Blog #4

I'm back for blog #4! This week we were scooped up in a large bus and carted from Taichung to Tainan. We continued alongside the NCKU students that we had met in the previous city, following them into a space they were much more familiar with. Compared to Taipei and Taichung, Tainan is breathtaking-- in a different sort of way. Tainan is just as fast paced as Taipei without the buzz of city lights and skyscrapers in every direction. 

The hotel that we're staying at resides on one portion of the campus, roughly a 10 minute walk from the design school at NCKU. Between working on our design project, exploring with friends, and getting to know the NCKU students, this week ended up being more about the connections we were able to make, rather that experiencing the design of the city directly. The campus isn't quite like UW, but it resembles any homey college campus, covered in bricks, surrounded by bikes and walking crowds. We were told by one of the students here that there's a large tree. 

It's visible from so many of the surrounding buildings. We were told that it's something the university is known for, which I thought was really interesting. It is just a tree, but it has become a recognizable part of the university and something that students associate with their experience there. It made me think about how places can become meaningful through things that aren't necessarily designed to be landmarks. The first thing that popped into my head was Denny field at UW. Anyone that lived on campus at UW knows about Denny field. At least for myself and many of my friends, we associate great memories with Denny field. It's something that's not quite a landmark, not quite something to go and see, but something special to so many students.

The tree was something that had become part of the identity of the campus simply by being there for so long. A big part of this week was also continuing our collaboration with the NCKU students. We spent time working together through sticky notes, brainstorming, and discussing ideas for our industrial design project.

 

Working with students from another university and cultural background has been one of the more valuable parts of this program for me. We all approach problems differently, and sometimes an idea that seemed obvious to us needed more explanation when we discussed it with the NCKU students. At the same time, they brought perspectives that we probably wouldn't have considered on our own. Collaboration is not just about dividing up the work, a big part of it is being willing to have your original ideas challenged and changed. Which has been a great way to flex the muscles of our brains.

Throughout this project and program, I've been able to grow closer to my classmates. I get to experience Tainan in a much more personal way, with a group of friends. We found a film store and ended up getting an old-style Polaroid photo together. This included friends within the program and NCKU students who we are growing closer to as well! The film shop was really cool because it held so many vintage photos from all over Taiwan, different kinds of old and new cameras, and trinkets that expressed the vintage Taiwanese style. 

I think this was one of my favorite unexpected discoveries of the program so far. This experience showed that we can experience the small things that happen outside of the scheduled program that also influence our art, thinking, and design. It pushes the creative side of all of us. Getting food together, exploring the city, taking pictures, and spending time with people from all over!

The sunset and the beach were glorious. As the sun set further it painted the sky completely pink, as far as the eye could see in any direction. The beach was sandy, the waves were big, but not so dangerous that you couldn't dip your feet in. You could watch surfers out in the distance and we were surrounded by people who also came to enjoy the view. I keep looking for differences: How is Taiwan different from home? But here, it didn't feel so different. Aside from the striking humidity, which honestly subsided a little bit due to the wind by the ocean. The beach wasn't quite tropical; it was sandy but not in that perfect white sand kind of way. When you looked back it was surrounded by trees and past the trees were tons of parked bikes/motorcycles. It was sort of parallel to the kinds of beaches we have in Washington. It was truly special, it felt natural. 

To round the night off, we got a big dinner somewhere nearby (about 15 minutes by motorbike). It was a nice street that was just off the main road, and it had beautifully lit red neon signs. 

It was just something I noticed and wanted to point out because of my internship at National Sign Corp, where I worked as a designer and got the opportunity to design a few neon signs myself. They are always so much cooler with Chinese characters. Seeing it being used throughout a city shows the contribution of the sign to the personality of a place. A brightly lit sign can completely change how a street feels at night and can become part of the identity of a business or neighborhood. It's vintage, it's aesthetic! In my opinion, this week has shown me that design and culture are connected in ways that are not glaringly obvious at times. Sometimes it is a large tree that becomes part of a university's identity, sometimes it is a collaborative design project, and sometimes it is a neon sign lighting up a street.