Reflecting on semester 2

Copied from the post on 26th January:

"Outline of the new semester:

The second semester started this month. With slight modifications from the previous semester, we had the option of doing an independent project.

I have taken up some new courses, while I intend to continue few of the old projects side by side. So there is the ideas to experience class, part of S.Labs, which will introduce topics related to interfaces and context related problem solving. Then there is the course on illustration. It is a studio based course that will help us understand illustration with respect to the context and medium. Then there is postmodernism. And lastly I have signed for the independent course.

I think the first semester helped me understand areas where I could focus and areas that needs to be worked on. Taking cue from that I choose a mix courses this time. 

The postmodernism course would give me an in-depth understanding of the various concerns in the current timeline, the illustration and the S.Lab course is much more practical and finally the independent project is a rather focused trail. 

The idea behind selecting the courses was to get a balanced learning experience. Also that each of these somehow build on one another and utilizes what I am learned previously. For example, though my background is in painting, I still find illustration difficult. My drawing skills are there but to synchronize a text with an image, I find it rather hard. In the previous semester, one of the project outcome was a series of illustration. But I somehow wasn't satisfied with the end product. So this course will hopefully help me get a better grasp of the subject."

This is what I had written in the beginning of the semester. I thought it would be a good idea to look back and see where I stand compared to where I was.

It's been a great journey so far. And not that I have achieved anything as planned initially, but I have managed few things well and surprised myself once in a while.

Let me start from the beginning. I was initially overloaded with courses. I mean it was a neck break schedule. But the courses went on and I realized that it was getting impossible to concentrate on any one fully.

The S.Lab course was meant to run for 30 days but the workload was such that I was spending at least 4-5 days on just this. To make matter worse, we were a team of three and one member ditched us. So we were now unofficially a group of two people. And we ended up picking up new skills as the visualizer had left us. So not just I learned Illustrator decently, I have also been understanding the complexity in the graphical interface of a mobile.

The after-effect of this meant that I had to ditch two classes: postmodernism and illustration. The illustration wasn't progressing well. I never got any feedback and that was quite discouraging. So in a way it was again an opportunity.

I ended up sitting with the transcultural design department. This is where I met M P Ranjan. Also the students are busy doing a system design for an MNC company. Sitting with them helped me analyse what I am learning at the S. Lab. They are using similar methods to design a system. I could see through their faults and reflect on my journey at S. Lab.

Group dynamics is a crucial part in any design process. And given the fact that one of my team member had been unproductive, it made me think on how group dynamics work, what is the best management strategy etc. The primary reason is that as much as a bad team player could be an obstacle, I believe if human resource is used well, it could be really benefit the team. Losing out on a visualiser was stressful.

The other thing was the independent project. I could not start the work as hoped. I had spent considerable time on research. But I could not figure out how to write a proposal. I later attended Katherine's workshop on 'What is a Good Idea?'. It was really helpful, but a bit late. Also I was jumping into the idea stage which wasn't helping. The S. Lab project helped in explaining the importance of a process and how to integrate research and conceptualization. But in the beginning of the semester, I was quite helpless with how to go about the independent project. I decided to stall it for this semester.

And since I now had some time, I started attending events outside college. It starts with the Bangalore Service Jam. I took forward few of those network to build a team where we decided to jam regularly and design stuff. Basically focus on the 'creating' part than just thinking.

And so far we have attended two competitions. Not that we won anything, but we come from multi-disciplinary background- computer science, painting, interface design, product design. We get to share our ideas, learn from each other and have so far worked as a team well. We are operating unofficially from NID, Bangalore and now Srishti.

As a choice, I don't want to look back on the missed opportunities  Rather focus on the small successes that I attained. Its a long way from here, but it's interesting to see myself learning from such a diverse platform and that itself makes me happy.