Nerd Talk

The posters are up for study abroad, putting one giant check mark on my lengthy to-do list.

I've been spending this week doing tons of research for my various projects. I believe I've decided on my Capstone studio project. A pair of students in my studio are doing the DisneyNation competition put on by the Walt Disney Imagineering group. I decided to look it up and it's seems like a very interesting and open-ended competition, allowing students to design everything from attractions to resorts to products to a whole new theme park. I'm still in the "I have no idea what to do" phase, but I'm getting a lot of ideas from the books I've picked up:



(Some of them are for my programming class as well.)

Oh, and get ready for some nerdy talk: I am so psyched to be considered a graduate student! I get to keep my library books through January, so I don't have to renew them every two weeks. No hastily scanned pages or late fees. Wonderful!

As far as the project goes, I like the idea of getting away from a capstone centered solely on product design. This is an entire semester-long project, so I want to take advantage of the extra time and delve into architecture, space planning, and theming, as well as product design.

And while I would be doing something destination-related, I'm not too sure I want to actually compete. If I do, I have to make whatever I design be Disney-centric. And I'm not sure I'm ready to Disney-fy myself quite yet.

While at PGAV, I worked mostly on theme parks, roller coasters specifically, and they take a very different stance on destination design, one that strays away from kitsch-y, over-the-top design, and I like that approach. Although, with such an open-ended competition, it may prove well to push Disney in a new direction. Who knows.