Note to self: COFFEE before class.
Why I am nonfunctional before the hour of 10am is beyond me, but I will have to make due.
My Concept Development that begins at the beautiful hour of 8am was moved to a new location that was down the hall to wider, less claustrophobic classroom, with more comfortable chairs and a temperature more to the liking.
Today Jimmy asked us to organize ourselves in alphabetical order by our first names. Being at the beginning of the alphabet, A-G figured it out faster than the rest of the alphabet. We watched others struggle but why we did nothing to help them is what I do not know, but it was entertaining. The goal of the exercise was to be aware of the problem and solve it. It was a group effort that took longer that it should have, but we did it. The creative concept in caparison can be seen as the same concept because when creating, one must have a concept, approach it, identify the problem, and attempt to solve it however many times it takes to solve it. When creating I have always found myself stuck, and it was through problem solving that expanded my ideas, and gave me new perception of my original idea.
"What if...?" I always like to believe that possibilities are endless, but I think that the "What if..." saying puts a limit to possbility, that is, unless it is followed by a "Si se puede!" Ideas are also formed by "What if..." thoughts.
Concept vs. Thought The dictionary defines a concept as "an idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct", and a thought is defined as "an idea or opinion produced by thinking or occurring suddenly in the mind". To me, a thought is the initial stage of a concept and a concept is a highly developed, planned out thought. A thought can be as simple as, "I'm hungry" or "What is she wearing?" but a concept goes beyond the initial thought, it builds upon it. Creations are developed by concepts.
Albert Einstein and his concept of relativity that time slows down when "you" go fast was also brought up in class. I already knew about Albert Einstein, but this topic seems to always boggle my mind. Does time exist? Is time linear or is it static?
Time is... everything? I myself do not like to think that I am a slave to time, but it's true. I have to plan my day out by the hour, sometimes even the minute to fit all that I have to do in one day, which I think is kind of ridiculous. As a designer I think that it is important to grasp the concept of time management because when working with clients, projects will be done on their time schedule, most of the time.
"A picture is worth a thousand words." Later in the class, Jimmy showed several images. I learned how to better read an image, because although they do not have words, body language, facial expression, and setting can say a lot about the mood of it.
Having this class at such an early time (for me) isn't such a bad thing because the rest of the day I am left with a lot of food for thought.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
March 28, 2011
Today was the first day of Spring Quarter at California State University Los Angeles. For me, the day started at 4:30a.m. so that I could make it on time to my 8 a.m Concept Development class.
The classroom itself was very warm, too warm to a point where at times it was quite uncomfortable, but the topics on hand helped cool my nerves.
On a flash card, our professor, Jimmy Moss, asked us to answer questions about our expectations of the class. I don't remember exactly what I put but I know that what I do want to learn is how to effectively brainstorm my ideas and to effectively communicate them so that they appear well thought out and have purpose. In the past, brainstorming is either a hit or miss for me because I either procrastinate to a point where I am rushed to pick an idea that I have no time to altar, or I completely change ideas multiple times without trying to build upon what I had thought of originally. And so the old saying seems evident, "Old habits die hard."
We then looked up what concept was on the dictionaries of our smartphones. According to the Dictionary.com app on my iPhone, a concept is "a general notion or idea" and Wikipedia defined it as "a mental idea". Everything really does start with an idea, such a the telephone, as discussed in class was not a finished idea becasue up until today its evolution is still ongoing. Today, it's texting on mobile devices which allows for immediate communication, to a generation where instant gratification is what we demand.
What is communication? As mentioned in class, "information that is transported from A to B." But what if B does not fully understand the information received? Does that still count as communication? Does there have to be an assurance that the message was received in the way we wanted it to? In affective communication, I think it does. I think it's important for the message or idea to come across clear so that there is no misunderstanding.
Emotional commitment. Jimmy had talked about the busy schedules many of us students have and how ineffective our study habits are because there was no emotional attachment. With cramming, I have found that the information only sticks in my brain until the test is over, then my mind just throws it out, or only remembers some part. I think emotional attachment is necessary in order for information to stick in our brains. Emotional attachment means having a deep interest in anything you are learning or are working on so that your mind can envelope everything you observe or feel about it which allows you to remember things much easily. For me, repetition and constant reminders help for ideas and information to stick.
I am a graphic design student who is just barely getting my feet wet, and I am reminded almost every day that in order to better myself and my skill I must fully emerge myself in all that is design, I must "become a fan of graphic design" as teacher, Joe Bautista said to us my first quarter at Cal State L.A.
I can only learn so much but if no action is applied i.e. experiential learning, then I am not really learning and fully understanding and experiencing. So it's time to get in there, and get excited about graphic design.
The classroom itself was very warm, too warm to a point where at times it was quite uncomfortable, but the topics on hand helped cool my nerves.
On a flash card, our professor, Jimmy Moss, asked us to answer questions about our expectations of the class. I don't remember exactly what I put but I know that what I do want to learn is how to effectively brainstorm my ideas and to effectively communicate them so that they appear well thought out and have purpose. In the past, brainstorming is either a hit or miss for me because I either procrastinate to a point where I am rushed to pick an idea that I have no time to altar, or I completely change ideas multiple times without trying to build upon what I had thought of originally. And so the old saying seems evident, "Old habits die hard."
We then looked up what concept was on the dictionaries of our smartphones. According to the Dictionary.com app on my iPhone, a concept is "a general notion or idea" and Wikipedia defined it as "a mental idea". Everything really does start with an idea, such a the telephone, as discussed in class was not a finished idea becasue up until today its evolution is still ongoing. Today, it's texting on mobile devices which allows for immediate communication, to a generation where instant gratification is what we demand.
What is communication? As mentioned in class, "information that is transported from A to B." But what if B does not fully understand the information received? Does that still count as communication? Does there have to be an assurance that the message was received in the way we wanted it to? In affective communication, I think it does. I think it's important for the message or idea to come across clear so that there is no misunderstanding.
Emotional commitment. Jimmy had talked about the busy schedules many of us students have and how ineffective our study habits are because there was no emotional attachment. With cramming, I have found that the information only sticks in my brain until the test is over, then my mind just throws it out, or only remembers some part. I think emotional attachment is necessary in order for information to stick in our brains. Emotional attachment means having a deep interest in anything you are learning or are working on so that your mind can envelope everything you observe or feel about it which allows you to remember things much easily. For me, repetition and constant reminders help for ideas and information to stick.
I am a graphic design student who is just barely getting my feet wet, and I am reminded almost every day that in order to better myself and my skill I must fully emerge myself in all that is design, I must "become a fan of graphic design" as teacher, Joe Bautista said to us my first quarter at Cal State L.A.
I can only learn so much but if no action is applied i.e. experiential learning, then I am not really learning and fully understanding and experiencing. So it's time to get in there, and get excited about graphic design.
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