The Mind of a Designer.
For many people, a way to get their ideas, emotions and whatever else out in the open is to write it down. For me I find that this is exceptionally true. I will try to constantly update this page with blog entries pertaining to mostly things design and whatever else is going on in my life.
My First Blog Entry - May 14th, 2008
Ok so I am trying to resist the urge to brainstorm on the computer and have been carrying around a little notebook to do some sketching. I had to re-design some event flyers for Strange Beauty Show and with
having full creative freedom, I had a million different directions I wanted to try. Eventually after pages of rough thumbnails, I settled on an idea that I haphazardly sketched out in the beginning.
Being a designer and working heavily in the realm of production, you begin to notice things in the outside world of advertising. A word kerned unevenly, a badly designed banner or even the occasional typo. Before
I entered the realm of design I hardly noticed these things. Now, its second nature to look at the imperfect-ions and details of advertising around me. Not all of it is negative though. Nothing makes me more happy than to see a well designed layout with good typography.
An Endless Supply - May 27th, 2008
It seems as though every designer I meet has a ridiculous amount of books. They either are in stacks
next to desks, or carefully organized according to subject on a bookshelf. In my case, I have a tendency
to haphazardly file them away and stumble upon them in a time of need. This memorial day weekend,
I had my sister in from out of town and we were lucky enough to get Cubs baseball tickets. Roaming in Wrigleyville we found an amazing bookstore among the bars and sport merchandise hubs.
Bookworks is an unassuming treasure trove of rare books, random finds and other assortment of goodies.
I managed to grab a book by Debbie Millman called How to Think Like A Great Graphic Designer. This
book is simply interviews with some of the best in the industry like Michael Rock and Milton Glaser. So far
it is a good read and has given me some insight into how to use my abilities to the fullest.
Paper, Paper & More Paper - June 6th, 2008
I recently made the brave decision to conquer the piles of boxes I had stored "out of sight, out of mind" when I had moved here two years ago. Most of them are clothes, a christmas tree and some random remnants of my childhood. And then there are the bins of my early design years. When I started, I was in a Swiss-based program which meant no computers so I of course accrued TONS of alphabets in which I could cut out the letters, typeset and create designs. For some weird reason, I kept all of the papers. I finally bit the bullet and promptly recycled. It brought back memories of pulling all nighters, rubber cement, and using the pica ruler to no end. I also found some of my early packaging projects which weren't as cringe-worhty as I expected. Perhaps my greatest find was my collection of specialty papers. I totally forgot that I had them so it was a pleasant surprise to stumble upon them. My favorite paper by far is 100% cotton. It is kind of difficult to find because most stores like Paper Source carry mostly patterned paper rather than plain. The cotton paper is ideal for folding and embossing because its soft enough to hold a crease. Hopefully I can find that paper again somewhere in the city.
