Urban Sketches

An afternoon of Urban sketching in Seattle. It was an enjoyable afternoon with different sceneries to work with and have an opportunity to sketch. With these images I was working with trying to use Mike Lin's rendering techniques with colored pencil. Applying layers of color repeat from lightest to darkest to add a sense of realism to the sketches, as well as his punch lines to define certain points, and his dots methods to create a visual interest. I learned that these techniques can help put things into a better perspective, but also that putting things into a drawn perspective to begin with can really help give myself a proper perspective. I am still working on enhancing these skills to be of higher quality. These structures were found along the water and in the sculpture park looking towards seattle space needle on the trail pathway.

Job-Shadow

During my recent job-shadow opportunity with JAS Design and Build, I was able to see multiple aspects about the design business and what a future career could have to offer. Learning what type of materials are typically preferred, helped me to learn that once you are aware of what materials work together. Also the ones that clients are able to have for long periods of time with minimal wear and tear. Getting to experience an actual meeting for material options and locations of lets say the tub in the bathroom, was something I really enjoyed viewing. From evaluation of computer generated elevations, to everything else, from faucets to how the doors would swing. Even where the sink would be located, and the type of sink that will be used. While also determining the brands of materials to use. From this opportunity I learned new techniques on how to come up with a color palettes by finding a random photo of maybe a pattern or abstract art with what you think might be aesthetically pleasing. Also, I learned that with all this new design technology, that understanding CAD, and other design programs intensively makes for a good tool in the design work-field.

Ride, don't Walk!

Doing an exercise about what it is like to live life in a wheelchair, was really a good thing to experience. People everyday have to deal with places that are unable to accommodate for their disabilities, when it is not too difficult to add ADA requirements, especially if it is a brand new space that can be created from the ground up. Don't get me wrong, this was a challenging exercise, it is not easy moving around in a wheelchair for a long period of time; dealing with doorways that are not even wide enough to fit your arms through, or bathrooms that you can't even enter the handicapped stall and turn around, you have to back out. I learned that those out there with disabilities, are strong people to be using all their strength everyday to push themselves around and even doing things that may require help, but they do not need it. While riding in the wheelchair in one of the learning building here on campus, it really did not accommodate well for special needs, there was not enough turning space. What they did have was automatic doors for those handicapped. Accessible design I believe should be available to everyone, although that may not be the case, I know it is difficult to accomplish with costs. Maybe depending on how often the building is used by the disabled can determine whether accessible design should be an addition to the building. I do not see there really being a cost to our society if we do not all able to make this accessible design contribution. Although, in this day and age, many baby boomers are getting to a retiring age, which means a possible need for accessibility in more locations than we have now. Accessibility can, in the long run cause more questions for business's without it from those that need that access. That would then possibly cause that business to have to add on those ADA requirements, costing them more money than when they may have started the design. These are some images of my experience being in the accessible environment. As well as a sketch from a Cafe, coffee pick up stand.

Psychology of Home: Less is More

This context poster in terms of the Psychology of Home, is to show that less is actually more within a smaller space. Meaning, the less furniture and and fixtures seen in a space the more open, and welcoming that space will ultimately provide. This home in Wisconsin showed this and gave this feeling in its living room and dining space. With just two larger sofas for the main seating and a table to place things in front of them, and that is it, other than the focal point of the room and that is all the photos hanging as this was named "The Gallery Home". I learned from this how you do not need a lot of things in a room to make it feel like a comforting home, and I would like to do even more research on this to find out even more about how this feeling can effect people and their emotions. This poster was done as a team effort, and we decided to find different aspects about what makes up the Psychology of home and go into further depth with ones we found to be important. Other members chose to do the Psychology of Home based on; its Safety, Decor, and even Lighting, but there are still many other aspects that can be done over a broad topic of Psychology of Home.