Essay

heathernolin

visual communications emphasis

My work is a collection of thoughts, inspiration, imagination, influence, and design knowledge. Each piece I sit down to work on is both uniquely mine but at the same time not. What I design and how I design is a combination of what I’ve learned, what I’ve seen and what I’ve chosen to ignore. To say that any of my pieces belong solely to me is a isn’t true, it’s a collection of many people’s, because they are the ones who taught me, influenced me and shaped how I design. At best, I could say that all I own of my designing is what I’ve chosen to give importance to and what I haven’t. My ideas are mine, but how I’ve carved them away and given form to them isn’t all mine. So in order to talk about my work I need to acknowledge that first. My work is a path that I have taken; it’s where I’ve been and the direction I chose to go.

I feel that a good piece of design will stop you and make you admire it. That’s what I try to put in my pieces whether I’m successful or not, because good design inspires me. Good design should make you feel something. Perhaps that’s my fine art background talking. But design has the ability to do this, and we see so much imagery on a daily basis that I want my work to speak to people. Inspire them, make them think, make them feel, because if it doesn’t attract people it’s not doing it’s job.

I look at each piece I design as an opportunity. With each piece I am given the opportunity to challenge myself, to learn, to build upon what I know, to relearn what I’ve forgotten, to explore, to research and to solve a visual problem several times over until I crafted a piece of design that sings. While it make take some time to get my pieces tuned so they sing harmoniously instead of high pitched and off key, the experience of it all is part of the pleasure….and admittedly the pain, that I love. If anything my work is an appreciation of design at all stages of the process, from the preliminary research, to the rough sketches and brainstorming, to the final stages. Because this is design, this is the process and that is as much the final product.