Thoughts on "School Days"

Rob Giampietro
School Days

Personally, I really wasn’t sure what Giampietro was getting at. He’s talking about a school for designers specifically right? What I got is that he was talking about abstract ideas that weren’t concrete which, therefore, seemed to be beyond my understanding.

I won’t say that the reading is totally unreadable. I’m convinced that more experienced designers may understand and might even appreciate what he’s trying to say. Especially when he talks the idea of design and how it ought to be taught.

In some ways, if you’re a driven to be a designer and nothing more, this maybe the sort of academy of some sort to attend. Truly, you do find different designers from different backgrounds. That much is certainly true.

All in all, I thought is writing was vague and had no specific main idea.

Box Design

Hi.

So, earlier in the semester, we were supposed to make a box design from a made-up product. I came up with a flash drive that is shaped like a pendant for a necklace. So, needless to say, it'll be a type of jewelry box of some sort. 

It was to be targeted at young female audience like high schoolers or junior high. Though I figured why limit it to females in general? In pop culture of Asian countries, males have pushed the boundary of femininity and masculinity. In the end, I came up of creating a series based off of zodiac signs i.e. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. 
I called it 'roundabout: Celeste Collection' being jewelry/fashion had that sorta brand/company with a series name next to it. So my (made-up) brand/company is of electronics genre; that is supposed to target primarily the young female crowd.
I wanted the box open sorta like a storybook like this:

As cool as it is, finding a box that neat would be a tricky one.  Creating a box like that is another thing too.
So, that sorta thing was on my mind which got in the way of trying to create a good design.In end, I found a box semi-close to my vision.

 

I suppose I was too much into my box that the design sorta suffered with it. 

If I went back, I think printing the design on card stock would have strengthened the look better.

"Designing Our Own Graves" thoughts

Designing Our Own Graves

by: Dmitri Siegel

2006

Prosumerism is a new word; I’m not entirely sure if this was a made up term by Siegel himself, or was termed from some other published work. (Eh… well-established individuals have this entitlement to name something.) Not to imply that I hate Siegel myself, but the term is intriguing and thought provoking.

It is true that, lately, there have been ‘DIY’ books around. The thought of being able to do something that takes time and skill is attractive. And just by buying and reading this book (of knowledge) will get me to achieve this skill? I’d buy the book.

That convenience is surely attractive to a lot of others.

With that in mind, consuming books on ‘DIY’ (by the way, how do you pronounce that or do you just say ‘do it yourself’?) and producing from that book becomes prosumerism. Though, I feel the ‘consuming’ part is more prominent than the producing part.

What seems to be a general rule, producing takes a lot more time and effort than consuming. DIY books are initially products.  So “Designing Our Graves” is probably an overstatement. Sure, designers are sharing their secrets and skill, but it’s not like the consumer is going to steal the designer’s job. Most of the time, people are just happy about half-assed results after reading a DIY book.

Stop Motion project

Stop Motion advertising Amazon.

How it started:

In class, we were assigned to make a stop-motion video advertising or promoting something. I've been meaning to make another stop motion video since my 3D-design class. I also wanted to play with Danbo. Danbo is perceived as a group of boxes that looks like a robot.

Danbo originates from the manga (Japanese graphic novel) "Yotsuba&!" Its first appearance was in chapter 28 (read from right to left).

The name "Danbo" itself comes from the term 段ボール (or 'danBOORU') which translates as corrugated cardboard.

So, given he's a cardboard box robot with 'Amazon.co.jp' written all over the place, I'd say it'll be perfect to advertise Amazon. My bigger version of Danbo was needed for this little story. The commercial was required to be only 30 sec.

Graphic Design Firms/Companies to Keep an Eye On...

• gotomedia 
• Studio 7 Design

• Brownjohn

• Chermayeff and Geismar

• Bento Graphics 

Readings from Aiga and thoughts

How To Find Your First Job

Informative and something I've heard before. It's something useful to keep near you when looking for that ideal job. When offering the job, resisting the urge to say 'yes' right away is something I didn't know, but it's practical and going by what you find important is what will make you thrive right?

A Guide To Internships

Most of the reading is stuff I already know. But it also made me realize that getting an internship is an important stepping stone from a college/university to the working world. It's one of those things that you wish they told you in high school or the beginning of college/university. Yet, knowing yourself is probably the even bigger step to getting from point A (prepping in college) to point B (hired at your dream job)

Stay Up Late

Yet another intuitive reading. Work hard and it'll pay off. Know your priorities and go from there. Makes me wonder if I'm more of a selfless person than I thought... I'm often swayed by other people to not stay out late...


Stefan Sagemeister on Tibor Kalman
I expected I wouldn't relate to this reading being I'm not familiar with either of those Graphic Designers (unfortunate I know). However, was a quote that got me thinking in the article which is this:


“The only difficult thing when running
a design studio is not to grow. The rest is easy”
--Stefan Sagemeister

I still wonder about it.  Take it from a well-known Graphic Designer. He/she will go out of his/her way to grow. This, I find inspiring.

Paying Your Dues Without Selling Your Soul
An open-ended article, which I find unsatisfying. However, I almost feel like it doesn't apply to me as well. I usually like tasks with rules. However, if the management is corrupt and unreasonable, that's when this article matters to me. Makes me think of my day job...

Working Smarter, Not Harder
A common-sense article. You can only work hard for so long. Though I'm not really in that state yet... However, hard-work does have its own awards.

"First Things First" thoughts

As I noticed from most contemporary readings, every discipline will go out of their way to show that they have a place in this world in a larger scale. This article was no different.

I have yet to believe that graphic design does serve a bigger purpose. After reading this article however, I am contemplating about it. I would like to believe it does. Until then, there is a lacking of information/evidence that it does.

To an extent it does of course. But not in a huge extent. But I think that’s what the writers are trying to get out. If we, as graphic designers, band together and focus our strengths on something more meaningful, we can be as important as the publication of the bible. Perhaps that’s too strong of an idea, but that is an idea. And that’s the beauty of graphic designer. Making the viewer think of an idea a certain way.

I’m sure there is some sort of innate thing that graphic design does to people. I have yet the information for it.

[will add more later...] 

7:51 pm

This has been on mind. What about the consumers? Are they that dumb to become mystified by our design and thus, cough up the money to get this product it represents? And then get upset enough to sue the company ‘cause it didn’t fulfill their expectations according to the design? Not like we all think that. Thank God.

 

Stef Type is born!

Here is my header/banner/logo thing. (Once I figure out how to place it on top...)