Hey guys,
So I know that Claudia will have you reading these on one of the first day of classes, so I hope that I can help guide you somehow as you begin this journey for the next four months.
I want to preface this post with all honesty, and tell you that this was one of the most rigorous courses that I’ve ever taken in college. She demands a lot of you, and wants your work to be the best that it can be, and for you to become the best designer that you can be. She will push you and you might even cry because it’s 4am on deadline day and you’re still not even done, but somewhere within it all, you will begin to find yourself as a designer. You will begin to see your work come to life and hopefully a smile will spread across your face.
Seeing as this is one of your first courses as a design student with only design majors, the stakes are much higher. You are surrounded by students, just like you, that know what they’re doing and will sometimes do it better than you. DON’T LET THAT DISCOURAGE YOU. Everyone is different, everyone has their own style, and what’s right from some, may not be right for all.
There are seven projects in this course. And you might think, oh seven, that’s not a big deal. Do not mistake that number because it’s small for being a small amount of work. You will 100% spend every single day for the next four months working on those seven projects. Sketching them, designing them, presenting them, revising them, this class will consume everything you do, but just remember that when all is said and done, you are coming out of it with at least a couple of new projects for your portfolio.
Do work that makes you happy, and work that you’ll be proud of. During our final presentations the other day one of the students in our class made a comment about how “trying shows.” If you leave it to the last minute, aka the night before, it will show. If you work on it a few days before it’ll show. Trust me, I know that we all have other classes to take, and other responsibilities (something that I struggled with in this course was balancing all of those) but try to make this course your fun one. Yes, it is an insane amount of work, but it’s fun. Design is fun, it’s supposed to be fun, so try not to get too caught up in the stress of it all.
If you guys need anything, to cry, complain, ask questions, whatever it may be, come find me around Newhouse. Chat me on Facebook with questions, I don’t mind. I just went through what you’re about to go through, and I think after all of it I can say that I am better designer for it.
Take a deep breathe, and start designing,
Rachel
