I’m Planning This As I Go is all about reconnecting with pen and paper. The project explores how to re-engage with tactile experiences and become less dependent on digital mediums.
In contemporary practice, we rely on design programs and the internet to ideate and do the work for us. The digital space provides us with limitless access to photos, tools and assets to streamline our creative process. We can Command-Z when we make mistakes, draw perfectly straight lines and Google for inspiration. These abilities have conditioned us into an expectation of perfection in what we create.
The consequence of this is that we lose our sense of authenticity and human touch. Rather than utilising the digital space as tools to enhance our designs, we instead let it inform us and our work.
In this project, I explore what can happen when we craft our designs by hand. I created a series of zines by focusing on using pen and paper as my only tools of design. Limiting myself with the most basic materials, it created a space where I was able to scribble and visualise ideas more freely without feeling the need to be selective with what fancy tools to use.
The champion of this project is not the content, but rather how the content is formed, developed and refined through a process of self reflection and dialogue with myself; found within the zines and final publication. The publication is reminiscent of a process book, expressing that there is never a finished product. The final will never feel complete as we constantly strive for it to be better each time we work with it. Thus, exemplifying we should sometimes let things be, embrace the imperfections and accept it never has to be polished.
I’m Planning This As I Go challenged my existing habits and forced me to think freely and differently. I learnt to embrace imperfections and be open to unexpected outcomes, rather than constantly aiming for perfection. This is a project of ongoing reflection and dialogue with my design process; a way of engaging in an infinite learning cycle.
