While attending the seek conference, I was able to attend a lecture by Sean Adams. Mr. Adams was super fun and interesting to listen to. He talked about himself and his journey as a designer to where he is today. Sean talked about going to school for graphic design, when none of his family supported the idea; yet he pursued his interest. He explained how he and his college friend Noreen started their own design studio. Some of the ideals that they founded themselves upon were clarity, purity, and resonance. I found it interesting that they do not take on all projects that come to them. Each project is reviewed, and it must meet two out of the three F’s. The three F’s are: Fun, Fame, and Fortune. Therefore, if they get a project that will be fun but will not pay, they turn it down. Or, if a project will bring in a fortune but is no fun, they turn it down. I think having a system like this is a great way to ensure that you have the same dedication and drive behind every project.

For me, sending files for the holiday card has been a total learning experience. Having experienced everything that could possible go wrong first hand, i feel as though i know what to expect and how to handle these situations in the future. First off, I went for a press check last Monday only to find the wrong paper being used. After sorting out these issues we were able to get the correct paper the next day. In future printing jobs, i now know how important it is to highlight what changes you have made to your design while working with a printer; Reiterating things on multiple levels, so that clear communicate is happening between you and the printer. When we received the printed cards, I also had to deal with some printing issues. During the printing of the cards, something happened and a small portion of the card became blurred. Considering the time line, I had to quickly communicate with the printer, regarding the issues, in order to ensure that we are able to get the cards into the mail in a timely fashion. Keeping clean clear communication is key while dealing with these situations and also keeping the clients up to date of the card status. A quote that I found inspiring while worrying through this was a quote by Anthony D’Angelo “In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time”. Though these things now seem like a real mess to deal with, in the future i can do a couple things to make projects a smoother process.

This past weekend I was able to attend the Seek Design Conference that was held at the Northern Illinois University Campus. This was a great experience. I was able to attend several lectures; a few of the lecture speakers being Debbie Millman, Sean Adams, and Danny Yount. Debbie talked about her new book Brand Thinking. Her presentation was interesting; she talked about ten things that she has learned from the masters. A couple of these points stuck with me, since I am currently working at rebranding my nonprofit. Number five, on her list of things she has learned from the masters, was “great brands are on a mission and every brand must know their mission”.  This got me thinking about my branding work and I what the mission is, why did they start, and how can I communicate that to the customers. I decided that I would go back and look at the mission of the organization, and relook at the history. I was able to reconnect with what the organization was founded on, and who they were trying to reach. I feel this weekend, full of design and inspiration from Chicago, that I was able to step back and relook at my work with a fresh set of eyes. Another point Debbie made was that “brands help us feel happy”.  Looking at my nonprofit, I decided that I would strive to communicate this through my nonprofit brand. The nonprofit works with kids who suffer hair loss. The organization provides wigs made of human hair to these children. In addition, a large part of what they do is providing the support they need to feel accepted as a part of society. I think that if this brand can help people, specifically children feel happy, it will be a success.

This week my class has the opportunity to talk with Marc English on Skype. Marc is a very interesting character. He enjoyed a gin and tonic while chatting with us.  A couple of my classmates sent Marc questions for him to talk with us about. One of the questions asked was “what have been the best and worst experiences working with design?” In response to this question, Marc said the best thing that he has ever done was follow his heart and the worst thing he has ever done was hire the wrong person. I can definitely see now, when working in groups for an extended period of time, why it is so important to have a group that can work cohesively together. I think the biggest battle is finding that group of people who can work together and their design styles and ascetics fit well together. Just looking at our class we each have different styles and design ascetics. I also think that having similar interest and workflow creates a stronger group. There are definitely many factors that play into creating a strong group that is able to work together and I would venture to say the stronger the group of designers working together, the stronger the design work will be.

This week I listened to Davis Crow, who is the head of the Art and Design Faculty at the Manchester University. Mr. Crow spent 10 years as a designer before starting his teaching career. In this interview he talked a bit about taking what he learns in design to other areas of study. Since he works at an art school he has constant opportunity to learn and explore other mediums. I thought this was very interesting. I often find myself arranging things in a particular way, or choosing things so that they are visually appealing and balanced. In a recent project, I was painting a table with a friend; The colors that my friend had chosen were not working well together and they clashed. After some tweaks to the paint colors, the table visually looked more appealing as well as feeling more inviting. Another thing that David talked about was credibility. He said that being a designer for ten years helped him in his teaching career because it gave him credibility and ground to stand on. I agree, that in most cases, having the real life experience will make you a better teacher. In addition, the experience will also show that you know what you are doing and you won’t have to convince others of what you are capable of; Rather, show them you can by what you have done.

Last week, as part of my Anthropology class, we were required to attend a lecture by Soumendra M. Patnaik, who is from the University of Delhi. The lecture was about implications of globalization for indigenous communities in India. Mr. Patnaik was hard to understand, due to his accent and not being a native English speaker, but I was able pick out a few of his key points. Soumendra used a couple of examples, to help illustrate his points, that stuck with me. The first example was about the attempts to rid HIV in India. To do so, people were sent in to teach India natives about condoms. At a later date, data was reviewed and it was shown that the HIV rates did not go down. Therefore, they looked back to see what went wrong; It was found that, during the demonstration, the condoms were placed on the thumb and the Indian people thought that this was the proper way to use the condoms. I think that this example demonstrates how we have to sell our ideas and designs in a way that is meaningful to the audience.  In this case, a better demonstration and explanation would have solved the problem. Looking at this I can better understand the importance of clean, clear, and concise communication between everyone involved. In the future, when designing for people, I will think about how I can make the subject  meaningful for them, or how I can communicate an idea so that more care and consideration is given to it.

This week we were given a set of rules and hints for students and teachers by John Cage. I read through the rules and they basically stated: to find people that you can trust, learn from each other, and learn as much as you can from your teacher.   I think this week, working with my group on the holiday card, I can especially see how these rules/hints can help, not only you but the others around you. My favorite rule is #7, “The only rule is work. If you work, it will lead to something. It is the people who do all the work all the time who eventually catch onto things. You can fool the fan—but not the player.” This rule hits home with what we’re running into on this holiday card project. Initially, the work was not done; Therefore, trying to find something to build upon was a challenge. I think that once we added a few people to the mix, more idea generation happened. Working with multiple ideas allows you to weed out the bad ideas  and push the good ones forward.   Pushing through this card project is a learning experience for all of us. I think we have all learned how each person works, and what their weaknesses are. I think that I have personally learned where I fall in the group dynamic, and what my role is.    I think that as we move forward with the group’s other projects, we will need to make sure we are all following these rules. Maybe having a set of rules like these,  that we can follow and hold each other accountable to, we will become a stronger group and be more successful.

This week I attended a lecture by Rob Carter and Sandy Wheeler, from Virginia Commonwealth University. Prior to the lecture, my GRDE414 class was able to sit down with both of these individuals and have a discussion about design. One of the questions asked was – what are your thoughts on a BS degree versus a BFA. Rob talked about how many schools only teach theory, but he believes that there should be a balance between theory and practice. I think having a business degree is very beneficial. After taking several marketing and business classes, I have a better understanding of the other side of business. I believe that by completing these business classes, I can see the connection and overlap between the fields study. In addition, having a marketing plan with a defined set of goals for a project can be a great help when creating a solution to the problem. Rob and Sandy shared that they have seen a trend in the last 5 years for students to minor in business.

Later that day, I attended a workshop where we used wine corks and ink to create a topographical map of the United States. This was really interesting; the attendees were divided into three groups (East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast) and each person was given a cork and two pieces of paper. The group that I was a member of chose to lay all of our papers out and work as a team to create the coastal outline and then we started creating dots. Once I started dotting the paper, it was interesting to experiment will all the possibilities that could be created by using just this one cork. Afterward, we combined all the pieces of paper to create the whole United States. It was fascinating to see how each group had a distinct style, even though it was a group of people. It was also nice to see how the other groups approached the project. My group worked together, and rotated so that we could all work on each part. The other groups worked by themselves, which created a whole different look.

Lastly, I attended a lecture by Rob and Sandy In Grand Rapids.  This was a really nice look at who Rob and Sandy are; they presented and talked about their work, their collaboration, and their personal lives.  Sandy made the following statement: “Where you come from shapes who you are and your world views”, which caught my attention.  I agree that coming from a small town has definitely shaped me differently than a person who was raised in a city down state. I don’t necessarily think being from a small town community is a bad thing; it just makes me see things with a little different perspective.

This week I listened to an Interview with Kenya Hara on Typeradio. During the interview Kenya was talking about design and its importance. He mentioned that as designers we don’t make design for designers but for ordinary people. He continued to talk of designs importance to ordinary people, but I was thinking about this as well. I think design, if done correctly is something you don’t have to think about, it’s clean, it’s clear, it makes sense, and it’s readable. At our group client meeting last week with President Eisler he brought up a very interesting point. As designers, we have been educated in this field of study to make our choices and decisions; we create something that the client wants and present them our ideas and concepts, but ultimately the client, who has limited knowledge and experience, makes the decisions. I find this very interesting. I wonder if this type of situation occurs in other fields. It is interesting to think about who we, as a society, respect and trust with decision making.

This week I listened to an interview on Typeradio with Wes who is a graffiti artist from the West Coast. At first I was like “hum, this is something different, this could be interesting.”  Wes discovered graffiti in junior high. The graffiti that Wes noticed and also sparked his curiosity were characters on buildings. Prior to listening to this interview with Wes, I was thinking that graffiti and graphic design are very different. I couldn’t see any real connection between the two. After I had listened to Wes talking about graffiti, I began to understand a little more about this art style. Wes talked about how the letterforms are the foundation for the style and just as there are different styles of graphic design there are also different styles of graffiti. It was interesting to find out that graffiti originates from New York and it can be identified by asymmetrical word combinations; Whereas graffiti from the west coast is very symmetrical in the letters and words.  There are no rules to this style of art because there are no classes teaching you how to become a graffiti artist; you just have to do it on your own. This makes graffiti an art form that is passed down from generation to generation.