Commuting Memories Postcards
Narrative of commuting experience through collage and other materials in set of postcards
The purpose of this project was to merge the different lessons taken from past design exercises, and a personal experience that had direct impact on our daily lives. It was an exercise that allowed every student the opportunity to convey his/her personal thoughts and design conclusions in a design piece.
I created a set of postcards that reflected my daily commute, from the town where I live to the City where I went to school. Transportation is indeed a big part of my life, and had a strong influence on my desicion to choose a place to live. I literally live three minutes walking distance from the train station and sometimes I feel my life works around the train schedule. Besides commuting to New York City, my train rides have acquired another meaning: it is the time I often use to organize my thoughts; whether is preparing mentally for the beginning of the day, or either to process the important events of its end.
In this exercise I wanted to express the contrast of dynamics, movement, colors, textures and materials of the different commuting stages involved: the departure, the train ride and the arrival to Manhattan. However, the most striking ascpect is to see the transformation of the passengers’ behavior once they arrive to Grand Central; my once friendly fellow commuters shift into a New York City state of mind attitude, where everyone behaves aggressively, especially during rush hour schedule.
Each composition depicts the locality and level of activity happening at each stage: from the stillness and quietness of Hastings, to the boldness and intensity of Grand Central. To create each composition, I used the technique of collage to mix images, textures, materials, drawings and pieces of my design thoughts to create each theme. It is a visual narrative of my personal experience of transportation and thought process.
