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Graduation! I’m so glad I got to spend the last four years designing and having fun with all these great ladies!

Whoa. Capstone Portfolio.

“Don’t just make something that exists in the world, create something with meaning and purpose.”

Portfolio review has come and gone and the amount of knowledge that I obtained from one day of talking with designers was tremendous. The review, for those who may not know what I am referring to, was an event held for the seniors in the graphic design program at Ferris State University. Each senior had their portfolio available to show designers from all over the Grand Rapids area, and we were offered the opportunity to network, discuss design, and receive critique. 

Showing established designers my portfolio was exciting and it was really great to receive feedback about my work. When I first started talking about my pieces I was a little unsure of what people would think, but I am proud to say that my feedback was dominantly positive (I even got complimented on my typography…yay!). The event is something I will carry with my throughout my future and I am extremely thankful to the program for giving me this experience.

The past four years have been the most happy and stressful of my life, I learned a lot and I can’t believe that it’s finally time to graduate and step out into the real world. The Ferris State University design program has given me a tremendous amount of knowledge and I have been given skills that will be extremely valuable throughout the rest of my life. I have developed a network of close friends and designers that I so blessed to have, I am excited to continue to learn and grow. 

You can do anything in a year.

Mike Gorman and Yolanda Gonzalez: Visit to Ferris State University

“Understand that you might fail, but enjoy the process.”

Mike Gorman, president of AIGA West Michigan and Yolanda Gonzalez visited the design program at Ferris State this week. Both had some great advice and knowledge that was both influential and encouraging.

Mike talked about how we always need to be creating, and we need to remember to push ourselves to be creative. Mike encouraged us to do and experiment to keep our energy going and our happiness levels high. I liked what Mike said about how good thinking happens when you’re free and happy, which I completely agree with. I know that I do my best work when I’m working with a topic that interests me and I can explore a lot of options.

“You need to learn from people, but don’t be afraid to be an entrepreneur.”

Having an internship at a corporate company last summer and moving into a corporate setting again this summer I have started to think about how I can bring creativity while keeping the integrity of the brand during a project. Mike drew a graph on the board that I thought really helped think about this balance. The graph was a bullseye and showed how close to the center there are aspects that you can’t be creative with such as the brand typography, colors, and logo. As you leave the center of the bullseye the grip of standards starts to loosen and designers are allowed to be more creative. This simple illustration really helped me think about where I can add more value to a company and possibly help to expand the brand even further.

“Great projects, great clients, great money. If you have two of the three on a project you’re probably doing well.”

Design is about relationships. You have to build trust with your client and really understand where they are coming from and what they need. Throughout my senior year experience I have learned how important solid relationships are as a designer. Working with clients, fellow designers, and print representatives has taught me to really listen and make sure I am respectful and understanding. Many of the relationships I have formed will remain helpful and be positive resources on future projects.

“Design can evolve and become things you don’t plan.”

Mike encouraged us to think about what we are currently doing and what we want to do with our lives and then find the balance. As graduation approaches there are a lot of decisions to be made that will impact my future. When I think about what I want to do with my life a couple things stand out. I want to make a difference in my community, even if it’s small and only benefits a few people. I’m not sure how to make this difference yet, but I’m confident that I will make an impact at some point in my future. I also want to be able to create more tangible items, my love for refurbishing furniture is something I would like to pursue once I am finished with my education.

 

As summer approaches my list of projects is getting longer and longer, here are just a few of things I am looking forward to making!

An Avenue to Something Better

Ted Talk: Kelli Anderson, Design to Challenge Reality.

We as visualistics speak volumes through the details of our projects. Our job is to form a vocabulary from the details and create visual pleasure through typography, shape, color, and texture. Kelli Anderson shares this view along with the idea that we as visualistics are to create disruptive wonder. When I listened to Anderson speak she explained that creating small surprises can force us to think about our placement in reality. 

I believe that often we get too caught up in our everyday routines, we have a schedule and we stick to it, but if one small thing is changed in an unexpected way we are forced to reevaluate. Unexpected experiences cause us to look at the order of our lives and do something different and great. 

I found that in my own life my weeks had starting becoming mundane, I went through the motions of what I was supposed to be doing and didn’t challenge my routine. Things in my life that used to mean something became empty meaningless gestures. I don’t know what sparked a change, but I found myself doing a lot of what Kelli Anderson talked about during her Ted Talk, as she said I began to mess up the order of my life and do something better with the pieces. 

Now the question is what do we do with the pieces of our lives? How do we avoid falling back into the everyday routines of our lives? These questions are going to become increasingly more important in my upcoming months. As I move into a new job with a corporate setting I am going to have to find a way to break my routine. 

Kelli Anderson talked about how we must force ourselves to look at our lives in a disruptive way. We must force ourselves to step back and think of new realities. While reflecting on this idea I tried to think of what my new realities could be. It can be as simple as eating lunch in a new location or driving a different way to class.

“By rejecting normal order, we have an avenue to something better.”

We made a box for my objects and artifacts books, here is the process.

Selfless: Having, exhibiting, or motivated by no concern for oneself; unselfish.

Working through my objects and artifacts books and editing old photos of my grandmother and pa.

Regaining Yourself

SEEK 2011 | The Post Family

The biggest thing that I learned from listening to the Post Family was the importance of having a space to gather with friends and just be creative. 

 “Step back and regain yourself in your mind.”

 Everyone needs a place to go and just re-boost. This year I am realizing that more than ever, with all we have to do it’s important to find friends that you can hang around and recharge. The Post Family talked about how their studio is a place to try anything they have ever wanted to do and be supported by their friends. One of the Post guys also talked about how he doesn’t like to describe their group as a collective but rather a collaboration. “It’s a collaboration of minds.”  The great thing about their dynamic is that everyone has different skill sets, so you are constantly growing and learning. I think it’s important to surround ourselves with people who will make us better and help us grow. If we are learning than what is the point, right?

 Another thing that I loved about their collaboration is that they all have separate lives outside of their group. Every member has their own job and environment but they eventually reunite. The collaboration environment is relaxed and unstructured, which I think is important since design can be an extremely methodical. The breaking out and coming back together also allows each member to bring their exterior world into the groups and vice versa bring the collaboration thinking into their exterior worlds. The collaboration serves as an inspiration hot spot, a place to enjoy life and gain knowledge. 

 Even in my senior year I hope that I can obtain some sort of environment like this collaboration, even if it is on a much smaller scale. Maybe it’s just friends coming together for coffee and conversation to bounce ideas and thoughts around. That coffee once a week could turn into a great inspiration source, also serve as a revamp for my mind and body. I think it’s important to step back away from design and think about something else. Stepping back allows for new viewpoints and it just cleans the mind and de-stresses us. 

 Overall the Post Family taught me that it’s important to surrounded yourself with great people and good conversation. They also taught me to never stop learning and searching for knowledge. The more we know the more we grow. 

 

Working at Work?

Ted Talk: Jason Fried, Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work

Where do you go to get work done? For me the best place I can go is my apartment bedroom with the blinds closed and music playing in the background. Jason Fried has asked people the same question; when you really need to get work done where do you go? Fried explains that there are typically three answers, a place or location, a mode of transportation, or during a time of day. Surprising almost no one says that they go to the office to work, why not?

Fried’s theory is that work isn’t a place where people can actually work; you have “work moments instead of a work day.” Why? Fried explains it’s because there are constant interruptions that happen at work, for example, meetings, conference calls, and people stopping by your desk. All these interruptions cause a halt in productivity and disrupt the minds thought process. 

When I think about why I’m not as productive in the Design Project Center lab as I am at home this theory makes sense. When I am working in the lab there are a lot of involuntary distractions, as Friend defines it, other students talking and walking around, music being played, and group discussions. When I am in my own space I can control what noise is in the background and I can focus much easier.

Fried explains that in a company employers don’t want employees to work at home because they will have too many distractions, such as television, children, pets, food, or walks. These are voluntary interruptions that the employee would chose to engage in; therefore, the employee can decide when to work and when to be interrupted. When the employee is at work they can’t decide these times, they could be in a powerful production time and be interrupted by a scheduled meeting or another employee stopping by their desk. 

Fried gives three suggestions on how to make work a place where people want to work. First, having a period of time where no one can talk to one another. Just silence, so that employees can think and act. Second, switch from active to passive communication. Active communication is face-to-face communication that forces the employee to focus and respond right at that moment. Passive communication is sending an email or leaving a voicemail, this allows the employee to voluntarily become distracted when they choose to be.

Over the summer when I worked at BISSELL, I found it easy and comfortable to work in the office. I felt like I could achieve the amount of work I needed to in order to be efficient.  I think the reason for this productivity is that meetings would be scheduled a week in advance and when you were in a meeting you weren’t just talking about completing work but you were actually working through how to solve a problem. The meetings were used to maximize productivity not slow the employees down. Also passive modes of communication were used, instead of directly interrupting someone’s work flow an email or im was sent.

I think Fried’s theory of why people don’t work at work is spot on. How can people work if they are constantly being interrupted? As I begin to look for my next job and the type of work environment I will be a part of I hope I can find a place that values the importance of employee’s work. A place where employers recognize when it is efficient to interrupt someone’s work day.