Diary of a DAAP Kid: Critique

My heart begins to pound, and I take a deep breath as I survey the three well dressed men sitting before me. I have been up for over 24 hours straight, following a seemingly never ending week of sleepless nights and longer days, as I have worked and worked to finish my final presentation.

I have explained my project a hundred times to everyone from my grandmother to former employers, and now I glide through my talking points as the representatives from SOM, Miami University and FRCH stare impassively  at my (thus far) life's work mounted before them on foamcore panels.



There is no expression on their faces, and my mind immediately begins racing: "am I talking too much? Have I not said enough? Do they get what I'm trying to do?" I explain the background of the project, the site and its history, the design and its connection to the neighborhood, and then walk them verbally through the space. There is nothing more. Now I wait for their judgement.



This is critique. A panel of professionals in the field are introduced to your project and then objectively survey your work, telling you the good, bad and ugly of what you have tried to accomplish and how it could be better. They are nerve wracking times, and many a DAAPer has been reduced to tears (this one included... only once!) after a verbal dressing down from a panelist.



I am an emotional person, and I wear my heart on my sleeve. It has taken me many years to divorce my self worth from my design projects. "They are not talking about YOU. They are talking about your project. Calm down." Today the sleep and stress has caught up with me, and I take deep breaths as the man from SOM wonders aloud about my materials palette and whether or not I should have considered digital media in my intentionally analog library.

The critique is not meant to wear the student down, or harangue them about what they did or didn't do. The point is to hear outside opinions and gain new perspective in order to improve one's project. These reviews have happened at least twice a quarter for the duration of this project, and each person's opinion has helped to shape my design for the better.

Today is different. Today there is nothing more (in theory) to be done with this project. This is it. I stand back and look at my physical model, my 15 foot printed poster before me. Hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours poured into this project for a half-hour's worth of words and opinion. Is it worth it? I look at my work, and I am proud.

Yes. Yes, it is.