Reflections: Collaboration Project

Given the constraints of designing objects displaying personal promotion, my group decided to design leave behinds. My group consisted of 402 students, David and Maureen, and fellow 102 student, Darwin. We each created different leave behinds that referenced our own personal aesthetic and interests. For example, I created a leave behind in the form of a paper lily and pad. I decided to use this design because a lily and pad are symbolically connected to the Impressionist movement, as exemplified by the work of Monet. Generally, I enjoy painting impressionistically, so the form of a lily and pad for a leave behind made sense symbolically. Furthermore, to follow a group theme of the importance of materiality, I crafted every part of my design by hand. The lily pad base was modified by a process of staining the paper through adding paint and oil to a bath of water and submerging the paper into it. Additionally, each flower petal was hand painted by a three layer process. Lastly, the words "thank you" were hand scripted on the back of the leave behind. Through my leave behind, I tried to convey a sense of my aesthetic and my skill with color and paint.

The final product:

While we ended up producing an adequate project considering the constraints, I wish we had come up with a project that was truly a collaborative project. In essence, we all created different leave behinds, but it could have been interesting if we had designed something truly cohesive. In the end, due to conflicting ideologies and the waning of time, we decided to adhere to a project focused more on individuality. In future projects, I hope to make cohesion more of an importance.

Overall, I enjoyed this project. Working with design 402 students allowed me to adopt certain advanced design skills. Moreover, I saw what a higher-level design class would be like. This design project was beneficial in many ways, and I am glad we did it.