Recent logo designs from work.
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The glamorous life of a designer.
After three months of staring at this computer screen eight hours a day, I'm just going to repeat the wisdom of whoever said, "It's a fun job, but it's still a job." (I always hear it in the voice of Cypress Hill.)
I've been doing a lot of pre-press setup and will be for quite a while, but I can't complain. I do get to do a few creative projects-- it's all arguably creative, a discussion for a different day-- but the reason I'm not disgusted with being stuck at a desk all day is I'm solving problems. It always comes down to problem-solving eventually. How am I going to fit this logo on the car door without the door handle interrupting it (see below)? How am I going to please this client, who wants everything bigger and bolder, while still maintaining the legibility she doesn't know she needs? How am I going to get these three projects done today without compromising on quality?
The other thing I do in this job is communicate. "Yes, it's all about visual communication bla bla bla..." That too, but no. I mean talking to people via email, phone, and especially face-to-face. If
you can't communicate with your coworker about why one arrangement is better than another, your glorious compositional eye is wasted. Skewer it with a fork and throw it against a wall. The more persuasive designer's sketch will go on to become the final design. Bank Gothic and all.
Besides the fact that solving a problem is rewarding to a young designer like myself, I don't see its importance ever being reduced. If I were a senior designer basking in my finely balanced logo designs using carefully-selected weights of expensive fonts, I would still be solving problems and communicating with people. There would only be more pressure involved.
Bring it.
I spent high school and college learning how to hate writing. I worked hard to write as little as possible, though I never replaced all the periods in any of my Times New Roman, 12 pt., double-spaced oeuvres with 14 pt. periods. I have, I'll admit, browsed the thesaurus looking for longer synonyms to get a paragraph onto the next page. It was easier than forming another sentence at one o'clock in the morning.
And now? I just feel like writing something every once in a while. On Sarah's blog (which is a good read, by the way), she added this quotation under her profile picture:
I am desperate to write. I am crazy to write. I want to write.
(A.P.)
I don't know who A.P. is and I don't share this level of passion. But I do want to be a very good communicator, and that's more than listening well and speaking clearly. Outside of direct interaction, writing still holds the gold standard for communication. Unlike video, its only real competitor (as per Neil Postman), the written word doesn't disappear after you read it. And though a well-executed graphic design achieves its effect through the visceral, text is still its backbone.
As a designer, I must not only know how to make words look good, but how to make good words. I want to write.
Concert Poster, Polished
Half hour of power IV
Okay, so this one's very derivative. It's a direct knock-off of the Soviet flag, with colors that are as accurate as they can be in RGB– or they were before JPG compression. I didn't even make up the pun, which is from work. If you know the North Hall crew at all, you might be tickled. Otherwise, this is going right over your head. Smile, nod, and go buy a Big Mac, my blog-consuming friends.
The novelty font is "Kremlin" and it can be found on DaFont.
Half hour of power III
This has Nothing to do with Sarah Palin
A poster I designed for a couple of friends who are in a band of sorts. Their acoustic croonings will lull you at the Fruited Plain on Saturday night.
Half hour of power II
Yesterday, Rumour asked me, "What's the opposite of love?"
This is what I said.
Where the party's at
It started as a joke that the only way you could use downhill skis
around here would be to get a tow from a car.
Larissa and I
collaboratively came up with an idea for a shirt with the car on the
front and the skier on the back- a wraparound print. That was
prohibitively expensive, and I couldn't justify having it printed, so I
asked Adam, a fellow RA, if he wanted a wing shirt made. Eventually, it evolved into
a West Hall t-shirt and this is what it looks like.
Feels good to know that almost forty people are wearing this, and it started out as a sketch on a napkin in the commons.
Half hour of power
Some people socialize if they have an extra 30 minutes here or there. I sometimes do, I promise.
Me, Myself and Design
Lessons I took home from AIGA Nebraska's conference on Saturday:
1. "Design is not really about aesthetic, but it's about making things work." (Nate Voss)
2. Good design provides an experience.
3. If your product isn't answering the question, "Why am designing it this way?" then it is worthless. In other words, everything in design must be by design. You can't expect to be successful without researching and being able to explain your choices.
4. You can get sweet swag if you reply to emails quickly.
