DREAMS PROJECTS|

There is no collaboration between the majors in The New School, and this problem became my starting point

for my thesis project. I decided to take this huge problem and bring it to a personal level; making a commentary on the

issue, rather than trying to solve it.

My first step is to collect students’ dream projects. Then, I will display them in different formats, mostly

in print. I’m also providing the contact informations of these students, because I’m encouraging other people to

contact the ‘dreamers’ and collaborate, if they find a project that seems interesting.

In the beginning of the semester, while I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my thesis, I wrote down my thoughts and ideas on a paper roll to form my concept.

Then I did a test run, and collected my classmates’ dream projects to see what kind of results I can get.

// Planning Process //

My first idea was to make a catalog of the dreams. For my first prototype, I designed thick cards with the dream project on one side, and the portrait of the ‘dreamer’ on the other side. I also added a ring to hold the cards together, and give them a ‘catalog’ look. However, I realized that these could turn out very chunky and become difficult to browse through. And even though I liked the idea of keeping the handwritings of the people, the pages looked messy.

// The Catalog //

For the next prototype, I designed folded cards with questions printed on them. Then, I handed these cards out to the students who wanted to participate in my project, and collected their dream projects, as well as some basic personal information about them.

// The Cards //

With these cards, I wanted to keep the relationship between the dreamer and the viewer raw by keeping the participants’ handwriting on the card, rather than typing it out. I was surprised to see how many people agreed to be part of my thesis and share their dream projects.

At the fair I got really positive and helpful feedback from the people, and I was very happy to see that they also wanted participate. I got a lot of helpful comments to expand this project, like making this project accessible via internet and adding QR codes to the cards to make contacting the dreamer easier for the person. People also mentioned that they would like to see some kind of a sketch of the dream, so illustrating the projects on the back of the cards was another idea that was brought up at the fair.

// The Fair //

// Online //

I designed a mock-up based on my already existing website’s layout. I thought I could also display it as a part of my portfolio.

People also inspired me to work on the name and the logo of the project. It’s still a work in progress, but I printed out two different sets of cards with different logo options on them. I’m also thinking about stamping the logo on the cards instead of printing, to enhance the ‘hand-made’ aspect of the cards.

// Name & Branding //

In addition to the cards, I want to display the projects in various forms. I already collected very interesting dream projects, and it would be exciting to see them on different surfaces. For example a book of selected dreams, a box of smaller cards of just a category of dreams (like education or art), or posters of the most bizarre and eccentric ones would be interesting to have. This way, these inspiring and future-forward dream projects would be distributed in many ways.

// Different Forms //

Next semester, I will keep collecting The New School’s students’ dream projects, keep looking for different

forms of both print and digital, play around with the collection of dreams, and also, I will try to find different ways of

displaying the material.

Hopefully, in the end, there will be a collection of very inspiring and entertaining dream projects, which are interesting enough for others to make them want to

collaborate with the dreamers. Moreover, I believe that people will realize that there are many amazing things can be done, if

collaboration is encouraged, especially in the school environment