Bridget popped this last assignment on us like it’s highschool again. We’re being timed to all write a blog post about our thoughts after a year of Broom Cupboard. I’m really feeling the pressure right now, I thought I’d never have to do this after graduating. God damnit Bridget. But, she did give us these sweet EggToast throw blankets with the pixel rug pattern from WAFA the game.
Who Am I: I’m Xing, I led projects WAFA and E G G T O A S T while at Broom Cupboard. I’m an interaction design student currently at the UW, about to graduate and my thing is doing storyboards or visual art stuff. Also design shit.
What I thought of Broom Cupboard Overall: It was a great excuse to see my friends and goof off every week and eat free food. And make stuff I guess. I’m going to be sad that we don’t have this cool excuse to hang out again.
Favorite Project: Probably E G G T O A S T because it was a chill project and we all owned our parts of the film, independent of what other people were doing. There was little pressure for us to get our things done out of fear we weren’t giving the next person down the pipeline enough time. Also it was a cute project and we got to get hotpot.
What I learned: Leading projects for longer than 2 months is hard. I do not have the attention span for this. It was a challenge balancing school and freelance and Broom Cupboard for a year. But the flexibility and the core tenet of Broom Cupboard; to run a studio healthily, made it an experience overall worth enjoying. I did not feel as stressed as I could’ve felt, knowing my friends had my back if I needed to take time off.
What I’m Doing Next: I’m on my last quarter at the UW and doing our senior capstones. At the moment I’m working on a design intervention for overwork and burnout culture as my primary capstone, tentatively called ^Cake. This project’s roots were similar to why Broom Cupboard was started up and the pitch on our studio: creative production without the stresses of a toxic work environment. My other potential capstone that I’m thinking of doing in tandem with ^Cake is The Lattice Chamber, some sort of narrative interactive game centered around women’s roles and marriage culture in Asia. Fun stuff.
Also since I’m continuing to share a house with Bridget and Zori for a time, I’ll be doing a bunch of odd job projects to you know, pay my rent for the rest of my time at the studio.
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It’s been fun,
