Problem & Purpose Statement: Progress After Speaking with Professor Singer and Professor Hamid

As it stands, my Problem & Purpose Statements:

Problem:
At San Francisco State University, there are insufficient resources to support professional practice experiences for Design & Industry students.

Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to discover a solution for the lack of professional practice experiences for Design & Industry Students students.

What I gathered from my meetings with Professor Singer and Professor Khalid to discuss my proposed design problem:

After speaking with Professor Singer (Design & Industry: Visual Communication Design) and Professor Khalid (Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts), I gained a lot of valuable insight and feedback. However—this actually doesn't mean that my Problem & Purpose Statements are close to being finalized; in fact, it moreso means that I have a lot more to consider and think about. Before speaking to the two gentlemen, I had believed that discussing my research problem with them would serve as the catalyst to solidifying my direction. However, if anything, it's pushed me further away, with the revelations of obstacles that I need to heavily bear in mind.

In a nutshell:

Professor Singer: explained to me that student design work for real clients (such as other professors and departments on campus) CANNOT be student-run and NEED supervision to ensure that the work is managed and executed properly. As students, we simply do not have enough knowledge and experience to be successful without the right guidance; if anything, chances are we’ll end up screwing up and putting the DAI department in poor light. The main problem is resources—particularly, faculty time and availability (and perhaps money, to pay them). How can professors find time to oversee experiences like AIGA, Community Arts, and other internship/internship-like experiences? However, Singer did acknowledge that the lack of professional practice experiences for DAI students here is certainly a major issue. He shared resources, examples, and directions for me to look into during my journey.

Professor Khalid: not only acknowledged that lack of resources as the main—possibly only—problem, but he also stressed that everyone is already well aware of that. Ultimately, he strongly suggested me to go a different direction, explaining that it’s difficult to tie this problem into a design issue; that I needed to focus on a problem for which I could actually create something. He didn’t want to completely to urge me against my original idea; however, he wanted me to be well aware of the potential difficulty of taking on a problem such as this.

So, as you can see…I have a lot more to think about. I’m passionate about this problem, and I still want to tackle it somehow, but would it be feasible to translate it into an issue I can solve through design? I feel that if it’s something that strongly compels me…then I’d want to keep pondering this, to see if I can figure out something I can do, if I can make an impact using research and using my design abilities.

But if not, maybe I can tweak my problem a bit so it’s more feasible…or I might have to tackle a different one.