take the audience, and I am still a little undecided. I really would like to appeal to anyone that doesn't know, because I think education, of anyone, is critical. But I also don't want to make the message too generic that it then doesn't apply to anyone at all. I think the party-driven part of CU's culture is my target audience. They made poor decisions, often low on money, and looking for ways to demonstrate superiority through physical objects. The goal would be to increase clothing consciousness in this group. Consciousness is defined as buying second hand or from ethical brands, caring for and repairing clothing, and not shopping at large fashion chain stores. I toyed around with a few different tactics that I wanted to pursue. I want to educate more than anything, I really don't like making emotional arguments; they feel useless, and whenever I see them applying a direct appeal, I immediately ignore their message and organization. Data points They like to party and be trendy. Their favorite social media is Instagram, but are also active on FB. They are the oldest siblings and have a lot of close friends. They Don’t really consider themselves pro-environment, but were vegan for a short time, but aren’t anymore, but like vanilla soy lattes. They aren’t outdoorsy but drive a Jeep something. They like furry things and sparkly things and Grey's Anatomy. They have the second most recent iPhone, with a small crack in the screen. They shop at forever 21 and wear bear paws rather than Uggs. They are a college student or a recent grad, and they will/are working in comm or marketing .They care about animals and attend charity events, but don't donate. Directions I've been considering whAt i've made so farGoogle Search T-shirt poster
The ClassI have been struggling this semester with really not loving any of my classes. The projects are vague and seem unintentionally created, and haphazardly guided, the other students don't have the knowledge base I think should be required, nor seem interested in working hard to or getting better. I have multiple classes that I have no interest or fire behind learning the material. In my independent study, I feel a lack of guidance, but I am not sure how to ask for better leadership and get it. All in all, its been a hard semester. I feel a little dead-eyed and bored despite, even by my standards, doing an astounding amount of work. So having that moment in class to politely bitch about what wasn't working and praise what was nice to have. I am not exactly a quiet or reserved person when it comes to my opinions, but this had 56% of the time become a class where I was 100% more interested in what was on my laptop than what existed beyond the screen. I know the teachers care and teach is hard and a lot of work, yes yes yes, I know. But I similar to my independent study, I am looking for a little more guidance, and don't feel like I am asking the right questions to get better in the ways that I would like to. It was nice to see that some other students also had similar frustrations with the class as I did, but I am not sure what progress we made. I know this will be great for future courses, but I don't see what good it will do for this semester, which just frustrated me even more. I think I am just tired of being a guinea pig. I don't know what the point of this post was, other than my "one post per week" —Oh this is a perfect example of other people not doing shit!—It says one post per week, which I have been doing. Jesus people, get your shit together, these posts aren't that hard. Project 4 UpdatesFor project 4, I am feeling a little stuck. I have made a lot of mood boards covering all the topics that I would like to do and talked to Dan, which is typically helpful, but I feel like I left the conversation with more directions I'd like to take rather than feeling better about focusing my energy into one particular direction.
I do feel a little more centered on the fact that I am pawning part of this project onto the Advanced typography project. THere, I will make a substantial educational poster. For this class, I want to make short attention span informational thing. For a while, I was thinking about doing a drop-down menu or rolling bar kind of like with the gambling machine (no idea what its called). But then I had the idea (from another poster that was about abuse and someone's art project) of using the Google search bar and then autofill the things I want to connect large fashion brands too. In a perfect world, I would like to do this as a video, so I could have it delete and then type a new company name or thing so that I could encapsulate more information in 8 seconds of attention span. I want to do the drop-down style because I want to attach the idea that these large fast fashion brands do shady shit, and then I want people to feel guilty when they buy stuff from there (like how you feel eating at McDonald's, icky). And I want it to be accessible and easy and not fact heavy. I am not sure what else I would like to do... One of the kids in my group talked about making an information poster on how to care for your clothing, but I would want to present this information in another way than a poster. But I am not sure what to do outside of taking another large and irritating step of social media. Thoughts, anyone?
Final Posters: SquareThis project is over! Whew, I don't think I have gone through more major iterations on a project than this one in a while. I'm still not 100% happy with it, and I can't put my finger on quite why aesthetically, but it is turned and done, so I am feeling a little done with it. One of the other reasons I am not super duper happy with this project it because it deviates from the original message I wanted to convey. When we started the project, we agreed on the project topic of education about which territories the US has because of its significant influence on the likelihood of individuals donating to hurricane relief in Puerto Rico. It ended up being a more simple "if you have a few spare dollars to treat yourself, help out the people of Puerto Rico." While the poster says "American Citizens of Puerto Rico," which seems obvious, might not be obvious enough. The study we based out topic choice on provided the studied individuals with a paragraph about how Puerto Rico is related to the US. So I'd give it all like an 87% in my book, pretty ok, but also kinda meh. Social Media postI posted this on social media, with a little bit of engagement. People overall seemed to like it. Considering that the majority of what I post on FB is about projects I've done in school or work success, the bar might need to be a little higher than this solid "meh" rated project. POstersLast week we had like the second real discussion that we have had in class all year. I wish this class was more of that; a harder analysis on our ideas and the rhetoric around it, and then how to communicate that position effectively. I wish we could discuss topics in smaller sections: I think that would be more effective for getting students to talk to one another. With a large class, we really don't have time for everyone to state their positions and the reasons (or more often, the lack thereof), behind them.
That Christian guy really gets under my skin, mostly because of his fundamental misunderstanding of how the healthcare system works. Healthcare providers provide a service that they pay for. THey are not just giving away health care. You make a bet that you won't get sick or need healthcare, and then the healthcare company evaluates that bet and gives you a fee that you pay on a monthly basis, so that, in the case you get sick, that money goes to your health care. Meaning, sometimes the healthcare company lose the bet, which is why there are premiums because they won't have you go over however much you've paid to be worth. And that's not the best explanation, I know, but the Christian guy's logic was that the health insurance people are paying for your healthcare. And they're not. You are because you purchase health insurance. Now, it would be different to say that some doctors should be allowed to prescribe or not prescribe contraceptive measures, but that would go against HIPPA, to cause no harm and help to the best of the doctor's ability. I know my views are liberal in general, and I do wish we had socialized healthcare; I think it would be a better situation overall if we implemented it, in the same manner, other countries have before it, but I also try to examine my opinions. So there. My updated VersionMcCall's VersionRound one posteRI updated McCall's poster, and refined the typography and changed the color (yellow never prints how you want it), as well as center the content tighter in the middle.
I am American. White bread and white-bred. My parents are from America, and so were their parents, and my lineage can be traced back to the American revolution. I have a white name and come from an average, white, family.
In the last two weeks, in to of my classes discussed parental heritage and its effect on our culture. In my Design for Change class, a group of students presented their cultural heritage through food and talked about the blended nature of the culture. The students in Design for Change presenting the cultural heritage I didn't disagree with (as there was no conclusion or thesis of their ideas), but they talked about the cultural duality. This is a concept I hadn't realized I didn't relate to! I had assumed most English speaking, accent-free Caucasian-ish (on the tan scale), wouldn't share a more similar background. Their pride in their cultures, made me think about my cultural heritage, how I define it, and what cultural heritage I belong to. In my hip hop class, the instructor talked about how no one is American; everyone is something American. Then saying that the only Native Americans can call themselves American (although would they? Their tribes are as diverse as European countries we distinguish between). So is there anyone that is American American? Because I feel like I am. Or more, I am not enough of one thing to call myself something other than American without being wrong. For example, I am a mix of German, English, one of the Nordic countries, and maybe Frace (based on what my mom has told me, and my features and stature). But I don't know of anyone in my family that is FROM any of those countries. I am not from anywhere more than I am from America. Being from somewhere to me would mean that that is where your most geriatric individual in your direct line (probably a grandparent, maybe a great-grandparent), was born in the same country you were. For me, this is true, but for a lot of individuals I know, it is not. Then, they are African American, Polish American, Irish American... etc. Otherwise, your cultural heritage is American and your ethnicity is different from your cultural heritage. For example, a Korean person who was born and raised in America has the race (or ethnicity) of Asian, but the cultural heritage of Korean American. The race of the person describes their appearance and physiology (there are slight differences between race based on the conditions of where they ancestors lived), where is their cultural heritage describes the kind of food they would eat, the music they listen to, how they dress and view themselves and others. But for me, my race is Caucasian, and my heritage is American. So should I be called Caucasian American? Or, because Caucasian is the dominant race in America is that a given trait, unless you specify otherwise, such as Japanese or African American? Would a white South African person call themselves African American? Why do we sometimes specify countries (French American, Argentinian American) and other times continents (Asian American, African American)? I don't have the answers. Right now, I am responding to what I hear around me, because I don't think I agree with something that was said, and I am exploring why. This is the final version of our stencil design.
We took off the sexual organs off of the people because any version of showing the undercarriage seemed to piss off some people, so fuck 'em. This is how we like it, and so it shall be. We took this and sprayed painted it on the wall (that you're legally allowed to spray paint on), and are going to put it on t-shirts frame the stencils as gifts. After switching groups from dance group to the feminist group, because I had no faith in the project idea that the group would agree on, I started thinking about feminism and its relationship to my personal beliefs and gender equality and not I'm not sure if I should be in the feminist group either. So first, feminism. As it is defined, and as we use the term in some circles in society, is the equality of the genders then equating equality between the sexes to feminism. I had always held the assumption that gender equality was the same as feminism, but I am starting to see that it is not. When you look up the term feminism in google, it relays back that feminism is "the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes." Feminism, by definition, does not take into account the inequality that men (and non-binary individuals) face. I would not say that men's (and other non-represented groups by the term "women") inequality is equal to that of women's, just that it exists and is different and needs addressing for all genders to be equal. The three problems I see with feminism as both a term and a movement. The first is that the word feminism, in its tied to the feminine gender by its etymology. Women make up a substantial amount of the world's population, but they don't make up more than half. Using a word that in its make up is inherently exclusive and then expecting other genders to champion its cause is obtuse. The second is that feminism is only about women's equality, not the equality of all genders. Only focusing on the rights of women is exclusivist, limited, and unproductive. Most of the liberal society has excepted that gender is non-binary and also that your gender should not affect the way your treatment. As in, the rights you have should not be determined by the genitals you have, the genitals you want, or how you express your gender. The last, and most important are the connotation that the word has now. I don't want to be a feminist, because so many feminists that have come before me, both in this wave and previous waves of feminism do not support what I believe. First wave feminism didn't want black to get voting rights before women. Second wave feminism is notorious for man-hating, which isn't cool either, and this previous wave is so fractured and full of conflicting opinions, it shouldn't be considered one movement. Gender equality on the other is defined as "the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender" which sounds pretty great to me. Gender equality is a more inclusive and welcoming term to describe the equality between all the gender, rather than brining one gender equal with another and ignoring the rest. So I don't think I am a feminist. I support women's rights, but I also support men's rights and all the other gender's rights as well: not just the rights that correspond with my gender.
So that's that.
"World Changing" pages 29–46. Readings like this give me a few feelings, and I find them challenging to reconcile. At first, I think, this is not enough and will never be sufficient. It is entirely too hard to change so many entrenched ways of living with out a dramatic and close-to-home event (ahem Irma even if it's not proven). Next, I think that the writer is asking too much of people, or expecting that enough people have access to the recycling centers and other service mentioned, that the suggestion is almost entirely worthless. Lastly, all I can think is I know. I know I hear you, you're preaching to the choir, dude. I wish I could make people read books. Because although this book is a little over a decade old—lol at calling this the "iPod generation"—it does provide useful information and resources for a less informed person. So much of the information in this book is a repeat of things I have learned in school, on the internet, or as a part of my research into specific industries, in particular, clothing. It seems pretentious to not think about the waste we generate! Like the girl in class that sounded like she had never considered a styrofoam takeout container effected anyone but her! I could be wrong and could be a great environmentalist in other ways, but still–take out containers in any form are so obviously such a waste, I don't understand how a person could overlook that waste before this reading. There was one major thing I disagreed with in the text: the idea that technology hindered more than it helped. Before I had an iPod, I had STACKS of CD. Cold, hard, plastic compact disks in their protective cases, carelessly stacked on the windowsill of my room. Owning an iPod, and now between my Mac and my iPhone, I have more than I ever would have had access to. Even if I "owned" less music, because I would be buying every CD, I still think that the relative ecological foot print of the manufacturing and disposal of my iPhone and laptop vastly outweigh the content I would physical consume with out it. Between my laptop and phone, I have hundreds of books (e and audio), thousands of CDs and songs, books of sheet music, day/homework planner/calendar, flash/note cards, sketch book, and as many blank pieces of paper to write on as I want. I have often thought about doing an art project visualizing the amount of STUFF my electronics contain, and the paragraph where he says, "the iPod is probably the best example of a gadget with extremely limited functions— and earth-shattering success." Also as a side note, please don't buy your clothes if they're labeled "renewable." All clothes are recyclable. They're either plastic or plant. Rather, buy clothes with primarily recycled content, or be a hipster and buy used. One of that paragraphs that frames what I want to do with my life is as follows: "At present, two types of "good" clothing are generally available: the gunny sack garments that scream "Granola" and a handful of high-fashion (and high priced) "ultra green" lines" (Abrams, 36). This is exactly the problem I want to solve / the gap I want to fill. There is no place between Alternative Apparel and Patagucci. Nothing you can sweat in without spending nearly twice as much. That is where I want to be, providing ethically made, environmentally responsible, clothing that you can go to the gym, mountain biking, hiking, and running in. 9/11 class DiscussionToday, in class we talked about 9/11. I've been through enough tragedy in this life to feel like I've hardened to people emotions when there is no logical background to having them, so when the girl cried its class, I bristled. Everyone is entitled to their emotional responses to things. And that's that other wise I'll sound like a right asshole.
I appreciated the discussion and respectful disagreement that happened in the back left with the international affairs student and dude-who-wears-hats-inside. To see arguments about a sensitive topic, both individuals supporting their ideas with reasonable evidence and not getting defensive when their point was opposed was heartening. I'm not sure if it was just today or if 9/11 has more of an effect that I am seeing, but it made me think about the language around death, and I got kind of pissed off, and, like a good millenial, I wrote a more extensive blog post about it here. Some individuals will certainly disagree with my positions and will likely feel offended so I wouldn't advise reading it if you can be touchy. Something strange happens every year, where my feeling switch from positive to negative (and vice versa) throughout the semester. Since some of these classes are not starting out well, I hope this principal will be true for the class I despise at the moment and not be true for the classes I am enjoying. LINEAR ALGEBRAI like to think that I like math. I like the order in it: making the seeming chaos of the world into numbers that can be found and controlled. Signing up for this class, while still not something I wouldn't take if it weren't required, I was excited to take. In algebra that I had taken in middle school, I remembered really liking matrices, which is the premise of linear algebra at the elementary level. Unfortunately, I am not enjoying the class. It takes only takes a little inattention, and genericism is teaching style and a poorly designed curriculum to wet the excitement matches, damaging interest and throwing it all together in the other direction. From the accent, which is often intelligible, to the handwriting, which is often illegible, to the weak explanation in initial instruction to not understanding the questions asked of him: I give his teaching a solid D at the moment.* He does respond to emails quickly, which I appreciate and he hasn't done anything to shame me in front of the class, which is why the performance is only a D. Despite frequent communication errors due to English being a second language, what happens in class only loosely corresponds to what is in the required text book. I do realize that textbook choice is not the instructor, but of the course facilitator, but it does contribute to the challenge of the class existing outside of the material on which the course encompasses. At this point in the semester, the course receives a C overall. * I completely sympathize with the difficulty of learning and especially speaking in front of a group, a language that is not a person first language. The language challenge does not mean that instructors with difficulty speaking the language spoken in the course are the best to teach the said course. ITALIANI have struggled with the language. With English, I spoke very early but read very late. It wasn't until 5th grade that I was up to grade level. I attribute this to my time homeschooling when both math and reading reduced me to a small wet puddle of tears. So instead I listen to hella audiobooks of the lives of composers, the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian myths, built pyramids and mummified chickens. I have never understood language requirements after the age of 12. Proven time and time again that there is a dramatic reduction in the ability to form the synaptic connections that allow for language to stick. Of course, there are exceptions, and there is still some capacity to learn a language after the age of 12 meaningfully, but if it hasn't worked before college why would it work now? Or how would it make me a more rounded person? If someone knows how why this is a requirement, please tell me. I am much better at doing something I don't want to do if there is a substantial reason: supported by scientific evidence and reasoning. I have found no basis for teaching language in college in either reason or science, but only in feelings. Feeling are nonsense, and not on what we should base our academic decisions. DESIGN FOR CHANGEI am excited about this class. It has the potential to be great. The one problem seems to be some of the students. There are a lot of people who wear hats inside (sorority girls with limited problem solving) individuals who don't know anything about design or had a passion for making waves. I care about this stuff, creating in a way to influence people, and I worry that these non-caring people will disrupt the flow and passion of the class through their apathy. We've had some interesting and mildly thoughtful discussions, but they often seem stunted because of the type and volume of individuals in the class. I usually have opinions and am pretty vocal about these views, but it is hard for me to find a balance between contributing my voice to the discussion, and feeling like I am one of the only participants in the discussion. The first project seems ironic because this is a design for change class, but the first project advocates for high volume printing of paper to communicate ideas. The project is to create "'Zine;" a printed mini information magazine with a message. For me, this is challenging to reconcile. I care about the environment, and avoid physical printed items when at all possible; all my books are audio or electronic, so are my note cards and all my class work. But how do you circulate such randomness in the electronic world? The 'zines are distributed in high traffic areas (like coffee shops or poster boards) that increase the interaction between a wider, and hopefully deeper audience: which I don't know how to do without paper waste effectively. So I still feel undecided. It seems like a .5 step forward, .25 step back. Opinions? The other thing that gets me is the book. I've written more about the contents of the book in a post for the class, which I support in some ways and have issues with in others. But the physical book. Sure it printed on better paper. But printed?! Really? There are no e-books or audiobooks available whatsoever. Partially because I hate reading physical books and prefer the options and interface of an electronic book and partially because holy shit how much paper did that book contribute to the environment? It's a thick ass book. That's a lot of paper. Over all, I am excited and hopeful and hope we get to spend more time in smaller groups for discussion, and I get valuable feedback to improve my performance as a designer. ADVANCED TYPOGRAPHYI have the same comments for advanced typography. I am excited for the class overall, the projects seem interesting and through provoking, but worry that the apathy of other students will disrupt the flow of the course. Joel is a commanding force in the room more than the instructors for Design for Change, and I hope that will be enough to prevent the class from falling apart at the seams. HIP HOP 2Hip hop is hard. That's all. Rennie Harris, the instructor, called me out on the first day in a way that disrupted class and embarrassed me, because I made a small error, and I felt awful for the rest of class. But that is how my last hip hop class started, and I ended up liking the teacher and have continued to train with him since. So I am keeping my hopes up, practicing, and working hard in class. WEB (web design)I have long lamented the disconnect between programmers and designers, and web only affirms the breadth of this crevasse more than soothes my concern that coders don't know anything about design. The skills we are learning are useful: I can code a straightforward page in HTML5 after two lab sessions and two lectures. But I did use the class site as examples in Advanced typography as high type crimes because the site looks awful. I have learned more from the assigned videos than the instructors (the TA or the course facilitator that teaches the lecture), which is disappointing. I like to have a real person explain concepts and skills, rather than Lynda.com. I understand the limitations of classroom size and instructors, but when the course has massive wait lists semester after semester; however it would be appreciated if the classes were made smaller and teach more in the class lectures. Smaller class size and more teaching in that period would allow for questions to occur throughout the education, rather than an almost entirely self-guided course that also happens to have an in-person requirement. In short, we are using useful skills, but I am frustrated by the lack of focus on aesthetics and usability demonstrated in the project of the course facilitator. FUSION DANCETransnational is great! Brain teasingly difficult to do muscle isolations in the body, but it I enjoy practicing it around the house; I try to walk around rolling my stomach, walking on the inline half point, and hip shimmying. I am disappointed that the web gets in the way of this class, but I am delighted I am a part of it. INDEPENDENT STUDY / GRANT PROJECTI feel like what I would guess a lion would feel like if it were in the zoo all its life suddenly got the freedom to roam in a city. I don't know what to do first! I've alway dreamed of this freedom, but now that I have it I feel choice paralyzed. Letting ideas stew has been a great tool. I started thinking about this project about two years ago, but I got the resources to work on it in June. Then I started thinking a lot more, and every week, I feel like I am making small, but meaningful project physically (visualizing ideas, ordering and creating costumes), and making decisions about the plot of the piece, so I have a better structure on which to rely. All in all, I am nervous, and getting myself ready for the chase. I have made a schedule for myself for the semester, which I intend to follow, but I think it might go differently than outlined. I have ordered a lot of supplies, but making for me comes in waves or periods. I bet I will get all the supplies, and then basically all the making will happen in a weekend, and then the coding in the next week. I know people say that steady progress is the way to go, and I have been doing the steady growth. But now it is time to taper and bring the productivity to a max to produce the costumes, and once created, I have solid characters and people to write a story about. COLLEGE CORE REQUIREMENTSWho decides college core requirements? Why and how do they make these decisions? When frustrated by having to take classes that seemed to have little relation to what I am interested and don't feel like they make me a more "rounded" academic. I did some surface research to see if there was a particular set of the reasoning behind the core requirements that seem pointless and unrelated to students as individuals and their field of study. First, I do think that becoming a well-rounded person is an essential thing that not enough people care about, and I am not necessarily the person that these rules are made for. But the system doesn't seem to work for the majority of students that I interact with. But most of the electives that I have taken to expand my knowledge in areas that I care about have not been listed under approved allectives or counted (without petitioning) towards my core or degree requirements. So how would follow the "accepted" elective and core classes had improved me when nothing on the list was whatsoever exciting to me? Also as I said in the Italian section of this post, this isn't the best time for us to learn a language, and my time would likely be better spent focusing on something I would be able to apply more directly to my life and careers. So where do these requirements from? I still have no idea. And I still don't understand the reasoning used by the people with the power to make these decisions. If anyone has any information on this subject lmk 'cause I am bewildered and frustrated. "It's just the way it is" isn't an answer, btw. Thank you for listening to this all the way to the end. I respect the effort,
The idea behind this zine is that people care about stuff, sure, but they don't DO anything. Like what do you care about? What have you done about it? I feel like I see people with "be the change you want to see in the world" buttons and tee-shirts around enough... But I would guess those kids would be more likely found in their parent's basement smoking weed or Hoola hooping in a park than actually doing something.
Catholicism has found an amazing trick that has worked wonders for a significant portion of white people: guilt. A project where you ask people to identify what they care about, and then ask them what they have done to further that cause, or protect what they deem needs protecting (i.e., the environment). Hopefully, they'll realize that they have done little, and then reexamine their commitment to that value, or take action. To aid in the engagement portion, I would like to have a section where there are small steps a person can take to protect and preserve what they are about; whether that be people, the environment, animals, defeating cancers and other afflictions or politics. I like to think that I've always been a designer. I liked art projects, but I didn't like the art part of the projects, I loved fashion dolls where you could change the clothes with scraps of fabric... But I've never felt like a real designer.
For a while, I tried to convince myself that I would be a scientist; because I liked bugs and considered people more or less squishy cars as far as plumbing systems go. I wanted to be a doctor in particular. I liked the idea of solving problems for a bigger goal; curing disease through the incredible medical means and developing better ways to rid humans of afflictions. But I got frustrated with the mindset of academic scientists and the rigidity imposed to reach an equally rigid goal. I didn't fit in with the scientists, and I didn't believe I fit with the designers either. "Designer" seemed like a term applied to the lucky few that got to solve (and also create) the problems I feel like I see in so many of the things that surround us. So after that little preamble, why am I taking Design for Change? I am taking design for change because the scientist in me still wants to pinpoint issues and remove the disease with the methods of which I am capable. As a designer, the methods I have area visual construction of ideas in a way that can communicate an idea. Design for Change allows me to put both the scientist and designer together to express my values to the world in a way others will best receive them. What are my values, you ask? I am particularly passionate about people respecting their bodies, environments, and each other. By respecting their bodies, I mean mostly exercising, but not too much, eating, but not too much, and making sure that said squishy and in regards to the environment, being conscious of the consequences of their actions and being ok with those results. For respecting each other, I think the decisions people make, so long as they don't unduly effect others around them, should be allowed. Such as people sexual preferences, religious practices, the fact that humans come in many different shades, and traffic rules. Also, just because there are my values doesn't mean that I am not a human and make mistakes or have flawed judgment. I like cake. A lot. I have hurt myself mostly by reaching and missing goals (cliff jumping, trail running) in an irresponsible manner. The one thing I will not do though is cross when there is a no walking sign. That's why I am taking Design for Change. |
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