Freebies: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. // February 7, 2010

Not too long ago, I conducted a give-away on this website. I had a lot of fun doing it, and I enjoyed hearing people’s reactions when they got my hastily-wrapped packages in the mail:

Patricia’s Tweet.

Tim’s Tumblr.

On the subject of freebies and giving away stuff: I actually posted a somewhat cryptic post right here, and I am going to update about what went down (haha) and why it was posted, just to illuminate y’all, and I suppose, to let some stuff out.

So, recently, I’ve been posting about the ID Seniors’ Thesis Exhibit, Flux, and I know you’ve only heard good things about it on this exhibit, but some of us were a little disappointed with how some people took the exhibit as. See, a few of us produced some merchandise to go with our thesis projects (mostly badges/buttons/pins and stickers), admittedly to attract people. It was also done partly to help people visualize our projects in the context of actual supplementary output, and also as part of our individual exhibits.

In the middle of the week, we started noticing an influx of people visiting the exhibit, from all over the school. Sure, we told out respective circles (and they were supportive—thanks, bbs) and put the word out on our respective online accounts, but we didn’t really have a solid promotional strategy. So the volume of the visitors were overwhelming.

And then we realized that the freebies were doing their job.

I’m not even going to comment, because it’s such an old topic and it’s stupid to whine about it. I’m grateful for the people that passed by, I really am. It’s just sad to see how the exhibit panned out (in terms of this issue), because we really wanted feedback from an actual viewership, and a few of us never even got any constructive feedback.

I’ll just let the photos do the talking, since that’s what they’re here for:

Kris Caguiat’s.

(The flower corsage.)

Merky’s.

Mark Carandang’s. Someone took his seed packets… even though they were empty.

One of my feedback forms.

And another one.

From our collective guestbook.

Two of the last remaining pins by Derrick. He pinned them on the shirts
because people kept on taking them, even though they were only for display.

From Patricia Magsino’s table. Someone took one even though it was already pinned to the tablecloth.

Tricia Gosingtian’s. This was actually planted by a friend of ours for kicks.

As was this one. (Pats Padla’s.)

And it’s funny because we were apologetic about it at first:

Rich Tuason’s.

Celina Borromeo’s.

Mine.

I hope I don’t sound like an ingrate (because I really am thankful that people went!) but it’s problematic to me because the merch was supposed to be a sort of appetizer, but people didn’t stick around for the main course. (Following my previous metaphor, by this I meant the actual exhibits.) A friend had condoms on his table—for display purposes—and people took those, too! I mean, a condom, really?

I don’t know, I have a feeling I might be overreacting, but it was really disappointing that people only went for the free stuff, and some of them didn’t even look at the actual set-ups or read through our theses or what-have-you. I hope I’m not overreacting, really. I just really had to let this out, because it’s been bugging me for the past few weeks. I’m pretty touchy about it in real life, too. So, if I’m evasive about giving you a pin when you ask me for one, this is probably why. (But if we’re good friends or if I promised you one, then it’s O.K. to bug me about it.)

 

Rantface. // January 23, 2010

I actually have a post concerning the just-over thesis exhibit you people have been hearing so much about on here. It’s a little rant-y and might attract attention, so I’ll hold off on posting it after I fix bandwidth issues (I’m nearly out for this month) or after this month is over (which, I realize, is kind of far off). In any case, I’m in between pretty grateful and pretty upset.

If you’ve spoken to me in real life recently, you probably know what this is about.

 

Flux: ID Seniors’ Exhibit. // January 19, 2010

Yesterday was the first day of Flux, which was the exhibit of the thesis projects of the ID (Information Design) students of Ateneo. I think it also opened Humanities Week, which is pretty cool. Here are a few photos:

Father Javellana and Dra. Vilches cutting the ribbon.

Paulina making last minute edits.

Tracy making a LED lantern! Over at Meggy Kawsek’s area.

Made one, too. :)
(Photo taken by Glen.)

Children’s books by Kim Ng.

Paulina’s personal lightsaber duel.

Kris Caguiat’s thesis.

Mine!

I have some more (but not a lot) of photos over at my Flickr, if you guys want to see.

The exhibit will be ongoing until Friday, I think. :) The works are mounted over at the area behind the stairs on the first floor of the Rizal (or, old) Library.

You know, kind of like a cupboard.

 

 

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