Changing Ideas in a Fast-Paced World
The world moves quickly, spinning hurriedly on its circle around the sun. We humans are flung with it, traveling at a speed so great that we don’t even notice ourselves moving. What we do perceive is a steady march of time, changes wrought as years pass, ideas that ebb and flow throughout the decades, the centuries.
Sometimes we need to slow down. Sometimes we need to take note of our surroundings, both environments and ideas. Sometimes we need to appreciate the problems and joys that come with living in such a rapidly advancing world. And sometimes we need a moment to simply stay abreast of the things that matter. Thus enter IMPRINT. and Women in Design. These two student led and run organizations are partnering to produce this weekly column.
IMPRINT. is an organization made of and run by students, for anyone who enjoys anything and everything related to design. With weekly columns, fun articles, interesting suggestions for books, movies, and everything in between, IMPRINT. is the hub of information for young and old alike.
A newly-formed organization, Women in Design seeks to work with women, both students and professionals, in design fields. The organization encourages and cultivates success and confidence in its members by providing a supportive environment for cultivating ideas, as well as networking with professionals.
These organizations have come together in the space of this weekly column to discuss the information, issues, and joys that come with being a woman in a design field. This is especially important in today’s rapidly moving and changing world because design industries are greatly affected by these alterations. Take the architectural field as an example. Once run and ruled entirely by men, it now has a significnant percentage of women involved in it, too. Famous works do not always have a male name attached to them anymore. Architecture schools illustrate this change even more strongly, as they are split relatively evenly between men and women. As the years pass, more and more women will take part in what was once male-dominated, and we seek to help them as they advance.
Women have made great strides in design fields throughout the years. They have gained prowess and even fame. CoAD’s own Julie Beckman has been a part of this movement. Collaborating with her coworkers, their firm produced the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.
As a current third year student, I think it’s important to take an interest in this. Even as students, we both see and feel the changes wrought over the past decades. We live in a mixed world, both in terms of gender and technology. Though our experiences as students may feel different than those of adults in the field, they share much more than perhaps we realize. We face similar battles and experience the same triumphs and joys.
More than anything, though, we know firsthand what it’s like to live in such a fast-paced and ever-changing world. It’s a crazy whirlwind of constantly-evolving ideas and environments, but we live for the thrill of experiencing it all.