Cranial Motivity

Inspired by the blogging designers, artists, and general members of the public, I'm attempting to begin my own. I have realized that my sketchbook is filled with pages of handwriting more often than with sketches and drawings, prompting a lot of introversion and thought about the issue. So, here I am. I plan to write and transcribe from my sketchbook, now becoming a journal, and presenting to you the thoughts that seem worthy of bringing to light.

The name of this entry has become a tactile goal that I wish to reach- this cranial motivity, it is anything that moves the brain. Which, in this day and age, is so much that we are often overwhelmed. So much so that our brains quickly edit out information so that there is less to be processed at one time. In a way, our brains begin create a routine, as do we for our own lives. Breaking free of the routine where we instinctually ignore things around us is the goal- to learn to see, feel, hear, say, and do the things that are out of the ordinary. To find the things that are interesting, whether they seemed to be at first glance or not. To stop ourselves from editing, and to begin to process everything around us as thoroughly as we can. To see it, analyze it, and connect it. In doing so, it happens: motion of the mind. Cranial Motivity.


Welcome to my new little world.

Let me tell you about myself.

I am a student at the University of North Texas. I am a member of the Communication Design program, and the greater design community at large. Communication Design is exactly what it is, not to be confused with public speaking or public relations. It is about business, but it is about art. This is the fine line that visual designers walk. Communication Design is about communicating ideas with imagery; storytelling at its most fundamental form. The term is a broad and general word that refers to all kinds of design - graphic, art direction, environmental, publication, multimedia, packaging, and more, all of which have subcategories of their own.

My major is located within the College of Visual Art and Design. This is where much of my recent thought is focused: analyzing this line that divides designers and fine artists. Or does it? Is there such a line, and what falls on either side? Are they one in the same, or is it a sort of spectrum on which we all sit? The idea intrigues me, as much as studio art. I have a love for both. I love the freedom of thought in studio art, all that it allows the artist to do, and the profound effects that it is able to have on its audience. And yet, the structure and discipline of design, of finding effectiveness in minute details, communicating to people in ways both perceived and unperceived, and combining business and the problem solving of clients' problems with the creativity and artistry of design - it has caught me up on its wings, leaving me out of breath and adrenaline pulsing through my mind and soul.

I am a student. And, being so, I am relatively new to this, to the idea of design and art in the real world. I am young. And taking my youth as an advantage, I know that I have much to see, experience, learn, and connect. This is another beginning for me, as I stumble through words, trying to piece together the things I have come to notice, the things I have yet to understand, and the things that have, in many ways, moved my mind. I have decided to pursue psychology as a secondary interest to design and art, and in a way, they all inform the other. I hope that my interests and observations of art, design, psychology, society, and life in general will be the starting point of discussion and ideating, helping me to learn more and understand more than would be possible on my own.


As we move into the 21st century, it becomes ever clearer that the ultimate, most intimate territory for design is not electronics, or interiors, or furniture, or the Web. It’s us—our own living, breathing, biological selves. ... the personal makeover has become our most fundamental design task.
Rick Poynor, Design Writer