4 - Destructive creativity

So the world of designing compositions for my website has been an interesting task. There seems to be an internal struggle between parts of me that want something, then see it, decide that I don't really want it, discard it, wonder if I really do want it, recreate it, discard it again, then come up with something completely different and repeat the entire process over again. It's been exciting. I'm debating if I want to do some incarnation of the banner that I had for my SAS website, but I don't think I want to revisit the past on that site and pull too much from it. I've come to one conclusion though:

I am absolutely, positively, undeniably, maybe indecisive.

Logo redesign is going, slowly but surely. Looking to redesign the wolf soon enough, more rugged look and less-seal like is the plan.

In other news, Chapter 4 of Designing a Digital Portfolio has led to a few ideas rolling around in my head. The main one would be possibly creating a second portfolio for my photographic work. I don't have a ton, namely only really what I have from going abroad. But I have a nice camera, I consider myself halfway decent at taking said photographs, so I figure it's worth a shot once I get my design work all squared away. Granted, that will most likely never happen, as I'm never satisfied and will probably be picking at various bits of code and design aspects until judgement day, but until then I can hope.

Also looking at various ways to transport data was a nice touch in this book. I know for certain until I get a new laptop, I'm not letting my current one out of it's cage. Seriously, it's old, cranky, and isn't house trained. It's the one I got freshmen year, and it's on its last legs. I, for one, never even considered zip disks, which I'm figuring is for the better considering how God-awful the book made them sound. I think CD's are the primary way for me to go, with e-mail attachments being a close second for those little tastes.

The chapters of "How to be a Graphic Designer, without losing your soul" are starting to run together a bit, but I'll try to sum up what I've seen so far and how well it's influenced me. First and foremost...

The interview. The dreaded interview that I long and dread simultaneously. Few good points were made about this, primarily about showing the interviewer the portfolio instead of yourself. It's a common mistake, and I don't think I would have been likely to make it beforehand, but I know for certain I won't now. And certain is better than likely.

Secondly, the whole section of freelance design intrigued me. I've considered going into freelance from time to time, although I see now that I'm not yet confident in my web design skills to feel as though I could pull that off. Although to be honest, making sites for myself has proven much harder than if anyone gave me any sort of direction, so I suppose I'd have to wait and see.

The whole personality aspect I think I'd be somewhat strong in. I consider myself a somewhat likeable person, although the ruling is still out on that, I think it moreso depends on who I'd be working for and what their attitude is. I'm somewhat timid when it comes to putting my foot down on things though, which means I'd be horrible at charging people money, and therefore would have a hell of a time making by. Just like when I was abroad in India, and people were latching themselves onto my arms to the point where I had to drag them shouting "No, I don't want to buy that". I felt so bad afterward.

The idea of running a studio is an interesting one, but not one that I'd like to think about in this stage. I'd like to take things one at a time, step by step, get out of college and see how the world works from there. From what I can see though, it's just a glorified portfolio for the masses. That is to say, you come up with your identity, you show your work, and then you take on jobs to sell said work. The difference is that it's with many more people, you need a common space to do it, and there are a larger list of variables.

At any rate, there will be a continuation of posts as I progress further and further through the books. I leave now with my complimentary video-at-end-of-post. It's not flash, or anything graphic design at all, but it's a funny video regardless.

This one's for you classical music fans: A rant about Pachelbel's Canon in D

3 - Ketchup and fine dining

Alright, I've fallen into a slippery slope of not-posting as of late, courtesy of some issues that have come up. Things are starting to get back on track though, and the catching up has begun!

So I finally got my hands on "How to be a graphic designer, without losing your soul" by Adrian Shaughnessy. Needles to say, it's an interesting take on some of the more simpler things in graphic design that you don't often think about, such as basic interaction with the person you're working with or for. Admittedly, I'm the kind of person who would probably submit more than anything else, and it was a good idea to read that section because it made me understand how sometimes, you just need to put your own ideas forward and not let someone who's incredibly indecisive keep a project from moving forward.

The whole area on personal integrity also caught my eye. I always follow my own personal code of honor, and the area about integrity really struck home at some points with me. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who will step over whoever they can to get what they want, with no regard as to who they hurt. Sure, you may get to a particular standing, but who else do you have to share the experience with, to congratulate you and write home about? Nobody, cause you stepped on all of em to get where you are and nobody likes you anymore!

I found it funny that the third chapter of Designing a Digital Portfolio had one of their top suggestions is to do a Yahoo and Google search. It just goes to show how integrated Google has become in our lives as of late. I'm actually surprised that Blogger, as I type this, is showing Google as being a typo, ironically only when I have it as lower-case. I suppose it's only a matter of time before it becomes a word added in the dictionary, if it hasn't already.

It's true though, a ridiculous amount of information can be recorded by just doing a simple Google search and seeing what comes up. You can find anything and everything related to whatever you could possibly imagine through Google. It begins to lead one to wonder what life was like before Google.

In closing, for you 3D junkies, this came out a while back, but it's still a pretty nice tech demo. Unfortunately, Youtube doesn't give this video's graphics justice. The HD versions are great, and are available on their site.

Week 2 - A step sideways

Designing a Digital Portfolio by Cynthia Baron continues to add more and more insight into the little things that I, personally, wouldn't have considered. For example, in the second chapter, the checklist that has you look through various aspects of where you are and where you aim to be brought some particular light to me about my current situation. If you answer it truthfully, I think that it's possible to see things that you wouldn't normally stumble across. For instance, just looking at the products that I've had training, I've dabbled into a lot more programs than I had originally thought. I was also able to take a step back and look at the question "Why am I making this portfolio?". Yes, naturally it's for a class, but more than that. This is going to symbolize who I am and who I wish to be; let the world know what I'm capable of and that I'm searching to find my own place in it.

I also considered the various aspects of putting it together. It was good to read that they don't recommend loading up your portfolio with a thousand different things that you've worked on, and that quality is better than quantity. Aside from my website, I've only a few things that I'd really like to put up there at the moment. I do, however, have a lot of things that I'd like to rework in an attempt to bring to light a few things that I've learned. Primarily photoshop things, I don't have any readily available that I'd be willing to put up there. That and Maya.

I'm also realizing amidst my logo generation that I can't draw worth anything. Sure, I can make relatively nice things in photoshop and illustrator (well, moreso photoshop), but my drawing isn't nearly where I'd like it to be. Which is disappointing, because I used to be able to draw. At least better than I can now.

As a closing note, The YuYu still remains one of my favorite and one of the best flash animations I've ever seen. Actually, anything by Adam Phillips is amazing. His site can be found here.