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As second year comes to a close,  we were asked to answer some reflection questions..

What was the most valuable lesson you pulled forward from first year that was helpful to you in second year?

Coming in from first year, I learned to never underestimate the value of study models. Having had Hilary as a professor, she sometimes required up to nine study models per pin-up. Although this was overwhelming at first, and some of the models were at times very questionable, it forced me to get into the routine of thinking in both a 2D and 3D way. At the start of second year, the form studies were very much in line with this ideology. It got us working with our hands which was a very engaging way to start off the year. Combining both the modeling work I did in both first year and first semester of second year, I could not fathom doing a product design project without having a physical thing in front of me. Modeling helps me not only figure out what does work, but what really doesn’t work within a design. I tried making a prototype for every product we made.

What was your greatest challenge this year and how did you overcome it?

I would say that my greatest challenge overall was constantly challenging myself to think in a lofty way- I phrase we were often encouraged with. “Lofty ideas” are harder to come by than one would think and I certainly learned that this year. I tend to think in a safe way, often landing on one concept that works without thinking twice. I would like to think that I managed to grow in this department but I know this is something I still struggle with. I can’t say I have fully overcome this but I am excited to keep pushing myself with each and every project.

What was your greatest accomplishment during the year?

My greatest accomplishment of this year would probably have to be my Design-Build project. I have never felt as overwhelmed by a project before. It was the first scaled model that we were to create out of real-life materials. The whole process was immediately daunting. I unintentionally challenged myself by planning my entire build process around welding and heat bending steel. I had no idea how exact the processes actually were and it was a very intense learning curve that I had to quickly overcome if I wanted the results I envisioned. My chair turned out crooked, which sounds ridiculous but is in fact true. Tack-welding is not a simple process, especially since I was trying to connect two imperfect profile frames with connection pieces that were not all perfectly perpendicular. As a result of this, the wooden panels that I wanted to add in would all have to be very specific to every frame it was going in. To solve this issue, I dremel-ed every plank individually until they were all perfect fits, a task that took several hours. After completing the entire prototype, I really could not believe my eyes. It wasn’t perfect, but seeing my design translate from paper to reality was really exciting despite all the obstacles I had to overcome.

If you were to give advice to next year’s class, what would it be?

My biggest piece of advice to next year’s class would be to challenge yourself continually. It sounds cheesy but our discipline requires it. It is very easy to fall behind without self-motivation and no one will be able to do the work for you. It is up to you to master the softwares, skills, machines, and everything else that is required to be an industrial designer. The baseline is to always stay hungry, and to always want to achieve more. Akshay said on the last day of class that sketching is a constant- and so is much of everything else in this major. Unlike a math class, a problem is never fully solved, and there is always possibility to redesign, rethink, and reimagine.

If you were the professor in the second year lab, what kind of projects do you think would be the most valuable to the students? 

As a professor, I would definitely find the value in more projects such as the wicked problem or the UX Design. To me personally, I definitely underestimated the amount I would learn from these projects. However, looking back, I have more experience in thinking than I ever thought possible. Before this, I never thought “creative thinking” could be a skill, something that one can practice and grow with. Additionally, more “building” projects much like the Design-Build are hugely valuable. I think many of us really doubted how drastic the difference between paper or the computer to a real scaled model can be. In accordance with that, design-build and the form study projects allowed us to venture into the shops and understand form and materiality.

I have learned more than I could have ever expected this year and am excited for third year which I know will be challenging but very rewarding.

My second year work is published at www.sophie-colle.com

For our last project of the semester, the LEWAS Lab of Virginia Tech approached our class asking us to help educate the Blacksburg community of the urban watershed and their impact on it. My team and I released research surveys to gain an understanding of what exactly the community knows and cares about. Most responded saying they did not know much but would be interested in learning more which was encouraging.  We decided that some sort of installation piece that not only works as an attraction for community members while educating them would be the best solution. Our system of a fountain and path is what we call Stroubles Crossing.

We designed a path that goes through the heart of Blacksburg starting at Huckleberry trail (which will make it easy to continue walking the trail if people choose to do so) traveling through campus and ending in Downtown at Henderson Lawn with an interactive fountain that serves as a manifestation of the livestream data. The path itself is a visual representation of Stroubles Creek which many do not know even exists. Within our fountain we have an Interactive data board that educates community members on eight parameters that the LEWAS Lab such as turbidity and pH and what their importance is. The fountain itself has 16 jets that represent historical Blacksburg being built with  a foundation of 16 squares.

Our path features limestone which is also what the fountain is made of, considering that Hokie stone and the town of Blacksburg have a huge involvement with limestone.  The path also has helpful tips and enscriptions of how the town can get involved and help preserve the watershed. Stroubles Crossing aims to be a family attraction while helping the LEWAS Lab inform community members of their impact.

This year was my first year going to the South District IDSA Conference. I had no idea what to expect but wast very excited to not only network with students and professionals from other school but additionally, with the upperclassmen in our program.

On the first day, we were able to tour the Auburn studio. The second year studio had a few displayed projects which were 3D printed clock radios prompted from one adjective. It was impressive how many of the radios actually  successfully represented the single word. Something I noticed about their studio was that the desks were substantially smaller and so was the space. The students are separated into rooms that do not compare to Burchard in any way.  A big advantage to the Burchard space is not only being able to collaborate with those in your year, but also interactions with the upperclassmen which is often a big source of advice and inspiration.

A large component of Conference was being able to see the other programs displays. I had a (biased) preference for ours as it displayed sketches, 3D models, and Ipads that had profiles of some of our students. I feel as though this displayed one of our schools best attributes; our ability to work in a variety of ways with a variety of media. Some of the other programs had posters that featured select projects which was also really interesting to see. In addition, I was surprised to hear the amount of ID programs we have in our district. I had never heard of JMU or University of Houston having a program and Conference made me realize just how large our IDSA network truly is.

After hearing a few talks from professionals in the Industry who spoke about things all the way from how to understand and display research to graphic design, our officer team was held for a “SCOOP” (Student Chapter Officer Orientation Program). An IDSA representative reviewed the requirements for an IDSA student chapter and what kind of goals we should be setting within our organization for next year. He was also curious as to what kind of events we host now and we were able to hear a little about what other programs do.  He then made us mingle and meet some of the other student officers which was a great opportunity to make some contacts for events such as Portfolio Review for the future.

Finally, my favorite part of Conference were the Student Merit Award Presentations. Representatives from all the schools were to put together a presentation about their work, what they’ve learned, and what they hope to do in the future. Every presentation was really impressive and from an innovation standpoint, all contenders had some really cool projects. Many of the students had done projects involving huge global issues varying from  the Syrian refugee crisis and homelessness in the DC area. This especially was really eye-opening. Most people consider product design to be a very small thing but students from all around the nation are designing revolutionary systems intended to improve the world on large scales. Next year, as IDSA treasurer, I’ll be involved in conference in a larger way but it was a great experience this year just observing the event and understanding how it works.

One of the most exciting parts of IDSA Conference was the portfolio review that took place on Saturday morning. I shadowed a third year, Laura, and sat in in all four of the reviews she had. I learned more than I could have ever expected in the short fourty minute session. Here are some of the basic notes I took during the process:

• most employers like to see an emphasis on process work and a focus on research and concept ideation.
• along with that, a strong variety of ideation through sketching.
• if a project is solely a research project, make sure that is clear, as to not letting an employer looking for a final product that does not exist
• when presenting a product, it is important to put it in context so its usage is automatically clear to any viewer.
• when starting a portfolio, be sure to include some background as to who you are and what you are doing within your discipline (maybe even throw in your design philosophy!)
• make sure there is consistency between your models and that all renders correlate between one project.
• don’t be afraid to add in textures in your renders so they start looking more “real”
• don’t be afraid to vary your fonts based on projects.
• make sure margins are consistent from page to page (full bleed vs. not).
• smaller text makes pages look less juvenile, tighter, and easier to follow.
• be sure to add in correct shadows to renders to eliminate the “floating in space” factor.
• distinct material changes along with textures add to the realism of renders.
• don’t be afraid to add in color, makes a portfolio more dynamic.
• stock photos with low opacity in the background of sketches or pages can add context without overloading a page.

After browsing Core 77’s recent published projects and finding the “Ray Chair” I was instantly intrigued. This unique chair is inspired by nature and the relationship between both growth and roots. What I really enjoyed was the side view of the chair. It is a beautiful linear flow form that looks like it was seamlessly bent. The designer said she had no real vision for the form and was really just inspired by nature and the personality of a growing plant. She also wanted to insure that the chair had a light and minimalistic feel, something that I tried to implement within my Design Build project. It was also created out of tubular steel which resonated with my chair. I was impressed by how effortless the design appears to be considered she used many of the same processes I used to create my chair. She definitely inspired me to continue practicing my metal shop skills and reach her level of craft with the material.

The article can be found here.

(Another Ireland blog post, surprise, surprise.)

During my study abroad, as I was creating my design for my book cover (our project for the GMIT module), I started doing more research on Joseph Walsh. I remembered one of the fourth years had given us a presentation on him at the beginning of second year and I also quickly remembered that I had loved his work. Being an Irish designer, he is obviously greatly connected to Irish Culture and often inspired by the landscapes and environment that surrounds him. He is known for his incredible bent and folded wooden laminations that turn into unexpected and over the top furniture pieces. Most take over a year because of the process he uses, and the scale of the pieces he creates. He is gaining alot of attention for allowing the wood and materials he uses to keep their integrity and some look like the wood had always been bent in that way, due to its great precision.

When I found out that several of the fourth year students we interacted with had also interned with him, and that our professor Jeremy knew Joseph personally, I was very excited. They told me his creations seemed at times impossible and what overwhelm them even more is that he is self taught and very young for someone who has already created themselves an identity and brand.

I ended up selecting a quote by Joseph Walsh for my back cover that I found very interesting and beautiful as a design philosophy.

“I still love working with wood. It’s a warm, natural material that records its life in its grain patterns. There is much traditional knowledge and mastery, yet it has so much potential for innovation.”

Here are some of my favorite Joseph Walsh pieces (his website has many more samples http://www.josephwalshstudio.com/)

The Letterfrack campus  of Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) is primarily a furniture design and making school, which was very exciting for me to see. Our ID program is obviously more generalized than that so it was very interesting to see such a specialized program. My study abroad was halfway through our Design Build project which was a huge burst on inspiration. Additionally, the fourth year students we worked with during our week were working on their thesis projects, which were all chairs. I used this to my advantage and spoke to a few of them about my chair design I was currently working on. They talked to me about it from more of a building perspective which was interesting considering I probably focused more on concept generation. It hadn’t really hit me yet that this was really our first building project. I had tried to make study models and prototypes for earlier projects, but they weren’t made with full scale, real life, materials.

I had planned on heat bending and welding steel but hadn’t really understood what I was undertaking. When I proposed this to some of the fourth year students they told me even they were intimidated by metal. As a primarily wood based design school, they didn’t even have any sort of real metal shop. They were telling me how much they wished they had that opportunity. This motivated me even more to learn these skills.

However, when we were able to view their student gallery, I was hugely intimidated. First year projects were placed next to fourth year projects and held their ground. It was incredible to see such a large collection of talented student work. Many of the pieces had won national exellence awards and some are even being manufactured. I had a general sense of what GMIT all did but I had no idea of its talent or craft. This was the perfect burst of energy and inspiration I could have gotten before returning to school and starting Design Build.

Here is some of the student work found in the Gallery.

During my study abroad during spring break, I took a course in which we focused on design and culture in Ireland. We studied at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology campus in Letterfrack. The Letterfrack campus specializes in furniture design which related perfectly to our Design Build project going on in our program. Our project in Ireland was to create a book design that reflected your understanding of Irish culture. In conclusion to this project, our GMIT consulting professor, Jeremy, prompted us to write a “Learning Journal” which could be any sort of thoughts we wanted to share with him on our experience designing at his school.

Here is mine:

“Learning Journal – A reflection of Ireland 2016

Before departing for Ireland, I greatly underestimated what the school aspect of the study abroad would be. I had no idea what this “book” project entailed. I was a bit lost in deciding on my design before going to Ireland so I did some initial research. I knew I wanted to incorporate furniture design since that is a huge interest of mine and Irish furniture is largely based on tradition, tying in well with the 1916-2016 aspect of our prompt. I used the tree of life because recognized that it is iconic of Irish tradition but did not have a true appreciation of its significance. I also implemented a quote by Joseph Walsh, one of my favorite furniture designers, who happens to be Irish. I had basic reasoning for choosing all these elements, but had no idea how much my understanding would deepen.

The process of creating the physical book was simple enough, but required a lot of precision. It began with selecting our materials, which was kind of an overwhelming decision for me. I had given no thought as to what wood I wanted beforehand. After some consideration, I selected beech wood because it had a dark and linear pattern which I thought would not detract too much from my somewhat intricate design for my front cover. I selected ash for my spine because it had a lighter tone that brought light elements in the dark beech grain.  We continued through the week by sanding down our pieces and gluing them carefully. I personally took a long time examining all the pieces and deciding which orientations for them to go and which sides showcased my design better.

The LaserCamm process was not one I was unfamiliar with but it was interesting watching everyone in the class experience it for the first time. When the books were finished there were some disappointed people because the translation from design to build is almost never 100% successful. Residue from the LaserCamm left white imprints on any aspect of the design in which the background hadn’t been erased. Additionally, some did not consider how the grain of the wood would impact their designs. However, this was all part of the learning curve and I think every student still appreciated some aspect of their final product.

It was not until the day of the presentations and that we were finishing our PowerPoints that I got a true appreciation for my design as a whole. After hearing about the tree of life and that it represents the everlasting cycle of life, nature, and earth, I realized that was a perfect metaphor for sustainability within design, which is something I am really interested in. Resourcing and reusing materials is a necessary practice in order to conserve the environment. Additionally, I started noticing the importance of tradition within Irish furniture. Most traditional chairs have three legs, which is both the most stable structure and iconic of Irish culture. I also noticed that most woodworking really encourages smooth curves and maintains the integrity of the material.

Joseph Walsh, whose quote I used for my back cover, does just that. He has gained the attention of many by creating wondrous wood furniture that defies traditional design. He works with veneers and lamination in a way that seems impossible. The quote explains his passion for wood as a material and that it combines tradition and innovation, something that all good design is based on. Henry Dreyfuss, an American Industrial Designer, claimed that good design must be familiar to consumers while implementing elements of innovation, in order to appease consumers but push society forward. I feel as though the Ireland trip did just that for me. I went into GMIT knowing a good amount about design and learned more than I could have ever expected. Just being within the GMIT atmosphere and the students made me feel instantly connected within the environment. Going back to Virginia Tech, I missed the tight-knit environment that I felt at GMIT. I hope to one day return and maybe study there, knowing not to take my experience for granted.:

This past spring break, I was fortunate enough to go to Ireland on a study abroad entitled “Design, Culture, and Natural Resources in Ireland’. It would be impossible to relay everything I got to exprience and see but something that was truly beautiful to see was Kylemore Abbey. The Abbey found in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, was built between 1867 and 1871. The most impressive thing I found within this huge site was how many different elements were found. There is the castle itself, the gardens, and a spectacular view of The Diamond, the most famous mountain within Connemara National Park.

The architecture of the castle itself and the cathedral is classic victorian and fit seamlessly within the naturally gloomy but beautiful scenery that is Ireland. Additionally, the walled gardens were as thoughtfully  upkept as the actual castle itself. We were able to hear about the history of the Abbey and of the both private families and nuns who have lived here.  One of my favorite aspects of the entire visit was the use of green marble they had within the Abbey and cathedral. The marble is native to Ireland and is something I had never seen before.

The Walled Gardens

As Design Build came to an end, I had plenty of time to reflect on what it is I designed. Teras, my chair and footstool created for the architecture and art library is a storage, seating, and reading system. In theory, I intend for Teras to sit parallel to the library meaning that when you walk into the library all you see is a thin steel outline of the furniture’s shape and it does not detract from the window in any way. The shelves are perfect for library exhibition and the undercarriage of the piece is perfect for personal storage.

In terms of construction, I learned plenty of new techniques along the way. I had never really welded before and after this, I tack welded about 30 different pieces together. Once the two side profiles were complete, I was able to inlay the wood pieces. Because the metal profiles were not 100% precise and neither was the tack welding, I had to adjust the wood pieces to fit exactly within the somewhat bent frames. To do this I used a dremel sander which I had never used before either.

Although this entire building process was a huge learning curve and seemed at times impossible, I am happy that I learned all these new processes and now have those skills for future projects.