In spite of new high-tech modeling equipment, renovated studios, and a roster of famous visitors, Yale is anything but slick. It’s messy. That’s what we like about it. The public image of Yale is only a small part of what it’s really like here, although everyone experiences Yale differently. Our diverse backgrounds, opinions, and experience are pooled, contributing to a collective culture that redefines itself every year.
This issue of Retrospecta is the result of the collaboration between five student designers and the entire student body. Our process of finding work to publish was not unlike what we do here daily—eavesdrop on conversations, rummage through garbage, paparazzi events, and generally beg for attention. We found great projects in final presentations, but some of the best ideas remain sketches on trace. It is often these undeveloped ideas that spark discussion and inspire exploration of new directions. Our education is defined as much by casual conversation as it is by formal criticism.
By the time you read this there will be new students, new faculty, new equipment—new ideas to influence our current thought. This book is now an artifact—not comprehensive, but hopefully interesting.
—Sarah Lavery, Victoria Partridge, and Jessica Russell