week 5 reading / midterm self-evaluation

catherine gray on sustainable business

pretty interesting stuff. i thought the fact about mcdonald’s now being the third most loved brand in sweden is quite remarkable. i’m curious to see how their sustainability efforts in america will influence its reputation here.

cradle to cradle

real wisdom “can only be found inside oneself.”  — agreed. i think the things you learn and conjure up on your own are the lesson that mean something to you and stick with you the most.

some people have developed allergies to newspapers — what. strange. toxins can’t be stopped i suppose.

the different types of books and what to look forward with in the future is quite interesting. i can’t wait to see how those experiments with new materials play out.

the closing goals for a new outlook on creating products sounds awesome and also idealistic, but i hope we can some day obtain those ways of creation that does more good than bad.

 

midterm self-evaluation

What are your strengths and weaknesses in this class? honestly, feel it’s been quite weak all around. staying up to date with readings is a great weakness. for researching, i really enjoyed going to visit the shelters and collecting info from them. but i feel like the actual design work is really slow going and undefined, we need to nail down a specific direction and just run with it.

What is your plan moving forward to improve your areas of difficulty? having better communication and collaboration. try to define the lines of what needs to be done and then actually get shit done. 

Did you meet all of your deadlines? not quite. behind on readings. and since we haven’t really made a complete thought about what our design solution is, it’s been hard to focus.

What are the most valuable things you have learned from this class so far? i’ve learned a lot about how many needs non for profits are dealing with. i’ve learned that defining your own schedule is a bit difficult but is also necessary to evaluate your progress. 

words i read

HE MIGHT BE A GIANT: SHEPARD FAIREY

crushing. i enjoyed these thoughts below. i’m really interested in his point of view. and its ins and outs, its contradictions and ironies. love. i think his process and growth, honesty is priceless.

“the process of letting things manifest themselves.” 

But he finds it “totally ironic” that people think he’s cool. “I’m a dork. I’m a loser. I’m not cool at all. Everybody just projects their idea of what’s cool on me. I’m boring. I never go out.

He now finds himself in a position of designing Mountain Dew graphics during the work week, while liberating Sprite billboards in his free time.

All the stuff I criticize I’m totally guilty of. Which is why I feel I can comment on it so effectively. I have made, and am still making, the mistakes I’m ridiculing.

ADBUSTER VERONIQUE VIENNE INTERVIEW KALLE LASN

Bit by bit, we must learn how to calculate these costs, because if we don’t, we are effectively calculating them as zero—which is the worst thing we can do.

it’s all worth something. what is it to you..

Then there is a second kind of product, the one that doesn’t sit on a table to be admired, but is in the customer’s hands every day—to brush his teeth, shave his beard, drive him to work, or whatever. I think we designers have to pay more attention to that second kind of product—the one that, for years, maybe decades, maybe centuries will delight, ease, charm.

longevity.