so we have started drawing trees, and i am very excited. this is going to be very shourt because i have a pt test in the morning and need to make sure i get enough sleep. all i need to say is that i am excited, but nervous at the same time about this project. i am not all that great of a drawer, better than some, but not as good as most. So because of this i am worried about how i am going to be eventually representing this idea. ihave a couple intro sketches, and i am guessing we will just be expounding on each as we go. i guess its just trial and error fro here. uhg

TREES

I feel very inadiquit... Our way finding project was presented today. In my opinion we failed... by choosing a project that spanned over 5 mi it was very hard for us to get from point a to point b, let alone finding people that were willing to help out our cause. We were not able then to test out how ou rsignage worked. second we were all very busy, not taking design seriousl yyet. not a good plan. I plan that on my next project i am going to focus, and work hard on doing the very best i can. I think the new project is designing a tree house. ihave already begun to brain storm ideas for it in simple ways. For example walking through campus to class i have been looking around at the trees and the landscape as a whole. This has given me an idea of how a tree house would fit in. when i think of a tree house i often imagine an environmentally consious design that looks organic. sSince it is in a tree the actual design needs to replicate a tree, or at least blend into it. I am very excited to get away from this last project, it seems like we have been wasting our time on this, but that could jut be my uneducated opinion. regardless i am very excited to showcase my talents on this next project

Jump

The train is about to crash..... i have been riding along know and feeling that there is a collision on the way, just not sure when it was going to happen. I have a feeling the next couple of nights are going to be long. The train i speak of is the course work that i have taken on this semester. I have felt that eventually  I would not be able to keep up with it all, drop the plate. I have so much work to do... and i am so overwhelmed. Well we are coming to the end of the way finding project so hopefully i will have an easier time after doing it. So today tomorrow and the weekend will be spent in my room working non stop. I feel like i am about to take a plunge into ice cold water. I just need to take a big breath and jump.

broken.... :(

So my mac book is once again, broken. the track pad has given out. this is the second time its happend, and apple is starting to get on my nerves, how ever i still love my ipod. good job on that one apple. so I have been neglecting doing this blog, not ever been one to keep up with a journal. so it is going to be a challenge doing this. So we havent done very much toward our most recent project, way finding. Personally i think it has been a waste of my time. I know this sounds like a closed minded opinion, however i can back this up. First off, Richard, the quest prof "teaching" us how to way find is first and foremost trying to get us to not look through the eyes of the user, but rely only on the user. WE have done this! from the beginning we were taught how to interview the "users" on their opinions of an object or situation. for example when we did the project, design for 5 we were told first to talk to people about their opinions of our chosen object, what is good about it, what is bad about it, and what they would change. we went on to work to create designs that were helpful to the users. second he is wanting us to not focus on the solution, but on the problem. we have been taught the whole first semester the complete opposite. We watcha video in one of the first classes from IDEO about how the ideal design process is to come up with as many creative solutions as possible and from that begin to narrow the ideas into usable products. Frankly i feel that this simple task of creating a process of getting from point a to point b is to mediocre. It is bland and impedes my ability to think out of the box. there thats my two cents about it. done with blog 1 for the week.

The users

So today is our first day back from the two day snow break. I wish i was still in bed. my whole body aches from last nights work out and the design studio is not where i want to be. so today we really focused and were able to narrow our project to two different starting points. From the visitors center and the Union. WE figured that regardless of whether the user is a new students, guest speaker, or visiting high school student, they would all start at one of the information centers on campus. So from there we decided to each break off and take a part to study and copmpile. I was given the job of compiling the data onto the map, the routes taken and obstetrical they ran into. So, now i go into the world to start looking at the users. GO!