Last week was our Mid-Project review, and after that I took off on a little break away from Umeå. I’m just back and will be quite busy for the rest of the week on the Spring Summit event preparations and then attendance, so my project will be on hold a bit longer. It gives me a bit more time to think.
The Mid-Presentation itself was useful and a bit tough. The comments made to me after presenting revealed that the conflict I’ve been having is easy to detect by others. I’m essentially breaking some rules by choosing a broad field and not committing to a specific outcome. I am personally at peace with this, but I am also concerned that my chosen path is not or will not be satisfactory to my examiners and others viewing the project with a different set of interests.
It’s a bit silly and I now realize this fear has affected the way I’ve been framing my project when I share it with others. As I wrote on one of my early posts, I want to play this last semester, and I shouldn’t lose sight of that. The pressure I feel after each meeting with Mattias, our internal tutor, is something I need to act upon in a different way. Reacting literally to his advice so far has played a bit against the strengths that I’ve discovered in my own accidental process. I welcome and need his advice, but need to reconcile that with my own priorities.
Being in Umeå (and perhaps the simple process of aging) has helped me broaden my understanding of design. I can’t shortchange myself by limiting this semester to a conventional process with more measurable success. Being here has not been about that.
So I will carry on and will continue sharing more progress next week.
