Art in the streets
Posted by Lindsay , Saturday, April 30, 2011 2:55 PM
|
0
comments
Posted by Lindsay , Thursday, April 28, 2011 8:39 PM
According to our book, the exploration stage of the creative process can be compared to alchemists. Our process should be methodical while being impulsive, and we have to turn a basic idea into a golden one. I thought that it was a clever analogy to use, and it does make sense. It cautions the artist to not rush through the process, and to brainstorm and observe the idea from different angles. It also suggests to refine the idea until you get exactly what you want. The next section suggests to think about how the design will interact with its environment, and to sketch out various different possibilities. This is a good idea, and I will try to use it on my next project. Designs should be re-worked until they impact the environment as minimally as possible.
The next section states that the stereotype of artists always sketching is true. I also have found this, for the most part, to be true. Sketches are a great way of sharing ideas if you are not good at communicating them through words. It is said that everyone learns another language when they are children, of being able to create and recognize representation of objects. Because of this, we also tend to look for meaning where there is none, such as seeing faces and shapes in clouds. I used to love watching the clouds for things when I was in the car. Most children sketch when they are young but as they get older, they are criticized more, and most people generally stop while others go on to learn harder techniques. This happened to my little sister. She was always the better artist than I was when we were young but as we got older, she stopped drawing and I did not. The section goes on to list a few do's and dont's of sketching. A few do's are: Sketch quickly and repeatedly, sketch constantly, avoid limitations and use different media, sketch large and small, and consider the purpose of your sketch. These all seem like helpful ideas. There are only two dont's; Edit yourself, and keep your sketches to yourself. I have a problem with both of those, and will try to stop in the future. After sketching, forming a model should be done, or use computer-aided design to make one. Computer design offers more detail and speed. It also suggests saving a file after every large change when working with computers. This is a huge help, and I learned the hard way a few years ago to save after my changes. The section states that one of the only problems with creating designs on the computer, is that some of them can not exist in real life.
The next section is all about dialogue. It says to discuss ideas with everyone involved, and get feedback from them. It also says that getting from people not involved can also provide valuable feedback. I try to do this when I can, usually getting opinions from my sister. Reflection of a project at the end of the concept stage helps to figure out things when you are stuck, and it is recommended to sometimes just "sleep on it."
The perspective section of this chapter is about the artist and designer Leifur Breidfjord. He starts off by talking about how he first goes and scouts out the location of his project, to see how it will affect the environment around it. For example, if there is stained glass, he has to work around how that will change how the design will look. He has to consider many things from the outside and inside of the building, such as light, space, scale, and if the work should be abstract or figurative. He also considers color, and how it can change the space. He gives an example of a building that used yellow glass except for one small spot of a clear window that showed the sky outside. I have seen church's that have done things like that, and it has a really interesting effect. He starts off his projects by sketching in pencil, then making ones in gouache with a drawing of a person on the side so that he can keep the scale in mind. I think this is a really good idea. He tweaks it a little bit, then shows it to his client. If they agree on it, then he creates a full scale design in color. He only shows them one design, and works with them to change it. I found this interesting, because most people I have met suggested that it was better to show a few different options. He suggests to not limit yourself to one discipline, which i think is a good idea. I enjoy trying new things, such as sewing, sculpting and painting. If a person is having trouble finding inspiration, he suggests taking a break, or going to work on another project you have. I have started doing this recently, and it has helped more. I thought that his chapter on perspective has been one of the best ones so far. The last part of the chapter gives the previous exercises, but says to refine the ideas more, and sketch the idea out this time using different methods. It seems like it would be interesting to try.
Day 10
Posted by Lindsay , Wednesday, April 27, 2011 7:18 PM
Todays class was entertaining. It was game day, and we all brought in games to play. I brought in my old decks of pokemon cards, and a set of rules for them, since it has been many years since I have used them. I ended up playing connect four, and win lose or draw. Connect four is a good game, but it was much too early for me to pay a lot of attention to the different moves, and as a result, I kept losing. It also gets old after you play it 10+ times. Win lose or draw was a better game. We split up into two teams, and had a good time drawing out phrases and trying to have our partner guess the answer. My team ended up winning by one point. We had to think about what made these games good, and have to make 9 game ideas this weekend. I already have a few, but I am hoping that I can come up with some really good ones when I put more time into it.
Day 9
Posted by Lindsay , Tuesday, April 26, 2011 5:27 PM
Yesterdays class was mostly about games. Jimmy asked the question, what is design? And no one could give an answer. Tomorrows class is going to be Game day, and we are all supposed to bring in a game. It should be a pretty good class. We all listed games that we knew of, and then discussed a few of them, such as monopoly and risk. Monopoly is all about capitalism, and a few people didn't know what that was, so we had another talk explaining what that is. Capitalism is an economic system in which all of the means of production are privately owned and used for profit. After this, we went over our seven deadly sins project. A lot of people had duplicate images, so we could not use them. Altogether, it was an interesting day.
Posted by Lindsay , Saturday, April 23, 2011 12:42 AM
The books next chapter is about the third stage of design, conceptualization. It begins with an idea that has been stressed throughout the book; sustainability. It gives the many questions that a designer should think of in terms of creating an environmentally sustainable project. The next section states the four steps that help a person conceptualize information. They are: 1) Fill in as many gaps as you can, 2) Ground concepts into a logical reality, 3) Presenting your concept in a clear manner, 4) Must be familiar with the inner workings on a project so that you can change it easily. Number two did not make much sense to me. The section also goes on to talk about how the word Gestalt is German for shape, pattern, or form. There was a school of thought called the Gestalt school, and they created a belief that the "whole is greater than the sum of its parts." I think that in most cases, this is true, although there are certain exceptions. There are five rules that are attached to the law of the school, and I found them to be correct. It also talks about how there are open and closed gestalt. Open gestalt is when there are enough elements to suggest a whole, but not enough to create an entire design. Closed gestalt is when all significant positions are taken.
The next section of the chapter is about brainstorming. It begins with talking about keeping a design sketchbook and journal with you at all times. I think this is a great idea, and I always have my small notebook with me to write stuff down on. It helps me remember things, and to write down ideas I have for projects. The rules of brainstorming are given next, and there are a lot so I won't list them here. They are very helpful though, and the few that I liked were to set an agenda, set a time limit, write down all ideas and encourage freewheeling.
I found the next section of the chapter to be pretty interesting. It talks about using simile, metaphor, and analogy while creating concepts. The book says that similes are useful because they lead to questions that are helpful in brainstorming. It says that metaphors are helpful because they create a mental image, and create an understanding of the concept of it. The last term, analogy, is said to be useful because it helps to point out relationships that may not have been previously visible. The next section talks about more brainstorming tools. We created mind maps previously in class, and this part talks about creating them. It says to describe, compare, associate, construct, use, and troubleshoot different parts of your design on the map. It also gave different ideas of how to make the maps, most of them I had already heard about in class. The next part talks about analyzing concepts. One way to analyze is by listing the pros and cons of the ideas. Another way is to visualize and sketch out different ideas. The last idea is to use the SCAMPER process. It stands for substitute, combine, adapt, minimize/magnify, put to other uses, eliminate/elaborate, and reverse/rearrange. The next section talks about presenting ideas. There was a large list of do's and dont's given, and they all seem very helpful.
The last section of the chapter is about an interior designer and professor named Jill Pable. She begins by talking about her background with different majors before she got to interior design, and how they all helped her see the connections with design in the world. I agree with her when she said that a well-rounded approach is never a waste. It is great to have a different insight on things based on different experiences. She recently has been researching homeless people, and has been looking in different places for solutions to their problems, including in wellness psychology. She talks about a few of her ideas, and they are actually very interesting. I haven't heard of anything like them before. She also talks about how people need to intuitively think about sustainability in design, not look at it as a separate idea. Design school is held with a higher regard and has high standards than when she went through it. She ends with talking about how she feels that we should have a holistic approach to the challenges that arise. Altogether, I agreed with most of the things that she talked about. I really do think that designers should have a better background in other subjects, it helps a lot. The chapter ends with giving two small ideas for brainstorming and making a concept board.
Day 8
Posted by Lindsay , Friday, April 22, 2011 2:06 PM
Yesterdays class started out with everyone re-arranging the tables so that we had a large open space in the middle of the room. Everyone laid out their projects of coming up with three images that told a story. We were told to pick our favorite project as a class, so we all nominated projects and then voted. The winning pictures were one of a little girl gazing at a barbie doll section in a store, a woman with her face marked up for plastic surgery, and then a woman who has had a lot of plastic surgery and looked bad. After we decided on it, we discussed it, and talked about what we thought it was all about. Once we picked it, Jimmy talked about the different good and bad projects. The bad ones weren't necessarily bad, we just could not figure out the story they told and needed to be changed. My favorite one out of those was a fish with drugs and a desert. I would have never guessed the actual story if I had not been told.
After we finished discussing the projects on the board, Jimmy laid out all of the images on two or three tables and we all were told to mix and match the images to make stories on the board. There were a few good ones, and it was a nice group project. After this, we all watched a TED talk but John Maeda. He talked about his laws of simplicity, and how both simplicity and complexity could be found in life. He seemed like a very intelligent man, and was entertaining while presenting. At the end of class, we were given our next project which is to come up with seven images to represent the seven deadly sins. I think that it will be a great project to do, and it will be interesting to see what everyone picked out.
Day 7
Posted by Lindsay , Tuesday, April 19, 2011 4:36 PM
Class yesterday started off with everyone arranging themselves by their birthdays instead of by last name like we did before. We got it done pretty quickly, and after that were put into groups of four. We each had to contribute two items that we had on us, and had to create a story with the objects. I had a Romanian and a Czech Republic coin that I contributed, and I liked how our story about a man that steals a purse came out. I liked having a group assignment like that.
After we all shared our stories, Jimmy started talking about the essential story elements, such as who, what, when, where, etc... He also talked about the expression of a story, such as in a movie, song, play, etc... and related it to how we all chose to tell our stories. Some groups used different ways of reading it, such as acting it out with the items (using visual aids and personification), having group members take turns reading and just having one person read. This discussion led into one about using visual communication to show a story, and about how a poster or flyer can tell a story using the graphics it has on it. One of the things that I got out of class today is that stories change while there being written, and that group storytelling helps because you have someone else to share ideas with.
Posted by Lindsay , Sunday, April 17, 2011 11:30 PM
Posted by Lindsay , Thursday, April 14, 2011 11:05 PM
The chapter I read is all about the identification step in the creative process. It starts out talking about how designers need to identify a projects needs and limits, also known as its constraints. A design project is seen as a problem that needs to be solved, and the designer has to follow the different constraints that come up at different stages in order to keep the project going in the right direction. The book mentions two different types of constraints, inherent and imposed. Inherent constraints are constraints that are connected to the nature of the object being designed that are needed, and imposed constraints are characteristics that are desired but not essential to it.
The next section is about the end user constraints. The end user constraints are the constraints that the client imposes. The main rule for this is that an objects functionality should come first, and that its form should come second. The section goes on to talk about how a designer should not assume that people in society will have common sense, while they are designing something for the public. It also ties in how safety is something that needs to be considered. A design cannot be shown if it is not safe for the consumer. I think that the most important rule of design would be that it should serve its function first, and that design should come second.
The section after that, is about the constraints in production. The constraints in production are some of the most important constraints. Materials and capabilities are things that need to be considered right away, to make sure that the designs can even be made. An important point that the author makes is that as the designer, we should know how the manufacturing process of our designs works. The next section concerns the constraints of the designer. It states that a designer should know everything concerning a project and plan for a best case and worse case scenario. It also talks about how a designer should know how long everything will take, do the math for how long everything will take, and plan for interruptions. Designers also have to worry about what materials will be used, and how much everything will cost. Designers have to plan out the bad consequences of a design, so that problems do not arise later on. If you do not know enough about something to fix problems, then it is best to find someone that does.
The next section in the chapter is about sustainability. Products need to be designed that have less of an effect on the environment, to help raise awareness about the environment. Sustainability becomes a constraint in the project. People need to start making more out of less. The book gives three constraints that a designer should consider: A product should involve the greatest conservation of energy, a product has a greater efficient use of energy, and uses a renewable source of energy. I think that more people should pay attention to sustainable design, because the earth keeps getting worse and worse, and no one seems to care. Everyone thinks that it won't have any effect on them, so why help change the world for future generations? The chapter talks about how toxic chemicals should not be used, and durability and reusability should be increased. Those are both great ideas. An issue is given, about how developed countries rely too heavily on the cheap labor given by lesser developed countries, and in the future, the cheap labor is going to run out and everyone will be out of luck. It also talks about how the future generations will feel the effects of global warming and abuse from people, but the current generation does not seem to care. I completely agree with this, and think that its an issue that more people need to think about.
The second to last section in the chapter is about Brower Hatcher, an artist. He talks about how he is like a sponge, and absorbs a lot of knowledge. After that, he makes models, and clarification happens. After that, he has to build the final version of his project, and decide what materials to use. He likes to work with a team, and prefers it to the solitary work he used to do. He states that a work is not complete until it enters the world. I really like that statement. A person can look at and enjoy their art, but I do not think that it becomes great until It can be shown and enjoyed by others.
The last part of the chapter gives different exercises to do. It talks about doing a design thesis, and considering the following things: What will you design? What is its nature? Who is it for? Why is it needed? What are the benefits of it? Why is this interesting? How will you proceed? The next part talks about identifying the constraints of the project. I think that these are interesting exercises, and would help in the future when actually starting a project.
Day 6
Posted by Lindsay , Wednesday, April 13, 2011 8:48 PM
At the end of our last class, we were given an assignment to pick an image, and come up with ten different words and phrases that changed the meaning of it. Today, we presented about half of the classes images, and did a small critique for each one. I thought that mine was good until we started presenting, and I realized that my words should have been better. It would have been an easier project if we had been given more time, or a partner to work with.
When we finished the reviews for the day, Jimmy put out a few different advertisements on the tables and one up on the board of what appeared to be the Hulks hand with a bandaid. After a group discussion, we finally reached the conclusion that the hand was very reminiscent of the hand of god, because of the positioning that is much like Michaelangelo's sistine chapel work. The advertisements that he had put out all had unique images that caught the viewers attention. We also had a long talk about how more people need to voice there opinions and participate. I do think that more people should participate, including myself. I have started to participate more than I had originally, but still need to do more.
Day 5
Posted by Lindsay , Tuesday, April 12, 2011 4:20 PM
Class yesterday was pretty good. We started off the class talking about Disney, and how they became so popular. They control the storyline, and make everything appeal to younger children. The only kissing in it is shown as romantic, and it is often about princesses. This led into a discussion about storytelling, and what makes a story. We all contributed to a list on the board, some of them included: Beginning, middle, end, viewpoints, conflict, climax, resolution, rising action, setting, characters, themes, morals, etc... I had heard of all of these from various english classes.
After this discussion, we watched two more TED talks by Amy Tan and Elizabeth Gilbert, both writers. I found Amy Tans talk to be a little boring, but I enjoyed Elizabeth Gilberts. Amy Tan talked about creating something out of nothing. She talked about how nature, nurture and nightmares help us figure out our creative processes. She also talked about how experiences in life have an effect on our creative process, and how she found hints from the universe by gaining focus on her work. Elizabeth Gilbert talked about the muses (daemons) in Greek mythology, and how great it would be to have them. Then, if we created something that was bad, we could blame them, and if we created something great, we would not get all the credit and would not be expected to create something great again. She also spoke about how you can't be tormented about gaining ideas, and can pull yourself back and say that you have to work through it, even if no ideas are coming. They both talked about how artists have an image of being mentally unstable, which is not always true. I really liked Elizabeth Gilberts idea of working through things, to enjoy it, and not be worried about it.
Posted by Lindsay , Saturday, April 9, 2011 10:05 PM
"The word inspiration is derived from the Latin verb inspirare-to breathe into- as in the action of gods breathing life into their creations, a scene found in creation myths worldwide." -The Design Process by Karl Aspelund
This weeks chapter in the book was about inspiration. It begins with talking about how inspiration is what motivates the designer and how, without joy, working on a design can prove to be tedious. The book talks about how inspiration needs to be sought out, not waited for, like in the stories of the Greek Muses. It was said that without being visited by the Muses, you would not be inspired to create. A quote that really stuck with me in this section was, "Inspiration is attainable when we can follow our emotions, control them, and rein them in when necessary." I thought that was an interesting thing to say, but it also seems to be true. Almost everyone is inspired by their emotions. The next section in the chapter talks about how, once we look at a certain source, we create a momentum that will lead us through the project. Sometimes it takes us in the direction we want, and other times it does not and we have to start over. It cautions to be vigilant about where your idea is heading. It is recommended to seek inspiration everywhere, to broaden your horizons, and learn everything that you can. This idea of always being curious has been repeated several times throughout the past two weeks.
I enjoyed the next section of the chapter. It talked about how an artist needs playtime, much like children do. It offers a new way of looking at things, and most people lose touch with this ability when they become adults. The sections talks about being able to imagine a stick as a guitar, sword or a magic wand. Being able to see the world like this would definitely help people find inspiration for their work. The section also talks about how getting 8 hours of sleep helps the brain process information better, rather than staying up all night studying. I think I might try that next time I have a large test to take.
The next section talks about a problem that I often have. It talks about avoiding getting lost in the research part of the project, and taking a long time in moving on in a project. This happens to me a lot; I take a lot of time to research, and end up putting everything else off until the last moment. It is something that I've been working on, and have been getting better at.
A whole section of the chapter is dedicated to the fashion designer, Yeohlee Teng. I had never heard of her before today. She came to New York from Malaysia. She begins by talking about how she thrives on information, and is constantly asking different people, like taxi drivers, questions about the local economy, and how the fashion industry is doing. She then talks about how design should be efficient, and sustainable. She trys to make one-size-fits-all garments or when using expensive fabric, trys to construct the look with minimal amounts of time and labor to even the costs. I think these are both great ideas, and not enough people take the time to consider these aspects. She goes on to talk about how she gets various ideas throughout the process, and uses some, throws away others, or saves them for later. She finds inspiration through travel, architecture, and other life experiences. She learned through experience (another topic that has been discussed various times in the past few weeks) and thinks that a design should have universal appeal. I like her idea that her designs are validated by how many people wear it, not who. The section ends with talking about how designing requires a strong personal involvement and how they have to find inspiration to help them through various problems that are encountered.
The chapter ends with a few different exercises. It gives thirteen different topics of things to consider and reflect on to help you understand the chapters ideas better. They seem to be interesting, and the questions are probably helpful. So far, this has been my favorite chapter out of the book.
Scott McCloud
Posted by Lindsay 9:27 PM
I went home, re-watched his video, and looked up the people and things I had never heard of. Three of the things that I found the most interesting, were Raytheon, Paul Baran, and Moore's law. The first was the company his father had worked for, Raytheon. They are a defense contractor for the US, and they manufacture in weapons, military and commercial electronics. They are also the largest producer of guided missiles. Paul Baran was the next person I found the most interesting. He was a pioneer in the development of computer networks, and was one of the early researchers on packet switching. Packet switching is when groups of transmitted data are sorted into packets of smaller data. The last thing that I looked up was Moore's law, which says that the number of transistors (a transistor is used to amplify and switch electronic signals) that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles every two years. I would have liked to find out what a temporal map was, but could not find much information explaining what they are.
I learned a lot of things from McClouds speech, and he seems to be a very intelligent person. After looking up all of those people and concepts, I gained a clearer understanding of everything that he was talking about. One of the things that he mentioned that I liked, was the four rules that a person should always follow. They are:
1) Learn from everyone
2) Follow no one
3) Watch for patterns
4) Work like hell
He especially stressed the importance of watching for patterns. Patterns can be found in many aspects of life. McCloud discussed faith, and how there are three types (faith in which one cannot see, faith in which has already been proven, and faith in which may be but is yet to be proven). Another thing that he mentioned that I liked, was the idea of looking at a monitor as a window instead of a canvas. I think that it would be pretty cool to create things and have them shown across the screen, rather than have it fit onto the screen entirely. McCloud also discussed how comics use vision to help the four other senses, which I thought was interesting. Comics do engage the other senses with vision, by using text to portray sound, and using several other techniques. I thoroughly enjoyed his speech, and was glad that I could learn from it.
Day 4
Posted by Lindsay , Thursday, April 7, 2011 3:49 PM
We started off the class by re-arranging all of the tables, so that we could all sit in the front of the class, and listening to a short speech given by another student about GAUGE, which is the student group at cal state for AIGA. He talked about all of the events, and we listened to all the benefits of joining AIGA. I have been to a GAUGE meeting before, and it was a good experience.
After the short speech, the class was mainly about mind maps. Mind maps help to visualize, structure and classify ideas. They encourage brainstorming by using a non-linear manner. One of the suggestions that was given was that time and space have to be allowed for quality thoughts to flow. We were given a powerpoint of different examples of mind maps. They were all very colorful, and included images. My favorites were one of a rabid carrot, and of an alien in a bed. We were all asked to take 30 minutes and create a mind map of a "what if." I chose mine to be "what if time travel existed." This is what it looked like at the end:
My mind-map
After we finished, we went around and looked at other peoples. My favorite was Jacqueline's, she did one of "what if I was a vampire." During this time, Jimmy had put up a few of the diagrams we had done as homework the night before, about our creative processes. They all seemed to have been thought out, and a few had been nicely designed. After we finished talking about mind maps, we watched a video about Scott McCloud. I would tell you more about him, but he is going to get a separate entry. Altogether, I enjoyed class today.
Posted by Lindsay , Tuesday, April 5, 2011 7:04 PM
After doing my book readings for the day, I read a few things that stuck with me after. A quote that stood out was, "Designing is about forming ideas, planning and explaining the execution of those ideas, and making choices based on the evolution of those ideas that will lead to an end result. Designing is a journey that has a number of stops and detours along the way." It basically outlined what the whole chapter was about, and what the rest of the book would entail. The chapter talked about how designing is a personal experience, and compared the design process to a romantic relationship. It went into further detail about how each stage compared to the stages in a relationship, and I found it amusing. It basically said that you start off excited about a project, then the needs and constraints become clear. Afterwards, you have to establish boundaries, and then you build on what you have. Finally, you communicate your design to others and lead it to production.
The chapter continues and talks about designing responsibly. It says that as a designer, you have to think about how your design will affect the environment. It also says that, "A designer's job begins with a problem that requires a solution." That reminded me of some of the previous things that we have discussed in class. The book also makes a point that designers are not just concerned with the aesthetics of the design, but have many other concerns to think about. They have to continually help their design evolve, and solve different problems that occur along the way until they have a final, finished project that fulfills the original solution.
The next section of the chapter begins to outline the design process. It begins with finding inspiration, then going on to define the project as much as possible, and identifying the constraints. The next step is to visualize the idea without considering the problems, to give an impression for the idea. At the next stage, the designer has to work out all of the problems, and may have to re-do the previous idea. The next stage is said to be the most difficult stage, because they have to commit to the design. Often, a designer has to find the inspiration that they originally had in order to get through the stage. After the designer has committed to the design, they have to present the design. Communication is crucial, as we were previously told. The final stage is when the design is produced. Generally, the designer has to work with several different people, and the designer has to get various feedback. The design may have to have a final revision before it is fully produced, but the whole process can help the designer gain new knowledge.
The next section of the book gave some background information on the author. It talked about how he gained years of experience and knowledge from various jobs. At the end of the chapter, there is exercises for us to complete. This one wants us to establish a design journal and as a first project reverse-design something (figure out the steps for designing it, starting at the final step).
Day 3
Posted by Lindsay , Monday, April 4, 2011 10:47 PM
Class today was pretty good, in my opinion. Jimmy started off the class by talking to us about how everyone has different experiences, and different perspectives. I think that tied into the exercise we did later on in class, when we were given 15 minutes to organize all of our comics from best to worst. We came up with a voting system to get it over with quickly, and did not have much of a discussion about it. Not everyone was happy with how we voted. I agree that it would have been better to have a long discussion about it, but it would have taken much too long, trying to get everyone to agree. Everyone has there own opinions and perspectives on the comics, and what one person might really like, another person might hate. We never were given a criteria on what we were supposed to judge them by, but I think we should have based it equally on content and design, not just its design.
One of the things that we talked about in class that I really liked, was that we should find an aspect that helps us to enjoy our projects and find the passion to make our project great. Everyone gets artists or writers block at times, and it would be better to find a new perspective on it so that you can enjoy the project and come up with fresh ideas. Another thing we were told, was that we should always know our criteria on a project. This is important, because we cannot start on a project, or solve problems in it, without knowing where to start and what the limits are. Altogether, the class was good, and I learned new things from it.
I didn't know sh*t until I started working
Posted by Lindsay 9:50 PM
On Friday, I went back to Cal state to go hear Seth Johnson speak. Now normally, I hate listening to people speak for long amounts of time, but I really enjoyed listening to him. I have never learned much about the business aspect about design, and some of the things he said really stuck with me. He gave a little bit of background info on himself, and talked about how having experience in the graphic design field made it easy for him to get a job, even though he had only taken one graphic design class in his life. He had experiential learning, which our class had discussed on the first day. One of the interesting things he said was, "I tell my clients what to say, how to say it, and to whom." Seth mentioned the team he utilizes during his projects. His team contains a copyrighter, client, vendor, web, marketing, and imagery. He stated that we should, "let the plumbers do the plumbing," meaning that if we cannot do it well, then have someone who can do it. After, he listed six points of things that he has learned and thought that we needed to learn by the end.
1) It's your job to tell your clients what you think they need
2) Make your own work
3) Do a lot with a little
4) Shut up and listen
5) You have an obligation to make things better
6) Always be curious, never be satisfied
To me, number six was the best piece of advice that I could have been given. Seth gave an example of number six when he was talking about his job at a small design company. He had learned all that he could from them, and could not move up in the company, so it was time for him to move on. I have never learned much from the jobs I have had. I only had taken them for the money, and I love the idea of being able to learn new things as I work. The other points he made were also great. Numbers one and four talk about how, as the designer, you should give your client direction and tell them what you think would be the best thing to do. Sometimes though, you need to listen to the clients opinions, and work with them to create better designs that please them. Number two on the list was talking about how a designer should not wait around for work to come to them. You should make a project that says something about you, and shows the passion you have for it. It will set your portfolio apart from others. Number three referred to the fact that not all clients have a lot of money to spend. As the designer, you really have to learn to come up with great things on a tight budget. The last topic, number five, talked about how designers have an obligation to make things better than they already are. If there is a problem in a design, its our job to fix it. All in all, i gained a lot from going to hear this speech. I plan on utilizing these points in the future, when it is time for me to join the workforce as a designer.
Posted by Lindsay , Friday, April 1, 2011 5:15 PM
My textbook arrived in the mail yesterday. It is called The Design Process, by Karl Aspelund. It uses a lot of bright colors, and caught my attention easily. The book begins with a quote by Nietzsche, which I thought was an interesting choice. It says, "I shall join the creators, the harvesters, the celebrants: I shall show them the rainbow and all the steps…" I'm assuming that the quote will make more sense after I have read the book. I think it relates though because the book is supposed to teach the reader the different steps in the design process.
The preface begins with the author explaining how the design industry has changed, and how the design industry requires more skills than it did 20 years ago. It talks about how manufacturing methods have changed, and everything is more fast paced than it was. The author talks about his background in different fields, such as costumes, sets, couture, art direction of fashion layouts, etc… He relates this to the book by saying that it has "confirmed the similarities of their processes." He says that the goal of the book is to "guide designers through the stages in which they will find themselves and give them the cognitive tools and examples so they can move to each subsequent stage."
The preface goes on to talk about how the book is organized into the seven stages of design, which are:
-Inspiration
-Identification
-Conceptualization
-Exploration/Refinement
-Defenition/Modeling
-Communication
-Production
It goes on to give a short explanation for each one, and talks about how each step includes different parts. It says that the book is intended for design students, and can be used as an independent project or in a classroom. Apparently it will be beneficial, and it will be useful after I graduate. I hope that it will be, and so far it seems like it will be an interesting read. The preface ends with the different acknowledgments. There are a lot of them, and I found it interesting that the author had taught at the Reykjavik Technical College. I'm interested in reading the rest of the book now as the quarter goes on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)