Retrospective

As written on 09/06/07
Top 3 things I've learned in 2 days about work:
-Sitting at a desk gets old- looking out the window I can't open at a beautiful sky doesn't.
-Coffee only tastes good when you're drinking it, not a half an hour after you've finished it.
-Music is my best friend at work.

Today
Top 3 things I've learned in 3 months about work:
-Sitting at a desk gets old- making time to get up and take a walk helps more mentally than one would imagine. Physically it obviously changes things up
-Staying organized is the only way to survive a fluctuation in work flow and keeping everyone's deadlines. I write everything emailed to me, phoned in, plopped on my desk on a list of to-do's so nothing gets forgotten. Even then, some things get left behind demanding tasks.
-Music is creates sanity, white noise and radio contests that let you earn the equivalent of frequent listener miles. I earned enough points from tuning in daily to attend a movie premier. Streaming Radio is cool! I listen to Smiley's Morning Show and Z99.5FM. Really easy to set up, pretty reliable and volume control is much simpler than a radio across the room.

Holidays in an Office

Working in our office, many holiday goodies have been shipped our way. It was getting old having candy and cookies and popcorn sitting around until we had the privilege to unwrap this beauty! What a work of art!

GODIVA G Collection
This is what an $80 box of chocolate looks like:
I've never seen typography on CHOCOLATE BEFORE! I'll post pictures later that I look of the brown one with all the green G's on it!

Godiva's website reads:
"Our G Collection is the ultimate fusion of art and chocolate. Created by world-renowned pastry chef Norman Love, each handcrafted piece surprises the palate with a delicate balance of pure ingredients, brilliant tastes, and ultra-refined textures. Mexican Hot Chocolate, Thai Coconut, P.B & Jam, Vermont Maple Walnut, Caramel Macchiato, and Tasmanian Honey are just a few of this collection's many highlights. A gift that promises exquisite chocolate experiences for those who appreciate the epitome of chocolate quality and design. (10.3 oz.)"

All I have to say is WOW- my office has to do some pretty awesome stuff for people to send us THIS!

This stuff is a box of art! I almost don't want to eat it. Then I come to my senses- of course! These will help me design better!

Pretty Accurate

Wow. The previous post from 12/11 really sums it up with that cartoon. How is it only 10:53AM?!?!! I've been here 2.5 hours and it feels like it's 5 o'clock. I hope this day perks up!

I'm working on a cookie cutter brochure, slapping logos into it, swapping university names and cranking it out. Plenty of paper work to do today. It's creatively draining. I just have to remember how awesome my meeting was last week. That keeps me going. Logos, art, my brain... they have value!

Hosted my first meeting

It was a huge success. I sat down with the University that our company (me) was designing new youth marks for. They loved the images I came up with!! Their mark is a kind of dog and I expanded on that by researching how that dog's puppies look and what makes them destinct. I hand sketched a bunch of stuff then I threw myself at Illustrator and fought with the tools until it looked like what I sketched... even 6 years into using the software extensively, it still gets tough sometimes. I also branched out a bit and developed alternative marks including a dog bone with their word mark on it and a dog tag on a collar with just the puppies head.

Life drawing classes would have assisted in preparing me for this project but my basic drawing class eons ago has proved very useful. I met with the Athletic Director, Marketing Director, Licensing Director and Owner of the bookstore to pitch my marks and describe my choices, influences and visions. They were extremely receptive, spewing ideas of how they could use the new ideas I'd thrown out... dog bone chew toys, plush versions of the puppy, dog bowls, young adult/college freshman female apparel along with onesies, bibs and the like. I love it!
I cannot wait to share with them the next revision of the marks.

My only regret was that I did not mount my logos. I think I'm saving that for the final presentation. I printed the different types of marks in storyboard form on separate sheets with titling and project info on them in full color and made packets with my agenda that were easily handled in the casual University commons/union meeting space.
Next time!

So... this is what it feels like to have a good day at work creatively?!

So Perfect

I love Toothpaste for Dinner (and Married to the Sea and Natalie Dee)
They are such a creative source of relief. Daily

Crunch

Self induced piles of paper work flood in after I foolishly mailed them out to gain signatures from clients. Now I must process them all and send half the stack back to clients... it hurts me to know how many trees I'm killing! Can't wait for paperless.

Logo development hasn't strayed far from sketches in free time as dedicated creative time doesn't exist. It can't be scheduled (yet) and it isn't an obvious priority to the office yet. Still teaching them. I get to present the logos I've worked on to our client and I realized I have no cutting mat or Exacto knives to cut the illustration board that I haven't purchased yet.
That's so funny to me!

Such is life stretching the creative limits of a marketing company.

Next bold step I'm holding out for, telling them our logo sucks and showing them our stationery system needs a revamp!
Tah-tah

AIGA Elbow rubbing + Reflection on what got me here

I attended a social networking event last night at a local pub, sponsored by AIGA Indy chapter. My friend from Purdue who graduated 3 years ahead of me in VCD invited me and I had a blast, met a lot of people and got to mingle with people like me! It's kinda tough working in an office as the only creative staff. While fun at times, it's hard to completely relate. I hadn't felt like I could just exhale until I got there. Glad I went.

Having not been a member in college, I really didn't know what I was in for. Not to the discredit of my peers' efforts at Purdue, the whole organization in undergrad was a bit political and to pay dues to participate didn't make as much sense to me. Holding a full 19 credit hour semester most of the time and 2 internships on campus with 26 hours going there plus all that homework.... oh yeah and being an active member in 2 other organizations and a little marching band participation.... I valued my free time (and the rare occasion I let myself have a night at the Cactus, as short as I had to keep it because of my internship hours Friday. The Pianoman made my troubles go away for a little while). But all the that strain and stress made it worth it and I earned a job doing what I'd studied and practiced. But my class room know how would have been NOTHING if I hadn't participated in other campus activities. It helped with networking directly into my seat in my medium sized office.

You too can make it. A lot of design work, a little Pianoman, a little sleep and a lot of drive.
Aaaaaaaand this posting has become quite the Hallmark Channel presentation. Sorry.