Students from Parsons and WHEELS talk about the very first project meeting in which we worked on helping everyone to interact and to discuss topics using the “same” language.
Since the Ship’s First Shape collaboration was between three organizations with students from vastly different life experiences and at various life stages, getting on the same page was challenging and necessary. Together, we developed a common language for honest and respectable interactions, such as having only one speaker at a time. This helped everyone feel comfortable about opening up and owning the project for themselves. We started with awkward mingling over pizza and mind maps. As our meetings got more frequent, the Parsons students designed tools to call out hidden desires/wishes through spontaneous and random associations. Many ideas were tossed about over a year before we collectively homed in on our final one.
Cassie Ang, New School student