As a final-year graduate design student, you must be aware of the process or processes you follow when working on a project, in other words, where do you start, what information do you privilege? Do you write your design, do you draw your design, do you talk your design? Which drawings come first? This assignment requires an explicit acknowledgment of your personal design process. Map all inputs and outputs of your design process (phases, time, information intake and output, feedback loops, external critics, software, hardware, sleep habits, food, hygiene, chemistry, etc.). This mapping must spatial, and temporal, and processual (some combination of all three). In other words, where do you work, at what times do you work, and how do you work. The map is a critique of your design process and must acknowledge both positive (things that work) and negative (things that don’t work) aspects of your process.
Deliverable: 11 x 17 graphic map in PDF format.
Mapping my design process was an interesting project, as I was going through the things I was mapping as I was mapping them. I see my design process as being mostly discovery, often working in circular thought processes with outside critique from either professors, professionals, classmates, family or friends being the catalyst that shoots me on to new ideas and heightened motivation or shoots me finally into the creation phase. Something that I am struggling with during this whole capstone process is the idea of starting from scratch. Even in my diagram I start it with "assignment given." Well in this case we aren't given any direction, we are just told to come up with a project, somewhere in the field of landscape architecture, that can be finished in a semester. Hmmmmm.......
I know that the beginning of basically any process of mine is always a challenge, and I hope paying attention to that this semester I can somehow learn ways to more quickly jump into a project.
My map, like I said, highlighted the importance of critique in my work. I have to force myself to recognize this point and not be afraid to ask for multiple critiques, even when they are not offered or I am afraid of the outcome. Just do it!