Final Review SP21: A Reflection on the Completion of My First Year as an MFA Student

My goals for each semester of my first year were drastically different. Coming into a graduate graphic design program with very little prior knowledge was a journey in itself — I came in with the goal to just learn more and really immerse myself in the world of design. With the wide range of projects I created my first semester, I was able to really learn more about design, explore my strengths and weaknesses, and practice design like never before.

In starting my second semester, I reflected upon the work I had done previously and the great feedback I had gotten from my peers and professors to form more specific goals for the semester. These goals included:

1. Experimenting more by exiting my comfort zone and working with new mediums, materials, and processes.
2. Not thinking about my final deliverable for each project immediately to give myself more freedom to iterate.
3. Think outside the commercial realm of design to expand my design skills and styles.
4. Get a better understanding and grasp of typography and the different ways in which it can be used as a part of my work.

Using typography, color, and experimentation with layout, I created a visual system for my final review presentation keeping the goals I had set for myself in mind. I wanted to ensure that this presentation not only showed each of my projects as bodies of work but also as a set of work that exemplified my growth as a designer this past semester.

The presentation included three sections and nine projects; starting off with Graduate Studio I and progressing to Interactive Design and Design Theory I.

I was very happy with the feedback I received from my panel this semester, as it showed me that I had been working toward my goals effectively. My presentation design and use of typography were received well from the panelists — I was very pleased to hear that the typography used in the presentation worked well and in a way “housed” my projects from this semester in a great way.

My Observe & Quantify and Liminality & Transition projects from Graduate Studio I and my You are the Filter project from Interactive Design were the main focus in my review feedback.

For my Observe & Quantify project, I collected raw/tabletop data and focused on my shot glass collection and what it meant to me. I was advised to push my project further by thinking more about how my design translates to others and how I can use this project to explore the brand design space I aspire to be a part of by having creative constraints that would allow me to brand the booklets I created as a cohesive set.

My Liminality & Transition project focused on a passage through time and the connection between liminality, suspended animation, and COVID-19. Feedback for this project was that it was an interesting interpretation of the concept of liminality and the space I created for my installation, but that I should take each aspect of the installation, including the tools I used to create it, into account because each small part will carry meaning with audience members.

Last but not least, for my favorite Interactive Design project called You are the Filter, I focused on the translation of media with music and how we can embrace the nostalgia of being able to physically hold the albums and playlists which are now stored in our digital devices. For this project, I was advised to expand my project and create new assets included liner notes, posters, and more to support the set of playlists and packaging I had already created.

I strive to continue learning new things, experimenting with unfamiliar things, and collaborating with new people throughout my design practice going forward. In the upcoming semester, I am interested in learning more about branding and packaging design as that is a career path I am very interested in.

I’d like to thank all of my professors and classmates for an amazing second semester and first year!