4. What Am I Doing? (Actions Data)

May 26, 2019

I recently created symbols for the actions in my daily life. I used sketching as a warm up to think about symbol ideas and assigned random colors for each one. Lupi & Posavec call this the "legend" in which recipients can understand what the design elements mean. It starts with a question and mine this week is: What Am I Doing?

For five days this past week I counted what I was doing. I couldn't help but notice some patterns with areas that were excessive and thought about how those areas might be taking time away from other things I could be doing. I wanted to think about my emotions but I held back to stick with my commitment to the process per Gude's (2006) suggestions.

Sunday through Thursday I counted and then measured on Friday. I did as Lupi & Posavec suggested and spent some time with my data after I gathered it. On Saturday I created my visual representation of my life data for the week.

Same as it ever was

I began working on this on my back porch. This is where I focus the most probably because it is as close as I can get to nature during busy times. As I started grabbing markers, my Dad texted me a link to Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime" song after I sent him my recent blog image of my thick thoughts. There is a cheesy, bouncy feeling in the song that I liked and felt the lyrics and rhythm were what my mind needed after a week full of overflowing thoughts. I appreciated the water reference as it connects with my CreativeFlow program that I am developing for teenagers. (I'll post later with some info about that).

In reflecting on my art, I can definitely see a struggle and tension between the most excessive area being digital communication and one of the minimal areas which is nature. Considering the song I was listening to, it does have a feeling of talking leaf heads communicating or spewing very loudly back to technology.

See my Findings for this week here.

Next week I will be documenting my thoughts/emotions to the actions that I am doing and measuring them. "It is only by adding personal context that you get closer to real meaning" ~Lupi & Posavec