Inspiration

This past Saturday, I checked out the Renegade Craft Fair at the California Market Center downtown. In addition to a vintage typewriter key pendant, I picked up a poster by graphic designer, Frank Chimero, which really resonated with me in so many ways:

I love the style and colors (it's pretty much the palette of my bedroom, where it already hangs), and the clever design and message is spot on. Sometimes, I really do have to remind myself that the only thing keeping me from my ideal career/life is actually ME.

2008 in Review: Design Work

I spent a lot of 2008 kvetching about how busy I was with so many projects, and I thought I should highlight the design work that I am particular proud of:

Logo for my old employer:
This was the last thing I did there as a staff employee that I was really proud of, and it spawned a couple projects, including several direct mail pieces, a binder and four banners.

Art direction for the Green Issue of California Real Estate:
It had been my dream for awhile to art direct a magazine and I got my chance when my old boss asked me to design this special issue. My favorite spreads include:

I really like the colors for this holiday card for my current employer:
I just noticed that I repeated myself in this piece...ha!...I promise this is the last time I juxtapose transparent leaves over a tonal geometric background. Anyway, you can't tell from this image, but the finish is matte with a UV spot gloss coating on the leaves and logo. (I love this coating combo!)

My Holiday Card

This year, I wrote a little holiday poem and designed a card around it:

Click here for the larger version.

Here's the text of the poem:

Hope it's warm where you are
That your loves aren't too far
That you get gift cards galore
And tons of swag you adore
And that you have a more than memorable night.

Hope you have yummy treats aplenty
That you order peppermint mochas in venti
Hope you have sugar with your spice
And remember that being naughty can be nice
And let yourself live with all your might.

Hope the new year brings out the best

That you don't have to face another test
That you can to sleep in peace
That all your worries will cease
And that world again will feel right.

Hope we can see each other more
Hope we can rock it to the core
Hope I can give you what you need
Hope you can give me the same, indeed
And I hope that above all your heart stays light.

Exhibit

There are three areas within Interior Design that I'm considering specializing in: Lighting Design, Historic Preservation/Adaptive Reuse, and Exhibition Design/Environmental Graphics. I've already had a chance to try a little bit of lighting fixture design (see previous post), but recently I was able to explore a little bit of Exhibit Design with my first assignment in my Design Communication II class:

I chose to design an exhibit on Saul Bass' poster and title sequence designs, since he one of my favorite graphic designers. In addition to the perspective drawing above, I also had to produce a floor plan, sections, elevations and an axonometric drawing for the exhibit. I'm very happy with how it came out, particularly since I think my drafting/drawing skills have improved since I started the program. I guess that is the whole point of school... you're supposed to get to better. (Glad I'm not wasting my money.)

In any event, I'm now starting to work on my final project for the class, which is to design a two-story house, based on a singular concept. I'm excited because I get to try my hand at a reflected ceiling plan, which is the other part of lighting design. Also, this is the first time I've gotten to design a whole residence, which is both challenging and exhilarating. I hope it all works out.

Self Esteem

The creative process can be quite an experience for me, especially on larger projects. Many times, it consists of minutes of pure elation and hours of effortless flow alternating with days and weeks of almost crippling low self esteem and panic. Since I'm constantly juggling different projects, I'm often also dealing with overlapping cycles, which will explain why I can be happy and sad at the same time. For the days when I get a double or triple dose of the bad stuff, I found the "You're Loved Self-Esteemizer" poster from TimeOut NYC:

Though there are some NYC-centric things, it still works fairly well for those neurotic days when I find myself thinking I'm a hack. (And yes, I know this is partly meant to be a tongue-in-cheek Stuart Smalley-esque gag.) Plus, since I'm currently working on a magazine, I'm finding myself even more obsessed than usual with cool graphic publication layouts.

New header graphic

I posted the new header graphic for the blog quietly this past Wednesday, and am still trying to decide if I want to keep the subtitle. Since I started this blog a couple of years ago, the angle has changed a little, mainly because I'm not traveling as much as I expected to and because I've added quite a bit more focus to my life with school and other pursuits. So, instead of being a travel blog, Aimless Idling is more a blog about my life in general, with the travel and lifestyle reviews mixed in.

As a side note, I had to stay off the computer for the past couple days because my right arm was in pretty bad shape. Every month or so, I go through several days where the right side of my neck and shoulder get so tense that the pain radiates all the way through my right arm and hand. My doctor says it's a pinched nerve and it's usually the result of stress and lack of rest and proper exercise. It's just another reason to try harder to achieve a good work-life-school balance and not be so needlessly neurotic all the time. K calls me the "worriest worry wart" and I can definitely worry with the best of them. I'm constantly thinking about everything and I think the trick is to channel that towards more positive avenues...like this blog!

At A Glance

One of the biggest sources of stress for me in the last month and a half was the redesign I had to complete of my company's main brochure. Mainly, it was stressful because I not only had to design and produce it, but also because I had to coordinate and edit the newly expanded content. Thank goodness I had several editors and writers to help me flesh it out and copy edit. Otherwise, I probably would weigh 200 lbs. from the resulting stress-induced eating. In any event, after several late nights, I got it done and I really like the way it turned out, especially the cover:
On the left is the old version (which I didn't design.) The direction I was given was to make it more colorful, modern and slightly playful, while maintaining its professional look. My original concept had to do with evoking a door, but it doesn't necessarily have to read that way.

A Small World

My trip to Buenos Aires is definitely a good thing. I was completely burned out from working at my company's EXPO, for which I did many things, including designing the EXPO logo, marketing materials, Web site and signage. In any event, I was glad to put that completely behind me when, at my Houston layover, I saw a man checking in for my flight with one of our blue EXPO bags. You might think that I was peeved to have such a reminder about work, but I was actually pretty proud. My logo was on that bag and I think that it was the only time I've seen my work outside of my little work world. I like the idea that that bag will be floating around Buenos Aires. Not only am I physically here, but so is another piece of me. Apparently, I've got B.A. covered. YAY!!!

To see the EXPO logo I'm referring to, here it is: