Surprise!

One of the most open ended projects I've done to date is the Chicken Project. I remember with terror the day my prof passed out he asssignment, I was used to an 8.5 by 11 sheet filled with instructions, restrictions and deadlines but this piece only had a couple of sentences and a due date. I say terror because I find restrictions comforting, they give me parameters to work within and help me to find a starting place. All the brief said was; Get the chicken across the road. Creatively.

I started this project with a notebook beside my bed, on my desk or wherever I happened to be. I came up with a number of different concepts, and went through rough phases with a couple before I got serious about this concept. As you can see in the photos below the project is a parody of the iconic KFC packaging. I searched on the internet for resources but was disatisfied with my research until I had the real thing, a nice bag of sides and a big 'ol bucket of KFC. The illustration worked nicely on the package and when I cut the idea of making a promo poster, I decided to expand on the illustration and create a booklet that taught chickens how to escape in either the bucket or the bag.

I entered the project in the first Design Edge award competition and was thrilled when I won. I could hardly believe that a project that at first seemed so daunting had turned out so well. I hope you agree!

 

An Exercise in Decluttering

As part of my final year at Conestoga I came up with a thesis project. I, along with 90% of my classmates, decided to do a re-branding exercise. I chose to focus on Green Earth, a chain of stores in South-Western Ontario that drove me crazy every time I went in. They had great products and lots of selection but their stores were too full and made the shopping experience hectic. Part of the plan I laid out included streamlining their product offering and creating zones to make it easier to find what you were looking for. While that isn't generally part of a designer's role, I find that when I am working on projects I want the final solution to be effective not just aesthetically pleasing.

My final submission included a complete package for Green Earth (for school only) including a streamlined logo that better suited their products, a branding guidelines booklet, a full stationery set, a new website, simplified bags and receipts, as well as signage to help define different areas in the store.

Below are a few photos of the different elements.

Third Year Games

While homework is always homework, my profs tried to make it fun by choosing projects that gave us a vast number of options for execution. For the project below our illustration professor challenged us to redesign an existing board game with new illustrations and packaging. The focus was on the illustrations but once I started working on the package I realized that the game also needed separate containers for each players pieces (try out the game and you will understand why). Below are images of my redesigned package and added containers.

 

 

Creative Earners

The RGD conducts bi-annual surveys on the salaries and billing practices of the communication design industry, today the 2012/2013 survey was published. Prior to publishing their complete findings Design Edge magazine published a quick overview of the salary averages for 8 of the most popular positions in the industry. I found the information published in Design Edge frustrating, how many years does a junior designer have versus an intermediate or senior designer. I am curious (more accurately nosy) person and wanted to see where I sat compared to other designers in the GTA. Thankfully the survey published today (available here) included significantly more information and had great break downs on the number of freelancers, solo proprietors and full time employees currently in the industry. I also enjoyed the information they collected about overtime and benefits creatives are provided. Things have changed significantly in this regard for many other industries, but from what I understand creatives have been on the hook for overtime and their retirment savings for a long time. This was reinforced with the survey concluding that 71% of creatives are not compensated for overtime and generally speaking less than 30% have emlpoyers who contribute to their retirement.

 If you are looking for a designer or are a designer yourself this is a great resource. It will help you ensure you are being fairly compensated and give you a better understanding of the different roles creatives play in the industry.

And so it Begins

I chose to showcase an illustration project for my first piece. I struggled through each of the illustration projects I was assigned but in the end I was always extremely proud of what I accomplished. I find that I am happier with the end result of a project when I work very hard on it or, on the flip side of that, had a happy accident along the way.

The illustrations were featured in a set of limited edition pop cans I designed for Crush (school project) in celebration of Dias de los Muertos. I thought a lot about how I could incorporate the flavour into an illustration and in the end decided on the Dias de los Muertos theme so that I could use fruit from the various flavours to decorate the skulls.

Side Tracked

I promise I will start posting my work, soon even. Rather than posting work today though, I decided I would talk about the lecture I went to tonight. At first I was hesitant about the new programming at the Design Exchange, but the Stefan Sagmeister exhibit and accompanying lectures have been great.

Tonight's talk C'MON GET HAPPY: Happy people and what they know, was a series of short talks from a variety of multi-disciplinary designers on what makes them happy. There were a number of different ideas about the pursuit of happiness as well as a unanimous decision that children are the greatest source of happiness. One of my favourite parts of the whole night was when Christine Ralphs of Lloyd Ralphs Design put up a slide of the Olsen twins. At first I was skeptical, then she gave her reasoning, she said she put the slide in because it is crazy that will all of their success they look so depressed in all of their photos. The host, Gabe Gonda, Editor of the Arts section at The Globe and Mail, talked about how mastering your craft and being passionate is a reliable path to enduring happiness. All of the speakers are well known in their field and their passion for their work came through in all of the talks whether that was their intention or not. There were a ton of other great moments that I will surely forget in a couple of days, but overall I think it was a great way to spend an evening.

Yet Another Plan

I have been thinking for a couple of months about what to do with my personal website (amy-eaton.com). While I enjoy the design and the way it works, I don't like that all of my work on the site it from school and that I haven't maintained it throughout the past couple of years. I started a free site while on hold (for an hour and a half) with my current hosting company, but soon realized that it would be just another site I would dread updating. Instead I have decided to go with the most simple and streamlined solution, I will post my work on this blog. This will make it easy for me to post new projects that I have finished, and at the same time will provide content for blog posts. Overall I think it is a win-win situation and one that I won't find as daunting.

I have decided to start at the beginning with my school work and eventually catch up to the work I am doing now. I look forward to writing about my older projects, but am even more excited to finally show off some of my new pieces.