My final project focused on my major, Materials Science and Engineering. The MSE department is not particularly a large department compared to some of the other engineering departments here at OSU. Many people, including other engineering students, don’t even know what materials science is. When people ask me what I’m studying the following question is usually, “What is that…?” Heck, in the beginning I didn’t even know how to answer the question. Now I just tell people it’s a mix of chemical and mechanical engineering with some physics involved. On the first day of my structure and characterization of materials course, the professor asked the class if anybody knows what materials science is. Even the professors realized how obscure this area of study is. So they came up with the MSE tetrahedron: at the center is “characterization”, and on the corners are “structure”, “properties”, “performance”, and “processing”. So yeah, that’s materials science. I thought materials scientists deserved better, so I created my final project to portray all the cool things that we do.
The use of art and design in other fields such as engineering is actually very important. Technical research performed in laboratories at universities may be able to get away with ignoring artistic design. However, in the business world involving industry and companies, the most successful engineers are the ones who can incorporate good design. Also, as an engineer, communicating your work with others is important, and if you are able to do so in an elegant and pleasing manner such as through well produced videos, web-pages, and so on, the better. At the heart of any company that produces a product is most likely a team of engineers. Not too far removed from this team of engineers is a team of designers.
One thing I learned from ARTEDUC 2520 is that identity and branding is a very delicate and sometimes subtle art form. The difference between a good design and a bad design can be something as simple as the font choice. The color pallet used by a specific brand can portray certain characteristics regarding that brand. The audio choice and visual transitions in a video can change the mood drastically. It is the attention to details like these that separate artists and designers from everybody else.
