collaboration & inspiration

After my mid-term, where I was encouraged to collaborate on some part of this project, I went through a few days of trying to figure out with whom to collaborate and on what. I had originally envisioned this project as collaboration with two of my fellow students in order to create a company. That quickly ended for a multitude of reasons. So after the mid-term I was at a bit of a loss. At first I thought I would hire someone to collaborate with me on the Flash. But after some uneventful searching for someone who I could trust I gave up. One reason was that most of the people I knew had about just about the same experience and skills with Flash that I had.

So when I hit on the idea of a writer, which felt like a flash of inspiration, I called on friend who I have worked with on previous projects. I have used her in the past for copy-editing work for clients. She is more than competent as a writer, copy-editor and thinker. Thankfully she agreed to do the job.

We met Monday evening for a short intro to the project and to figure out what she needed from me to make the project work.

I showed her my site map for the webpage that I had worked out before the mid-term. I discussed in detail each section of the map and what I was hoping to get across and then she said the word that has really changed how I am looking at this project. “Weave.” When she said it, it made so much sense I quickly became inspired again.

We discussed each section, which I had split into four equally weighted parts. Education, Industry, Clients and Help. The Help section, which is not well named, is mostly links to other information. So we talked about the three sections. I started with an overview and then moved down the list of each section. The problem is that in order to talk about one section you might have to elaborate on a different sub-section in a different section. And there was that word – weave. I can see the site taking on a whole new meaning, I am going to flatten out the hierarchy I created and make a web, which will be more difficult to navigate through, but more intuitive for the user. Rather than forcing the user through the site it what I see as the most logical path, I will allow them to move through it in the way they feel is most logical - much in the way that this project has come together.

Secrets

I won’t say my mid-term critique for thesis went great – but the committee was helpful. I am far away from my starting point and close at the same time.

I would like to tell a little secret now:

I was hired at C2 twice. The first time was a little more then two years ago. I accepted the position, but called back the next day after I was offered another position that paid more and was fewer hours. It was a hard decision to make as C2 seemed to combine business and design together in a way I didn’t know existed.

By the time school started I knew I had made a mistake. Not because the job I had taken was bad, but because I realized there were things I could learn at C2 that I wasn’t sure I could learn anywhere else. So when a friend let me know that his internship at C2 had ended and they were looking for someone new I asked if he would put in a good word for me.

I went through the agonizing process of trying to decide when and if I should tell C2 that they had hired me before. Even though it was a small company and I was interviewed by some of the same people who interviewed me the first time, they didn’t remember me and I didn’t exactly tell them. It didn’t come out until about four weeks after my internship started – not a fact that I am proud of. But I am grateful that they didn’t throw me out on my ass. It was embarrassing but in the end worth the risk.

I have heard several times now from my professors that maybe if I had worked at some other firm, I wouldn’t be doing my thesis on this subject. The reason I wrote about it is because my thesis topic wasn’t dictated by the random chance of me working at C2. Rather it was a conscious decision I took to inform myself about the options I had when I got out into the work force.

When I was in college the first time I didn’t realize how important it was that I take steps to educated myself beyond what I was learning at school until it was too late. I promised myself I wouldn’t make that mistake again. So now I am in a quest to figure out what I’ve got myself into and to find a way to combine my education and skills into a job. If I could help broaden someone else’s horizon what a great bonus it would be.

spinning my wheels

I’ve been so frustrated working on my thesis. Last week after class, I came home and sat down to read a blog CPH127 that is devoted to an “open dialogue around the profound understanding of design, leadership and innovation.” Why? because I was encouraged to promote my own blog by provoking a dialog by poking fun of firms who are using design and design thinking to solve business problems that are identified and unidentified. How? Many of these firms are using the same jargon in their mission statements. They all talk about “strategy,” “innovation,” and “creativity” and I was encouraged to point this out in more explicit terms then I am doing here.

Honestly, I was hoping to find a way out of poking fun. This is not to say that under the right circumstances I wouldn’t poke fun. Last semester I made my leave-behind a book about shameless self-promotion and used celebrities, current and former, as the butt of my joke. But here it did not seem kosher. (For your viewing pleasure, and my chance to promote myself… pdf).

Last week I wasn’t so sure about the whole thing. I didn’t, and still don’t to some extent, feel comfortable with designers running around saying they can fix business problems when many of them have little or no background in business except for the companies that they run (which is no small feat). But there are movements out there to change this. See NextD.

In the end my explorations brought me back to my original point, which was that I was interested in creating a business model. Right now in my head it is an animated website.

Wish me luck.

...and so it began...

Let me just start by saying I’m a neophyte to this whole innovation/strategy/design revolution. As a student, preparing to enter the work force (for the second time), I sort of stumbled upon it while interning at C2, LLC. For me it was like someone had knocked me over the head and said, “there is a place for you after all.” Why do I say this? Because up till this point I have been the artist in business school (I have a BBA) or the businessperson in art school (if I pass this semester I’ll have a BFA, too). A fish out of water anyway you put it.

So, I thought I would wrap my head around this thing for my thesis project. If I had only known what I was getting myself into -- there way more information then I expected, but none of which seems to be focused. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there is an anti-innovation/strategy/design movement with compelling arguments. It’s enough to make me a little manic.

Why should you care? I guess you shouldn’t if you are happily plodding along making money with your designs at a firm with a strange name.

You know who you are.

I guess the people who this really affects are those of us who are about to enter the work force where the scenery is changing. I don’t know about any of you, but I had no heads up.