Grad School _ Take One
I would have never imagined I would have been where I am today. In the months before I graduated from undergraduate at CU with a degree in creative advertising, I thought I could just walk out of my graduation ceremony and get a job and begin living the good life. Boy was I wrong. Instead of working right away, I travel and lived in New Zealand and the South Pacific for a year. During that time, I fell in love with scuba diving and photography and almost put all the work I had worked so hard for behind me. Then I came back to the states and I felt very lost. I knew people in the design world, I had a good portfolio, but I had lost my direction. This summer that changed. A good professor friend of mine introduced me to the IXDMA graduate school program and I thought it would be a great opportunity to build my work and find my direction again. I got all that and more.
When the semester started back in August, nostalgia immediately crept into my mind. After four years of undergraduate work, the parties, the good memories, I knew this would be an incredibly different experience. My first impression of the program was a bit rough around the edges because our studio was not a studio, it was an empty room. Our first class we didn't even have seats to sit in. At first, I was disappointed but I began to think of this as a design challenge. Seeing what the studio was and what it has turned into, I could not be more pleased in my decision to come back to school. The studio, my classmates, and instructors have sparked the creative fire in my mind and heart again.
This creative fire has driven me to work on my favorite project of the semester, North Star. I have enjoyed working on this project so much because of the amount of deviation and thought that has gone into. The original assignment was to create a digital product that enhances the wilderness without disturbing the experience. Our original idea involved creating an drone connected application that would aid backpackers and knowing their surroundings and seeing oncoming weather. We researched, wireframe, presented and we thought we were all set but truly we were far from it. It was the perfect example of thinking your first idea is the best when really it carried the most flaws of any of our concepts.
After coming to this realization, we thought & concepted and finally came up with NorthStar. I am so passionate about this application that I have begun speaking with developers and people in the industry to see if we can bring this too life. For a brief understanding of the app, feel free to check out the section in my portfolio at www.jamescollingwood.com.
Along with this project, this program has opened my eyes to the possibilities of design. In undergraduate, we mainly focused on print advertising and did not touch on integrated design until our last semester. In this program, the possibilities are endless. They have provided us with all the tools needed to create with our hands and our minds anything imaginable. Our instructors are incredible and their experience and knowledge has inspired me to pursue the unimaginable.
What I love the most of this program though is the creative minds of my peers. I feel that when I was traveling and looking for work, I lost my spark because I was not surrounded by the same like minded creative people I was used to in my undergraduate program. Being around the same 15 people everyday, spending late nights in the studio with them is what makes me the designer I am. I look forward everyday going to that studio because I know the conversation will be educated and inventive, the work will be difficult yet awarding, and most importantly, the dream of creativity is alive and boundless.
For those who are looking for that creative spark and want to improve themselves as a designer and a person, stop by the University of Colorado at Boulder campus and head to our studio. We are about to begin a 4 1/2 school break for the winter holidays but in know way are we breaking from our creative dreams. All aspects of this program have taken over my life for the better and has opened my eyes to the wonderful possibilities of our world. As the semester continues, the toys and gear in our studio will grow and it is making some of us very excited. Starting next semester, I am planning on create more specific medium posts about our program and the amazing work we are getting done. For now, take a look below at the portfolio’s of my peers and see some of the fantastic work we have done.
