reaction to "Plain talk about learning and a life in design"

"Plain talk about learning and a life in design" by Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl (found here)
This article spoke about the various routes that designers have in current society. What was very interesting for me was the article stating that all graphic design jobs required an actual degree. When I was completing my Graphic Design Associate Degree, at least 1/3 of the class were older established adults that pretty much had some form of design skills after having worked as a designer for so many years. Most of their situations were that their job was now requiring that they held some form of paper that stated they were graphic designers, even though their employer knew that they could design. I remember that there even was a man in his 70's who was pretty awesome at typography; it feels like a totally different world than the school that I have been for the last three years.

KCAI, I feel was described when the article writer was describing grad school. We are basically making lifelong connections while in class, many of us have put in very long hours and sometimes not sleeping, because we are dedicated to the work that we are doing—or just managed our time incorrectly. Many of us are pretty much so wrapped into graphic design that other classes fade away and a bit so does our outside life. I fully understand that grad school is a different environment, but art school feels like that half step to grad school. Had I just attended a college that had a design program I may not feel as if I am in a mini grad program, but who really knows for sure.

I keep thinking about that statistic that on the low end we will have I think it's 4 or 7 careers in our lifetime—then I wonder how long I will be here in design. At this point, I could definitely see myself going to grad school for some form of design/design writing, but who really knows what the future is going to hold yet. I think I will know in 3–5 years, if design is my main field. I have a variety of interests still, so I'm not majorly concerned if it ends up being some similar field to graphic design or storytelling or communicating. I do think that right now I belong somewhere in the design or advertising field and can't wait to learn more. I'm also excited for the possibility to move around and see what design culture is like in different states + cities, perhaps even countries. 

I wonder where my classmates + professors will end up though...hmm

my pecha kucha presentation.

As part of AIGA, we had 2 Pecha Kucha presentations this semester. I was supposed to present at the first one, but came down with the flu so I presented this time. It went OK. I ended up not fully using my notes because I had written down a bit too much to say, so I glanced off what I wrote and spoke based on the images that I put on the slides.

It was definitely an interesting + intense experience needing a careful selection of words while staying social; I definitely had a few snags in continuing to talk about the previous slide while on the next slide. I just hope that it was informational + a bit personality driven that it went well.

print portfolio digital layouts. take 02.

Below are the updated pages from last class. each spread is the front + back of one page—split spread in middle and you have one loose page for my portfolio. Those little gray rectangles are to be cut out as that is where the portfolio will be cut. I know that I still need to fix some of the image quality, but I put in what I could find, the descriptor text and I created the "what I learned" part. I couldn't even think how to use this format for my writer hybrid part, so that will be a good chunk of my next step or figuring out how to make another booklet for the writing part. As for now, my thought is that a potential employer would open up my portfolio and dive right into my work and the last sheet is the photo of me with my bio and contact information. This weekend I also need to build the container/binder part of my portfolio.

print portfolio digital layouts. take 01.

These are the two sides of my portfolio sheets that I was working with on Monday. The pages are 9 x 9. I wasn't sure if I wanted any text or how much on the side with the main image, so I added a bit but not a ton. The second side is really the description of what it is and a sentence or two about what I learned while completing that project. I experimented with some different body text as well as that quote/lesson learned for each project.

side A option01 (with crop marks).


side A option 02 (with crop marks).

side B option 01 (with crop marks).

side B option 02 (with crop marks).

side B option 03 (with crop marks).

side B option 04 (with crop marks).

side B option 05 (with crop marks).

"an open letter to design students everywhere" response.

"An Open Letter to Design Students Everywhere" by Jessica Helfand

This article basically spoke to that fact that no matter the major + no matter the age that we get out of school; the newly graduated is normally nervous of the future. THUS, calm down y'all (myself included) before it becomes a negative issue. Post graduation is still a time of learning and growing, just in a different format than school. Learning in school gave us the ability to just reach blindly and leap; we had freedom to explore. Post graduation our learning and growing is more about our self and the way we work. We should ask lots of questions + be informed of who gets what kinds of jobs to better figure out where you belong. We're really not about to be in a new age of figuring ourselves + our favorite design methods out. Embrace it and run, for we will get nowhere walking.

two quote highlights of article.
"Later on, you’ll look at what you wrote and saved and drew and you will realize that without even trying, you created a time-capsule that is, itself, a manifestation of what mattered."

"Your education will not end the day you graduate: on the contrary, what you're doing is learning how to learn, and how to think, and how to visualize the ideas that percolate in your brain."

business card update.

front of business card option.

I've been doing some more work on my business card. As of right now my plan has been to Moo Print, but the dimensions that I was initially working at where different than Moo's dimensions. So I am test printing some options from Moo and seeing how they work out—here's to hoping at least one looks stellar.

back of business card option 01.

back of business card option 02.


back of business card option 03.


back of business card option 04.


back of business card option 05.

three conversations presentation.

Below is the presentation that I gave today as the condensed conversations that I had with 2 designer or 1 writer. I had some issues consolidating all of the information that I found out + hope that I gave all three professionals a positive image to my classmates + professors.