Congratulations are in order to all the WCAD students who took home Student ADDYs! We claimed 26 total, silver and gold and even Best in Show went to a Watkins Student (Ligia Teodisio). I was awarded a Gold for my editorial spreads for Context Magazine, an assignment I completed in Typography III with Professor Sweeney-Obryan. It was a great night, regardless of the laryngitis I suffered from last week (I lost my voice for 6 days).
In other exciting news, the senior show plans are moving along nicely. We've secured a venue and this year's senior exhibition will be held at Terrazos in the Gulch. I'm still plugging away on my portfolio, polishing old work and creating new. I'm part of the committee for designing the space and its been fun to think of how we can modify the event space. It's pretty raw but we have a lot of fun ideas and plan to be resourceful. The official theme is Design Fighter: Portfolio Attack! and was designed by Andy Gregg. He's illustrated all of the graduating seniors in a Street Fighter-esque style and it's fun to think of how we can apply that to the space. It's only 10 weeks until the show (April 30th) and I know it will be here in no time at all. I feel as if I will awaken tomorrow and it will be the big day. I'm psyched.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
addy fever
I'm currently on the edge of my seat anxiously awaiting the possibility of getting the "You made it" email from the ADDY Awards. There were a record number of entries this year to the AAF Nashville ADDYs (480!!) and in the next few days the students who had winning work will receive an email. I entered 5 pieces of work this year and I'm feeling really anxious. Did I place? Please say I placed. I felt really good about the work I submitted this year and I would love it if I could put another ADDY Award on my resume.
Another fun aspect of this year's ADDYs was that I got to create the Call For Entries poster for all of the schools in Nashville. Since I'm currently the work study designer, I was able to set up the professional ADDYs judges a few weeks back and met Tim Templeton, a big wig in Nashville's AAF. I was working on the Call For Entries poster that day and he asked me if I'd like to use my design for the entire spectrum of Nashville colleges and universities. Heck yes I did. This is what I created:
I played off the idea of Looking for Fresh Meat and made typography out of ground beef. It was fun and certainly a new experience making meat letters and photographing it. I had a friend with mad photo skills help me out and was pretty happy with the results. Anyways, I've got ADDYs on the brain and hopefully I can post good news on here in the next few days...
Another fun aspect of this year's ADDYs was that I got to create the Call For Entries poster for all of the schools in Nashville. Since I'm currently the work study designer, I was able to set up the professional ADDYs judges a few weeks back and met Tim Templeton, a big wig in Nashville's AAF. I was working on the Call For Entries poster that day and he asked me if I'd like to use my design for the entire spectrum of Nashville colleges and universities. Heck yes I did. This is what I created:
I played off the idea of Looking for Fresh Meat and made typography out of ground beef. It was fun and certainly a new experience making meat letters and photographing it. I had a friend with mad photo skills help me out and was pretty happy with the results. Anyways, I've got ADDYs on the brain and hopefully I can post good news on here in the next few days...
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
daily drop cap
If you're a lover of typography, then I am about to serve you up some gourmet lettering. Introducing Daily Drop Cap, an ongoing project by typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische. "Each day (or at least each WORK day), a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap will be posted for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere." You can even post them into your own sites or blog.
Every letter is a beautiful work of art. It's one of those projects and skills that I seriously envy. Here are some of my favorites, but you should check out the site, and check it often since Hische posts new Letters almost daily. Enjoy!
Every letter is a beautiful work of art. It's one of those projects and skills that I seriously envy. Here are some of my favorites, but you should check out the site, and check it often since Hische posts new Letters almost daily. Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
hello febuary!
Well hello second month of the year! You bring with you lots of work and new opportunities, and for that I thank you.
My semester has been going great so far. I'm finishing up my senior show theme this week for the final class vote next week. Mine is called "Methodology: our process & progress" and I am creating a poster with machinery all working together as a visual of our creative process. All the professors here really emphasize the process and how potential employers want to see how you came to your final design, so I thought I'd focus on that in my theme. I'm excited about it, as well as seeing all the other senior's finished designs. We have seven students in the Senior Portfolio class and we all have very distinct styles, which I think is a great thing. I'll post some images when it is more complete next week. If my theme is chosen, I'd like to also create animated videos to go along with it. Perhaps, I'll do it regardless since it would be nice to add more Flash based projects to my portfolio.
I'm feeling good about polishing my previous works, and creating new things from past ideas. We also have to create a Hero project, where we can do our dream project. It can be anything we want. Which is a bit daunting, but exciting. I've got a few ideas and will narrow them down in the next week. I'm also creating fun work for my Work Study job, like posters for the upcoming gallery shows and workshops. I'm really grateful for that job. It's so nice to have freedom when you're designing and also to be creating for other creatives!
The internship at redpepper is still going well. We have grown the program so that including myself, there are now 4 interns all from different schools. It's nice to collaborate with other students and to learn from one another. I just love going there so much.
I think this entire post has been a bit mushy, but I was feeling overwhelmed earlier and now I am just so freaking happy about my life. There is much to do and much to celebrate in the next few months.
Hope you're enjoying life too.
My semester has been going great so far. I'm finishing up my senior show theme this week for the final class vote next week. Mine is called "Methodology: our process & progress" and I am creating a poster with machinery all working together as a visual of our creative process. All the professors here really emphasize the process and how potential employers want to see how you came to your final design, so I thought I'd focus on that in my theme. I'm excited about it, as well as seeing all the other senior's finished designs. We have seven students in the Senior Portfolio class and we all have very distinct styles, which I think is a great thing. I'll post some images when it is more complete next week. If my theme is chosen, I'd like to also create animated videos to go along with it. Perhaps, I'll do it regardless since it would be nice to add more Flash based projects to my portfolio.
I'm feeling good about polishing my previous works, and creating new things from past ideas. We also have to create a Hero project, where we can do our dream project. It can be anything we want. Which is a bit daunting, but exciting. I've got a few ideas and will narrow them down in the next week. I'm also creating fun work for my Work Study job, like posters for the upcoming gallery shows and workshops. I'm really grateful for that job. It's so nice to have freedom when you're designing and also to be creating for other creatives!
The internship at redpepper is still going well. We have grown the program so that including myself, there are now 4 interns all from different schools. It's nice to collaborate with other students and to learn from one another. I just love going there so much.
I think this entire post has been a bit mushy, but I was feeling overwhelmed earlier and now I am just so freaking happy about my life. There is much to do and much to celebrate in the next few months.
Hope you're enjoying life too.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
creative alphabets: yay!
The other day, I stumbled upon a blog from a dude named Reuben Miller featuring 22 of the world’s creative alphabets. And indeed, these are some seriously creative ways to create letterforms. I was so inspired by the packed meat type, I recreated some of my own for the Student Addy poster for AAF this year. Here are some of my favorites from the list. And you can check out the rest here.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
"How to Be Creative"
One of my professors, the honorable Judith Sweeney-Obryan, shared this article with my Special Topics: Advertising Campaigns class.
I wanted to share some of the key points that stood out to me, and how helpful they were. I often struggle with finding the "perfect" solution and kick myself in the head until it comes. It's often such a struggle for the good ideas to come. It was a nice reminder to hear that creativity is a process and you have to get through all the crappy, cliche ideas before the good stuff can come out. Remember, the best solutions take work.
1. Create a routine.
Establish working routines that follow your mental instincts.
2. Let the assignment set some boundaries.
The specifics of your problem will help center your thinking. How you think about a project comes from it's true nature.
3. Start with basic thinking techniques.
"I always write a thing first and think about it afterwards, which is not a bad procedure, because the easiest way to have consecutive thoughts is to start putting them down."
-E.B.White, essayist
4. Suspend judgment.
"Be fearless around bad ideas. There is no such thing as a bad idea when concepting. Often the worst ideas are your tour guide to the best ones. It wouldn't be a cliche if it weren't so damned true. My ratio of bad to good is probably 50 to 1. I fill pages with bad. I build a monument to good on a trash heap of crap."
-David Baldwin, executive creative director, McKinney & Silver
5. Use both lateral and vertical thinking.
Be abundant and uncritical while also being analytical.
6. Hang tough.
A good idea is tricky. Learn to suspend yourself in a problem without being panicked by the sense of weightlessness that comes with no-idea-yet.
7. Find more than one solution.
"You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper."
-Edward de Bono, Lateral Thinking
8. Consider multiple points of view.
Every situation has more points of view than you are currently considering.
9. Restate the problem.
Adopt the perspective of a first-time user or someone who doesn't speak the language.
10. Read, stay curious, try to know at least a little about a lot.
I wanted to share some of the key points that stood out to me, and how helpful they were. I often struggle with finding the "perfect" solution and kick myself in the head until it comes. It's often such a struggle for the good ideas to come. It was a nice reminder to hear that creativity is a process and you have to get through all the crappy, cliche ideas before the good stuff can come out. Remember, the best solutions take work.
1. Create a routine.
Establish working routines that follow your mental instincts.
2. Let the assignment set some boundaries.
The specifics of your problem will help center your thinking. How you think about a project comes from it's true nature.
3. Start with basic thinking techniques.
"I always write a thing first and think about it afterwards, which is not a bad procedure, because the easiest way to have consecutive thoughts is to start putting them down."
-E.B.White, essayist
4. Suspend judgment.
"Be fearless around bad ideas. There is no such thing as a bad idea when concepting. Often the worst ideas are your tour guide to the best ones. It wouldn't be a cliche if it weren't so damned true. My ratio of bad to good is probably 50 to 1. I fill pages with bad. I build a monument to good on a trash heap of crap."
-David Baldwin, executive creative director, McKinney & Silver
5. Use both lateral and vertical thinking.
Be abundant and uncritical while also being analytical.
6. Hang tough.
A good idea is tricky. Learn to suspend yourself in a problem without being panicked by the sense of weightlessness that comes with no-idea-yet.
7. Find more than one solution.
"You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper."
-Edward de Bono, Lateral Thinking
8. Consider multiple points of view.
Every situation has more points of view than you are currently considering.
9. Restate the problem.
Adopt the perspective of a first-time user or someone who doesn't speak the language.
10. Read, stay curious, try to know at least a little about a lot.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
clients, gotta love em
Seeing as how I'll be heading in the workforce in the near future, I've been thinking often about how to best work with clients. I came across this article on smashingmagazine.com on how to work with clients. It's called "How to Explain to Clients That They Are Wrong" and I wanted to share it here. Check it out, the information is quite helpful.
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