Wall Art by Alexandre Farto
A sassy little website utilizing Google Maps to help people decide where to go for drinks. Included is a sister website that also helps people decide where to find food.
On the first day on the AIGA student group visit to Chicago, we visited various design firms throughout the city. The particular firm that me and my group visited was the McGuffin Creative Group. Upon entering this firm I was very pleasantly surprised! Where I was expecting a more professional, corporate atmosphere I, instead, found a very fun, laid back, personal and comfortable atmosphere. We met our contact and McGuffin employee, Brendan in the hall and he took us right into the conference room to being our day of exploration. We began to discuss the history of the McGuffin group and the story of how Brendan’s interview landed him this job. What I learned from Brendan’s story is that your character and personality is much more important and much more likely to be the reason I got hired long before my portfolio will. I could have the most amazing portfolio an employer has ever seen, but if I cannot get along with his employees then I’m simply not the right fit for that design firm.
This knowledge helps me to loosen up when preparing to and approaching a person to talk. If I were to act not like myself during an interview I am only wasting my possible employers time as well as my own time. It is good practice to interview with employers however it is a waste if I’m going to bottle and hide my nature.
It was mentioned at the Seek conference the other weekend during the final Q and A session that time spent making a design perfect at the start is time wasted. I feel this correlates well with a previous phrase that read don’t analyse while you design. These two bits of knowledge fit well together and they both illustrate issues that I have had during my design process.
I often find that while I design I’m often analyzing my creation. This is by far, too counter productive, the two hemispheres of my brain are competing for the leading seat of focus at the same time leaving my head busy and angry. It has become a necessity for me to calm by mind and allow the thoughts to flow out into a creation. It is then, only once the design is out of my mind, that I should begin to analyse the design. However, it is proving to be a hard task to teach my mind to not critique while I design. Being that I’m skilled with the ability to create as well as deal with mathematical and analytically problems easily, I often find it difficult to allow more president with one direction of thought over another.
Now that I am becoming more aware of this problem I’m having with my design process, I can begin to pick it apart bit by bit until I have solved the issue and improved my ability to concentrate and design. Awareness is the first step to solving a problem.
Last weekend the Ferris State University AIGA student group left its home of Big Rapids for the warmer, but windier, lands of Chicago. There we found a weekend filled with adventure, experiences, and knowledge. On Saturday during our trip, we went to the Seek conference held in Northern Illinois University. There we listened to presentations by Debbie Millman, Nick Lo Bue of Razorfish, Bob Faust of Faust LTD, Plural, Danny Yount of Prologue Films, and Sean Adams of AdamsMorioka. As the conference came to a close, a Q and A session became the last event of the evening. During this session the question “What are two things that you wish you had known when you entered the field of design?” was asked. Some of the answers were “It takes time to do anything well.”, “It is ok slow down, it’s not live or die.”, “learn to say no.” and “A project is what you make out of it.”
It was suggested several times that a designer should start their career big and bold. That a designer should throw themselves out into the industry and to go big or go home. That it’s better to reach for the stars and go for the biggest firm you want and aim for employment there. However that advice conflicts with the advice to take things slow and easy; that the situation is not live or die. As a senior in college it is hard to determine which one of these is the best possible direction to take. Perhaps neither is the one for me, however, in the end, the method that I choose to use will be the best for me. There is no way for me to know if throwing myself into the industry will make me more successful than going easy and working my way into success. I will simply have to tread on with confidence until I find where I need to be.
Dana’s chalk lettering is out of this world. She has such amazing typography skills and has worked for clients such as; Google Inc., Rugby Ralph Lauren, West Elm, Adidas, The Ace Hotel, Reader’s Digest/EveryDay with Rachael Ray, Harper Collins UK and much more. Take a look at this feature, you won’t be dissapointed.
(Source: inspirationhut.net)
If I had just one thing, one sound, in this world that I could listen to forever, it very easily would be this song.
I stumbled across this article while looking for something completely different on google. I got to reading it and I rather enjoyed its bits of advice. My favorite among the pieces of advice are numbers 4 and 5.
#4. You cannot score with out a goal.
#5. Starting anything requires energy.
When starting any project as a designer you first have to identify the problem. By identifying the problem you usually then being to develop a goal to fix it. However, to simply fix the a problem may not actually be the solution. You may need to improve upon many aspects of the problem, for that you need a game plan. Game plans tend to be where I need some work. I easily Identify the problem but most of the time, the magnitude of projects I work on really need a game plan. As I progress through my last year of school, I intend on working on and fixing this issue.
Also when starting any project, a nice boost of energy is required. This is 100% true and is not a problem I usually have. However, it is keeps that energy level up as the project begins to stretch on and issues begin to crop up that becomes the hard part of a project. When energy from a project begins to die down, I often need to step back and take a quick break from it. Then I come back and rediscover why I had become so excited about the project in the beginning. If I am excited about what I am designing then the final result will be a more exciting experiences for my client and all else who may encounter it.
(Source: the-50.org)
I listened to a Typeradio segment with Tobias Frere-Jones and Jonathan Hoefler where they talked about working within your passion, where ever that may lie. They mentioned that they enjoyed working on political projects because it includes their passion for design and their passion for politics. Mixing one passion with another will create strong projects. It seems the best way to work. If you can take your ability to design and combine that with any personal passion, you will forever push yourself to be better. When you are working on something that drives you, you understand it better than you ever could with something you are not involved in so deeply. As part of that community, you know the subtle nuances, inside jokes, deeper meanings, and up coming events. Who can communicate or persuade better than an outside man. This knowledge drove me to think on my own passions and how I can use my designer abilities towards them. Much like Tobias Frere-Jones and Jonathan Hoefler. I enjoy politics but I’m not sure I would want to work with it day in and day out. I love books and music, both would make great jobs in the future. However, I heard it told that your personality is not completely developed until the age of thirty five. I’d rather not wait to get a job until I am thirty five, so I’ll have to ponder on my passions now and work with them as I mature and grow with my environment and experiences.
Rules and Hints for Students and Teachers by John Cage
