It has been a good eight years since WDCD2014 speaker and design legend Michael Bierut led the first ever 100 Day Project at the Yale School of Art. What began as a simple, albeit challenging, workshop taught to a few dozen students, has since become a bit of a cult classic – inspiring multiple similar projects around the globe. This year, 100 Days is about to go viral; thanks to artist Elle Luna and her upcoming collaboration with The Great Discontent magazine.
Throughout the years, the premise of this project has stayed the same. The challenge is to choose one creative exercise, and then repeat it every day for 100 days. The medium is open and the only rule is that every iteration must be documented for eventual presentation. For example, one Yale student made a poster in under a minute every day for 100 days; another picked a paint chip out of a bag and responded to it in writing for 100 days, and Elle Luna herself created 100 self portraits last year. Whatever it is you choose; it’s the process that we’re looking at here, and not the final product. Actually, it is an exercise in discipline and design thinking.
‘That’s what I thought when I first read about this project on Design Observer. Not only were the projects clever, but they also offered an opportunity to grow in one of the ways my friends and I were craving: discipline. The great surrender is the process; showing up day after day is the goal,’ says Elle Luna of the project, which she is now gearing up to turn into a movement.
To the power of 100
Last year, Luna shared her 100 days of self-portraits on Instagram, tagging her images with #the100dayproject. Appealing to more than just designers, people of all ages and walks of life started to join in. Inspired by this development, Luna is now setting up a bigger, more collaborative project for 2015, bringing in partners like museums and galleries. ‘It’s exciting to imagine museums taking on ground-up, community-driven, public art projects. If we want to get more people involved in creating art, the 100-Day Project has the power to do exactly that.
Of course, Luna wants you to participate, too. This year’s 100 days will start on Monday, April 6th, and will culminate in a special presentation on July 14th, 2015. Follow The Great Discontent or Elle Luna herself on Instagram to get the latest announcements, and click here for all the details on how to get involved.