Design Studies Capstone Paper (Portfolio)

Interning for Live Better magazine was both a treat and a challenge for me. Used to regimented work schedules and school days filled with regular class times and homework, I carried the responsibility of a lot more freedom while writing for the magazine. And my biggest scholastic question was answered in full, “What would it be like writing for a magazine?” Would it be the perfect job for me as I’ve theorized?

Before my internship began Rosemarie Calvert, publisher and editorial director of Live Better magazine at the Center for a Better Life Foundation, told me that, despite my lack of writing experience, she could have me ready to write professionally for a publication by the end of my summer internship. This is the exact opportunity I needed to understand how my decades of personal writing could translate into a career. At the suggestion of Mrs. Calvert, I started attending intern meetings a couple months before my internship would start. Every Friday I sat-in while the current interns edited their work and discussed ideas for other stories. The extra time to familiarize myself with the processes was necessary, because I would be doing most of my work after the first few weeks on my own, only checking in at these meetings with the publisher and the more experienced interns.

Another exciting aspect of my internship was that I would be working for a foundation committed to making people aware of environmental issues. Topics being used for the magazine were things like the disasters in Kivalina, Alaska and Bia Mare, Romania, the first a natural disaster of erosion being sped up by human-induced global warming and the second a poisonous mine spill in an area already mined to environmental degradation. Also being discussed were the topics of mercury, bush meat, Green Switch, honeybees, and Architecture for Humanity. The other interns from WVU came from all different departments: journalism, public relations, English, and my design studies. Being from the design department, I was assigned a story on Architecture for Humanity as my main project.

The time frame for my internship was to be 12 weeks. This way I could see a project through to completion for one issue of the magazine, as all of us interns helped each other on our own projects. Architecture for Humanity was actually the most interesting subject for me. I appreciate the worldwide need for appropriate shelter and the angle of reporting on an organization that is helping people. Researching for the other stories, I found out there were even more environmental and social problems than I had previously known, so looking closer at the solutions being accumulated by such a selfless organization was a relief.

Toward the beginning of the internship, there were more meetings, they were longer and more strongly guided. We would meet in the library and all research the same topic there where we could ask questions as we went. We even went over how to research using the most recommended search engines and respected journals. There were also questions we had to ask and methods of keeping track of the information. Outlines were already familiar to me as a technique I use when it’s required of me, and here they were required of me. I had concerns about keeping track of sources in an outline made to organize information by subtopic. The answer to that was to keep both a list of information by source and then an outline in preparation to write.

There were different areas of the publication to be covered as well: business, marketing, editorial, ect. I concentrated on the editorial with my 20 hours a week, but I still learned some general knowledge about business and marketing. We covered page layouts of the issues and why certain pages are used for advertising, and how different pages cost more or less than other pages.

‘Media kit’ is a term used a lot in regards to the business aspect of publishing. These contain company background information, visions, values, mission statements, product profiles and corresponding digital photography, executive biographies, photographs, speeches and presentations, ect. Live Better might include in their media kit as they have included on their website, “We’re non-political. Our mission is to educate people about the importance of sustainability in their daily lives – to help promote the idea of preserving resources for future generations, to assist those individuals smarter than we in getting their critical message out about global warming and to create a communication infrastructure to deliver this vital information. We are working with Federal agencies, non-profit groups and private industry to put together programs of change.” And their mantra, “We go directly to the source to provide the truth- or as close to the truth as frail human beings can get.”

Sustainability class helped prepare me for the internship. I benefitted from a familiarity with LEED design practices and the concepts of solar and rainwater collection, as well as local labor and materials. Environmental biology also helped prepare me for the knowledge I would encounter with projects at Live Better. There was the plight of honeybees, the effects of development to coastal areas, and biodiversity. It was easier to expand on what I had learned than it would have been to start with the basics. The classes that assisted me most with my writing were interior design quality of living and interior design independent study where I wrote a long research paper and edited to fit the required formats. This assignment and the internship both taught me a lot about editing.

Architecture for Humanity was my last assignment. My first pieces of work were practices in writing product press releases, which are short promotions for consumer products endorsed by the philosophies of the Center for a Better Life. A couple examples of those are as follows:

Composting toilets are clean, sanitary, and odor-free. Without the need for any water hook-ups, the systems can be put anywhere: cabin, cottage, RV, pool house, boat, shed, barn, or home. They allow human waste to break down into an organic compost and usable soil without using any water. Aerobic microbes do this in the presence of moisture and air, by oxidizing the carbon in the organic material to carbon dioxide gas, and converting hydrogen atoms to water vapor. The user simply uses the toilet and waits three months to a year to retrieve soil with improved ability to support life.
Recycled plastic lumber (RPL) is a wood-like product made from recovered plastic or recovered plastic mixed with other materials, which can be used as a substitute for concrete, wood, and metals. RPL is clean, nontoxic, and nonporous, and lasts longer than wood. In addition, all types except wood-filled RPL have the following advantages over wood: moisture and chemical resistant, graffiti resistant, splinter free, no cracking, no need for sealants or preservatives, colored throughout, no need for paint, impervious to insects, flexible, can be curved and shaped, maintenance free, and no absorbing bacteria. This lumber also diverts plastic wastes from landfills.
Next I was moved on to the assignment of Green Switch, which was like a product press release except that it was a little longer than a paragraph; it was a 400 word piece. I reported what the product Green Switch does, trying to use a promotional tone. My Green Switch article is probably a better example of technical writing, as I was told. Green Switch was later reassigned to another intern after a third attempt by me read like this:

Managing both home and office energy consumption is now as easy as the flip of a switch. The system, Green Switch, is not only saving the environment in more ways than one, but also saving money. Getting its start in the hospitality/hotel industry, where energy is the second largest expense, the energy control system was able to save 25% to 45% of energy costs. The Green Switch system pays for itself in about one to two years through energy bill savings, while it can benefit the environment through resource conservation.

According to the Department of Energy, 10% to 15% of the energy on a homeowner’s electric bill is used as stand-by power, the power drawn into appliances and electrical systems that are turned off but still plugged in. In addition lighting and other electrical items being left on without being used can also waste energy. All of this, as well as the setting of the home’s thermostat back to the economy mode, are managed at one control switch on the way out the door or before going to bed. Turning off the master switch sends a wireless signal cutting power to all designated outlets, electrical systems, and light switches. Control is in the hands of the consumer who has the option to choose which lights and outlets need to be connected to the system upon installation. Split receptacles even make it possible to designate only one outlet out of the pair, convenient for coupling lamps with alarm clocks or TVs with DVR systems. This allows appliances
needing the power to continue to operate while the energy wasting appliance is master controlled. With the master switch turned off, lights and thermostats can still be controlled manually, and turning on the Green Switch master switch returns wall plugs and electrical systems to normal modes.

Green Switch installations take about an hour for homes on average, and are done either during construction or on existing homes and offices. The master switch is placed conveniently by the door most used to enter and leave the house, and controls lighting and outlets even in other buildings. Outbuildings and barns over 100 yards can also be controlled with the same wireless technology as in the house, using microchip controlled RF (Radio Frequency) communication between the master switch and the electrical components. The system also saves economically and environmentally by substantially extending the useful life of heating and air conditioning systems, television, and lighting by easing their use, keeping more money in wallets and fewer appliances in the landfills.

My writing maturity has definitely advanced through the course of the internship. The moment that I was most proud was when the publisher asked me to churn out a first draft of my Architecture for Humanity article in just a couple of days and I was able to, in her words, “push it out” that quickly. I learned to say what there is to say and spend the majority of my time editing. The ratio of my writing to editing for most of my class assignments has been backwards from that, and my personal writing is almost exclusively read and left untouched by corrections. The writing I’ve done for personal reasons is art compared to the writing I would do for a magazine like Live Better, which is more about design in that it’s advocating change in an organized way.

Having the intern experience, I can say that I profoundly respect the job that is being accomplished at the magazine, and I value the insight that the experience has provided me. That insight is the window to the process of writing to convince readers to change. But with that insight, I’ve disproved my theory as well as answered my question. I’m grateful for the opportunity to discover what it’s like to write for a magazine, while also discovering that I’m less interested in it.

I’d like to use a metaphor to explain myself. Playing in water refreshes me, which is why I like to swim. When I took my love of water to the lanes and joined a competitive swim team, with the goal of form, speed, winning races, I became exhausted by the interpretation of what I used to enjoy. To see swimmers in the Olympics makes me glad to be excused from such proceedings. Writing my thoughts and feelings freely has been another release for me that has been enriched by trying different methods. Having tried the magazine method, I’m glad it’s someone else who is doing the writing that I read in them now.

Still I like to write. I still go to the pool and swim laps; I just don’t time myself and try to be the fastest swimmer at the Recreation Center. Another professional writing method is newspaper. The writing I do for fun would probably most seamlessly be translated into the writing of a critic’s column or of an editorial in a newspaper. I tend to write on the topics that have sprung up in my life, and at a newspaper it’s much the same. If something’s happening in the town or an issue is effecting people, these are the topics for the newspaper to address. The differences from magazine writing seem to be that newspaper writers have a more traditional work schedule and their stories are shorter and written more frequently. I know almost as much about writing for a newspaper as I do about writing for a magazine.

My own brother graduated from West Virginia University with a Journalism degree and went on to write for the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. His assignments were various events he was sent to attend and cover, such as restaurant openings, World War II veteran interviews, and the Jessica Lynch story. He would report on what was there and what people said whom he interviewed. The work became very boring for him, however, and he left the newspaper to find a manager position at 84 Lumber, which he enjoys a lot more (and which has supplied me with plenty of catalogs and old tile samples for my Interior Design projects). Being a manager at 84 Lumber has nothing to do with his Journalism degree, except that the job was more likely to be given to someone with any degree.

So I’m getting a Design Studies degree. Before this semester I felt like that just meant I would have a degree on my side in job interviews, proof that I could accomplish that feat. Now I’m taking the English multimedia class and the journalism multimedia class, and I’m learning other methods of communicating through media. I’ve actually been using what I learn in these classes for my own personal projects. I’m excited about and interested in how I can use these methods in a career.

Through my multimedia classes I’ve learned how to create all sorts of projects that are presented over the Internet. Mostly through the English class, I’ve learned how to record and upload audio, upload video, and create movies with combinations of pictures, music, video, and word overlay. These techniques are good for supplementing online news stories, for conveying a message in a more memorable way, or simply for a creative outlet.

It was in this English class that ancient Aztec writing was covered. Aztec people used to use pictograms to record stories, history, and laws. Pictograms, or picture symbols representing ideas, brought myths to life by bringing visual representations of gods and creatures that had been handed down from generation to generation. Reading the description of how pictograms were meant not so much to make myths memorable, but to, “make them unforgettable,” the concept resonated with me. I believe I can do this with my writing, and I am theorizing that my new multimedia techniques could be the tools I need to further delve into this style.

It was in the journalism class that a guest speaker came to show us how to work a video camera for interview projects. He talked about working with major motion pictures on sound and his work with the camera and lighting on other projects. A preparation for these jobs is to take project assistant jobs, which are apparently relatively easy to get, for experience being on set and experiencing the different jobs. Working my way up to directing movies is another method for using my communicating inclination professionally. Another guest speaker for this class was a television political reporter who graduated with a political science major from a college that had no journalism program. This class seems to reaffirm my scholastic journey so far and reiterates the Emerson quote, “Don’t go where the path leads. Rather go where there is no path and leave a trail.”

The Design Studies major is another step on the trail to fulfilling my potential. I’ve changed my major a lot of times. So far I have everyone beat who tries to go up against me for more numerous. That I’ve changed my mind so many times is not a source of pride for me, but that I was able to when I felt the need is a big part of my life. That I’m a well-rounded student is a source of pride for me, and that I’m a less prejudice, more confident person because of my various experiences is also a good reason to remember this list.
Biology was going to be for genetics. “What do you picture yourself doing?” they’d ask me in junior high, “working in a lab?” I liked doing Punet squares and learning about what gene combinations would present as what traits in plants and human eyes and things. This was seventh grade science class with a teacher who taught in my exact learning style, plus I was Hermine Granger at school in junior high. High school biology, chemistry and physics was not as much fun as Punet squares but didn’t dissuade me, so college rolled around, and my major declaration was pre-biology.

I squeaked by with a C in my first college biology class, and getting dismayed by how much we had to kill things to complete a lab assignment and by my obvious vagueness on what I’d even be doing, I lost motivation. I failed my second semester biology class. It was too hard. Concepts were over my head to heights at which maybe a butterfly could reach if we hadn’t killed it as a caterpillar in bio lab. It was during this year, I remember because I was in the hallway of my dorm, that I told my mom on the phone that I thought I should be a professional organizer. After laughing at me, she sobered up when she realized that I was serious and asked what major I’d have to be in to go into that, “Interior Design?” I was horrified at the prospect.

Psychology was an interesting subject. In high school one of the college classes I took was Psychology 101. Now I think who’s not interested in psychology a little bit? Around this time is when I took my first career assessment/interest inventory test. That thing had the gull to tell me that I’m not interested in anything. I had no interest strong enough to read above the others. This may have been when I started to blame my parents for my situation. I had done what they told me to do for years and years, and now I was lost not knowing what I wanted to do. Friends told me that some people are just meant to go from one thing to the next for life.

Communication studies, after one semester of psychology, was my next major with a business minor so I could run my own business. Classes got more frustrating with their seemingly pointlessness, and I fanaticized more and more about dropping out. Unlike in junior high and high school, where I spent my spare time stressing about what exactly teachers needed from me to give me an A, I simply did the work and took the grade. This turned out to be an important lesson in reducing stress, but I still hadn’t found my motivation.

Education was declared at WVU-Parkersburg. What would have been my third year of college was spent in Morgantown as were the previous two years, but by two thirds into that Fall semester I had stopped going to classes completely. There was supposed to be a fun poetry one that wasn’t what I expected like so many other classes before. I finally took a whole semester off and just worked that Spring. When my lease was up, I moved back in with my parents in Parkersburg. Teaching would be perfect, summers off. I stayed in classes that semester but dropped my education one before I had to go spend time in actual elementary school classrooms.

Journalism would be for the next semester it was decided. My first classes were mind-numbingly about the intricacies of printing machinery. Terrified, I withdrew from another whole semester before it would even show up on my transcript.

English came from a different angle. I would have to get through the classes to graduate from a major and get a job, and English classes were always the calmest classes for me to attend. My next English class, however, reminded me that class-time for English class is fine, yes, but all that reading, and for this one, all those interpretations. I’m not sure this major ever got declared, because I couldn’t do anymore English classes.

Business came from another angle still. I went to my advisor and asked for the fastest way out. I knew I just had to stick with something, and by this time I knew all of it would be excruciating. So, what would be the least amount of pain I would have to take to look down and see a degree in my hand? I was told that I had enough business classes to graduate with an associate’s degree in two more semesters. After a semester of business classes, I was told it would be two semesters from that point. I didn’t even try to clarify who made the mistake. I left the advisor’s office and didn’t sign up for the next semester of classes.

Interior design was my finally admitting that I am a prissy little girl who likes to watch HGTV and wants to play house for a living. I moved all back to Morgantown with perhaps even enough gathered motivation to tackle this four-year program. If it’s what I can honestly see myself doing, this major could work where I had failed with others. Signing up for the program I’m made aware that it is competitive and only 20 people are accepted each year. My motivation said, well, we’ve come this far.

My motivation killed me for a year with art history and style eras and craft projects the likes of which I had never encountered; interior design is not for prissy little girls. Along the way though, we 60 or so “cohorts” of Interior Design 2006 received the announcement that there would be a possible new alternative for students rejected from the program. They would continue on with the same basic set of classes, only steering the program more toward a chosen minor field. I was eyeing the writing minors long before the group of 20 was selected excluding me.

One of the minors that surfaced as an option for writers was Communication Studies. So now after some serious negotiation on what classes are acceptable for what requirements, a required summer internship and another year and a half of classes, I’m going to be one of three first ever graduates of the Design Studies program.

This semester has been my favorite bunch of classes ever. With my mind opened to new resources, all the things I like to do have converged at this one time, also giving me the satisfaction keeping it all organized. I believe that through all of this, I have been designing my life to be better suited to me. Graduating from college does not promise me a job, or even tell me what job I’ll have, but my trail has given me the opportunity to be able to do what I want to do, and also, to find out more clearly what that may be.

My suggestions for improvements to design studies would be the same for any program. Incoming freshmen to WVU are herded around like cattle to advisors most concerned with forming conflict-free schedules to do their job of getting as many students in and out of the door as possible. I think that a better design for these young minds would be to let them choose their electives, or better still, make them choose them. Whenever possible let them choose to take first out of the classes that they have to take the classes that are the most interesting to them. The sooner they find it’s not what they expected the better, and if it is what they’ve looked forward to, they will have that confirmation as motivation through the classes of less interest to them. Knowing toward what they’re working will sustain students as they design their futures.