4 posts tagged “design”
So this blog will be quite long. This is a fact, because I have written it before. Last night I sat down and put a good fuckin' hour into catching my few readers up to whats been going on over the recent months. At the end of this hour I tried to insert a picture and whoosh! My blog was gone. I didn't know about the recover button, so I just turned of my computer in an angry fluster and went to bed.
I usually don't have the time to to blog, or when I do I just feel like nobody really wants to read about my boring little life in Fresno. But I feel like when I blog it gives me a chance to get things out of my head in a creative medium. I don't consider myself a great writer, but I know my wife enjoys reading what I write and maybe a few other people on Vox that might stumble across my page. My wife is an excellent writer and I really enjoy reading her blog, so I figured my blog must be worth it at some level.
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The passed months have been quite a journey for my little life. In December I finally...FINALLY finished school! I graduated from CSU Fresno with a BA in Art & Design, graphic design option. When I graduated I continued working at the deli, but always had my eyes open for a full-time graphic design gig. With the economy how it is, I knew I would be making sandwiches for awhile; trying to survive on what little money I was making. I focused my efforts on applying for every possible job that I could see myself doing full-time. Most of the jobs I applied for weren't even in the field of design. I just needed full-time work and wasn't afraid to look everywhere. A couple weeks passed and I heard nothing.
After these post-graduation weeks I began to feel like nothing would ever change. I started feeling a little depressed, but knew something would have to come up. Finally I got a call from a lady at a local newspaper. She had seen some of my work from a class project that she happened to have hosted. We had to design an invitation package for an upcoming awards Luncheon. My design was chosen by her and she told me that she also had a part-time position open that she wanted me to come in to interview for. I swooped up that interview right away and got myself ready to present a portfolio for the first time.
I got my portfolio ready and printed a bunch of resumes and business cards. i got some new clothes and dressed to impress. I went down to the interview on the scheduled day and everything was going well. I walked up to the receptionist, told her that I had an interview with this lady. She looked at me a little funny and replied with, "She has been out sick all week with pnemonia, no one called you?" So I had to go all the way back home a wait for her to call me and reschedule. A week or so went by and I finally heard back. I went in for the interview and everything went well. She was very impressed, but unfortunately one of the people who was also supposed to interview me was out sick. She told me that I would have to schedule a second interview with him when he got back. So I did this. Another few weeks passed and I went in for my second interview. This interview happened to be with a former classmate and it went quite well. He pretty much told me that I had the job, but he was going to have to go through some more loops before they actually hired someone. I waited... and waited... and waited. About a month passed and I heard nothing.
I got my portfolio ready and printed a bunch of resumes and business cards. i got some new clothes and dressed to impress. I went down to the interview on the scheduled day and everything was going well. I walked up to the receptionist, told her that I had an interview with this lady. She looked at me a little funny and replied with, "She has been out sick all week with pnemonia, no one called you?" So I had to go all the way back home a wait for her to call me and reschedule. A week or so went by and I finally heard back. I went in for the interview and everything went well. She was very impressed, but unfortunately one of the people who was also supposed to interview me was out sick. She told me that I would have to schedule a second interview with him when he got back. So I did this. Another few weeks passed and I went in for my second interview. This interview happened to be with a former classmate and it went quite well. He pretty much told me that I had the job, but he was going to have to go through some more loops before they actually hired someone. I waited... and waited... and waited. About a month passed and I heard nothing.
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I figured all hope was lost when I hadn't heard back until one of my friends told me about a local church that had its own creative department. They were looking for a full-time graphic designer. The pay was decent and I couldn't pass up the opportunity for another interview. I emailed the person that posted this job listing and sent her a link to my website. She replied within a few days and told me that she really enjoyed my work and wanted me to come in for an interview. When I showed up for the interview I was dressed to impress. Three very friendly people greeted me and made me feel right at home. I proceeded to show them my portfolio and tell them about my creative process and a little about each of my portoflio pieces. I could tell by the looks and comments I was getting that they liked me. I left the interview feeling very happy about my chances of getting hired. They told me I would hear back within three weeks because they still had a few interviews lined up.
While I was slaving away at the deli counter the next day I got a call from one of the ladies I had interviewed with. She left a message asking me to call her back when I had a chance because she had a few questions for me. I immediately stepped outside and gave her a call. She told me that they were very impressed with me and that I made all the other interviews they did before me seem amateur. She said that she needed me on there creative team and wanted to offer me the job at the pay rate I had asked for. I accepted and started working a few weeks later.
Things have been awesome since I started working for the church. I get to design a lot of different materials for all the different ministries within the church. One day I might be designing a wedding counseling binder and the next an annual car show poster. It has been quite satisfying so far. I get to sit in front of dual 22" widescreen monitors and a very powerful PC. It was kinda hard to get used to working on PC again because I use a Mac at home and we used them at school also. But I adjusted and now I am quite fast on either platform, which I believe is a good skill to have in my industry. My boss is awesome and everyone in the office is very friendly and welcoming. We do a lot of our printing in-house which is giving me some good experience with file preperation for printing. I still hadn't heard back from the nwespaper either, lol. so unprofessional.
While I was slaving away at the deli counter the next day I got a call from one of the ladies I had interviewed with. She left a message asking me to call her back when I had a chance because she had a few questions for me. I immediately stepped outside and gave her a call. She told me that they were very impressed with me and that I made all the other interviews they did before me seem amateur. She said that she needed me on there creative team and wanted to offer me the job at the pay rate I had asked for. I accepted and started working a few weeks later.
Things have been awesome since I started working for the church. I get to design a lot of different materials for all the different ministries within the church. One day I might be designing a wedding counseling binder and the next an annual car show poster. It has been quite satisfying so far. I get to sit in front of dual 22" widescreen monitors and a very powerful PC. It was kinda hard to get used to working on PC again because I use a Mac at home and we used them at school also. But I adjusted and now I am quite fast on either platform, which I believe is a good skill to have in my industry. My boss is awesome and everyone in the office is very friendly and welcoming. We do a lot of our printing in-house which is giving me some good experience with file preperation for printing. I still hadn't heard back from the nwespaper either, lol. so unprofessional.
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On a competely different note, I entered one of my wine label designs in a local design and marketing competition. This competition is called the Addys. It is actually a National competition, but starts at the local level all over the nation. In Fresno there were lots of design and marketing agencies that entered pieces, but this was my last chance to enter some of my student work. All the work for this show had to be created in 2008, so I entered my Haka wine label design from one of my last classes at Fresno State. It cost $20 to enter and I figured it would be a good experience. A few weeks later I heard that I was a finalist for my category. So i got an invitation to attend the awards dinner and see if i won my category.
The dinner was last night and it was awesome. There were four live painters doing large paintings for everyone to watch. They had music and performance poetry. The whole night was focused on creativity. The theme for the year was kind of a half-assed anit-design thing. All the table cloths were white butcher paper and the plates and cups were white cardboard paper also. In the middle of each table was a bucket of creative utencils, such as crayons, pencils, scissors, glue and paper. We were all instructed to decorate our tables and cups and plates. They were going to take photos of them all at the end of the night and eventually post them on this website. It just so happens that I won my category and got a very nice plaque that I can hang on my wall. Since I won, I automatically get to move onto the State portion of the competition and if I do well there I could go on to the National portion. I dont know how far I will go, but I am definitely excited to find out how I do!
So now you are caught up on my life and I will definitely be blogging more often because I'm bound to get bored at work and need some way to pass the time. I will try not to be intimidated by blogging like I have in the passed and I hope everyone who gets this far in this long and sexy blog enjoyed reading about my little life here in Fresno.
The dinner was last night and it was awesome. There were four live painters doing large paintings for everyone to watch. They had music and performance poetry. The whole night was focused on creativity. The theme for the year was kind of a half-assed anit-design thing. All the table cloths were white butcher paper and the plates and cups were white cardboard paper also. In the middle of each table was a bucket of creative utencils, such as crayons, pencils, scissors, glue and paper. We were all instructed to decorate our tables and cups and plates. They were going to take photos of them all at the end of the night and eventually post them on this website. It just so happens that I won my category and got a very nice plaque that I can hang on my wall. Since I won, I automatically get to move onto the State portion of the competition and if I do well there I could go on to the National portion. I dont know how far I will go, but I am definitely excited to find out how I do!
So now you are caught up on my life and I will definitely be blogging more often because I'm bound to get bored at work and need some way to pass the time. I will try not to be intimidated by blogging like I have in the passed and I hope everyone who gets this far in this long and sexy blog enjoyed reading about my little life here in Fresno.
My most recent school project has got me thinking about the, now recent, future. In this class, professionals from around town visit and present us with a design project. Most of them have been pretty cool, a few lame ones, but this one got me excited. The goal of this project was to name and design three different wines. Each wine is from a different region around the world and our name choice has to be found by doing research about the three regions. The thing that got me excited was the professional that presented this project just so happened to be the Art Director of a place I really want to work.
So my task at hand was to name a Cabernet Sauvignon from Aconcagua, Chile, a Chardonnay from Washington, and a Pinot Noir from Marlborough, New Zealand. I did my research and came up with three unique names that I feel stand out on a shelf.
My first wine I presented was my Cab from Chile.
I named this wine "Zabala", which is a fruit native to Aconcagua, Chile. In my design I feature the blossom of that particular fruit tree. I felt the natural colors of the flower lended themselves perfectly to an elegent and modern label designer. The target audience for this wine was both men and women.
The second wine I presented was my Chardonnay from Washington.
My research found that Washington shares the same lattitudinal line as famous growing region in France, such as, Bourdeaux and Burgundy. The reason these areas grow such great wine is in the soil. It is sandy and studded with stones. So I decided to play off of that characteristic and named my wine "Stone Studded". The target audience for this wine was women and I wanted to try a real modern avant-garde design that I hadn't seen on wine labels I looked at. One of the cool things about this design is that if is was ever really produced all of the gems would have a gloss varnish over them so they stand out from the other printed areas.
Finally, the last one I presented was my Pinot Noir from New Zealand.
While researching the Marlborough region of New Zealand I stumbled across a link to a page about the Maori tribe. I became intrigued and dove into more research about this culture of people. I came across an art style that I really liked that only used red, white, and black with really simplified shapes, but the shaped had meaning. I also discorvered a war dance that the Maori did called the Haka. This dance was to intimidate their attackers. I named my wine after that dance because I felt it was an appropriate name for a Pinot Noir. Pinots tend to be hard to grow and could use a war dance to ward off their enemies. The bands around the top represent grape vines and the grapes that grow on them to make the wine. I used the Maori art style that I found to illustrate my label. The target audience for this wine was Men so I felt this bold treatment was appropriate for that demographic.
This label was my favorite so I did my one ad for this wine. Here is what I came up with.
I tried to do something that emulated the bottle design so that when the consumer sees the ad, they will automatically know what to look for when they go to the store. My body copy explains the brand concept since this is its first unveiling. I thought it would be cool to let the reader know what the wine makers behind the wine were thinking when they created it.
So now that the project is done and I have presented it to my dream employer I feel great. He called two of my designs, "Heroes". What he meant was that they were perfect and would stand strong on the shelves. I just liked the reference to comic books and I am so pleased he liked my designs. I can now look toward my future with a smile and hope that they have an opening when I apply. Other than that it was nice to know that someone in the real world acknowledged my work as something that could be actually produced. It didn't just look like student work to him, he saw the professionalism and I feel great that I have put in so much effort over the passed five years. It is finally going to pay off and I will be done with school. I will be able to focus on my career and starting a family with my beautiful wife.
Sorry for the length of this blog, but hopefully my designed pulled you through it with comfort and ease. Have a nice night, peace out.
The second wine I presented was my Chardonnay from Washington.
Finally, the last one I presented was my Pinot Noir from New Zealand.
This label was my favorite so I did my one ad for this wine. Here is what I came up with.
So now that the project is done and I have presented it to my dream employer I feel great. He called two of my designs, "Heroes". What he meant was that they were perfect and would stand strong on the shelves. I just liked the reference to comic books and I am so pleased he liked my designs. I can now look toward my future with a smile and hope that they have an opening when I apply. Other than that it was nice to know that someone in the real world acknowledged my work as something that could be actually produced. It didn't just look like student work to him, he saw the professionalism and I feel great that I have put in so much effort over the passed five years. It is finally going to pay off and I will be done with school. I will be able to focus on my career and starting a family with my beautiful wife.
Sorry for the length of this blog, but hopefully my designed pulled you through it with comfort and ease. Have a nice night, peace out.
I don't even know what the internet is anymore. Well, that's a lie; I know different parts of it now. I used to spend my time surfing all the fun website and commenting friends on myspace. Now my days are full of market demographic research and reading graphic design blogs and, of course, designing. My life has never been as busy as it is right now. I am so glad that I only have 7 weeks of school left. I will finally have my degree and be done with school FOREVER! For years I dreamed of only having to work each day and not have to work, do homework, go to school, and study. I will have the time and money to do more things I enjoy, like cooking. Maybe the gym will come back into the picture and I will lose more weight. I have kept off the 30 lbs. I lost a few months back, I just need to get back on it.
This was just a little rant to update my vox. I don't have much time to think about writing anything longer than this, but someday i will.
Being a graphic designer is really fun and exciting, but with it comes a curse. Everywhere I look I see bad logos, bad kerning, and cheesy graphics. Every once in awhile I will find something in nature that reminds me of an aspect of design.
As I was walking home from the store yesterday I found a dead worm on the ground. Before I realized what it was, I saw a cool looking question mark ("?"). I laughed inside when I realized what it was and had to grab my camera to take a picture. What do you think? Does is look like a dead worm to you or a question mark?
What if when the worm was dying he was yelling, "Wwhhhyyyyyy Meeeeeeee?" Then his position might make sense.
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On a completely different note, I found the best home-made salad dressing recipe. It is super simple and mighty tasty. If you are looking to try something new on your salad, then you should try this:
Sweet Balsamic Dressing
-1 part balsamic vinegar
-1 part olive oil
-1 part brown sugar
If you try it let me know what you think.
