one

Somewhere between sleep and a sigh the girl with the ripped tee and fresh tears tries whispering sweet nothings into the ripening spring air.

They echo around the vibrant atmosphere, only to reverb back into the space that others might say is so complex and twisted, but that she silently insists is as empty as her last pack. She would hate to finally admit to herself that the most twisted thing about her is her pathetic grimace when the filter lights up on her final Belmont, but she feels the truth of the matter bearing down on her more and more everyday. The anxiety coupled with this thought suffocates. It’s a blanket over her face, one she often wished were doused in chloroform. Her flare for the dramatic has subdued – she wishes this only to ensure a home somewhere other than between sleep and a sigh.

Somewhere between sleep and sigh, the girl, with inexplicable grief, realizes she’s only the shell of a creature that once existed. Perhaps some beauty remains, but it is not found in the utter awesomeness of some living entity within. No, the beauty that remains is topical, all show, all talk and no walk. This apparition disappears in the dark.

She rarely shares the dark with companions – she feels even more ugly in the dark than in the light- she strives to comprehend how this is even possible- and she despises the questions it poses that she cannot answer. At one point, she thought it was easier to tell a lie in the dark because she didn’t have to look into the eyes of the person she was telling it to.  Not anymore. She did it for a time, she thinks, and the consequences cut into her deeply, like the sad eyes of her lovers when they said their goodbyes in the light of the morning. No, darkness denies us our sight and in turn grants us keen and formidable powers to hear all truths unspoken- truths shared prudently and often unintentionally under the heavy veil of a silent night.  

I would like to draw something beautiful. I would like to draw a beautiful place in my mind where my thoughts can lean back and bask in the sun—liquid, enveloping sunlight, dancing like the glimmer of gold costume sequins all over my body. I would love to lie down in the park, listening to Nujabes, not reminiscent of anything…completely here, utterly now, more here in this moment than ever before. I want to lie down in the moment, in the present, and let any remaining force of time and life halt. Everything should freeze, aside from the tunes, the fresh wind softly licking at my arms and legs, and the sweet murmur of heartbeat belonging to my companion. And all the other things will come to a halt, because they should— suspended in time, a notion, a concept we continue to abuse and tarnish— and as a result, our senses will heighten around those things remaining alive. And they will be all the much more beautiful, for they will live on with so much elegance.

The whole concept of lighting certain products and designs through bioluminescence is sustainable, and something that is just beginning to garner more attention in the industrial and environmental design industry. It is fascinating, and has very exciting potential, however I believe that the cost and research required to successfully implement bioluminescent design with long-term use permits it from really catching on as a sustainable and realistic idea. In regards to the bioluminescent bike frame I created for my project, I had many ideas to use more sustainable, eco-friendly materials for the actual frame, not just the contents inside that made it glow. Further ideations that I could explore would be using bio-plastics, or plastics made from recycled materials for the tubing in the frame, however creating new grades in each that would be durable enough and shock resistant for a bike frame would require more research time and money. Another consideration would be to use recycled metals for the joints that hold the tubing together. This is something I did not have time to research in-depth during the semester, but would look into for further development of the bike concept. A concern I had with the sustainability of the bike was the amount of water it would require to function and maintain the growth of the bioluminescent algae within it. The water would have to be either regularly changed or filtered, both of which would require unsustainable methods to complete (for e.g., an attached filtration system would require energy to function that could be renewable, but would most likely in its initial stages start as an electrically powered system, and to just regularly change out the water seems way too inefficient and would be wasteful). Also, there are many different types of bioluminescent organisms that could be experimented with in regards to this bike design, and if the resources were made available to me, I might consider going back to the beginning design stages and test with these other options. The main issue would be timing, as the research would be an extended and very time-consuming process. However, I believe that the time SHOULD and CAN be invested in it in the near future; bioluminescent design has great and relatively undiscovered potential.

Decide on one that is what you think is the most important, and write a paragraph on why it is important to the design process.  Find an image of this step from the semester and use that as the image in your blog post.

Would it be unnecessary to begin by saying that I think all should be considered thoroughly in order to create a successful design? Ideally, designers should exhaust thought and effort during each stage. But to answer the question at stake, the first step is probably the most important. Identifying a problem, a real problem, and what makes it a problem, is what I think a lot of designers (not excluding myself) have difficulty with. People often identify a general problem, but then do not specifically isolate the reasons why it is a problem. There are also many designs that do not treat a problem, and as a result are inefficient and useless. Oftentimes people design, including myself, just to make something, to bring a new object or shape into 3D existence. But such things stack up in the shelves, collecting dust.  

Which of your peers work was your favourite.  Write why it was your favourite, and what you learned from their piece of work, and how it might inform your work in the future. 

Hilary’s corset/support garment for the HiTech/LoTech project was my favorite work from this semester. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for the long process she went through to achieve the final product, and the mere fact that the garment was custom-made to treat/change a person’s condition made the product so much more significant. Hilary took all the right steps when going through the design process.  She started by identifying a real and significant problem (her mother’s Fibromyalgia and the discomfort it gave her) and conducted research that seemed to be both quantitative and qualitative. She worked closely with her mother to identify the specific points of pain, and then researched efficient ways to treat this pain (through applied heat). I saw many ideation sketches, and constant revisions to them, which exemplifies a solid and thorough ideation stage. When it came to the construction of the garment, Hilary worked closely with her mother again to ensure that the design was to her aesthetic and physical comfort standards. Hilary made constant revisions to the garment, which were seen during the class updates, and her constant testing of various materials and fastening devices showed that her research continued throughout the construction process as well. Finally, during her presentation, Hilary showed us a video of her mother testing the product, and continued to explain her personal evaluation of the product, her learning outcomes, and how she might change the design in the future.

Hilary’s project has given me much excitement to work closely with my future potential clients. I aspire to create useful, impacting designs, that change people and benefit and create a brighter future for anything, big or small. She has also informed me, yet again, of the importance of a thorough design process, with clearly marked stages.  The success of her final design was achieved largely in part to her process and her organization and time management skills. I often forget about the great importance of such things, and a positive reinforcement/inspiration is always helpful. I look forward to imitating such work habits in the future, and similarly, creating an impacting and useful piece such as Hilary’s.