For The Future Seniors of IMM (And Anyone Else Struggling With Their Thesis Project)
About a year ago, I was wandering the halls of TCNJ and NYU, exploring both the 2019 Interactive Multimedia (IMM) Senior Showcase and the NYU Tisch ITP Spring Show. I spoke with a lot of the students as I played with their projects, trying to grasp some sort of concept on how they were able to bring a dream to life in a little over eight months. The phrase that always seemed to leave my mouth before walking away was, “I don’t know how the heck I’m going to be able to do this next year. I don’t even have an idea yet.”
Yet here I am, less than two weeks away from showcase, with a project I have poured all of my life and soul into. I have learned A LOT about myself and project management throughout this entire process and I hope to pass some of that on to next years v̶i̶c̶t̶i̶m̶s̶ seniors.
The Idea Part
First off, don’t stress. If you come in with an idea, awesome! You have plenty of time to develop it and crank out those inevitable mistakes. If not, no big deal!
My thesis idea didn’t become concrete until early November. I was so worried this meant I would be behind everyone else. In reality, nobody’s schedule was going to affect my project but my own. The three months I spent exploring project ideas made me more certain than ever on why I picked the one I did.
Make it personal. Make it meaningful.
Do this for both your audience and yourself. What makes your project unique is that it features a piece of YOU. The projects that excite and engage me most are ones where I can tell the presenter is passionate about their work. You’re going to be working on this project every free second you have, you owe it to yourself to make it something you care about.
Maybe you have a hobby or club that you think would never in a million years relate to your thesis project. SHARE IT. Ask your classmates, ask your professors, ask your friends, how do I incorporate these activities into my thesis? I don’t care if your favorite thing to do is collect trash, there is a way to transform any fascination into an amazing project. Trust me, you’ll be surprised at the great ideas that come out of building upon the ideas of others.
Challenge yourself.
Here in IMM, we are privileged enough to have a major that covers a diverse set of skills. Often in jobs we have the leg up, being able to say, “I don’t just do X. I do X, Y, and Z.” Challenge yourself to not just add another page to the portfolio. If I look at your portfolio and see you have a wonderfully long set of video work, have your thesis push the limits of that video work. I don’t need to see the same work you have demonstrated previously, I already know you have those talents. I need to see that you can take your skills, adapt them to ever-changing technology trends, and create something unique.
Utilize your resources.
Between the Maker Space, the CAGE, the Recording Studio, the Darkroom, the endless array of Macs, the various gaming systems in the Ulab, the Woodshop, and the many other on campus resources, it’s safe to say you have a lot of options to express your creativity. Take advantage of these resources. These assets WILL NOT be free to you once you graduate. Learn how to create and produce with this professional equipment before the opportunity is gone.
Think about these resources when developing your idea. Talk to the faculty that runs these areas, find out exactly what equipment you have to work with.
The Getting Started Part
The hard stuff comes first.
This tip is crucial to creating a “successful” thesis project. You absolutely do not want to be pushing off the difficult aspects of your project until the spring semester. Stress now, enjoy later.
Tackling the difficult parts of your project first means you are going to fail fast, find the problems with your project early, and give yourself extra time to fix them. You want to be spending your last month or so working on the branding and presentation of the project (as well as continuously making sure it still works!)
Yes, this does mean you will have to dedicate some of your winter break to working on your thesis project. Trust me, your spring semester self will thank me later.
Break it down.
Small steps are KEY. Trello doesn’t work for everyone but what benefitted me most from this project management tool was the fact that it let me break my project into small, attainable pieces. My checklist didn’t say “Construct water screen.” My list read, “Build the bottom box of the water screen,” “Build the top cap of the water screen,” and so on. These little steps helped motivate me because I felt like I was achieving something when I slid my task from my “Doing” column to “Done,” no matter how small the tasks.
Eventually, these small tasks add up. You look back and realize how much you have truly accomplished by working on one small piece each day. This will also help you from experiencing the dreaded burn out that leeches on extensive projects.
Find a mentor.
At the start of this semester, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish my thesis project. I barely knew how to cut a piece of wood, let alone design my waterfall in a way that functioned as both a waterfall and a screen to project on. I asked around until I was able to connect with a professor in our department who knew a lot (to say the least) about design and woodwork.
Learning a new skill can be really intimidating, it helps to have someone you can turn to quickly with questions. Having a mentor kept me calm throughout my thesis project because each time I ran into a problem, I was assured that there was always something I could do to fix it. There’s a professor for every area of IMM, find one that works for you!
If you can’t find a mentor on campus, don’t be afraid to search for one off campus. There are plenty of workshops, community groups, classes, studios, and other creative places to meet experts in your thesis field!
So how do I stay motivated?
Be flexible.
It can be easy to shut down after one mistake. In a field such as IMM, you can never become too attached to your work. You are always reworking, improving, finding the next best way to do something. Holding on to a failed project for too long can be damaging to your time and productivity. Be open to taking unexpected turns throughout the project process.
The moment you become uninterested in your project, drop it and chase your interest. Don’t spend months pursuing a project you don’t even enjoy.
Build it into your day.
Maybe something to consider in the idea phase of project planning but regardless, do your best to build your project into your life. Use that video class you’re in to create a trailer for your thesis project, maybe 3D print some signs to hang up at the show, whatever class it may be, find a way to tie it back in to your project. This goes the same for employment. If you plan to work throughout the school year, look for a job as closely aligned with your thesis topic as you can get.
When you build this time into your day, the work becomes a habit and it becomes a lot easier to keep it moving.
Collaborate.
You are surrounded by other equally passionate and talented seniors in your major. You won’t have that when you graduate either, use it. Give each other daily updates on where your projects stand, exchange prototypes, offer feedback.
Working with others experiencing the same time crunch pressure can relieve some of the stress and help you both hold each other accountable. (Thanks Caitlyn Connelly)
I didn’t finish, now what?
Learn from it.
Regardless of whether you finished your project or not, you are leaving with much more than you came in with. Show us your project progress, where you are, where it went wrong, etc. Take these mistakes and tell us how you are going to apply them in the professional world. You know more than you did before and now you can use that information to stop yourself from making the same mistakes in your post-grad workplace.
You have no control of your past, only your future. Build a good one.
Take care of yourself.
Nothing is worth burning yourself out over. Tell yourself this a few times because even I need some convincing.
Remember, this project is intended to set you up for success in post-grad life — not to scare you out of your career. Embrace it, have fun with it, and don’t be afraid to reach out if you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed. It’s so easy to get caught up in deadlines, self-expectations, and all of the other valid personal problems that may be weighing you down. Please take care of yourself above all else. You’re doing great.
To all the future seniors of IMM, I wish you luck and look forward to seeing what you dream up. Keep your imagination open. You conquered IMM senior thesis, you can conquer anything.
Get out there and show the world what you’re made of.
