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Today was full of intensity and creativity. Cooper Interaction Design projects typically end with a very detailed design of every major area of the designed product. Today, the next to last day of Boot Camp, we tried to stuff 5-6 weeks of work into a few hours. We cut corners left and right. Nonetheless, the day at work was filled with a rush to get as much done as we could. And the typical day at Cooper is all about creating, refining and communicating.
At some point in the middle of the afternoon, I walked up the stairs towards my classmate's desk. Sitting on the couch was this guy that looked familiar, but I wasn't sure who he was. As I walked up the steps he said, "Hi, you're Elan, right?" (He pronounced my name correctly, too). I said yes and he responded by introducing himself as Alan Cooper. I got a tad nervous.
I've been hearing about him for years and more recently I've finished his books (this was all before I ever came to work for him, albeit indirectly). While reading the books I rehearsed what I would say to him (as I do with every author I read). Naturally, as these situations always go, I was caught off guard and just chatted about the work I was doing for boot camp. I wished him well and went off to my classmates's desk. I think I was caught off guard because he knew my name. This should not have been a surprise, as human resources took pictures of new employees and presented them to Alan and company. Anyway, there will be plenty of opportunity to chat away with Alan, as he is just another smart human being that I'll be interacting with at work.
That was just the first half of my day. Around 4pm, I drove into San Francisco. Traffic wasn't bad and I arrived at SF's Museum of Modern Art around 5:15pm. I attended a lecture to celebrate the local winners of Industrial Design Excellence Awards for 2000. The designers of winning products such as the Stowaway keyboard, the Water Bug/Power Bug, and the Xootr Scooter came on stage, briefly chatted about their product and shared some interesting snippets. I was all inspired to go make something.
Though, the coolest part of the lecture was the end when a senior model creator (and destroyer) from Industrial Light and Magic came on stage. He has quite a resume of working on about 90 movies, starting with Star Wars, continuing with ET, Indiana Jones, the Back to the Future series, and the upcoming Star Wars movies. Let's just say the photographs he showed were awesome and the stories invoked those "god, I want to be you" feelings.
Of course, the day didn't end there. Right after the lecture ended, I went to the Herbst Theatre to enjoy chamber music played by a friend of the family. I've been looking up to Robert as a musician since was making my own noise on the piano. I closed my eyes at the concert hall in order to enjoy the sounds produced by his fingers and guided by the notes of Schumann and Shostakovich. I got a lucky chance to chat with him one-on-one over dinner early this week and backstage tonight.
The day feels too complete as it was filled by exposure to too amazing individuals. Now it is time to crash and see how much inspiration carries over to my own work in the near future.
Want more? Go home.
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