Coming into this class I had a very vague understanding of visual culture. I thought that it was all about working in a digital form such as graphic design, photography and illustration. What I didn’t understand was that visual culture is much more than producing graphics; it is a digital culture that impacts us on a daily basis and is deeply ingrained in our society.
What surprised me was the freedom to determine our final project, which I loved because it allowed me to combine both my interests in communication design and product design into a project that I loved to create and conduct research on. What surprised me even more was that visual culture does not have an age range; it affects everyone whatever gender, culture and age. I found this to be evident within my research for my critical essay of play, where children now are experiencing play heavily through visual culture, as technology advances.
What challenged me during this course was the process of creating my final and managing my time well. I had to make sure that the sculptures I was creating was appropriate to my concept and the entire construction of the pieces definitely needed a lot of planning and thought. There were many things that I had to change and solve while it came to making the sculptures. For example, the bubble machine had to have a mechanism that allowed it to spin, without the wires becoming tangled, therefore the entire motor and its batteries had to spin with a platform. I solved this problem by making two platforms for the bubble machine: one that spins and one that acts as a support.
I think that overall, this course, combined with Studio, has taught me not only more about what visual culture means and its impacts in society today but also the ability to find alternate solutions in solving problems, which is such an essential skill to have not only as a product design major but also in general to navigate society.
I really enjoyed this course because of the projects and research we did, as well as my wonderful professors. Both Andrea and Kate are so understanding and so caring!!! LOVED IT!
