"Creativity is intelligence having fun."
~ Albert Einstein
Professional Identity
I am a rather technically inclined person, detail-oriented and patient individual. My designer identity, as well as the products of my work, reflect these personal traits in my work conduct. Since my earliest memories, of what I know realize to be critical thinking, I found the ease with which I was able to analyse different objects around me with the phrase in mind: “I could make this better!”. In time, while improving my skills, I began exploring the steps necessary to achieve such goals.
While scouting the different facets of design in this past year, I found myself more than anything else attracted to the visual elements of our profession, primarily 3D-modeling, but recently developing “a taste” for photo and video editing, using the other tools, such us user research, sketching or applied technological skills, to better my understanding and proficiency in my chosen field providing me with a sum of tools that would bridge the gap between the creative-artistic side of design with the requirements of new technologies and societal dynamics.
Vision
My primary concern while designing a product or a model is quality. The ability to
place yourself in the position of the user is essential in my design process. I am interested in working on projects where the value and consistency of the product is the most important aspect. The object of my attention has so far been modelling technology-based projects. My background in electronics gives me a unique perspective on design, as it allows me to understand what other components of the industry expect from our contribution, adequately bridging the gap between aesthetics and effective functionality. Moreover, the at the core of my designing principles stand the values of innovation and adaptability. As the technological landscape is rapidly evolving with our societal dynamics, anticipating future needs is key for a healthy industry mindset. It follows from my this my interest in modular, minimalistic, flexible, and clean designs. I therefore strive to improve my understanding of both this concepts and the means to achieve them.
Testimonials
Octavian is a person of determination. Meeting him in the beginning of CBL project 1, he, and the group seemed down in spirit. However, he persevered like no other group member and quickly assumed the role of lead 3D modelling designer with his new-found skills. He is a great teacher when it comes to any of his expertise, as he refuses to leave a team member with unanswered questions. He is definitely a person I look forward to working with and an excellent group partner overall.
~Adam Bodor
Being in a team with Octavian was truly a great opportunity for me. Through our collaboration for CBL-P1, I concluded that he's a very ambitious person, a true perfectionist who will never compromise the quality of his products for the sake of spending less time on the prototyping process. His willingness to share and explain his knowledge in the technical expertise fields and the great efficiency of completing tasks that he always shows make him the ideal teammate.
~ Iulia Tudor
Understanding the importance of PIV
My first contact with the PIV requirements was rather rough. I could not yet picture the plan for my whole year in the first quarters. I did not know what I wanted to pursue in my career as a designer, and my personal interests were relatively clear to me, I could see pass the blur of my original impression of what seemed to be an insurmountable task.
Perhaps the most relevant movement for my progress in this conceptual area of our work was found in one of the mentor meetings. Realizing that us presenting our PDP drafts to each other was perhaps not the best way of obtain knowledge on this topic, my group’s tutor decided to shuffle our PDP for us to explore together. I received the PDP of one of my friends and while exploring his side of our situation I managed to positively improve my abilities to clearly picture what I wanted from my future.
Goals
As I look back on the goals I set out for myself this year, I feel that most of them were successfully achieved (improving my skills with rendering and integrating my models in a meaningful way in presentations <like this website>, making use of Arduino for better prototyping, as explained during the Human-Cantered Design course as well as improving my skills regarding my ability to adequately present my work), as described in the SMART goals note in my last draft of my PDP. I also believe that my work this past quarters competently reflects the progress made so far.