Response to "How to Draw Up a Project" by Luis Mateo

Reading this introduction to beginning a very terrifying and exciting process set me at ease with the state of my thoughts as of now. Mateo describes how to draw up a project through a series of steps. The first one, I was relieved to read, begins with something abstract; it starts with a vague, misty thought that is not fully formed, but one that has a direction. This was encouraging, because the daunting task of drawing my first sketch has had me very stressed out.

What if I don't pick the right thing?

How do I draw something that doesn't exist in my mind yet?

Form?

I realize now, that I need to represent the current state of my thoughts. I need to draw the DIRECTION of my thoughts however hazy they may be.

This first stage of development Mateo describes as phantom-like, it is the point in the project when the direction is defined and refined so that the complex issues of the overall scheme can be explored, yet all the questions my not be answered. In this stage, the designer doesn't know everything because the boundaries of the program are still undefined.

The second stage in process endows the hazy ideas with a little more information. Hierarchies are established by the designer, and the project is organized into a more understandable matrix. The intrinsic nature of the project is defined, but the form remains vague.

The third and last stage in the development of a project is to give the hazy innards a physical, material form.

Reading Mateo's breakdown of what I am up against this semester, was encouraging. By separating the steps of the process, I have been able to step back and look at this as a surmountable task, and the word "Thesis" is a little less intimidating.