Evaluation Time

Evaluation time is upon us (my graphic design class and I) and it is always an interesting experience. This year since we are last in the wing to be evaluated, we have nearly two weeks without classes that we can work on our projects. The extra time is necessary as we were handing in projects right until our last day of classes, but it is interesting to see how everyone manages their time. There is a group of regulars who come throughout the day and then a group who come at night. I like to keep a regular routine, I feel that working regular office hours will help to prepare me for when I graduate.

It is always a stressful time, but looking back the times I got the most stressed was when I didn't take breaks. Going to the gym for an hour might mean I have an hour less time for homework, but it's refreshing and helps you concentrate when you get back to work. Planning out my time and allowing for breaks makes the difference.

Cookie-Cutter

While I’m mildly grossed out by playing with my food, this take on chess is a neat idea. When playing board games snacks are often brought out, this cookie-cutter set skips that step and integrates snacking into the game. Each piece contains your choice of snack and when you take down your opponent, the snack is yours.

Social Networking

I usually use social networking outlets to connect with friends, but I also find them useful for inspiration. Two of my favourite pages to check out are 420 Characters and The Cool Hunter.

420 Characters posts short stories, 420 characters (the maximum status length) in length, about a variety of topics. Although the stories are short, they create vivid images in your mind and make you yearn for a good read. The length is perfect for a quick break from your work day.

The Cool Hunter is an image sharing site, multiple times a day they post photos to their albums. Each album has a theme related to art or design. It’s a great place to find inspiring photos and helps to keep me current with what designers and artist are currently working on.

Minimalist Web Design

While researching for my personal website, I came across a great post about minimalist web design. There are links to a ton of great sites and some general tips and trends.

Tips

Less is more; use only elements that are essential, that have a necessary purpose.

Omit needless things; if it isn’t necessary for the website to be functional, don’t include it.

Subtract until it breaks; take things away until it is no longer functional, then revert one step.

Every detail counts; with minimalist design, every detail counts. Think of the feel you want to project and decide on details to communicate that.

Colour minimally; once again with minimalist design colour really counts. Think about what the colours mean and how they interact with eachother.

White space is vital; necessary for minimalist design, white space or negative space is essential for hierarchy, to emphasize some elements more than others.

Trends

Gray; use it in combination with black and white for text, backgrounds, graphic elements, anything.

Big typography; often used in place of images to add more interest to a website.

Background patterns and images; subtle patterns and bold images can give a minimalist design punch.

Simple grids; bring order to a bare design.

Circles; found on many minimalist sites in headers or as accents in navigation.

Transparency; while it is not very common, it can make a huge visual impact.

What to do!

I’m sitting at lunch, enjoying a break from homework and related subjects, when my friend says to me, “Where do you want to work?” Work seems so far away, but realistically in only a few months I will have to start making decisions. I’ve realized in the past two years that one of the things I care about most is being close to my hometown. I miss my friends and family now and I only live half an hour away, I can’t imagine having to drive from Ottawa, Toronto even seems too far sometimes. Ideally I would like to start in a design firm where senior designers will help me further my skills, but in house design does sound nice. I worry that if I don’t choose the right junior job, my future career will take a downward spin. It’s impossible to know if things will work out, but the one thing I do know is that I won’t be happy if I spend all of my time working.

Spent

While reading my guilty pleasure, Psychology Today, I heard about the book Spent. Spent examines human spending behaviour and critiques consumerist culture. According to author, Geoffrey Miller purchases are powerful indicators of our personality, we use them to lure both friends and mates. The book agrees with the notion that individual personalities vary along six axes; intelligence, openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability and extroversion. Miller believes that variation in these basic categories reflect genetic inheritance, preferences for each vary among societies, moments in time, and within individual lives. He jokes about popular culture and at the things we buy to inflate our self-esteem and to try to make ourselves more attractive. One of the things I find most interesting is how the book is said to give us a better understanding of our own personalities to help us avoid consumerism. Miller also discusses how after millions of years of evolution, we still resort to expensive and ridiculous substitutes for our true personalities and identities.

I know what book I want for Christmas.

Hi, I'm Amy!

One of the projects I’ve been working on as of late is my personal identity. I’ve heard quite a few of my classmates say “I don’t know who I am” and have thought the same many times. While I feel like I know myself, I have a hard time explaining it to others, and an even harder time communicating it visually. How can I communicate to potential employers that I’m hardworking, detail oriented, into knitting, love crafts and can be quite fun once you know me, with a brand. I’m sure it’s possible and am getting closer each time I work on it, but I still feel like part of my personality will be missing.

Networking with people in the business and potential employers can be very intimidating, add in the judgment that comes when you hand over your business card and it’s almost too much. My professor strongly suggested that my classmates and I have our business cards ready for Design Thinkers (a design conference in Toronto) and I thought it was a great idea, until I realized he wanted us to hand them out. Hopefully all goes well and it is a successful learning and networking experience.