I want to use my bedroom as a metaphor for my mind. I’ve decided my video featured prominently on my website should speak to my goals and my imagination. I’m going to use AfterEffects to create overlays of information on blank walls (like this video Sight on Vimeo on Vimeo). A lot of it will hinge on the voiceover where I will interview myself with the main question “What have the past two years been like?” I will answer candidly about my discovery and development of my own design style and ambitions that have laid dormant until now. I want to also express the feeling of design, when it’s all on you and there’s a fear present when you’re experimenting and you’re not sure if other people are going to “get” it. That’s where the camera is viewing the room at a sideways orientation and I intend on figuring out how to give the illusion that I am on a precipice, which is the edge of my bed like this image:
Here are some photoshop comps for Brighton School as part of this massive identity project. It was easier than I thought to organize the file and resize it for mobile. I think a part of that ease was having a four column layout. They slid into one column smoothly.
In this comp, I imagined for Brighton’s website, big bright pictures and navigation in the middle of the page where the sought information is organized in a tab like structure so it doesn’t seem like you’re going out of the page to get information. I used color to differentiate the different kinds of information.
On Friday, my Facebook status: “I designed an app that helps people familiarize themselves with the boarding process of an educational non-profit spacecraft that gives its riders two minutes of zero-gravity and a view of the moon… in my dream last night. This morning I felt productive, but I wasn’t.”
I had an urge to design some kind of app or something. Just for fun. Based on a facebook chat I was having, I made a sketch of a handheld electronic device with a program on it designed to keep track of different kinds of “scores.” This sketch represents three scores being tracked: puns, usefulness and compliments. The interface is a combination of a touch screen, voice, and a companion device, a bluetooth brainwave monitor that is worn by the participating users. It has been discovered that right before a creative moment, there’s a readable spike in your brainwave patterns (I read about it in Imagine, by Jonah Leher- Why Jonah Lehrer’s ‘Imagine’ is worth reading, despite the problems | Poynter..). It was noted by some people I explained the device to that this mechanism was unnecessary as the device could simply record everything and delete the unwanted later. In all practical uses, that would be the approach, but I love the idea of a smart device that is efficient, a device that activates right as the device becomes needed. The best joke of the weekend made by a friend, to whom I was explaining the invention paraphrased here:
<person 1>Did you have brain surgery? (pointing to the shaved spot where the bluetooth brainwave monitor device is adhered to the scalp)
Last week, I went over to a friend’s house to eat dinner and draw. Here are the results of that encounter. I instagram-ed them. I recently started instagram-ing and at first I didn’t understand the purpose of giving away your rights to your images to instagram, but I feel like it’s not about intellectual property, but publishing in a social forum. I find it interesting that I am in a culture that is sentimental about moments that just happened. I think I like that.
In Drawing Club Last week, we did some blind contour drawing and some drawing improv games where you pass the paper around adding to the drawing, one of them making sure that whatever randomness you added was symmetrical, another game where we made panels for a comic, each person taking a different panel, forwarding the story.
Today as a part of website design/business class, Jen Pearce, UX designer, came to tell us some valuable information. She worked at Microsoft, getting a contract through Aquent. She worked on the Kinect project and X-box. She currently works at PopCap Games.
Blogger’s note: These are my take-aways from the talk and that none of this are direct quotes.
Advice on Finding a Job you love Go to every interview you get. It’s a great practice and if they offer you the job, you can learn how to say no. Cater your resume. Keywords get you the job. For UX jobs, put wireframes in your portfolio.
Get the interview:
Use LinkedIn to find people at the company you want to work at, and then buy them a cup of coffee, and ask them about their job. If they give you feedback, heed! If you don’t, they’ll feel like you don’t know what’s good for you and not hire you.
Have a scannable resume.
Cater your resume. Keywords get you the job.
For UX jobs, put wireframes in your portfolio.
Keep your wireframes up to date with the final product.
If your client has changed their site to where it doesn’t look like your site anymore and it doesn’t match the item in your portfolio, take it out of your portfolio.
Contracts! Even if your co-founder is your friend, be aware that this is business and ask for money up front and get things in writing.
It’s okay to say “Let me get back to you” when they ask about salary
Check your rates, when you get your first paycheck. If it isn’t right, make it better or get out of there.
Work Life- Culture
Behave like the kind of person you would want to work with!
Write good emails. Sometimes, being succinct isn’t enough. Some places might appreciate a fun bit. Include a photo of a cat and an owl and you’ll go far.
Shit sandwich: it’s okay to be critical, but sometimes you are better received when you are nice about it. So, follow the recipe: compliment, potentially painful feedback, and compliment.
Yesterday, I was helping on set for our Portfolio Video. This is the video that will be intriguing industry-folk if our strategy pans out. We’ve organized ourselves into different committees working towards a themed Portfolio Show with its social media, branding and promotional material. I’m on the video-editing committee.
Here in this photo, I’m taking a photo with my phone of the kind of chains of photographs that can happen when you’re shooting a scene of a photographer photographing.
I was one of the designers on set. It was really fun. There was plenty of room for suggestions on set. I had some ideas for shots that were good and some that required a bit exploration and others… well we just didn’t bring a lazy susan! I had a great time. I was in charge double-checking the production shoot list, making sure we got all of the shots that we talked about at the video meeting. Everyone was very professional and kept good spirits during the six-hour long, three-location shoot. I’m excited to see the rough cuts next week!
I also think that the designers took it upon themselves to instagram, tweet and vine some of the fun moments on set. Find them with #unfoldscca!
Today, Emily Eagle, one of my classmates, gave a quick tutorial in the Audacity program. I have been going through and cutting up the audio from my interviews with my teachers to get a feel and some good soundbites to inspire the structure of the portfolio video. I want to express what they are saying about me into something concise and meaningful. Will I use the sound clips from the interviews? I am not sure. I think there are some interesting bits where I feel like they are saying with authority who and what I am aiming for with this video. The soundcloud bit above is reflective of my first run through two interviews that are about twenty minutes each. I’m starting to organize parts I like into categories: teacher’s advice I just want to keep in a soundbite or video, nice things that they’ve said about me that I think are true and references to my blog. I want to find a way to highlight how useful and thoughtful blogging is and how I’ve been using this tool to improve myself as a graphic designer.
I want to use my bedroom as a metaphor for my mind. I’ve decided my video featured prominently on my website should speak to my goals and my imagination. I’m going to use AfterEffects to create overlays of information on blank walls (like this video Sight on Vimeo on Vimeo). A lot of it will hinge on the voiceover where I will interview myself with the main question “What have the past two years been like?” I will answer candidly about my discovery and development of my own design style and ambitions that have laid dormant until now. I want to also express the feeling of design, when it’s all on you and there’s a fear present when you’re experimenting and you’re not sure if other people are going to “get” it. That’s where the camera is viewing the room at a sideways orientation and I intend on figuring out how to give the illusion that I am on a precipice, which is the edge of my bed like this image:
On Friday, my Facebook status: “I designed an app that helps people familiarize themselves with the boarding process of an educational non-profit spacecraft that gives its riders two minutes of zero-gravity and a view of the moon… in my dream last night. This morning I felt productive, but I wasn’t.”
In Drawing Club Last week, we did some blind contour drawing and some drawing improv games where you pass the paper around adding to the drawing, one of them making sure that whatever randomness you added was symmetrical, another game where we made panels for a comic, each person taking a different panel, forwarding the story.
Kismet Arts Tangent 
