It's getting close to the end of the semester and the projects are certainly piling up. Flash projects, websites, magazines, annual reports, packaging- all need to be worked on and completed by the end of April. I really should be working right now but I'm pretty tired. I helped on set this weekend and they go pretty late and I'm still feeling it. I need to get motivated, but all I would like to do is take a nap!
But things are going really well, I'm really getting comfortable at redpepper and feeling confident there. I went to lunch the other day with two of the girls who work there as designers and they told me about their experiences at school, and graduating and then working. It was so nice to talk to them and it made me feel a million times better about graduating. I actually made a big decision this week to wait until the Spring to graduate. I started to think about how I would really be pushing it to take 12 hours of studio classes in the Fall to get out by December. 1, the economy isn't great right now and 2, I probably won't be doing my best work if I take on so many things in those months. I want to have the best portfolio I can, so it makes since to just take my portfolio class in the Spring so I can focus on that and I won't have any other classes to put time and energy towards.
I talked to my professors and my parents and I feel good about the decision. It lifted a big weight off of me. And I enjoy being at Watkins, so another semester is something to look forward to.
Well, I should go and do my work.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
web design inspiration
I have been researching websites for inspiration in designing the ENF site and really enjoyed looking at the CSS Gallery from Design Shack. I've been getting great ideas from looking at all the different websites. Thought I'd share the goods.
spring break
I'm on my spring break right now and just returned from a roadtrip with friends to Texas. We went to Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin. I had a really nice time, being in a different place and just relaxing. But I'm back in TN and ready to get work done. I've been working on my multimedia website for awhile. I am redesigning the website for my film friend's at Watkins: Eric Night Films. You can see their current site here. I plan on further developing the site and also adding Adobe Flash components to it. I'm really looking forward to doing another website. I'm going to try to get as much experience in interactive design and media as possible. I really hope I can take more multimedia classes and just complete as many tutorials as I can. Watkins is going to start offering concentrations in Graphic Design in multimedia and illustration, which is great, but I must admit I sure wish I would have had those as an option. None the less, I can learn more about those things anyway. I hope everyone is enjoying their time off and will feel refreshed next week.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
internship update
I've been interning at redpepper for about a month now and it's been a good learning experience thus far for various reasons.
Probably the biggest thing I have struggled with is the feeling that I just don't know enough. I have been racked with the fear that I should be further along in my education at this point. For example, I should know how to use InDesign, one of the programs in the Adobe Creative Suite. I will skip the rant on why I did not learn it and just say I wasn't taught in the class I should have been taught in. So in the last week I was given an assignment to do in InDesign and I figured I had played with it enough to figure it out. Unfortunately I still didn't know enough of the basics and ended up staying super late at the office to complete it. I felt awful when my creative director looked at the project because I knew it wasn't up to par.
That night, I went home and did tutorials on InDesign.
Instead of feeling frustated like I have been for awhile, I finally snapped out of it and remembered that if I want to learn the program, that I need to go and do it. Sure it stinks that I wasn't taught, but I can be taught, and I can teach myself.
So the next day I went back to redpepper feeling confident and had a great day. I sat in on a few big brainstorming sessions and had a great time. I felt comfortable and spoke up when I had ideas. I even stayed late on my own choosing. I am determined to make this a good experience.
One of the biggest lessons I've learned thus far is that this is a learning experience. I am an intern and they don't think I can do everything. So I need to treat myself gracefully. And thank goodness this is an internship. I really would get a slap in the face if it were a real job and I couldn't perform. So now I will have a better idea of how a creative firm works and how I need to think and create as a part of it.
As soon as I snapped out of my frustration from my internship last week, it also lifted off the funk I'd been feeling at school. I felt motivated and inspired, and I plan to take that into the coming week as well.
I suggest to any student, at Watkins and elsewhere, to get an internship if possible. You can't learn everything at school. To really know how the industry works, you have to be immersed in it.
Probably the biggest thing I have struggled with is the feeling that I just don't know enough. I have been racked with the fear that I should be further along in my education at this point. For example, I should know how to use InDesign, one of the programs in the Adobe Creative Suite. I will skip the rant on why I did not learn it and just say I wasn't taught in the class I should have been taught in. So in the last week I was given an assignment to do in InDesign and I figured I had played with it enough to figure it out. Unfortunately I still didn't know enough of the basics and ended up staying super late at the office to complete it. I felt awful when my creative director looked at the project because I knew it wasn't up to par.
That night, I went home and did tutorials on InDesign.
Instead of feeling frustated like I have been for awhile, I finally snapped out of it and remembered that if I want to learn the program, that I need to go and do it. Sure it stinks that I wasn't taught, but I can be taught, and I can teach myself.
So the next day I went back to redpepper feeling confident and had a great day. I sat in on a few big brainstorming sessions and had a great time. I felt comfortable and spoke up when I had ideas. I even stayed late on my own choosing. I am determined to make this a good experience.
One of the biggest lessons I've learned thus far is that this is a learning experience. I am an intern and they don't think I can do everything. So I need to treat myself gracefully. And thank goodness this is an internship. I really would get a slap in the face if it were a real job and I couldn't perform. So now I will have a better idea of how a creative firm works and how I need to think and create as a part of it.
As soon as I snapped out of my frustration from my internship last week, it also lifted off the funk I'd been feeling at school. I felt motivated and inspired, and I plan to take that into the coming week as well.
I suggest to any student, at Watkins and elsewhere, to get an internship if possible. You can't learn everything at school. To really know how the industry works, you have to be immersed in it.
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