Ah yes, been a long time but here finally part four. An unlikely chapter for a series that's called 'Diploma' I guess, but to be honest, we didn't do that much partying during the last winter months. Yes, in the beginning where we still had shitloads of time and were feeling prrrretty confident about our final projects, we still did get drunk every weekend. And also in the end, after all exams had been passed, we didn't have anything better to do than getting senselessly hammered (most of the following pictures are from that time). But inbetween? Nah, not so much. Too bad actually, as it was our last semester as real students. But hey, it still made for a few good snapshots :D

Chapter three of the 'Diploma' series – here we go! Besides constantly stuffing food down our throats and slamming small white plastic balls across a black table we actually did manage to get some work done. At least that much so that we could all finish university :D

Seriously though, often stressful, sometimes frustrating and – especially near the end – panic inducing, working at school remained mostly fun. At least for me it did. It was good, soothing almost, to have everyone 'there', being able to walk around school from door to door, see familiar faces working on their particular project, mostly just as stressed as oneself, and have little chats, a cup of coffee or a smoke. Almost – sorry, I couldn't think of anything less cliché – like one big family.

I think, I'll miss it.

Part two of my look back the past, at my last semester at HDA. It took a lot convincing by Falko one night in November to get me to move my ass from the front of my TV out into the cold in order 'to get something'. That something turned out to be an old ping pong table that was left in the streets. We dragged it – the wheels on the bottom were busted but it was too heavy for carrying – to the backyard of our house and a couple of days later the boys dragged it all the way up to school.

First in the basement and later in the foyer it would serve as our favorite way to pass time when we weren't working. And for all other students as well one might add. Seriously, I sometimes wonder how much better each of our diplomas could've been hadn't we literally spent hours on end improving our top spins...

I'm gonna start a little series of blog entries depicting and describing essential parts of our daily diploma life over the past five months. Starting off with maybe the most fundamental building block of our creative process: food.

Since we spent an average 10-15 hours working at school each day, it was pretty much inevitable that we also eat our breakfast, lunch and dinner there. As our days usually got off to a relatively slow start, breakfast often didn't consist of more than store bought sandwiches and orange juice / coffee at 12:00 a.m. Logically, lunch was mostly skipped due to time issues and so the next time we'd eat something was typically around 9 or 10 in the evening.

In the beginning we tried to cook as often as possible but near the end of the semester no one had the time or nerves to do so. So we ordered. Almost every fuckin' night. The pictures might suggest we had Dong Dong asian food each time, but no sireee, don't get the wrong picture! We tried hard to vary our nutrition as it is generally recommended, yes. So half the time we had pizza or schnitzel from these guys...

I know, I know, diploma is pretty much the only thing I'm writing about lately. But what am I gonna do, it is pretty much the only thing that's happening to/with me these days (oh yeah, and Christmas and New Years and all that schmontz...). With less than one and a half months to go I though I'd give a tiny little peek into what everyday working life at school looks like.

So here we have weekly meetings with our profs, late night work, late night discussions, late night dinners, late night beers and cigarettes and late night movies. Don't get the wrong impression though, we're actually at school all day, they just keeping getting longer. Sounds like fun, huh? Well, it actually kinda is :)

Halb5 is a series of guest lectures being held at my school each semester. They always start at the same time of day, hence the name. I've only attended a few of them in my first three years here but – as I am now realizing – should've done so more often since they are really quite good. Yesterday's Mariko Takagi wasn't as great as I expected but the fresh mint tea, mulled wine, homemade Christmas cookies and overall very cozy atmosphere made up for it :)

A future graduates best friend. Be it ping pong, extended lunch breaks, eight hour sessions of N64 Mario Kart, hardcore partying or student/professor Christmas dinners – there's almost nothing we wont do to get around working on our final projects. Then again, we do still work at least around 8-9 hours (5-6 effectively) on our diplomas each day. So I guess the cliché saying "Work Hard Play Hard" does hold a kernel of truth :)

...bastard child, monster truck, big foot. Those were just a couple of the insults I had to put up with when people saw my little interim board solution for the first time. I have to admit, it's not the prettiest thing ever built and does look a little awkward at first glance – like a pumped up toy board or something – but, it's so much f***ing fun to ride! Something all haters – mostly spoiled-by-perfectionism product designers – had to agree with in the end :)

I mean this is how a skateboard should be – smooth and fast on long straight flats (thanks to the big trucks and wheels) and with superfast response in tight turns (thanks to nose, tail and concave shape). Only problem is that due to the weight of the trucks/wheels and the resulting bulky overall shape, pulling tricks is almost impossible – at least for me. But hey, I intended this 'fun thing' for cruising the inner city and for that it works perfectly. Not counting the four or five heavy crashes I've had in the three days I've ridden it that is...

Sniff. My trusty little self-made longboard has rolled down its last hill after a very short life of only 1 1/2 years. Last Wednesday, at another parking lot session, while trying to avoid crashing with Alex on his fixie, I slipped, fell and somehow in that process managed to break the wood. Funny in a way, since just before that crash I was talking to another rider about how my board might be a little too flexible and lightly built for my weight. But we both came to the conclusion that it was still within the limits and if it did break – after several years of use – I would just have to hope it wouldn't happen while riding. Oh well...

But, since more than half of the riders I know are product designers who are currently building boards for themselves on a 48h basis it probably wont take too long before I have a new one. Until then I'll just pop the trucks and wheels on my old skateboard, should make for a fun toy as well :)

Still, kinda sad to lose my first love this fast. Sniff.

Diploma research is slowly coming to a close, thankfully. I'm starting to get tired of nothing but reading and can't wait to start on some sketches. Also the stuff I've been hammering into my brain these past weeks isn't exactly easy to digest: 'Basic Forms Of Fear' by Fritz Riemann, 'Archetypes' by C.G. Jung, 'Nature Of Man' and 'Anatomy Of Human Destructiveness' by Erich Fromm and finally 'Structures Of Evil' by Eugen Drewermann . Especially heavy for a wannabe designer who doesn't read a lot. Still, I feel like I'm learning a lot, particularly about myself (which isn't always a good thing) and human nature in general. Anyways, by the end of next week I'll hopefully have a somewhat solid concept or at least a thesis. I'll keep you posted. Until then a peek into our 'hole' in the basement. Not much – even less when you see, where the product designers get to work on their diploma – but kinda cozy after a while. If only we had daylight...