path: suite & deck stages; week 1 reflection

After the individual card stage of our wayfinding process came the suite section. First, we were to create a single 1' by 1' piece to best depict our experience of wayfinding as a whole. We then were to collaborate with our 14 other card suite members (we all drew from a deck of cards on the first day) to create a composition of some kind that encompassed all fifteen of our individual 1' x 1' works. Working in such a big group proved to be a challenge at first. With so many different ideas and points of view on the project being thrown into the pot, it was hard to pick, choose, and move forward. After much debate, we came up with a general idea of what we wanted to accomplish, and began the process of finalizing it.






My group (the heart suite) ended up with this installation, placed in the middle of the 2nd floor walkway. We all agreed that with this group composition, we wanted to make people experience what we experienced in our wayfinding process. We wanted to interupt people's normal path, so that they would stop and look at something new that they've never noticed before, exactly what we did during our individual explorations. Our "landmark tower" displayed 15 1' by 1' squares we each created in a spiral movement around it, arranged in a pattern that would be the same all the way around, any direction you approach it.

Though the root of our design decisions for this quick project were strong, I feel there were still a lot of elements we could definitely have improved on.





And finally, the last and slightly frustrating and overwhelming part of this project- We were to collaborate as an entire studio (50-60 some people) to create a display that encompassed ALL 1' by 1' creations. This task seemed honestly impossible at first, but soon we began speaking in turns, splitting in groups, and taking votes. We created a human sized board game- roll the dice, with yourself as the game piece, to the nearest square your roll lands on.

Overall, my first week in 2nd year has been pretty positive. I'm really excited about how this year is looking. I can't believe how much I've learned already in the first week. Working in groups is something that is going to continue to be both challenging and influential. The closing of our Path project should be interesting and our next project should be even better.

One last note, I was surprised to find this Wikipedia article about Wayfinding; kind of helps sum it up "in a nutshell."