Self-Designed Experience

My summer experience involved designing and producing cupcake packaging and branding for a persona that I developed based on myself. You may ask, "Why would you design packaging and branding for yourself, an industrial design student who definitely does not own her own cupcake bakery?" In that sense, you are correct. But, it has always been one of my childhood dreams to open my own bakery so I took this opportunity to design a brand that I would be proud to claim and operate as my own. To be honest, I loved it. It was most definitely overwhelming at times, but I found that at most times I was overwhelmed by the amount of options and not at the lack of what to do next. It was difficult to select a brand direction, but once I did everything started to fall into place. I enjoyed designing the packaging itself and as a result was able to walk away with a project that I was both proud of and excited to use because it resembled a part of my personality and who I am as a designer.

My experience originated as a result of an unofficial Summer Design Challenge through DAAP, however when I went to present on the final day discovered that the project had dissolved. I showed up with my project and presentation ready to go, however I was the only one that came. I ended up stopping by the senior studios to inquire about where everyone was and they informed me that lack of student participation and communication caused the project to dissolve. Ironically, I was in contact with my mentor the entire time and neither of us were aware that the project had ended. In the end, I ended up presenting to the seniors and they gave me some very valuable feedback on how to improve my presentation and design. This, plus other aspects of the experience taught me a lot!

First off, I learned the importance of communication, for obvious reasons. While both my mentor and I were in contact with each other, we were not in contact with the senior in charge of the entire project, this alone caused a major source of miscommunication. My mentor also had the wrong date for my “presentation” and as a result failed to return her feedback on my project in time. So clearly, miscommunication and poor organization was a major fault that I learned from. I also took away from this project the importance of deadlines. I struggled to finish this project in time, but while I did experience a small time crunch I also developed an appreciation for said crunch. I perform better under the stress and have realized that I am able to get more done under strict deadlines that hold me responsible. I also took away the importance of adapting. No, the experience did not go as planned, but in the situation I adapted and was still able to get relevant feedback that would help me further my project’s development. These lessons will help me grow both academically and professionally as they are all things that I will experience in the workplace, on co-op and even in class working on projects. Knowing these things will become critical in how I schedule and orient myself for future projects. 

However, one of the major flaws in my experience was the fact that I had planned to share my presentation with incoming freshman who were also interested in doing a summer project. I was excited to share my project with them because it demonstrates the wide variety of opportunity that we have as industrial design students and shows them that they are not limited to designing products when it comes to their projects. However, at this point I am not sure if they are planning to do the Summer Design Challenge since it ended up dissolving this summer. If they do attempt it next summer, I plan to help out and to offer my project as an example. However, until then I have been able to share it with both the group I presented to and my co-op advisor. Both have given me great, positive feedback that revolve around the fact that this is a great personal project because it is a project that is unique to me that I am also passionate about. Their feedback makes me excited because I am thrilled to get the opportunity to share my experience and what I have taken away from it with potential employers when I begin presenting in the fall. 

P.S. Below is a blog where I kept updates of my progress throughout the experience.