I ramble a bit in this post, so just bear with me.
Getting a real start on my portfolio, I have been doing the planning and little things leading up to actually working on my portfolio for awhile now. One thing I have heard many times about portfolios and and on criticism of my own is that they need to have personality (or more personality) in them. You can take a look at mine here so you know what I am talking about.
Graphically, and for the most part work the quality and the content I am happy with. (There are obvious things that will get redone, sketching, taking out some projects getting new ones in, but that is not what I want to talk about) I realized that even though I present "process" and my thinking, I have it presented more like a report of what has been designed than something that expresses who I am as a designer and what and how I designed it. I don't even think I use the word "I" in the entire thing. The basic progression is research, sketches, final design. This is not bad but I feel it is slightly generic and I need to show how I truly arrived at the forms and the ideas; an important aspect of how I design and how I think (something that could help get me hired) is missing. I obviously cannot show every aspect of my design process, but I feel that I have so far not done any of my projects justice in that respect.
I did not just make this decision from critiques of my portfolio and general portfolio advice; I was looking at design firms websites and tried to figure out some things they do that I don't. The most obvious thing was that they had their personality in their presentation. Their case studies were not reports; they were stories.
Examples:
M3 Design-The first thing that comes up "Who we are", "What we do", "How we think"
Priority Designs- "What makes us different", "Our designs", "Our work", "Our clients"
IDEO- "We are a global design consultancy. We create impact through design."
Now I know just adding "I" or "we" does not make it more personal, but it is a start and it is something to work off of. I read a really helpful article on design writing on Core77. I will just say it gave some great advice that pertains to what I am trying to do with my portfolio. I will not review it, I have said plenty on this post already. Read the article here.
I will post some updates on my progress. What I am trying to do is like anything else, it can be overdone, underdone, or just not done correctly. That being said I will be relying heavily on feedback (from all of you if anyone reads this) once it gets going.
Final Portfolio Goal: When people look at my portfolio I want them to have a solid understand of my thinking and how I design, not just what I have designed.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Late Start
I have been meaning to keep this blog going and so far, considering this is my first post since school has been out I am not doing very well. Better late than never I guess. I think I will be able to keep up the momentum once I get this going. I have made some goals for my blog and myself that I will share at a later post, for now let's get to this post.
I am interning at Priority Designs in Columbus; I am really enjoying it so far. I was looking through some of the pictures from CES (Consumer Electronics Show) that a few of my coworkers had gone to. The one thing that really stood out to me in terms of form was the Asus Airo laptop concept.
When the laptop opens it slides the keyboard back into a more ergonomic position while also allowing room for extra ventilation so there are actually no fans. Just a concept now but I was fairly impressed. I really like the origami form language that Asus has going on now. It is a good mix of a familiar and traditional concept with new technology.
Read more about it and see more pictures of it over at Engadget.
I am interning at Priority Designs in Columbus; I am really enjoying it so far. I was looking through some of the pictures from CES (Consumer Electronics Show) that a few of my coworkers had gone to. The one thing that really stood out to me in terms of form was the Asus Airo laptop concept.
When the laptop opens it slides the keyboard back into a more ergonomic position while also allowing room for extra ventilation so there are actually no fans. Just a concept now but I was fairly impressed. I really like the origami form language that Asus has going on now. It is a good mix of a familiar and traditional concept with new technology.Read more about it and see more pictures of it over at Engadget.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Evaluating Des Comm
I was very pleased with the way Des Com worked this quarter.
A few specific things I liked:
1. Having "TA's" This made a big difference since we were such a big class. We always had someone to talk to each class
2. Teaching new methods instead of new skills. We learned several different ways to go about projects. We can always learn how to be better at certain skills, or learn new skills; learning different methods is also very important so we can start to create our own unique work flow.
3. The class had due dates and quantities of what was due, but some things were more guidelines. I am not entirely sure if that makes sense but I felt that having less restrictions on the projects made them more fun and made me try harder.
The only complaint I really had was the timing of the tea project with all of our studio work, there was quite a bit going on there and it got a little overwhelming.
A few specific things I liked:
1. Having "TA's" This made a big difference since we were such a big class. We always had someone to talk to each class
2. Teaching new methods instead of new skills. We learned several different ways to go about projects. We can always learn how to be better at certain skills, or learn new skills; learning different methods is also very important so we can start to create our own unique work flow.
3. The class had due dates and quantities of what was due, but some things were more guidelines. I am not entirely sure if that makes sense but I felt that having less restrictions on the projects made them more fun and made me try harder.
The only complaint I really had was the timing of the tea project with all of our studio work, there was quite a bit going on there and it got a little overwhelming.
Evaluating My Work
I felt like this was probably my best quarter so far. I made a big effort this quarter to break out of my own mold, at least in terms of my design process and style. I started out only doing this in Des Comm, I figured that that would be the class to do it in since if I have a bad project it was only 2 or 3 weeks wasted (probably not wasted, I would probably learn things). It might have happened on accident, but about half way through the quarter, I started to do it in my studio as well, and I changed gears on my project, and it is probably my most successful yet.
Next school quarter, I would like to continue pushing the limits (my limits) in my designs. I want to take advantage of the fact that I can do things that are a little more "out there", while I am still in school. Over my internship, I hope to take advantage of the situation and learn as much as possible. Since I will be living at home, I am planning to get a lot of personal things done that are hard to do when I am in school.
I also plan to continue blogging, I have enjoyed it and think that it is good practice to write and discuss design. I am expecting very few people to read it but it should be fun anyway.
Next school quarter, I would like to continue pushing the limits (my limits) in my designs. I want to take advantage of the fact that I can do things that are a little more "out there", while I am still in school. Over my internship, I hope to take advantage of the situation and learn as much as possible. Since I will be living at home, I am planning to get a lot of personal things done that are hard to do when I am in school.
I also plan to continue blogging, I have enjoyed it and think that it is good practice to write and discuss design. I am expecting very few people to read it but it should be fun anyway.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Sorry, My Posts Were Getting Wordy
My posts have been getting extremely wordy. I do not feel like most people, especially designers, would read them. Designers tend to be visual people and would probably not read a post unless and image first got their attention.
So a blog can be a great tool for communicating design and who you are. It could almost act as a pre-interview. People can see your portfolio to see your skills and then they can see your blog to find out a little more about you and if they would want to work with you. So at the same time, if it is not done correctly, people will not read it and not know what you are interested in. This is not at all about Obama, I just figured it would get people to read through the post to see what I had to say about him.
Picture from The Big Picture, has some amazing and large news photographs.
Reviewing Goals
In my first post I mentioned a few goals I had for myself this quarter. I did not exactly get to them as I had planned. One of the goals I did not do so well on (exploring Cincinnati), and the other (honing my skills as a designer) I did but not as I had expected.
I am always working on all of my skills, but a little ways in to this quarter I decided to use my Design Communications class to experiment. I have mentioned it before; t is hard to experiment in your actual studio where not having a good project means an entire quarter of work with no portfolio piece and a bad grade. In Des Comm, however, a bad concept will not necessarily result in a bad grade, and 2 weeks of work with no portfolio piece in the end is much easier for me to justify. This quarter I went ahead with a project and concept that I typically would not have gone forward with because I would have considered it too risky. And I also tried to change it up graphically. Normally I stick to blue, white, and gray in presentations; this time I even used pink in a presentation, I never do that. I feel that I slightly but successfully broke out of my own mold in a few areas this quarter. I definitely consider that a success. for this quarter.
In my goal of exploring more of Cincinnati, I was relatively unsuccessful (the little getting around that I did, however, was great). When I had free time I just wanted to relax alone or chill with friends. There was an unexpected event for next quarter; I got a job at Priority Designs, which I am really excited about, in Columbus, my home town. This is great for a few different reasons. I will not feel any need to get around and see the sights of Columbus, I did that for 18 years when I grew up there. My plan is to focus on things that I tend to not have time for when I am away on internships or at school. (personal design projects, art, playing guitar, reading, biking, skiing, exercise, its a really big list in my head)
Overall, even though it is not done, I consider this a successful and enjoyable quarter, and hopefully my internship will be as successful and enjoyable as my last.
I am always working on all of my skills, but a little ways in to this quarter I decided to use my Design Communications class to experiment. I have mentioned it before; t is hard to experiment in your actual studio where not having a good project means an entire quarter of work with no portfolio piece and a bad grade. In Des Comm, however, a bad concept will not necessarily result in a bad grade, and 2 weeks of work with no portfolio piece in the end is much easier for me to justify. This quarter I went ahead with a project and concept that I typically would not have gone forward with because I would have considered it too risky. And I also tried to change it up graphically. Normally I stick to blue, white, and gray in presentations; this time I even used pink in a presentation, I never do that. I feel that I slightly but successfully broke out of my own mold in a few areas this quarter. I definitely consider that a success. for this quarter.
In my goal of exploring more of Cincinnati, I was relatively unsuccessful (the little getting around that I did, however, was great). When I had free time I just wanted to relax alone or chill with friends. There was an unexpected event for next quarter; I got a job at Priority Designs, which I am really excited about, in Columbus, my home town. This is great for a few different reasons. I will not feel any need to get around and see the sights of Columbus, I did that for 18 years when I grew up there. My plan is to focus on things that I tend to not have time for when I am away on internships or at school. (personal design projects, art, playing guitar, reading, biking, skiing, exercise, its a really big list in my head)
Overall, even though it is not done, I consider this a successful and enjoyable quarter, and hopefully my internship will be as successful and enjoyable as my last.
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