Catch-Up

Hey everybody! Remember three months back when I said I was going to start writing more? If you don't remember, you can scroll down one post and refresh your memory, because I haven't written since then. Sorry about that folks. As it turned out, my new job combined with finding/moving into a new apartment, moving into financial independence, and a new lady friend to create a massive, time-cosuming hurricane. Summer is gone, and I have no idea where it went.

Lets catch up shall we? In the last few months, the satisfaction I get from my job at Gannett has declined in inverse proportion to my ability to do it well. While I've become very fast and efficient in InDesign and learned to navigate the bureaucratic circus that is working for an international company, I've also slowly become embittered by the monotony and just plain bad design I slog through every day. The first month I worked an overnight shift, and quickly lost my mind. July saw me move to the 5pm–1:30am shift, and I've recovered slightly at the cost of any evening social life I had before.

I am actively (desperately) seeking external outlets to maintain some design integrity and practice doing good work. Producing good design is nigh impossible at my job. The typical work day is spent squeezing a massive amount of customer submitted text into inappropriately small ad spaces. Any minimalist inclinations I may have are simply non-applicable...(sigh)... Oh well, the money is good enough. I'm committed so seeking a solution within Gannett at this point. Whether that means moving to online ads, or becoming a project coordinator, I can't say at the moment...

SO, that is why I've been unnoticeably absent this summer. Again, my sincerest apologies. I promise the drought is over.

School's out forever! Time to blog for realzies!

Welcome back, imaginary readers of the blogosphere! I know no one out there is reading this, but I'm going to write as if they are. Yup, that's the kind of life I live. So a lot of stuff has gone down in the week and a half since I finished practicum's project 3 (this blog), so I have quite a bit to write about. Why I'm still writing here at all will be discussed later. Two events specifically come to mind. First, I graduated from Drake University with a BA Graphic Design and a Music minor. So, that was pretty nice. Second, I've started my job as a Graphic Artist at Gannett Company's Regional Toning Center. What does that mean? Who's Gannett? Well friend, I'm glad you asked!


Gannett is a huge, big, giant international news and information company. In the US, Gannett publishes 85 newspapers daily, including USA Today and the Des Moines Register (local shout out!). You can find a more thorough company profile here.


So, 85 daily newspapers are filled with thousands of local advertising spots and inserts. All these ads get funneled through two Regional Toning Centers; one in Indianapolis and one in Des Moines. I'm a part of a team of designers who work shifts 24/7 to build, update, and improve these ads, preparing them for printing as fast as possible. The job ranges from changing movie times on a playbill to creating magazine ads from scratch with instructions to "give it some zing" (eye-roll).


I started training on Monday, with a week and a half left before I'm put in the thick of it. Immediately on the first day it became clear that the InDesign skills I learned in college were akin to a toddler wielding a scalpel in a horrifying attempt at brain surgery. (Lets take a minute to admire that metaphor. Imagine a baby in an operating room with a little mask on, being held over you by a nurse as he prepares to make the first incision. Did you laugh? Oh...maybe its just me then. ANYway...) 


They want me eventually to be averaging 7-10 ads an hour. SEVEN TO TEN, FOLKS. So these two weeks of training feel like I've been drafted into the the graphic design army and shipped off to boot camp. In short, I freaking love it! I'm going to walk out with Billy the Kid/Jesse James level quick draw InDesign skills.  Graduation still really hasn't set in yet. I think its because, as my roommate Brendan put it, "Its summer vacation and you're at Graphic Design Camp!"


This brings me to the real question on everyone's minds. Why the hell is he still writing this blog after his project is over? Well, I finally got my practicum grade today. I got a 91%. Not bad, and not unexpected really. What really made my day was reading my professor's comments. In classic form he offered a backhanded compliment that I actually completely agree with:


"I have always enjoyed having you in a critique as you had some of the most interesting things to say. If you can find a way for your work to match the level of your rhetoric I think you will do fine."
and
"I think you have the most entertaining and thoughtful blog created for the class that I have read thus far. It seems a practice that could be helpful in the development of your work. I only wish it had a little more depth. Include your thoughts on the articles you tweeted about. I look forward to see how you will integrate other design related and non-design related activities into your blog. I hope you found it useful."


You sir, have described my situation perfectly. I really do enjoy design, and rhetoric is definitely a thing with me . Maybe I should write about design.  Also, I'm bored. So, internet, blame John Fender and boredom for inspiring me to continue my crappy blog! In all seriousness, I very much appreciate his comments and am glad he sort of liked my work. So look forward to more slightly facetious reflections on design, the design community, music, movies, and other stuff I feel like writing about. My mouse hand is tired. Bloggin' ain't easy! Wow, okay. I just said that. Time for a break.

FontConf Registration

Conference Attendance—40 points
Project 3 Total—100 points
Conference Date: Saturday, June 19th 2010
Location: St. Paul, MN


Just signed up to go to FontConf in St. Paul this summer. I'm looking forward to it. Fontface is something I want to figure out ahead of the curve. Its exciting to be able to pick w/e typeface you want for website body copy. The limited font choices are one of the most frustrating things about the internet right now.


FontConf is interesting in that its participant driven. The conference is run by the attendees, and its content might morph drastically between now and June 19th. As their website explains "FontConf's agenda is determined and led by the attendees. Likely topics include; web font technologies, font optimization, web font creation, web typography, and web font licensing. It's highly likely there will be far more interesting things as well."


Sweet. Sign me up!

Bid Sheet Template

Bid Sheet Template—5 points
Project 3 Total—60 points

To be honest, I don't really foresee bidding for contracts anytime soon, so initially I made this form exclusively for the points. Any freelance work I get usually comes to me on its own. That said, better that I have a template now just in case. That way I won't have to figure one out on the fly.

How To Be A Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul: A Review

Book Review Online Submission—5 points
Project 3 Total—55 points

I just posted an Amazon review of  How To Be A Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy. I've had this book for a couple years, and I totally understand why most people declare it essential for the young designer. Its a guide to thinking like a professional designer. It is NOT a guide to business interactions, contracts, bids, or anything particularly practical at all. This book simply outlines strategies for approaching obstacles designers face each day.

On Amazon.com the reviews of this book are almost always stellar, but there are a few people who think its a waste of paper. I can certainly identify with those who argue that the publication itself is poorly designed. Everyone agrees the cover is pretty awesome, but inside its a bit of a mess. Sans serif body copy and illegible cyan captions for completely arbitrary pictures make this hard to get through. It IS pretty to look at though.

As for the negative reviews that claim the content is self-congratulatory and worthless, I'm not sure I agree. How would an author provide advice from experience w/o using examples from his or her own career? It is certainly possible, but would be much less effective.  I would argue that Shaughnessy wrote a much more...theoretical, philosophical book than some people expect when they pick it up. Pragmatism was not necessarily the goal with this publication. Its more akin to lectures we all get at design workshops. Its a book full of advice.

AIGA Get A Job Boot Camp+2 Portfolio Reviews

Workshop Attendance—10 points
2 Portfolio Reviews—20 points
Project 3 Total —50 points


Today was the AIGA Iowa chapter's "Get A Job Boot Camp" workshop. The event consisted of several speakers followed a 1 on 1 portfolio review session. The first presentation was called "The How To...". The speaker talked about how to find a job, how to start the search and how to recognize opportunities to get exposure. She also gave us tips on how to market ourselves and present our portfolios. There wasn't a lot of new information for us in this presentation, considering we've spent the whole semester discussing and researching pretty much that exact topic. Its always nice to hear how someone else does things, but at this point, we're starting to hear a lot of the same thing.


The second segment was called "Defend Your Design". This presentation was a series of skits recreating typical interactions with the client. The speakers then demonstrated techniques for handling difficult situations. This was pretty fun to watch. Already, most if not all the students in the audience had encountered situations where a client is asking you to do free stuff for them, or isn't happy with your price. While not exactly an earth shattering presentation, it was nice to get some help dealing with that stuff.


After that we broke for lunch and "networking". Unfortunately, I was assigned a table where only one person wasn't from Drake, and she was a student. So not a lot of networking occurred. It was kind of lame. We were expecting the older designers and speakers to kind of work the room and give each table some face time. Nope. Maybe it was unfair to expect that. Maybe we all should have taken the leap and sought them out. Oh well. It was awkward.


Finally, we got to the portfolio reviews. This was the most valuable part of the day in my opinion. 1 on 1 feedback from people other than my professors is really, really, really helpful. My first review was with Monte Ballard, head of DMACC's Graphic Design Department. He was kind of grumpy when I said I only was showing my digital portfolio today. "Some of us older folks want to see a physical representation" Yeah, I know...but today I wanted feedback on my pdf email portfolio. After that he warmed up and gave me some really good feedback, and some of the best suggestions I've gotten about how to solve some of the layout problems. Unfortunately, I forgot to have him fill out my review form. (Fender, you might remember that Megan Leese mentioned we shared a reviewer at this, in case you need more proof that I did it.)


My second reviewer was Antje Gray, Principal of Design Matters. She was definitely less enthusiastic, but it was the end of the day and it could be that she was getting tired of seeing kids portfolios. At any rate, she did have some suggestions and she caught a mistake no one else has noticed before. It went okay. Like I said, she didn't seem that into it. It was kind of weird. I DID however manage to get her to fill out a review form.


Overall, I'm on the fence about this workshop. I think I'd prefer this late in the semester to just spend a whole day getting my portfolio reviewed. The reviews definitely were the most effective part of todays presentation. Meh, I could take or leave the rest of the speakers. Probably more valuable for juniors or first semester seniors. The older kids have heard most of it by now.

Chad Owen Speaks to the Practicum class

Course Activity Note—5 points
Project 3 Total—20 points
Speaker: Chad Owen

Chad Owen was by far the most entertaining speaker we've had so far this year. He made us laugh, which I was really surprised by.  Essentially, Chad gave us a summary of his career path after graduating from Iowa State, giving us tips, do's and don'ts, and general advice about being a young graphic designer. I thought it was a great talk, and I absolutely learned something usefull. Also, Chad's advice sounded a lot like the stuff I've been reading online or in books about graphic design careers. Honestly, I trusted his suggestions more than Chris Conyers' thoughts earlier this semester. Conyers gave a vibe that she wasn't really tapped in to the current job search, and that she hadn't hired anyone for a while. Chad on the other hand seemed more in tune with what its like to look for work right now, and his tips made sense. The three biggest things I got from this speaker were:

Summer is a dead period for the design world, so don't freak out if you don't get a job over the summer. Work picks up again in September


Company's usually hire you initially for your typesetting skills. The person looking at your portfolio is thinking "how much time would I waste cleaning up this person's mistakes?" You want to show that you will be an asset not a liability


Don't stay in one place too long. Advancing your career by switching companies can be years faster than moving up the ladder in one company, especially if it isn't a perfect fit. Keep moving till you find that perfect fit.


Somehow Chad's horror stories and warnings actually made me less terrified of the job search. I think that's because his stories illustrated that making a mistake doesn't have to spell disaster for your career, and that their isn't a time limit on when you will find your dream job. It might not happen right away, but we have plenty of time (the rest of our lives) to make it happen.

Portfolio Review with Test Of Time Design

Portfolio Review—10 points

Project 3 Total—15 points


Today I had an portfolio review with Justin Brady,  Creative Owner of Test of Time Design. I came across his company while searching for design studios in Des Moines, and was intrigued by Test of Time's work philosophy. Justin and his staff believe the most critical component of a successful project is the client and promise to listen to "every word, sigh, problem, suspicion and question" their clients have for them. Finally,  ToT believes in goal-oriented design that functions outside of pure aesthetics by triggering emotional reactions and generating revenue. That all makes sense to me, and I appreciated the straightforward declaration of the philosophy. So, I gave Justin a call, and he agreed to meet with me at Mars Cafe to take a look at my portfolio and just talk a bit about the design business.


The meeting went  really well. Justin turned out to be really friendly and gave me some great feedback on my work. I really appreciated his direct nature. He definitely wasn't prone to sugar-coating or softening his opinion. I tend to get along with people who operate that way. Thats not to say I agreed with everything he said. There were some pieces in my portfolio that just weren't his style. Particularly some of my album covers didn't really resonate with him. No worries. I know they aren't particularly weak projects, andif nothing else they demonstrate stylistic diversity. They're staying in, but with a few modifications. 

The biggest thing I took from today's review was his advice to always consider your target audience. As we worked through my portfolio, he pointed out several examples where I clearly hadn't taken this into consideration. He definitely had a good point. Its very easy to design something with vague, instinctual direction at an audience, but another thing entirely to take the time to articulate your goal demographic. 

I'm very glad to have met Justin and gotten his feedback on my work. He was very positive about the portfolio, and asked me if I'd be okay with him calling me for a project sometime. Uh...YEAH. So I'll be sure to send him a thank you. It was a lot of fun.

Submission to ADAI Annual Student Exhibition

Entry in Design Exhibition—5 points
Total Project 3 points—5 points

Today I submitted my Hershey's packaging redesign project to the ADAI Annual Student Exhibition. I've never entered a juried exhibition or design contest before, mostly out of bashfulness. Its only recently that I've felt my work even holds its own in a comparison my peers. I've never dared to consider how I stack up to kids from other schools. Just focusin' on getting better.

But the senior practicum essentially required me to submit work to a competition, so... I did. In doing so, I did actually learn a bit. I learned a lot about photographing work, and spent a long time photoshopping my mediocre pictures. In the end I was pretty satisfied with the result. Submitting has helped me work out some presentation questions that will help me put together my analogue and digital portfolios later this semester.

However, the submission requirements were pretty nebulous regarding layout. Ultimately, rather than bother with some kind of gallery of pics, I just sent the one. We'll find out later this spring what exactly the judges are looking for.

(edit 2/16) Fender, here is proof of submission and my correspondence regarding entry fees.

Design Statement

It seems typical that the first step in this project is also one that I struggle with fundamentally. The first thing I'm supposed to do is write a "design statement". What does that even mean anyway? I always saw a design statement as a declaration of the overall philosophy behind a designer's creative process. Its a clarification/defense of a designer's unique "style". 


By this definition, I'm not sure I'm comfortable writing a design statement at this point in my career. I think that right now, as a student and soon-to-be young professional, I should be a stylistic chameleon. To pigeonhole myself into a style would be to stifle my growth. I want to learn. I want to absorb everything I can, process it and then let it manifest itself in my work naturally. I want to resist categorization. I guess, that is my design statement. For now, at least.


I want to resist categorization.


When I get my stationary system up and running, I'll write a fancier version to that effect and post it here as "documentation". Boosh. Step one in the bag.

Design Practicum: Project 3 Introduction/Explanation

This blog will eventually be an outlet for my "pillow talk, pipe dreams, rants, and ravings", but for this semester I will be using it to document the third project for my graphic design practicum. To get everyone up to speed, I thought I'd briefly explain project 3 to you.

This project is designed to introduce students to the general graphic design community, as well as educate us in the professional activities necessary to stay current in the design business. Secondarily, this project serves as documentation for both Projects 1 and 2. These will be addressed more thoroughly in a later post.

Project 3 provides a list of professional interactions common in the design community. Each activity is assigned a point value. Over the course of the semester, students are tasked with completing their choice of activities from the list, ultimately accumulating 100+ points. At the end of the year, we will present our records of these interactions, in addition to documentation of Projects 1 and 2.

So, as I said earlier, I will use this blog to document my progress on Project 3 for the rest of the semester. Here we go!