EPD Week Ten: Narrowing Down

11/1/18

I decided to narrow down the works from Spectris into the category of accessories. This way, the fundamentals of necklaces and rings will remain on theme, with a third object in the set being the small lapel pins [approx. 1”].

The designs themselves were drastically revamped. The Lambdas have been reduced into a more pattern aspect in the backdrop, and everything apart from the flag diamonds had been rendered to grayscale only. It seems to be receiving better reception, though I am now advised to work with different shades of grey and alternate scale with the patterns and see how the flags stick out amongst the different contrasts.

EPD Week Nine: Surveys and Presentations

10/25/18

I decided to start off my bigger Spectris campaign with a survey. I sent it out over my social media accounts, asking people to fill it out. It’s also the easiest way to collect emails for a mailing list as the project is in progress. What I found is that the answers were even more diverse than I anticipated, and when it came to the chosen accessories, people seemed to enjoy having everything I had named [as the options were all super close]. Luckily for me, necklaces and rings were still in the top selections, as those are going to be the main pieces to work with as it is. Everything else will more likely be secondary.

As for the midterm presentation: It seems that my design in this draft has become a little too loud and conflicting. This is understandable, as I took historical references a bit too literally. It would be more advisable to back track to the drawing board and find a way to make them more subtle. I’ll grab some of my peers who are in the LGBTQ+ spectrum and ask for their thoughts on the next round, and see if I can incorporate acknowledgment of the history without making it obvious. On this note, I am going to remove the aspect of triangles entirely. I’m going back to emphasizing the diamond shape, and perhaps a subtle accent based on the Lambda.

On another survey note, I sent out all backer surveys for the Spectris Tags. I have been getting responses rather quickly, and the requests for designs have no distinguished majority. This is good indication that in the next round, I will likely be keeping all the previous flags I had presented and perhaps add one more.

EPD Week Eight: Manufacturer Adventure!

10/18/18

As a class, we have been working on sketches and concepts for our upcoming, big projects. As noted previously, I wish to expand upon the idea of Spectris into a wider collection of accessory items. While I have had many ideas in mind, making rings was definitely a standout. Ted [my professor] had sent me out to explore Jeweler’s Row on Wabash Avenue in downtown Chicago for the remainder of class so that I would have a chance to do some exploring with the people there for ideas on what to execute before the shops all closed.

I quickly left, hopping on the train and riding down to Monroe before walking the rest of the way [after, of course, getting a bit lost due to my buggy GPS and horrid sense of direction]. Once I made it to the jeweler’s mall, I took a brief look at the massive list of stores and made my way to the closest one that could do custom jewelry on the second floor. Alas, they spoke about needing a business ID /  being a business entity for larger projects… and based on the lost expression I had, that clearly was not the way to go.

Luckily, one of the guys came to my rescue! He told me to come with him, leading me down a hall and into one of the other facilities still remodeling [as the place is currently under construction]. There I met someone who was able to finally understand what I was going to need for this kickstarter. As per the current plan, the rings are going to be made of silver and colorized with acrylic enamel. I have the basic design downpayment, and cost per unit will boil down to how many units I am going to need in the future.

I finally feel as if I am taking a step in the right direction.

EPD Week Seven: Finality, and Helping Someone Else

10/11/18

The mini campaign for the Spectris Tags has ended! Final stats:

• Beyond fully backed!

• $503 pledged.

• 228% funded.

• 32 backers.

This is beyond amazing, and it ended on National Coming Out Day on top of it all! I am hoping this will be a good sign for the future campaign as well.

Also, there was a workshop after class to help out one of Ted’s colleague’s with starting up a Kickstarter for her design book. Our group was focused on rewards and budgeting, laying out preliminary ideas for the types of rewards suitable for her campaign and how much each is to cost in order to reach a breakeven goal.

EPD Week Six: Fifty Percent and Beyond Fully Funded

10/4/18

Only a few days into launch, my campaign was already been above the full funding! A large part of it was thanks to my supportive family, as they knew multiple people in the community who would want the Spectris Tags. It feels good to have the breakeven pressure taken off my shoulders, as anything beyond this point will be put straight into the next campaign. I am actually proud of the work I have done for this project, and hopefully it will be the first step into something bigger with the next campaign.

EPD Week Five: LAUNCH

9/27/18

The campaigns have launched! Now is the time to not try and impulsively refresh the dash every few minutes. I suppose the anxious anticipation cannot be helped though. After all, I want my project to succeed. I have sent links on all of my social medias, as well as to members of my family who I know will be able to help spread the word. I have a plan on my Instagram to post pics from the campaign every day or two in order to keep up the flow of viewership, as well as on my Tumblr. As for twitter, it would be best just to make a single thread and update it about halfway through the campaign due to the short time frame. I’ll also be posting links in the Discord servers I am a part of.

EPD Week Four: Finishing Touches

9/20/18

It will not be long until our mini campaigns are launched! They were actually supposed to be launched sooner, but due to the amount of people who had fallen behind everything was pushed back until the next week.

I have made occasional posts on my social media in anticipation, and I arranged my campaign page with all the desired photos and descriptors in an orderly fashion. The test models had already been made and photographed. My classmate John was an excellent model [and I wasn’t that bad of a hand model]. The process templates are all polished up. Everything has been approved, double checked, and even triple checked. Now, one is to merely play the waiting game.

There was also talk of going out as a class to celebrate after the mini campaigns end. That would be fun in light of success and hard work.

EPD Week Three: [Skipping] Video

9/13/18

This week, we learned about creating videos for our campaigns. The main takeaway for me was that authenticity is greater in value than polish, though the video should still be dynamic enough for the audience. Audio quality was also a great factor in such, and it had much more impact on a video than initially anticipated.

This is also why I ended up not having a video for my mini campaign. While the video quality was okay, the audio was not the best quality.

However, I will definitely have one for the larger campaign.

On the bright side, a trip to Petersen Plastics was already taken, and I finally have the breakdown for all pricing and materials for the Spectris Tags set!

EPD Week Two: Concepts for the Small and Broad

9/6/18

There was one thing I knew for sure when mulling over ideas for my quickstarter and bigger kickstarter for EPD: I was not going to make anything functional. Purposeful, yes… but not something that had a household function or solved an everyday problem. That just is not the kind of work I am built for.

I wanted to make something more along the lines of an aesthetic purpose, but also towards something that I could truly stand behind. After all, we are set to work on these campaigns over the entire school year. I could not make it arbitrary. If I was going to go for something conceptual, then I wanted to be something bigger than myself.

So, I instead turned my thoughts to who has been my support system: My friends and immediate family. In this reflection, I realized that one thing in common with most of them was that they were LGBTQ+ or in support of that community. It was an entire spectrum all supporting of one another. Yet, many of them have faced hardships for their identities and orientations. A few of them not even out of the closet yet…

That, in turn, was how Spectris became my centralized concept.

EPD Week One Reflection: Here We Go!

8/30/18

It was time for my first Professional Practice Track [PPT] class. Every senior at UIC for design has to take one, and the choice on what they assign you is final.

Luckily for me, I got my first choice in classes I wanted.

EPD stands for “Entrepreneurial Product Development”, and all I knew about this class was that we were to make our own Kickstarter for a project of our own design. Out of all the classes, EPD was the choice in terms of creating my own work on my own terms without the restrictions of a “client” or the mundane droll of assignments revolving around topics I cared little for.

This class, however, like all PPT classes, is six hours long. Approximately 1 PM–7 PM every Thursday, and I was prepared for it to drag like heck. Lucky for me, it did not! This class had been able to keep me engaged, and actually made me look forward to the work ahead.