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Some thoughts on these years

By On September 6, 2012 In School With 2 Comments Permanent Link to Some thoughts on these yearsPermalink

Now that I’m nearing the end of the Circus design program, I want to record some lessons I’ve learned and observed in these two years. This program is quite an undertaking and it feels a bit odd that it’s almost over. Odd and very exciting. I hope some students might benefit from these thoughts in the future. Yes, the student(s) who finds this blog by searching “scary first design class at The Creative Circus.” It has happened. Hello, friends. You don’t need to be that scared.

So, some thoughts:

Part of our responsibility and jobs as designers is to create experiences, and the best way to create experiences for others is to actually have experiences. This sounds obvious but will be harder than you think. Go do something else for a bit to be inspired and clear your head. It’s going to make your work better and your body happier.

Save everything. And keep it organized. Save your thumbnails and your sketches. More than once, I have neared completion of a project, paused to review my thumbnails, and realized that one of my first ideas could supplement or enhance my final project. And there might be an option in there that you can consider for another project in 3 months. Properly named files are a lot easier to locate than “FinalFinalFINALBookJacketsReallyOkayToPrint.psd.”

Work very hard. Work as hard as you can. Prioritize everything. Try to make everything great. Don’t brush off the projects you think you might not love. Make yourself love them. Everything starts with the potential to be a book piece if you want to put in the work to make it terrific.

Do get some rest. You will do better work and work more efficiently. Naps are good things.

Take control of your time at school. It’s your education. Every class has value, so make sure you’re taking the ones that you’d like to take. Audit classes if you can. Keep learning and absorbing.

The teachers and faculty have your best interest at heart. They really want to make you better at your craft. Let them help you. Be receptive to feedback. Respect their time and advice. Be grateful for everything they’re giving you, because they’re giving you a lot.

Surround yourself with talent. Everyone is talented, of course, but if you admire someone’s aesthetic or critical eye, have them take a look at your work. And if people ask you for help or advice, help them.

Be an excellent team player and partner. Contribute, show up, and do what you said you’d do when you said you’d do it. I have been fortunate to work with fantastic partners, making team projects an enjoyable and exciting departure from solo work.

Experiment. When you have three hundred things to do and three days to do them, this step in the creative process can be difficult. I continue to learn its importance and although I sometimes struggle with this, I have certainly identified that weakness in myself and am working on it.

On that score, know your strengths and weaknesses. These will evolve, but the sooner you can identify what’s natural for you and what’s not, the better you’ll be able to approach future projects.

Don’t be mean. Don’t be annoying. Be yourself, but don’t be these things.

Ask for help when you need it.

Be confident if you want to be, but don’t be cocky. Everyone has a lot to learn. No one knows everything. No one is perfect. There really isn’t a perfect in this field, in my opinion.

When you have a handful of projects that are in some state of completion, assemble a website. This is an important exercise in itself. Figure out how to articulate what the project is at its core. All of this will help you start conversations and prepare for any unexpected interest from agencies, firms, mentors, random people that want you to freelance, crazy people on Pinterest, and the like.

That said, you will likely have opportunities to freelance or take on a part-time job while in school, and this kind of experience can really, really help you when it’s time to find a full-time job. It will also give you experience that is valuable for you as an aspiring creative. Make sure you’ll get good experience before agreeing to 20, 30, 40 (valuable!) hours a week.

Be overwhelmingly passionate about what you’re doing. A school like this is a huge investment of time and money and your life and sometimes health, so you need to love it.

Be forever grateful for the people that are supporting that overwhelming passion for what you’re doing. This is not something you can do on your own and without the support of a person or people who love you.

Keep asking yourself “why?” Also know when “why not?” is the better question, and enjoy exploration and experimentation. Don’t be scared to do this often.

Once you do get a book together or start showing work to folks, know that you’re going to get wildly different opinions on what’s good, what’s bad, what’s ready, what’s not. “This is a truly fantastic campaign” and “this doesn’t make sense, scrap it” might be said about the same project. This can be confusing, of course. It’s all subjective. Get opinions from a lot of people, and then trust yourself.

Finally, enjoy this time for what it’s worth, and know that there will be moments when you question everything. Because you might find yourself sitting cross-legged in Aisle 13 of your local Home Depot surrounded by scads of plumbing pipes, sketching how they might fit together to create an eight-chute candy dispenser that forms an abstract spider, and some nice gentleman will offer to help you select PVC for the home he assumes you’re building, and you might tearfully, carefully say that you’re trying to build an eight-chute candy dispenser that forms an abstract spider, and he’ll look at you like you’re a bit nutty. And then you’ll wonder what the hell you’re doing with your life. You might also find yourself explaining to your dermatologist that while trying to install a zipper on a scalloped box made of cardboard, you carelessly got super glue all over your arms, and listen, please, could you help me because LOOK AT THIS RASH! IT ITCHES! And you might find yourself smacking a roach with your flip flop and then placing him on your scanner because, let’s be real, you might need a high resolution scan of the underbelly of a dead insect someday, and you’ll thank yourself at that time.

These little silly, sometimes infuriating, occasionally blissful, always emotional moments are part of the process of being a design student in a program that is intentionally structured to push you in every way you can be pushed. And as the pushed and the pusher, I can confidently say that it’s worth it, and you can survive.

Good luck, and have fun, because this is only the beginning!

How am I supposed to be a zombie?

By On July 10, 2012 In Illustration, School With No Comments Permanent Link to How am I supposed to be a zombie?Permalink

Y’all, I apologize for the huge delay in posting. But hello!

Have you seen Super 8?

For one of the D&AD briefs I worked on, oh, 6 months ago, we were tasked with illustrating the main character from one of last year’s greatest films for the cover of a magazine called Little White Lies. I chose Super 8.

I was inspired by the part of the movie when one of the protagonists, Joe, has his female counterpart, Alice (played by adorable Elle Fanning), dress up like a zombie for a movie they’re filming. Precious Alice steals his heart. It’s quite endearing.

YouTube Preview Image

For the illustration, I painted with acrylics, which is something I hadn’t done in awhile and missed. Alice’s makeup from this particular clip in the film lends itself to a style of breaking up colors into separate chunks instead of blending everything in a realistic way.

I painted directly on a piece of chipboard, which gives the background some texture, and painted with hues somewhat true to those in the film. I love painting. I vow to do this more often. It’s so peaceful.

However, as I refined it a bit and played around in Photoshop, it became clear that altering the colors might yield a better option than the original. And play, I did.

Kinda Warholish when you stick them together like that, hm? Ultimately, I ended up with the below. The Little White Lies masthead is so unique. Not at all awkward. Ahem.

 

 

 

Art Imitating Life

By On April 4, 2012 In Design, Illustration, School With No Comments Permanent Link to Art Imitating LifePermalink

In Design Competitions this quarter, each student was asked to respond to briefs for the One Show Young Ones and D&AD Student Awards. For the unfamiliar, these are huge worldwide competitions that celebrate the very best work in advertising and design. The One Club was founded in New York City and D&AD (Design & Art Direction) in London.

One of the One Show briefs challenged us to promote the horrors of the thoroughbred horse racing industry for Peta. To be honest, I didn’t know much about horse racing before working on this and I felt like it might be hard to dive in and get excited about this project. I’m not really a huge fan of horses; I think they are beautiful and I like looking at them, but having being thrown from one as a little girl, I’m kind of scared of their power. But this brief was a game changer for me. It ignited my interest in learning about mass meat production, research that has since dissolved any personal desire to eat meat ever again.

Peta expertly describes the horse racing industry in the brief:

Behind the romanticized façade of thoroughbred horse racing is a world of injuries, drug abuse, gruesome breakdowns and slaughter. Racehorses weigh more than 1,000 pounds and are supported by ankles the size of a human’s. They are whipped and forced to run on tracks that are often made of hard packed dirt at speeds of more than 30 miles per hour while carrying people on their backs. They are pumped full of drugs intended to mask pain, so that they keep running long after their stressed or injured bodies would tell them to stop. When they stop winning races or become injured, usually when they’re still very young—often not even physically mature yet—few racehorses are retired to pastures, because owners don’t want to pay for a horse that doesn’t bring in any money. Since the last horse slaughterhouse in the U.S. closed several years ago, tens of thousands of horses are now shipped to slaughterhouses in Canada, Mexico, or Japan, where they are turned into dog food and glue. Their flesh is then exported to countries such as France and Japan, where it is considered a delicacy.

Another image I remember is that of a racehorse being shot between the eyes with a bolt gun. It often takes several shots through the brain to kill the animal. This is a disgusting way to end a life.

Haley Gardner (you’re familiar by now?) and I worked on an ambient advertising campaign to publicize such horrors. Horse racing uses horses for entertainment, making the animals a spectacle for excited onlookers. Art has historically done the same thing, showcasing the strength of these animals through painting and sculpture. The streets of the world are dotted with sculptures of strong animals, usually with their heroic human counterpart, and paintings of horses are hung in private and public galleries alike. This kind of art is so prevalent that it is no longer surprising or unusual.

We wanted to leverage art as a medium in which to show the duplicity of the horse racing industry. In Haley’s words, “these ambient art installations mirror the way horse racing operates; from afar, it’s an enjoyable and pleasant scene, much like sculptures and paintings. But upon further inspection, what is thought to be a beautiful display is actually a disturbing example of the brutality the horse racing industry works hard to hide.”

Life-sized sculptures will be placed in public areas where passersby will be able to see exactly how two-faced the horse racing industry is. On one side, a beautiful, strong and healthy horse. On the other, its raw flesh and battered body exposes the brutal nature of a racehorse’s career.

Painted portraits of mutilated horses will be placed at bus stops and subway areas around cities. The injuries, like this gash in an otherwise healthy horse, are aimed to grab attention and provoke the viewer to learn more about the cruelty of the racing industry.

I illustrated the horse using colored pencils and scanned a hunk of ribeye for the meat. And the blood is real! (No it’s not. But that would’ve been cool.)

Haley smartly connected our campaign to Oscar Wilde’s comment that “life imitates art far more than art imitating life.” In this case, the opposite is true.

I want a ticket to anywhere

By On April 3, 2012 In Illustration, School With No Comments Permanent Link to I want a ticket to anywherePermalink

The final project from my illustration class last December was to design an album cover for any artist. Having designed a poster for John Mayer, I wanted to design for a gal. I chose Tracy Chapman and redesigned her self-titled first album. The album was released in 1988 and includes one of her more popular songs, “Fast Car.”

In these songs, Tracy makes several references to travel, moving on, changing, progress, hope. I aimed to show some movement and reference travel without illustrating any kind of vehicle or road. I chose to illustrate a row of trees as you might see them while driving along the highway. There’s a certain hopefulness and dreaminess connected to road trips and the passenger’s ability to stare out of the window. It’s an opportunity to wonder and I hoped to capture that uncertainty and unbridled moment. I also wanted to try a looser, more organic illustration style…dare I say, messy? Oh heavens!

Actually, this did get quite messy. I moistened three large sheets of textured paper and started spraying and dripping calligraphy inks, wall paint, oil, maybe a little lemonade and spit. Everything started swirlin’ and blending, and once I recovered from a minor mess-induced heart attack, I really did enjoy myself. Once these big splotchy sheets were dry, I cut two of them into irregular strips and layered them onto the third stained sheet. I used scrapbooking glue dots to get some lift and dimension to create a forest of abstract birches.

I carried the stained texture to the inside of the album and illustrated the inner rings of a tree as an additional visual representation of time and change. Instead of evenly concentric circles, I made the lines a bit irregular and uneven.

Hannah Younker photographed the forest collage and I manipulated the photo for the album, creating some blur on the back cover to show movement.

Spilling is kind of enjoyable! I said it. I had fun making this.

Thanks to Hannah for shooting the collage and Tiffany Hudgins for shooting the finished piece! And Tracy for just being awesome.

YouTube Preview Image

Eugene

By On April 2, 2012 In Illustration, School With No Comments Permanent Link to EugenePermalink

This is Eugene. He loves the ladies, chess, and cheese sandwiches.

Eugene is another fella from the character development class I audited last fall. I eventually got around to digitizing him. He was rather eager to be finalized, but I had to spend a minute figuring out what to do about all of those teeth. More characters back in this post, although I regret to say that they currently remain nameless.

P.S. Eugene is a family name. Looking to my family tree to name illustrations is really a lot like doing it for human children, right?

Identity Works: National Music Museum

By On March 27, 2012 In Design, Identity, School With No Comments Permanent Link to Identity Works: National Music MuseumPermalink

Company: National Music Museum

Background: The National Music Museum’s collections include more than 15,000 American, European and non-Western instruments from all time periods and cultures. It’s located on The University of South Dakota’s campus in Vermillion and has a very traditional and academic feel. Over 1,100 instruments are on display across nine galleries. I’m no music aficionado or student of instruments, but I browsed this website for hours and this place is home to some truly lovely and interesting pieces.

Design Goals: This was a larger project than the others, as each student was assigned a museum or aquarium and asked to design a new logo and five additional wayfinding logos for exhibit signage. All of the logos need to play nicely together and, of course, fit with the purpose and mission of the museum. Knowing that I’d be designing wayfinding marks, I wanted the main logo to be more about music as a whole and not a particular style, piece or mood. The wayfinding marks could then be more specific and direct and obvious, as they are, after all, visual tools for museum navigation and organization. This was trickier than I thought it’d be, as many things are clearly related to music but are too obvious, and are therefore things to avoid.

*Caveat! Obviously this is a school project and not the company’s new logo.

Because the museum is very traditional, I wanted the mark to feel rather traditional as well. The ‘M’ I designed was inspired by many things: the shape of an F-hole, the loop of a treble clef, the terminal of a bass clef, and the general grace of music. The holding shape was loosely inspired by the overall shape of a cello. In keeping with the classic feel of the place, I chose jewel tones for this logo and the wayfinding marks.

For the wayfinding signage, the marks needed to clearly convey what kind of department or instruments can be found in the various sections. These needed to stylistically connect to the main logo, so I chose a simple oval to hold the instrument shapes. I designed marks for the Brass, Plucked String, Bowed String, Free Reed, and Percussion sections, clockwise below.

Current logo found here.

 

Identity Works: Jimmy Dean

By On March 26, 2012 In Design, Identity, School With 1 Comment Permanent Link to Identity Works: Jimmy DeanPermalink

Company: Jimmy Dean

Assigned Company Category: Any grocery store brand

Background: Jimmy Dean is known for a lot of things, as he led an eventful life as a businessman, TV host, actor and country singer. Most people know him today for the sausage company he started with his brother in 1969. He starred in the commercials to promote the brand’s breakfast sausages and quickly became known as the Sausage King. The product offerings have expanded to include omelettes, breakfast bowls, and, dear Lord, pancake and sausage on a stick, but pork products are their main jam. PANCAKE AND SAUSAGE ON A STICK, PEOPLE!

Design Goals: The old logo has a lot going on and I’m not crazy about the cowboy boot JD situation. The whole thing has a heritage vibe and I think they are trying to leverage the history and hometownyness of the company’s namesake. However, between the two scenes and the cowboy boot, I don’t get any sense of the product or even the product category. Eat a boot! Yum. I wanted to reference the product and also make the whole thing simple enough to be reduced for placement on labels and small packaging.

*Caveat! Obviously this is a school project and not the company’s new logo.

Yellow is yummy. A modified script font has a heritage, old signage feel that alludes to the company’s history. Piggies are their bread and butta.

Jimmy Dean. Shine on, friends.

Current logo sourced from here.

Identity Works: Leatherman’s 40th Anniversary

By On March 23, 2012 In Design, Identity, School With No Comments Permanent Link to Identity Works: Leatherman’s 40th AnniversaryPermalink

Company: Leatherman

Assigned Company Category: Anniversary logo for any company

Background: Leatherman was founded in 1983 in Portland, Oregon. What was once a small company producing one type of pocket tool has grown to offer over 30 models. We were asked to design a logo for any company’s anniversary, so I decided to do their 40th anniversary, even though their 30th anniversary is next year. This was intentional so the logo is relevant for my book; I’m not that terrible at math, I promise! The founder, Timothy Leatherman, first aimed to produce a standard boyscout knife with pliers. Throughout the years, Leatherman has come out with dozens of models, all with different or unique functionality and purpose. The underlying goal, however, is to provide their consumer with one tool that will have the functionality and durability of many, giving them maximum capacity for fixin’ on the go. Their tools are used by the military and regular folks alike.

Design Goals: Because it’s an anniversary logo and not a completely new look, I wanted to maintain the current brand colors and masculine feel. The logo would be used in the same space as the current logo, so they need to play well together. I wanted something that would read as Leatherman, so I studied the shapes and looks of their pieces throughout history.

*Caveat! Obviously this is a school project and not the company’s new logo.

Smart Haley thought of “40 Years of Pocket Solving,” which was a great improvement on my first round of “40 Years of Problems Solved.” It’s nice to have a friend who’s great with words. I chose elements from their product design that separate Leatherman from their competition, so hopefully there isn’t any confusion!

Product shots and logo from Leatherman.

Identity Works: 3 Stinky Monkeys

By On March 23, 2012 In Design, Identity, School With 1 Comment Permanent Link to Identity Works: 3 Stinky MonkeysPermalink

Hello again! I wrapped up the quarter on Tuesday and I think it might’ve been the most productive quarter so far. As I mentioned before, this quarter was heavy on group work, which was exciting and challenging at the same time. Balancing schedules, opinions, solutions, ideas is really different than organizing everything on your own, but I worked with truly fantastic people and I’m so grateful for them and pleased with our results. More on those two large projects coming soon.

I did do some solo work in Advanced Trademarks this quarter, and this is the first of those projects. If you recall, I took Trademarks a couple of quarter ago, and a few of the projects from that quarter can be found here.

Company: 3 Stinky Monkeys

Assigned Company Category: Baby-related company

Background: 3 Stinky Monkeys is a hip onesie and t-shirt company. They pride themselves on unique designs to keep your baby looking cool.

Design Goals: I wanted to design a mark that could be used with or without type, as tags and such might require a smaller icon. It felt necessary to include a monkey in some capacity, which was fun, as I hadn’t done a lot of (or any?) animal-related logos. It also took me forever to arrive at this particular monkey. There was an exceptional amount of experimentation with him, as I wanted him to be playful and hip, baby but not too baby. How many tufts of hair? What angle should his ears point? Is he surprised or just happy? Does he have nostrils or a button nose? Incorporating the ’3′ into the monkey’s face was a fun way to give it a little something extra.

*Caveat! Obviously this is a school project and not the company’s new logo.

This was also an opportunity to do completely custom typography. I played with using a real font for this, but nothing worked very well, so I designed this type to have a bit of personality and interest.

Current logo sourced from here. Baby onesie sourced from here.

In progress

By On February 22, 2012 In Design, School With 1 Comment Permanent Link to In progressPermalink

Fifth quarter has been a speedy one, and somehow we are already closing week seven and developing final deliverables and planning the end. This quarter has been different than the others because I have two substantial group projects for two different classes. Other than occasional art directing, I usually work alone. Not because I don’t want to collaborate, but because nearly all of my previous class projects have been individual ones. But group projects are good and helpful and important, especially when working with several visually-oriented people to develop a solid design solution.

Because I don’t have any completely finished work to post (and really, is anything ever completely finished at all?), I thought I’d compile detail shots of some of the work that’s in progress. I am taking Super Teams (a complete overhaul/redesign of Baskin Robbins), Brand Extensions (extending the Lilly Pulitzer brand), Design Competitions (D&AD and One Show briefs and general merriment) and Advanced Trademarks (I could fill a room with logo marker comps). I’ve also been working with a lot of mediums and materials this quarter: acrylic and watercolor painting, splattering, colored pencils, plexiglass, trusty vectors. It has been a nice few weeks of experimentation and play.

Behold! A progress collage. More to come in the next couple of weeks. Several things are nearly there.

 

 

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