Finally Finished!
- Erin Marshall
- Mar 21, 2023
- 5 min read
Finally Finished!
March 17th, 2023
(Left) My first Winter Quarter at SCAD (Right) My last quarter Winter Quarter
Both were taken on March 11th - 2021 vs 2023
I’m done! I finished my last quarter as an Industrial design BFA student! These last three years have flown by, and I still can’t believe how much I have changed and grown in that time. I remember first touring SCAD in my Junior year in high school and looking at the industrial design work. I could not even fathom that level of professionalism, of realism, and yet here I am.
Rewinding back to right after midterms, I was invited to participate in a SCADpro 48 hour Design challenge. The challenge was for the Southern Cross restaurant group, and they were looking to renovate an old building into a new ice cream shop.
As an industrial designer, I started on brainstorming and sketching. I also created some 3D models of furniture that would match the space. At midpoint, we pitched three completely different theme concepts and were given a final direction. From there I split off.
I began integrating my new knowledge of interactive experiences from my senior museum capstone project into this challenge. The main goal of this ice cream shop was for it to be memorable, and what is more memorable than an interactive experience as you wait for your ice cream? Below is a video of the client testing the software. I also helped with the branding assets. The ice cream shop is called Doki Doki and will be open later this year.
The challenge was an amazing opportunity. I was disappointed I could not take another SCADpro class in my last quarter and this challenge made up for that loss. I had never gotten to do one while at SCAD and I was so excited. The team was amazing, and most were people I would not have met/known otherwise. The 48 hour time frame was extremely difficult, and I can’t say that I got a lot of sleep in that time, but the outcome was well worth it. I am so glad that I was able to apply what I had been working on in my senior capstone to this project.
Now the big one. My senior project. The evolution of this project has been unlike any other I have ever done. That fact has been both thrilling and terrifying. In the past my products' evolution were slight changes in form and usage, but the main concept was always constant. This project was different. This was my first time designing for a space instead of a client or person. This came with a learning curve and a lot of challenges. However, looking at the growth of this project only makes me more proud of the final product.
After completing my research I knew that my project needed to be centered in the fine art museum space. Children's museums, aquariums, science and space museums, and even history-centered museums have been accepting modern innovations in technology. However, fine art museums are the only setting that has seen no update in visitor experience in decades. Through my research I was also led to be driven by these components: increasing interactivity in museums, creating more and deeper connections with the artwork, making an unobtrusive design that does not require a museum to change their current exhibit layout, and improving the current state of museum seating and how the seating influences the socialization aspect of modern museums. I needed to have a design that checked all of these boxes.
This is what I came up with:
Easel is a mobile fine art museum experience that acts as a tour guide, frame, teacher, and so much more—all while catering to your ideal museum experience. The current fine art museum experience is static and impersonal, with only a small placard that gives a tiny amount of information. There is no connection to the visitor. With Easel, a visitor can interact with the paintings in a way that they never could before. By experiencing each painting in a new and unique way, more learning can occur and visitors can form deeper connections with the work. Being able to “paint” on a painting helps each visitor relate better to the paintings in front of them. Easel also takes advantage of lacking product innovation in current museum seating, while also still allowing for people to enjoy a traditional fine art museum experience. Easel being a mobile product instead of an immersive setting like the Van Gogh experience allows for easier upkeep and new exhibit curation. Overall, Easel allows for an engaging, interesting, and personal fine art museum experience that makes going to the museum different every time. Easel puts modern back into modern fine art museums.
If you would like to learn more about the details of this project you can go over to the project page on the portfolio tab of my website.
I also worked with a UX student to help with the product component of their project. They were creating a new way to experience Lego products in-store. Working on this project was super fun, and a great way to take short breaks from my senior project. While the rest of the team was working on and polishing the app development and the user experience I was modeling and rendering. I did not have much creative input on the form, rather I treated this as a client simulation where they had the main creative vision and I was helping them to achieve it. UX and Industrial Design work very closely at I loved how it came out, and I am so glad I was helpful in visualizing this project.
My last quarter at SCAD was better than I could have ever imagined. I only pulled a few all-nighters, but each time I was accompanied by friends, ordering pizza, and creating work that we were all happy to lose sleep over. I had one goal going into this quarter. I wanted to have no regrets and only feel pride the moment I finished my final presentation. And I did. The minute I finished showing my final display, I could not have been any happier. Being surrounded by my classmates, the peers I have shared the capstone journey with, I felt so much support. The energy during final presentations was something I have never experienced before. I thought I would be nervous watching my classmates present before me, but all I could feel was pure joy. Seeing my friends, and how far they have come, how far I have come, and sharing our last moments as students together was something that I cannot accurately describe in words. All I can say is that I am proud. I am proud of myself, I am proud of my peers, and I am proud that I can call myself a graduate of the SCAD industrial design program.
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