TIPS FOR DESIGN STUDENTS TO STAY MENTALLY ENGAGED, ACTIVE, AND CREATIVE DURING SUMMER VACATION

[Note: This is an essay I wrote and have been sending to my students every year. Obviously this year, things are a bit different. The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns are going to limit some of the activities I’ve listed here. But on the other hand, they will give you ample time to do some of the other activities. So adjust accordingly.]

A lot of my students complain about being bored during the summer holidays. On the one hand, it’s surprising how quickly you start being bored. On the other hand, I can understand how a full year of design school gets your neurons firing with intense frequency, and sitting at home or hanging out at the coffee shop is just not doing it for you anymore. You’ve gotten used to thinking at a high level and being creative. So I’ve put together a few suggestions to relax during the holidays and still exercise that brain muscle of yours. Like all muscles, if you don’t exercise it, it will be that much harder to get back in shape.

I don’t expect all of you to follow all of these suggestions, but give them a try. Without a doubt, have fun… have loads of fun. Anyway, here are some ideas that help fight off boredom and will also make you a better designer.

Read! You can read books about design or architecture, but just read something! Fiction, non-fiction, comic books, newspapers, magazines, online articles, whatever. Try audio books if you have a hard time reading. At the end of this essay, I’ve listed some books that might be interesting for architecture and design student
Practice drawing. Go outside and observe the macro world — go to malls, train stations, airports, and other public spaces and draw what you see. If you’re at home, draw what you see at home or outside your window. Practice rendering techniques and drawing with unfamiliar media. Learn to get better at free-hand skills. Develop your ability to draw what you imagine — visualise things in your mind and draw them.
Go to public places and simply observe human behaviour. Watch how people interact with spaces and the objects within them. Ask them questions and inquire why they’re doing what they’re doing and whether they’re even conscious of it. Take pictures! One of my favourite idle activities is to sit at an airport or station and invent background stories for people that I observe.
Learn a new software (or simply get better at what you already know) like Autocad, Sketchup, Revit, Rhino, Grasshopper, Maya, Vray, 3DS Max, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Final Cut Pro, AfterEffects, etc. YouTube has become a great resource for this. Learn to code, design a website, or Flash, HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Learn how to do better presentations beyond simple Powerpoint.
Learn a new form of creative expression, like filmmaking or cartooning. Explore different media, e.g. watercolour, clay sculpture, mosaic, photography, etc. Learn a musical instrument or explore a musical genre that you’ve never listened to before. Act in a play, or write one.
Design a new game. It could be a board game, card game, mobile app, or even a new sport.
Practice writing and composition. Start a blog or write reflective essays. Write poems.
Design (or refine) your portfolio. Document your work and think of a way to present it, both as a hard-copy and digital. Figure out how to let it expand as your body of work grows. Make sure it’s a good representation of “you”. But try to keep it simple and resist the temptation to include everything. Sometimes it’s worth asking someone to help you edit.
Browse random Wikipedia articles or use websites like StumbleUpon or HowThingsWork to discover new things. There are many YouTube channels which explain how things work and how things are made.
Explore design workshops or seminars (or webinars) that are happening in your town (or nearby). Go to museums and galleries and be aware of new exhibitions.
Learn a language, or learn about a new culture, craft or art form. Travel to somewhere you’ve never been, even it’s a neighbourhood in your own city. Meet an artist, craftsman, artisan, performer, or designer and observe how they work.
Engage in some social work or volunteer activity. Join an NGO and find out ways that you can perhaps help them with their design objectives (e.g. designing posters, brochures, or newsletters for them).
Try to get a job at a design firm as an intern. Offer to help them in any way you can (but insist on getting paid in some way, even if only to cover your expenses).
Watch movies, preferably about art, design or architecture, but watch stuff that’s intellectually stimulating. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with the occasional mindless summer action blockbuster, but balance it out with some ‘other’ stuff. Again, I’m including a list of movies that have some relevance to design and architecture.
Watch TV and OTT shows. Life is not all about bad American sitcoms. Watch quality TV shows and limited series. Subscribe to a streaming service if you don’t have it already and dig deep into their library for shows that you may have never heard of. Look for good documentaries.
Listent to Podcasts. There are hundreds if not thousands of podcasts on incredibly interesting topics — some specific, some general. If you have difficulty reading, then podcasts is another way you can learn.
Above all, don’t let boredom be an excuse for wasting time. Fill your time with interesting stuff. Catch up on sleep (because you know you won’t be getting much when school starts again) and break up your day into fragments of activities so you don’t get bored of doing the same thing.

SUGGESTED MOVIES

Films that feature architecture and design

Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang)
Gattaca (1997, dir. Andrew Niccol)
North by Northwest (1959, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Rear Window (1954, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
12 Monkeys (1995, dir. Terry Gilliam)
Ran (1985, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
Rashomon (1950, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
Seven Samurai (1954, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
Moon (2009, dir. Duncan Jones)
The Fifth Element (1997, dir. Luc Besson)
Dark City (1998, dir. Alex Proyas)
My Architect (2003, dir. Nathaniel Kahn)
Parasite (2019)
Blade Runner (1982, dir. Ridley Scott)
Blade Runner 2049 (2017, dir. Denis Villeneuve)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014, dir. Wes Anderson)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Brazil (1985, dir. Terry Gilliam)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994, dir. Joel/Ethan Coen)
Koyaanisqaatsi (1982, dir. Godfrey Reggio)
Powaqqatsi (1988, dir. Godfrey Reggio)
Life as a House (2001, dir. Irwin Winkler)
Helvetica (2007, dir. Gary Hustwit)
The Five Obstructions (2003, Jorgen Leth & Lars von Trier)
Art and Copy (2009, dir. Doug Pray)
Handmade Nation (2009, dir. Faythe Levine)
Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time (2001, dir. Thomas Riedelsheimer)
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005, dir. Robert Greenwald)
Wall-E (2008, dir. Andrew Stanton)
9 (2009, dir. Shane Acker)
Logan’s Run (1976, dir. Michael Anderson)
City of Ember (2008, dir. Gil Kenan)
The Matrix (1999, dir. The Wachowskis)
Total Recall (1990, dir. Paul Verhoeven)

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ramblings on architecture, design, education… and other things

Tag Archives: summer reading list

summertime for design students

SUGGESTED READINGS

Books and articles that feature architecture and design

SUGGESTED MOVIES

Films that feature architecture and design