Who you observed or interviewed, their background, and the environment.

We interviewed J, a student-artist on campus. They are an art studio major and active graphic designer. Their main practice is traditional drawing and digital art. They have experience with the art creation and has done a collaboration with another visual artist.

What did you learn?

J has experience with both artist-to-artist collaboration and graphic design employment. Their collaboration experience was very separate, with one artist doing one thing before handing it off to the second artist. The two had met through class, and based their roles off their different skills in art. They communicated both in person and through Messenger.

J’s experience employment opportunity came through their connection with the Zilkha center, where they had worked over summer 2017 as a graphic designer. The employer had been looking for a graphic designer without success, and J doesn’t know precisely the process through which Zilkha center and the employer came into contact. Regardless, they set up a meeting, discussed what the client wanted, and began work.

What tasks, problems, or opportunities did you uncover?

J feels that there isn’t a cohesive creative community on campus. They see themself as a lone artist and wished for a way to get in touch. In general, J met fellow artists through classes. This is limiting as art classes tend to be small. Moreover, they don’t talk to people outside of class much. J noted that time is definitely an issue at Williams: people are friendly, but most of the time they need to focus on self and personal assignments. J also believe that time stifles creativity, and there is not enough space-time for people to think about what they want to express, nor time for cool side projects. Regarding their collaborative experience, J outlined a variety of projects they were involved in: art junior seminar class, Winter Study, Facebook messages, brainstorming over meals. The projects tend to be independent: one person did one piece, other did another, building off each other’s work.

Did you encounter any difficulties establishing rapport or getting the information you need?

Because our questions were broad and open ended, J tended to ramble sometimes, so the conversation would get off topic. We felt uncomfortable cutting her off because we felt like that would discourage free thought - something we will need to learn how to navigate.

What are your plans for the remaining inquiries?

We still need to do inquiries with different user groups - we felt like J was a very good representation of one of our user groups, but we will interview more from this user group to confirm sentiments about the creative community.

How do you plan to change your protocol based on what you learned in your first inquiry?

Have people physically go through the platforms they use for interacting with the creative community.