My Design Manifesto

TL;DR

Good design requires a great space, and you need to make one. It could be your studio, workspace, community, or (in my case) a diorama built in a 95’ IBM CRT monitor.

What Is This Project?

Created for GBDA 412, this project is our fourth year PSA— our design statement to the world. I believe that "Good design requires a great space" and that it's up to you to make one. I thought this best (and most fun) to represent as a diorama of my apartment.

On my runs to Value Village, I've often seen old CRT monitors or TVs and thought how fun it might be to take one apart.

Combining these two ideas, this is what I came up with!

Designing 40+ Posters

To cover the plain beige and white walls with posters, I knew I'd need a lot of 'em. I wanted my posters to be bold, funny, and perhaps, even have a message or two…

Some of my favourites include "Unionize the Layers," "Frog," and "58% Milk."

Acrylic and Lasers

One issue I was running into was how empty the room felt— the walls were busy and looked great, but the centre? Empty. It was my room after all, so where was I?

I took photos of myself, threw them into Photoshop and then Illustrator, and lastly, laser cut them into acrylic. I had to use acrylic glue (one of the worst-smelling things in the world) to attach it to a base, and voilà!

Putting it Together

Putting everything together was the fun part. Hot gluing a miniature desk to a small carpet to a popsicle stick floor. Creating stacks of paper, placing mini-me's, and stringing fairy lights through the "roof."

My last step was to create a "manual" for my PSA that showcased my manifesto. I aimed for old-school and retro, which I accomplished with yellowing paper and