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 01. Orientation, Dinner                   

I arrived in Taiwan a few days early to explore many of the popular destinations like Chifeng street and Jiufen, but I was very excited to meet up with everyone and get to focus on more design-centric locations. For dinner I was very thankful that the program leaders had picked out such a varied selection of stuff for us to try. Everything was so delicious!

Jiufen!

02. NTU Intro, Dot Design, Da Dao Cheng

The NTU students were all so welcoming! I enjoyed hearing about what they do at the D-school and how they blend design with other programs at the school.

Learning about the history of the architecture on Dihua street was fascinating. Every building was so unique I wouldn’t have known how to classify each of them without Luke explaining it to us. Every little detail was there for a reason; the separated townhouses, to the ornamental details, to the one block that was pushed an extra street back.

All of the goods being sold smelled amazing, and Judy (one of the NTU students) was telling us that many of the stands were herbal medicine stands. She said that she didn’t think they tasted very good despite their nice scent.

Ai and Alexa and I got dinner at the Ningxia night market a few blocks up the street and were talking about some possibilities for sustainable design. We were all exhausted, so most of the ideas were a little too insane.

New friends at the bookstore

03. TDRI, Miniwiz Trash Kitchen, Brainstorming

I enjoyed TDRI’s presentation – especially the short video – because it emphasized the greater impact that design can have on a community. Everything that they presented was so clean, I appreciated the aesthetics of both their projects and their workspaces. I was just feeling so gleeful to be a part of the design program this whole time. This usually happens any time I see any glimpse of what a future in design could hold.

Miniwiz was making me think differently about what sustainable design could be and where the sources of unsustainability were in a manufacturing process. I also love a good hands-on demonstration!

Miniwiz demonstration

Brainstorming with Alexa, Ai, Shin-Ru, Luna, and Phoebe went really well. Alexa and Ai and I were definitely influenced by having taken design methods last year, but the others caught on fast and we were all generating good ideas. It was helpful to hear their ideas because it was sometimes hard to tell if something was influential in Taiwan’s culture or if I had only been here a few days and didn’t have the full picture. We left off settled on an idea about lantern shaped tea bag and possibly coffee filters, and creating a visual identity and brand around that. Then my LINE broke so now I am forever cut off from communication and Ai has to tell me what is up.

Brainstorming ideas

Even so, I am so happy to be here because Taipei is such an inspirational city packed full of new experiences. Every area brings something new and different, and every day I am shocked by how many more interesting things there are to experience. And I am so pumped to have made friends at NTU!