Coffee Bean, Carrot, or Egg?

By Libby Reimer

Being artists, we are all visual learners. In undergrad, professors used metaphors to explain life lessons, especially ones that we would be facing after college. I forgot about his particular life lesson until one professor reminded me of it during a heart-to-heart talk in my first semester. I was trying to balance the overflowing plate that I seemed to keep piling regardless of the amount. Hearing it again flipped a switch, and it set a staple for how I wanted to teach and design, along with what I should teach my students to strive to be. Coffee bean, carrot, or egg? I wanted to explain to my students where I was coming from with upcoming projects for the year since we were still new to the teaching relationship. My classes were presented with the question, “would you rather be a coffee bean, carrot, or egg?” I did not give them any pretext, and I wanted to know what they would say. There was a wide variety of responses and the reasons were interesting, but the majority of them had to do with the shape, color, and taste. Responses that were more surface-related than conceptually related, after the discussion, I asked a follow-up question, “what happens when they are
placed in boiling water?”

During the faculty retreat at the beginning of the year, Professor of Business, Dr. Karen Baehler, approached me about doing a possible collaboration project with her entrepreneur class. She had thrown the idea of Shark Tank. Other university and college business courses had done similar projects, but she wanted to do something different with it, which was to include branding. I was on board right away, and the project Shark Pool was created. I presented to Dr. Baehler the idea that her students would higher my design students as their startup companies. Therefore, they could learn how to be a freelancer and go through the proper paperwork.

At the end of the semester, we wanted to gather designers and personal business panel for the students to present their company and the designs. I thought this would be an excellent way to introduce the students to a real-life scenario. My class consisted of mostly seniors, and from what I gathered, they had never done a project of this nature. I wanted to have them go through the learning experience of the possible boiling water of graphic design, which at some point, all designers go through.

I was able to acquire successful business personnel for the entrepreneur panel. For my design students, I had two of my MFA classmates with incredible resumes and portfolios and a marketing director, who has done it all. All the judges had a different perspective in their specialty and brought excellent diverse expertise to
the panel.

Dr. Baehler’s students worked on their part of the project all semester, which worked out great. Once my class joined her students, they had a good foundation for their company, which made it feasible for my students. Each entrepreneur group hired a design student to do their branding for their new startup company. In the first meeting, the students had a packet they had to fill out, to help the design students build a persona and create a SWOT analysis. They also had to ask questions concerning the client’s needs and what attributes they thought set their company apart from the rest. The majority of the students are athletes. In return, all the companies had something related to sports and sports gear. The design students also had to fill out an estimate form and eventually involve comparing and contrast to see how they can work in a time frame.

After they gathered all the marketing documents, each student had to create style boards to present to their client to help visualize the direction they wanted to go. After the style was chosen, the students began on their sketches. They met with their client a least once a week to ensure changes were met, and a log was kept as if they were getting paid by the hour.

When it came to the presentation day, students had a 15 minute window to pitch their idea and receive feedback, so each company got 30 minutes total to cover both design and business. The entrepreneur students went first, followed by the design students.

I thought the presentations we great! There were a few typical hiccups with students, but other than that, they all responded well and were respectful when they were put into the boiling water. Many business students, professionals, and professors commented on how they had no idea the work and thinking in branding a company. Each side of the panel all learned a little more about each other and found new interests and respect.

In conclusion, when coffee beans, carrots, and eggs are put into boiling water situations, they all react differently. If you are an egg, you become a hard-boiled egg, which can make an unhealthy environment to be around and difficult to work with others. If you are a carrot, you get all mushy and fall apart. You become unreliable and just all over the place. You want to be the coffee bean. When coffee beans are put into boiling water, what happens? Coffee is made! Although caffeine is essential, a coffee bean changes its surroundings without changing its form. As people, we want to be the coffee bean. How we handle situations, whether it be school, work, and personal all affect the people who surround us. Being a positive influence is hard under challenging situations, and you want to make sure you do not change who you are in the process. Be the change while not changing yourself.

The students learned areas that they need to work on, good and bad. There were a few that did not like the project due to the outcome and ones that enjoyed it. For a few of the students, it was like a light bulb went on, and having them second semester, I felt like they were more eager to learn and were not scared to step out of their comfort zones. As a first-year instructor is was humbling to witness the student’s transformation.