The second week, we had to do a mind map exploring who we are as a designer. 

Going through the motions of doing the mind map though, I felt I was just using buzz words that sound good, and not something that came from the core of who I am and what I believe in.

I decided do some generative research with myself, to really find out who I was – a process that is really not as easy as it sounds. Wendee (instructor for the graduating class) was mentioning how when people interview students from Art Center, they already know that everyone works way harder than anyone else, and that everyone has an obsession with perfection. It is a given and is not your unique selling point as a designer. I needed to find my unique voice.

I started with a napkin sketch, while alone in a cafe at K-Town, mapping out who I was as a person, unique to others. It started out with exploring my personality and then relating it to my professional side.

Some of my other graduating classmates have unique traits like bringing energy into a room, or the ability to question and provoke thought. For me, I learnt that I have an obsession in seeking order and structure with chaos and complexity, to create meaning within ambiguity. Maybe this is it – structure within ambiguity.

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Read Part 1 of this series here.