Thesis Week Start

Recently I have been super worried for my last year in MFA, and more of the goal of my life.I am currently study at the lab track of media design practice program at ArtCenter College of Design .

In the past year, we have been exploring the field of Space Industry ,Embedded Wearable, Computer Learning, Computer Simulation, Biotechnology, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and , Retail Environment and Community. From observation, I found that lots of my works relates to body.

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Embedded Wearable Project: I created an analysis system able to detect user body position and movement, further, providing a precise measurement for user to adjust their gesture efficiently.

Computer Learning project : I made a film capturing computer user finger movement on the touch pad and match it with the movement happening on the computer screen, to make the connection between physical and virtual movements. Additionally, I made an instruction book in a script roll form containing the gesture of the finger movement on the touch pad.

Acupuncture System: Can the power relationship among medical system, doctor and patient can be balanced by the giving the patient more control of the treatment?

Space Industry: Frontier land was my subject. American come to the westside for their dream. And now it becomes a bounce board for Californian to reach their next place: space.

Biotech project: It was a probiotic spaland encourage the public to soak their body in the probiotic nutrition pool. For creating a healthy organic system among human body, environment and microorganism.

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Yesterday my idea (most updated version) of the statement of interest was The dynamic of mobility and information. First, an information collage system. How does the information dynamic look like for a working designer? Second, a social network system dynamic. And before that, I was trying to design a media can sync all different media together, especially the traditional way of documenting information, ex, reading, writing, cutting, sticking... with a virtual way, ex, browsing, typing, pulling, typing....

But then my idea collapsed...

As I tried to my design concept more physical, I was looking at some online examples and some readings relating to design research and fieldwork.

I found the design project having a specific group of people in a specific environment sounds more challenging and more interesting to explore because I may be able to learn more through the process. The design process includes research, going to an unfamiliar environment, observing, talking to people, analyzing, coming with insight, making prototyping, user testing, refining... And medical environment or a community environment both can be some better subject to start the design concept.

I had a degree in Anthropology, why shouldn't I exploit it?

I realized that those topics I just come up with are the student in field track has been training to working on. (and sometimes people do asking why I didn't choose to study in field track. )And as a student in lab track, we had been throwing different topic of a new field in the classroom, playing with more object-oriented topics, as field student are encouraged to go to the field to face with people then come up with design ideas.

I felt very frustrated. because I believed my interest is about human behavior and culture. And the I think the reason what I have developed many subjects relating to the body is just because many of the assigned topics are object oriented, so the most directed relationship between human and an object is the bodily relationship. my own experience as a human.

However, I start to date back the reason why I come to this place for study. That's true I used to hate thing related to digital technology, for me that was always old and hard. However, theses year, the relationship between technology devices and the human became more and more intimate. The digital world now is part of the real world. And the digital devices became so close to us, it became part of us just like body extension. So I started realized the technology is part of human, and it would be interested to dig in into it, and think about the people created this and the people influenced by it.

#body #design #idea #process #interest