CMCI Studio Reflections
A whirlwind of a grad school year
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since I moved to Boulder, a year since our first awkward day of introductions and ice breakers, a year of growth and challenges, of studio time turned to zoom classes, and of friendship and comraderie.
The year turned out to be bisected into two sections: pre-pandemic and during the pandemic. I’m grateful that our cohort had nearly seven months of in-person classes to get to know each other and build the foundation that sustained us during the last five months of zoom classes.
One of my most vivid memories from this year will be the Wednesday (March 11) that the pandemic turned our worlds upside down. Lisa had cancelled leadership class that day because of illness, and Steven and Aitana and I were crammed into a booth at Trident, downing lattes and scones while we wrote about designing our own rituals. Trident was packed. We had plans to go to the climbing gym after submitting our assignments. Everything in our world felt normal, though I had been obsessively following the course of Covid-19 via the Johns Hopkins data visualization. We had heard whispers of the possibility of CU moving online, but it felt, even that morning, extremely far-fetched.
And then we saw the fateful email moving classes online, and suddenly homework felt unimportant. Everything felt unimportant. That afternoon the rest of America systematically began to shut down, and my mind reeled in shock, grieving what felt like the end of a much anticipated graduate program, while struggling to comprehend the effect of the pandemic beyond my tiny personal bubble.
When we left our last in-person class that Wednesday night, branding with Parisa, it felt like the beginning of the apocalypse. That morning in leadership class I assigned myself the ritual of writing one sentence in my journal every night before I went to bed and it became a habit that I sustained every day for the following several months. I dubbed the little pink book my apocalypse journal. My entries from those first few weeks range from denial to frustration to boredom to sadness.
Despite the initial shock and fear, it was surprising how quickly my brain recalibrated. I huddled into my bedroom. Started winning at my periodic game of how-long-can-I-go-without-grocery-shopping. Daily joys became became basking in the early morning glow of my east facing window, outings along the creek trail and zoom pilates with Daniele and Gigi. At the end of March spring break began and I settled in for a week of crossword puzzles, cold solo runs, and jackbox.tv zoom games with classmates.
When we returned to class after break, zoom classes had begun to feel normal. Class developed different rhythms. Our chatty break times at Brewing Market turned into slack messages and video calls. Everything moved to Figma (thank goodness for Figma!). Surprising perks emerged — like our ability to watch Parisa’s detailed Illustrator tutorials more closely over zoom than we could have in person. A lonely time also felt intensely full of digital connection. All things considered, I think our program transferred to remote learning pretty well.
This has been a memorable year for many reasons, but the pandemic will certainly be the defining factor. That said, I want to jot down some memories from all my classes this year for posterity:
Yearlong RE
Our RE project transformed from a vague idea to a pretty good pitch to an award winning company proposal over the course of this year. I could not have asked for better teammates for this project than Josh and Vanessa. I’m so proud of what we created and all of the different prototypes and tests that led us to where our project is now.
Terra Wear
We had so many ideas at the beginning of fall semester and I remember feeling so uncertain each time we chose a new direction. It wasn’t until we entered the New Venture Challenge and made it into the finals of the social impact round that I think all three of us finally realized that our idea was solid. I remember practicing the pitch in class on March 3 and Jesse telling us that we actually had a chance to win. That night we were happily chatting away after our pitch, figuring we might as well wait to see who won just for fun, even though we had legitimately considered going home. Our collective shock and excitment when we won was an awesome feeling.
Since winning that award we’ve had a renewed energy and commitment to our idea, and our Tuesday and Friday work sessions have been some of the most enjoyable work times this year. I’m so grateful to Josh and Vanessa for exemplifying the best way to work as a team and making RE a joy to work on this year.
Fall Semester
Back in the beginning — before we knew what was to come. I entered fall semester hopeful and ready to learn and experiment.
Critical Making
This class was all at once the most infuriating and the most rewarding. I’m grateful for the hours spent in the studio with classmates helping each other program arduinos and raspberry pis, attempt to understand Rhino and repair the 3D printer.
The Book Map that I created for my final project remains one my proudest accomplishments from this year. There is little more satisfying than troubleshooting coding issues and having a positive outcome.
Design Leadership
Lisa’s class is without a doubt the reason that we built such strong relationships with our classmates this year. This class managed to both relax and energize me at the same time. When you stand in a circle with people each week feeling the different dimensions of your body and using body movement to say yes and no it is impossible to come out of that and not be friends.
UX Fundamentals
This class introduced me to all the basics of UX and presented some challenging and engaging projects. The voting app we created was my first foray into design software. It’s fun to look back at that project to note how far my UX design has come since then.
Spring Semester
While fall was challenging, it still felt manageable, with plenty of time for weekday hikes and climbing sessions. The first few months of spring session (ok really just February) brought an increased workload that threatened to sink me. I’m grateful for that last month before the pandemic because it really showed me what I am capable of accomplishing if I can only figure out how to prioritize my work.
Critical Making (Immersive Media Design)
This class, like fall semester, was continually the most difficult for me to grasp, but also one of the most fun. AR still blows me away every time and I want to continue to keep up with the latest technology in the way that RJ so inspiringly does.
Design Leadership 2
The transition to zoom was probably the most difficult in this class as it relied so heavily on in-person interaction. Despite that, we still had a great time and learned a lot. I’m so grateful for the good humor of my classmates, as exemplified in this picture from our final class period. 😎
Brand Design
Parisa’s eye for detail pushed me to critically analyze my own work at a higher standard than I was used to! I learned so much about the history of brand design in this class, and came out of it with some new Illustrator skills and a personal brand that I am utilizing on this site.
UX Special Topics
Andrew and Emily once again gave us a lot of fun challenges, from animating gifs to inspiring behavior change to physical experience design. Designing our Food Next Door app with behavior change in mind was a highlight.
On the Snow
February was peak stress, due in large part to the fact that the On the Snow project felt like our sixth class. However it was really fun to be able to jump into our first client project. It’s a bummer that the On the Snow brand is shutting down!
Maymester Design Sprints
I was apprehensive about how impactful three weeks of virtual design sprints could be, but it went better than I expected. By May we were all quite adept at working virtually, though imaging the creativity of all of us working in the studio together during Maymester is a little sad to think about. All three weeks brought their own challenges, but I found reimagining skiing in a covid-19 world for Eldora Mountain Resort to be particularly fun.
Summer Session
I thought that this summer’s workload would be light given that we have only been taking three classes, but it turns out all of the extra time became portfolio stress. And also a lot of bike rides. Shout out to Steven and Strava for turning this summer into an athletic high point.
UX Capstone
This class has brought a lot of challenges, but ultimately I think we’ve come up with a very cool concept — one that I definitely wish existed in the wild! I’m grateful to Chris and my classmates for continuing to push us to be weirder and more experimental!
Portfolio Class
This class was a lifesaver. It would have been so much more stressful to create our portfolios without the structure and feedback of this course. My portfolio is not done by any means, but it is inching towards something that I am proud to show other people!
Final Thoughts
As we approach our final pitch event this Friday, I am feeling so much gratitude for this program, this city, and for all the people that made my experience so transformative. I am leaving the Studio a far more confident, knowledgeable and directed person than I was when I started. Boulder has turned into an unexpected home and I can only hope that whatever is to come will be equally as challenging and exciting.
Thank you!
