process
THIS IS THE COMPLETE RECORD OF MY SENIOR DEGREE PROJECT. THIS BOOK CONTAINS MY THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, MISTAKES, AND THE PROGRESSION OF MY WORK ALONG THE WAY. THIS IS JUST THE BEGININNG...
this is the day after the first formal proposal of my idea for degree project. also the first day of winter break. i will have six weeks to rethink and refine.
12/15 so, i’m pretty anti-social...
AND THIS IS A PRETTY SOCIAL DIRECTION i would be helping myself by starting a bit smaller. something that was mentioned durning the proposal yesterday was a student who was also quiet and did a project where she hung around a gas station and would ask everyone that came through the pumps where they were going. They also mentioned not to narrow it down to one day, and there is already so much daily social media (twitter, instagram, facebook) that i could find about KC. is there a way to use existing information instead of trying to collect new information? anna drove me to the airport this morning (she is my friend and mentor). she came to watch the presentations and mentioned that it was interesting that my class all seemed very interested in people and stories for our projects, that we all had that common thread. more specifically about my project, she suggested that it would be against my best interest to rely on other people to provide me with information – that apparently hasn’t worked out very well for people in the past,
but...
new york
NEW YORK inspiration is just around the corner.
12/18
when i told my mother about my project, she advised that i was going about it all the wrong way...
it shouldn’t bethe life a day in
but instead
a collection of moments that make up life.
she said that if there was all this concern about getting people to come to me with stories, then easy – i should just go to the people instead. i like photography, why don’t i just take my camera out with me and take pictures of people and have a conversation with them? i informed my mother that she had just perfectly described humans of new yourk, which is kind of ironic on account of the fact that we were just in new york and that book was literally everywhere because it’s so popular presently.
12/19
i agree with my mother when she says that
i need a focus
she mentioned as an example if i went to a childrens hospital and collected their stories. to have a focus or theme, something more of a directed message. i told her the childrens hospital would make me sad. but i do understand what she was saying.
Celebrate
GOOD TIMES work hard, play hard. it’s winter break after all.
SATURDAYSUNDAYMONDAYTUESD
DAYWEDNESDAYTHURSDAYFRIDAY
1/5 1/8
I tried to talk to my brother about my degree project today. He listened to everything I hadto say and then apologized saying that he has been working crazy shifts at his job and was too stressed and tired to think clearly. Nothing new came from that conversation.
My brother is probably my favorite person ever. He made a huge effort to redo our conversation from yesterdayso that he could give me some valid input. He went on a rand about social media and he he thought it would be interesting to do a social experiment by creating a fake profile and adding a bunch of people and posts and then start talking to people about meeting them at parties and such to see if you could get people to create memories and stories that didn’t even exist. Apparently they had done something similar in the cop so that they could keep tabs on the lower classmen. I am not very interested in this idea for my project as I want real stories but it was definitely something to talk about.
1/12
I tried to talk to my brother about my degree project today. He listened to everything I hadto say and then apologized saying that he has been working crazy shifts at his job and was too stressed and tired to think clearly. Nothing new came from that conversation. My brother is probably my favorite person ever. He made a huge effort to redo our conversation from yesterdayso that he could give me some valid input. He went on a rand about social media and he he thought it would be interesting to do a social experiment by creating a fake profile and adding a bunch of people and posts and then start talking to people about meeting them at parties and such to see if you could get people to create memories and stories that didn’t even exist. Apparently they had done something similar in the cop so that they could keep tabs on the lower classmen. I am not very interested in this idea for my project as I want real stories but it was definitely something to talk about.
school is back in session. now it’s time to step it up, plan it out. less talking and more doing.
week 1-2
project
TIMELINE stay the course.
WEEK 6 MAR 2 work in progress crit refine visual direction sketch continue asking questions
MAR 6 blog post refine visual direction continue asking questions
WEEK 7 MAR 9 midterm presentation design spreads continue asking questions
MAR 13 blog post design/compile continue asking questions
WEEK 8
SPRINGbreak WEEK 9 MAR 23 design design design
MAR 27 blog post design some more
WEEK 10 MAR 9 continue designing begin presentation
MAR 13 blog post refine (1st) presentation
WEEK 11 APR 6 (1st) draft formal presentation refine
APR 10 blog post refine design
thequestion
how can design create a story that explores the younger and older generation’s ideals and realities of partnerships?
THE BEST WAY TO FIND OUT
is to ask
in the image above is jerry cummings, age 96. he is one of the seniors i have spoken with as i delve into the interview portion of my project.
questions other
what is your parents relationship like? what was it like growing up with that dynamic and do you think it has affected your own relationships at all? tell me about your current relationship... how did you meet your significant other? what was your first date? what do you think is most important in a lasting partnership? what is a difficulty you have faced in your partnership? do you believe soul mates/what’s your definition of a soul mate? what are your opinions on modern technology and how it has effected relationships today? what is love to you?
PLANNINGthe AHEAD book my final artifact is going to be a book. i’ve already started collecting and gathering information to occupy the pages, so the next order of business is to start figuring out what this thing is going to look like. layout sketches enter stage left. i feel the subject matter lends itself to multiple different layouts that can live in one book together, from big pull quotes, to detailed stories.
PLANNING AHEAD the installation along with my book, i want to push myself to work outside of my comfort zone. i have begun work on a typographic installation of the title of my project ‘the common thread’ that incorporates actual thread between nails that i have hammered into a 2’x4’ wood panel. i only hammered my thumb twice.
seniors
millennials We all have an innate desire to be understood. Language, art, music all communicate pieces of ourselves we want to share with the world. And further than that there is the continual nature of people to seek out that one person with whom to share their entire life. So within the book I create, I want to explore the idea of partnership. And to begin exploring this I thought it best to go straight to the source. To get real stories from real people. initially I wanted to focus on seniors, to get their take on love and partnership having wisdom from experience. But after discussion on the topic, my scope broadened to include another generation to get opinions and stories from. My generation. Millennials. To put our thoughts and stories side by side with the older generation. to explore what has changed with the generations and what holds true when it comes to a partnership.
the people I CONSIDER MYSELF
young and ignorant
AND I HOPE I ALWAYS DO, BECAUSE WITH THAT MINDSET I WILL ALWAYS HAVE
more to learn about love
Jack Clemence
91 YRS OLD Betty Clemence
81 YRS OLD
1941 22 married at age
married for
62 YRS
Jim Jones Brewer III
23 YRS OLD
Stefanie Poteet
23 YRS OLD
2015 2 WKS engaged for
together for
4 YRS
Savanna Howland
Nick Howland
24 YRS OLD
25 YRS OLD
2015 3 WKS married for
together for
1 ½ YRS
Tracy Cooper
78 YRS OLD DeAnn Cooper
75 YRS OLD
married for
57 YRS
1949 12
met at the age of
Kaylie Beckley
23 YRS OLD
love should be easy I DON’T THINK THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE TO MAKE SACRIFICES FOR IT
trust Whenever you meet someone, THOSE PATHS THAT YOU ARE FOLLOWING
were meant to intersect
SHE WON’T LET ME DRINK ENOUGH
jack daniels
hamburgers. OR EAT ENOUGH
LOVE IS FLAWS SEEING SOMEONE’S
AND ADORING EVERY ONE OF THEM
Unconditional acceptance
FAULTS AND ALL
Jim Jones Brewer Sr.
Triss Brewer
78 YRS OLD
75 YRS OLD
married for
195820
57 YRS
married at age
Jack Cagel
21 YRS OLD Briana Smith
22 YRS OLD
together for
Robin Williams
79 YRS OLD
3 YRS
Jansen Smith
26 YRS OLD
Taylor Martin
21 YRS OLD
together for
2 YRS
Pauline Calanche
91 YRS OLD
1941 22 married at age
Morgan Stockton
21 YRS OLD
58 YRS
married for (husband deceased)
LOVE IS TRYING TO
out do the other person’s generosity.
No!
HE SURPRISED ME BECAUSE I HAD JUST MET HIM AND HE SAID
“ You’re going to be my wife ” AND I SAID I NEVER – I DIDN’T EVER WANT TO GET MARRIED
Understanding their needs IF YOU REALLY LOVE THEM, YOU CAN WORK AROUND YOUR OWN HABITS TO HELP THOSE NEEDS
design design design
thebook
to view the entire online issue of The Common Thread book visit
http://issuu.com/brewerjodiann/docs/the_common_thread_pages?e=1