Visuals
Project Statement
Through my communications and information gathering with my mentor, it seemed that every topic we discussed led back to her relationship with her boyfriend who is a United States Marine. She shared with me that their relationship started just a couple weeks before he got deployed for training. While he was deployed they would write letters back and forth to each other, she explained that the foundation of their relationship truly was made within each and every letter they shared. I decided to make a box to hold her letters in using color and scale to bring emphasis to the feeling those special letters gave to Mollie whenever she would open and read them. Whether she was missing him or simply came home after a stressful day, I wanted the letters to be seen at all times in order to bring that warm, comforting feeling back to her heart. This gift is a perfect symbol of the design quote I chose for this project which was, “Every good design starts with an even better story”. Their love story was used as the basis of this entire project and was a constant reminder as to why I made it the way that I did. The viewing of these letters tells the story from within which makes the design complete.
Process
View detailed project process at Gifting Design: Process
Reflection
I absolutely loved this project and everything I was able to create throughout the process. I am definitely the most proud of this project because I think it shows just how far I’ve come from the beginning of the year. I had no idea I could make something like this but I’m so happy I tried. I’ve never used acrylic before so it was a little intimidating to think that it might not work the way I want it to but I still attempted the challenge with my best effort and it truly shows. I loved the story behind this design from the very start and it flourishes in its spot at my mentor’s home which is exactly what my intention of the whole design was. In the process, I really pushed myself to sketch out my ideas more and understand more deeply how things were going to functionally work. This was the best decision I’ve made and I wish I would’ve started doing this earlier in my design foundations year but I know now what I didn’t know then and I think that is huge progress in itself. I know my abilities and I’m only more excited to learn/grow even more past this project.