It's always cool to start a new project, but I ultimately dread the idea of planning and design. Perhaps this is because I am used to beginning projects without a plan (I don't ever outline my drawings/paintings, too). Or maybe, it is because I have always felt like plans are too restrictive--they make me set my expectations too high and when I can't attain them, I end up not finishing the project anymore. It was a good thing that we were tasked to do this challenge, because my beliefs from before might not be the same now.

I learned from this activity that design is creativity with a plan. I am a firm believer that every person in the world is creative, but not everyone puts that creativity into action. Design is a significant part of creation because it grounds our vision and pushes us to be realistic with our creative goals. It preempts the issues that may arise in the middle of execution or production stage, but it is also flexible because it allows us to change our format whenever necessary. For example, I wanted everything to go smoothly when I made the earrings. I laid out a design plan and thought using the big needle would be enough to poke the holes for the earring hook, but I eventually came up with a new plan and used a stapler instead.

I also learned that there is an obsession with originality when it comes to designing. I think this manifested when I was coming up with a plan, and I only realized that young people like me are always pressured to think outside the box and to unlock our creative geniuses. Instead of being motivated to work hard, this only paralyzed me from doing anything at all. But I think, the main purpose of design is function and expression, and if I am able to create something that was inspired from a person in Pinterest, I think that is symbolic of how designing (like creative arts) can be positively contagious.

Not all creative people are effective designers, but all effective designers are creative because they bring into the world a new or modified blueprint that provides opportunities for utility and self-expression.

As for me, I am still uncertain if I am both (or neither), but one thing for sure, this activity brought me a lot closer into finding out.

"Designs for communication present affordances that provide possibilities for interaction and constraints that remove possibilities for interaction. There are, in principle, an unlimited number of designs for communication and these designs are distinguishable by considering what an institution, practice, procedure, or technology
presupposes about communication." (Aahkus, 2007)