Erin Rice, a 2012 Stevenson High School graduate from Lincolnshire who is starting her fifth year at the University of Notre Dame, is pursuing a job that can take her out of her comfort zone.
“Since I was young, I’ve had progressive ADHD,” Rice said. “With ADHD, your thoughts move a lot quicker than your being able to speak. I slowly developed this love for being able to communicate through something that’s visual.”
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Rice is studying product design through a design program at the university. She spends her extra time on side projects, and she recently presented a design idea to Lincolnshire Village Board members, who are looking to update the village logo.
She also designed Dizzy Doodle, a women’s footwear product that shoemaker Bucketfeet recently started selling on its website.
Q: As a look ages, it almost always becomes dated or tired. Very few designs ever earn the title of “classic.” What makes one thing “timeless,” and another thing of the same ilk from the same period “old”?
A: A lot of times, trends develop as a product of trickle down. One really well-known restaurant will use a certain typeface for their shop, and that will become popular very quickly. In design, the things that are most successful go back to the basics. It can be read at a big size, or a small size. Even though people don’t realize it, that’s why it’s being used. When computers came out, people started using Word, but there were like five typefaces. A lot of designers refuse to use those anymore because they’re dated and they’re so overused. Everyone’s trying to search for something new.
Q: You spoke with the trustees about making a logo that looks like an icon on a mobile-phone screen. When we look back on this decade 30 years from now, that’s going to be the dominant look — but what’s going to replace it? How to we advance from what we have now?
A: If you look at the design from the ’50s and ’60s, that’s what we’re returning to. What’s ahead of us is going to be virtual reality, using interaction. Instead of being on a screen, it’ll be a hologram. I don’t think what we have now is going to become outdated. I don’t think the simplicity of it is going to go away soon.
Q: The field you want to get into moves slowly. As a young woman with ADHD, how will you make a step-by-step pace work for you?
A: I see product design as a way to improve upon myself. I’m pushed way outside of my comfort zone. I’m surrounded by people who are organized, well-spoken. They just have these natural attributes.
Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer