Commuting Memories

The purpose of this project was to merge the different lessons taken from past design exercises, and a personal experience that had direct impact on our daily lives. It was an exercise that allowed every student the opportunity to convey his/her personal thoughts and design conclusions in a design piece.

I created a set of postcards that reflected my daily commute, from the town where I live to the City where I went to school. Transportation is indeed a big part of my life, and had a strong influence on my desicion to choose a place to live. I literally live three minutes walking distance from the train station and sometimes I feel my life works around the train schedule. Besides commuting to New York City, my train rides have acquired another meaning: it is the time I often use to organize my thoughts; whether is preparing mentally for the beginning of the day, or either to process the important events of its end.

In this exercise I wanted to express the contrast of dynamics, movement, colors, textures and materials of the different commuting stages involved: the departure, the train ride and the arrival to Manhattan. However, the most striking ascpect is to see the transformation of the passengers’ behavior once they arrive to Grand Central; my once friendly fellow commuters shift into a New York City state of mind attitude, where everyone behaves aggressively, especially during rush hour schedule.

Each composition depicts the locality and level of activity happening at each stage: from the stillness and quietness of Hastings, to the boldness and intensity of Grand Central. To create each composition, I used the technique of collage to mix images, textures, materials, drawings and pieces of my design thoughts to create each theme. It is a visual narrative of my personal experience of transportation and thought process.