Senior Capstone Process

[bottlinghappiness]

Final Reflection

My initial ideas for what this exhibition would entail for myself and for the class as a whole did not foresee the final product. Despite this, the path I have taken to arrive at my design and the question that inspired it makes sense, is personal to me, is explorative, is emotionally evocative, and reflects my four year education in Visual Communication Design.

When I started brainstorming, I knew the things about which I was passionate, and I knew how critical it was to be presented with an opportunity to open-endedly explore anything in which I was interested. Making sure I am personally invested in the projects on which I work tends to be key to making them unique, individual, and the most refined, dedicated work I can produce. So, I started broad: I care about animals; I care about people; I care about design; I care about activism, about human rights, about so many things. I started compiling mood boards. I started combining ideas, discussing ideas, exploring my own twists to ideas. I am no stranger to this process, to compiling a source from which to draw inspiration, to visualize and conceptualize all of the possibilities; my education has taught me well.

It has been in college that I have established my love for art, reaffirming it in ways I could not have anticipated prior. Nothing makes me happier than when I am able to create, and though I like being able to work in such a variety of mediums, I never feel like I get to work on my hands and off of the computer enough. Soon I had narrowed down my idea to the concept of “happiness,” and encompassed in that would have to be my own source of that. I thought of painting portraits, or drawing, or maybe, if I could really swing it, clay sculptures? While the discipline had never been formally taught to me and I had no inclination to believe I was predisposed to success in the field, I had learned how capable I was of learning new skill sets when it came to new media. Soon I had my idea, and my medium, and I could even use my digital skills, all I had learned regarding the Creative Suite and design principles, to complete my project. 

The entirety of capstone has allowed me to exemplify success in self-direction. There wasn’t a mad dash to the finish, a frantic search for solution, a resignation. I put time, thought, and so much energy into every aspect of this project, and I kept adjusting if it wasn’t good enough. The most critical deadlines were set in stone, mainly being the completion of the showcase and the individual milestones to make sure we were staying on track, but my own drive and ability to complete the project would be entirely self-devised. I would be looking for my own vendors, seeking my own feedback, exploring my own research. Everything that I had been taught throughout my design classes has been at work all semester. I would not have been able to generate the very idea of my capstone project, yet alone tackle the task of its completion, if not for the preparation that my four years have given me. From the initial push to the tools used to the act of printing and trimming and mounting, I have persevered, and also accessed the breadth of knowledge that is my education at SU. 

I produced a piece of work I am proud of, and that’s always one of the ultimate goals for me. I look forward to seeing people’s reactions, to their interacting with my medicine cabinet and reading my infographic and seeing tiny figures that might just represent what made them smile today. I think this aspect is also the ultimate culmination of my VCD experiences; it is so unique to be able to be a part of your audience and assess the success or impact of your work.

[bottlinghappiness]

I elaborated on the process of creating this infographic in a previous blog post, but wanted to give a close-up of the final thing. So pleased with how it turned out, and think it does a great job of explaining the overall message of my project.

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After a semester of planning, stress, confusion, self-doubt, and, suitably, a little bit of happiness, I am so excited to have finished installing my piece in the Greenspring Art Gallery. Firstly, my medicine cabinet looks much better hanging on the wall than on my closet floor. Secondly, I am so excited to have finished my infographic and see it printed and mounted. For weeks I've been cycling around my ideas for the layout, the facts included, and the graphics it needed. I just couldn't get it quite right, until it came down to the deadline, and I cranked out the final version after a few hours of tireless work. After a printing mishap and some mounting struggles, I am so pleased to have it hanging. Everything fits nicely inside the cabinet as well! I had some issues adhering thick cardstock labels to my jars, but I solved that problem with an assortment of glues, rubber bands, and goo gone. I can't believe how good everyone's projects look in the space, and I can't believe that my idea is finally a tangible piece. I did what I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull off. And that makes me happy.

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Cabin Fever Reducer production has begun! I raided the craft stores for all things beachy and foresty to create environments people said make them happy. I was really excited to use this opportunity to use my circle cutter, but, alas, my Xacto blade was a better route. Really excited to see how well the aesthetic of my labels and environments work with the shape of the jar I chose. I decided to make two forest jars—each unique and individual—and one beach jar. My biggest problem now is just to surplus of fake sand and seashells I've got. I'm okay with that, though.

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The painting process has slowly but surely taken over my entire living space, but I've been having a lot of fun adding colors to these miniatures. I forgot how relaxing it can be to just paint—I'm glad I get to be happy while creating things that make others happy. I've also been continuing on with designing my labels and my infographic. Everything is coming together nicely.

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Solo sculpting round one! After finishing the painting of the first round of clay sculptures, I realized I definitely needed more to fill up my designated jars. So I got to work and used up another pound of clay to embody everyone's happiness! Almost there :-)

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a messy workspace in which ive completed and painted two batches of clay (2 pounds total)! and can finally see the finish line in sight. ive gotta print and mock up the final variations of my packaging, which ive been working on and addressing setbacks, and finish up my final infographic, but its so awesome to see my installed cabinet in the exhibition space! cant wait to keep working and see the final project, and how the exhibition will look as a whole. stay tuned for the final progress updates and please keep your fingers crossed it continues to come together soon :-)

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Here’s a preview of what’s to come! Interested in seeing what’s inside?

Mark your calendars for Stevenson University’s 2016 VCD senior capstone exhibition on May 5 from 5–7p.m. Seniors are exploring questions, and invite you to check out their artwork!

[bottlinghappiness]

Lots of progress this week! After meeting with my focus group, who gave positive feedback in regard to the project and seemed excited to see it progress, I continued to move forward with everything, feeling encouraged. I baked the clay sculptures (there was only one fatality in the process, and only one accidental burn to myself) and began painting. 

As of this post, I’ve painted almost everything, and have had a little too much fun doing it. I’m reminded as I paint how overly enthusiastic I am about miniature things, and as each item gets more detail, I’m nearly explosion over the cuteness. Look at that teeny, tiny lil plate of spaghetti. Amazing.

There was also some troubleshooting this week in terms of packaging design. My pill bottles are clear, and I want to make sure its contents are visible, so it was important that my packaging looked realistic, but also was not too concealing. This also addresses two of the issues my focus group brought up: that they wanted it to look realistic, and also wanted to know how they would know to interact with everything. I began designing square fold-out labels for the vitamin bottles, and think they’ll be a successful way to showcase crucial information without being impeding. This will also let people know they can touch the bottles because they’ll be able to pull out the labels to see more information. I’m still not entirely convinced this will let people know that they can open things if they want to, but I don’t think it will diminish the success of the piece either way, as long as the contents are visible.

I also made progress with the “environment” bottle labels, which have a bit of a different design, but, because of the layout of the bottles, have more room to place things anyway. 

As of now, the thing I’m most worried about is finalizing these labels and get some working prototypes before I print the final things, and also accommodating for any additional clay pieces I’ll need to add to make all of the bottles full and the medicine cabinet complete, as that molding needs to happen ASAP so I have time to bake and paint, then fill everything up.

[bottlinghappiness]

My boyfriend, best friend, his girlfriend and I spent this past Sunday sculpting for the first time in our lives. Pictured is the one pound’s worth of clay that we were able to shape into happy things! The next step is baking everything, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’ll stay in tact as wonderfully as they are right now.

The process has been smooth sailing and I’ve got to admit what a relief and a surprise that has been. I anticipated far more bumps in the road and having to troubleshoot problems, but I am admittedly surprised at how adaptive I’ve been throughout the process, able to amend and improve upon my skills and abilities to make each step work. 

It was also so awesome and helpful to be able to be crafting these things in a collaborative environment. Despite providing adult beverages for the event, I’m super grateful that everyone who helped truly did it out of their own free will, and was so great at sculpting?! To provide some more background, my friends included a physics major, an economics major, and an environmental studies major, all three of whom brought something entirely unique to the table. The economics major was incredibly talented and resourceful at his craftsmanship, and I admittedly took a few pointers from him. Ultimately, it made it so much less of a daunting task to compile so many tiny sculptures. 

At the end of it, I remarked that I hoped this would fill most of my bottles but wasn’t sure I had enough, and my boyfriend rushed to say, “well we can always have another day like this again!” It put a smile on my face—we were creating things that we were all excited about. This was the kind of emotion I hoped to be involved in my project.

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Last night I started filling this medicine cabinet with empty pill bottles to begin experimenting with the layout. I was impressed with the authentic aesthetic once I started piling things in, so I’m excited to see how things begin looking once I’ve added the labels! I enjoyed the way the amber color of the prescription pill bottles break up the clear plane, and am considering leaving the bland informational labels off of these bottles to maximize this effect. 

This also helped me understand how much of each anticipated element I would need to create. I still have to begin the clay sculptures that are going to be going inside each of the bottles, so this gave me a better idea of how many of each type of container I could fit in the cabinet, therefore allowing me to visualize how many sculptures I’ll have to compose. 

Excited to see this project progressing! Too bad the most intensive steps still lie before me.

[bottlinghappiness]

Bottling Happiness

Living with an illness, mental or physical, chronic or short-term, can make pursuing happiness far more of a challenge than an acquirable goal. Everyday setbacks, mistakes, accidents, or just faulty moods can make life difficult and stressful, and it is easy to resign oneself to fixating on the negative aspects that seemingly overrun our lives. The truth is, though, that there are so many things that also make each and every one of us happy. Perhaps it is not human nature to be infinitely happy, but what happens when we emulate the euphoria and bliss brought on by life’s happiness-inducing characteristics? What if we could bottle happiness?

Bottling Happiness showcases the pursuit of happiness and human identity through recreating sculptures of humanity’s delights. The small things in life, like petting a dog, eating a bowl of ice cream, or composing a drawing, integrate positive emotions (and produce positive, healthy chemicals within our body) into our lives. Not only does crafting the subject of an actual person’s happiness capture such a crucial part of their identity, but it also highlights what things someone can do or with which they can surround themselves to promote happiness and positivity within their life.

This project has turned into an examination of the interactions between peoples’ livelihoods. It’s turned into something personal for each and every person interviewed for answers to critical questions. It’s turned into a personal exploration, a look into my own answers to my own questions and asking one essential one: if I can answer what makes me happy, what really is stopping me from obtaining that right then and there? What about that can I control?