Declan Ward's Blog

  Shilpi Chhotray’s job as an art director seems incredibly important due to the purpose of her teams mission, which is to move away from using plastic and also focusing on what to do with the massive amount of discarded plastic that currently pollutes our planet. This is an issue that literally affects every single person on the planet. We all have only this one home, and unfortunately as a human race we have made choices that negatively impact it. It’s also a problem that will only continue to grow worse without people working towards spreading awareness, education, and real solutions towards sustainability and eco-friendly behavior at numerous levels, from large corporations to family recycling solutions.   Shilpi is a member of this task force and the Global Communications Director for the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement, which means it is incredibly important she make sure the movements messages are universally acceptable, friendly and uplifting in nature, easy to understa...

  I really enjoyed having the opportunity to see peers of my discipline showcase how they constructed their portfolios, and the various projects within them. It gave me a lot of insight into my own portfolio build, and brought me some new ideas about how I can present my work. I was most captivated by Chi Hao Chang’s work and loved his process and final deliverables for the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. The work itself was absolutely gorgeous and the design system and elements he created were super playful and fun. His detailed and curious research gave me a lot of ideas of how I can improve my own design process. I felt like he was very good at developing insightful questions that guided his design process towards success. Additionally he really told a story with his presentation through showing us the questions he had and how they prompted him to explore various avenues.   Another moment that was memorable for me came after Parker Anne Poole’s presentation during which Ellen Lu...