getting.started

Recently I have graduated from The University of Tennessee, where I got a degree in graphic design. Since I got got my diploma “license”, I have moved back home to Nashville Tennessee and I have started taking steps to becoming a “professional graphic designer”. It can be very confusing and many questions arise as you start your career, especially if you are seeking freelance work or even where to begin looking for work.

One of the biggest problems I have found is where to apply, I know how to apply and feel like my portfolio as well as my web site are ready to present to the rest of the world, now how do I find clients or in some cases how do I find work?

So far I have looked on every job search .com I can find and have found several things. First you can not limit yourself, for example I recently moved home so I was only searching for jobs in or around Nashville. Now I realize if I really want to succeed as a designer I can not limit my future to Nashville alone. And since then I have found thousands of jobs in hundreds of cities and applied to many. If you want to do well you can not ever limit yourself in any way shape or form. Second, I have found that I have to be open to doing new things, in school I learned a little bit about all types of design. My favorites in school were print and typography. But, it is 2009 and web is the fastest growing type of design and everyone is looking for web designers. It seems like most “design” jobs no days are web designer jobs. This also grightened me at first but now I see it as just another thing I am going to have to know, since we are responsible for everything as designers. Thirdly, do not be afraid to send out multiple resumes, at first I was only appliying to one place at a time, now I am sending out multiple resumes a day.

How do you know what your applying for, any job that you think might be the perfect job might end up being awful and an awful job might turn out being the best experience of your life. Right now I am looking for experience and I want to find the perfect job but if it takes a few awful ones to get there I am willing. I guess what I am getting at is how do I know exactly what I am applying for, if I apply for a job at “averagejoedesign” am I going to get the same work as “kingsofdesign”? Its very unclear to me, maybe there are questions I can ask when I am interviewing that will clear these questions up.

Contacts might be the most helpful thing I have found, everyone wants to help, and everyone if they can will try. I have found that if I tell someone that I am looking for work as a graphic designer, they will a: give me a friends name and number to call or b: actually take a copy to a friend for me. People are for the most part willing to help, especially if you let them know your looking, you can not be stubborn or try and do it on your own. And maybe one day you can help them out and return the favor.

THE MOST DISCOURAGING THEME: it seems like everywhere and anyone I talk to is looking for someone with more experience, but how am I supposed to get any experience if no one will hire me? When I see ads online or contact a company and tell them I am a designer out of college and looking for a career, they ask how many years experience do you have. It seems like you can not get a job without at least “2″ years experience. 2 seems to be the common number of years everyone wants. But what if I am as good as a person with 30 years experience, faster at accomplishing a task, cheaper, all these questions are bothersome and often times discouraging. I am simply going to stick it out and keep trying, keep applying, keep designing. How is someone at a young age, who is more than likely more willing to work harder and faster supposed to get a decent design job?

ty•pog•ra•phy

I have always enjoyed working with my hands and that is why I love typography so much. Not digital but hand rendered typography. Ever since I used to sit and watch my grandfather, an architect, draw perfect lines and build blue prints from scratch I have wanted to do something similar. There is something to putting your pen to paper and making marks that dont erase that I really love. Here are a few examples of some work I have been doing for fun.

I have also been thinking about mixing hand rendered typography with print pieces and all the directions you can go with that combination, so far it has just been book covers for me but, posters, flyers, logos, anything and everything that has type can be combined with something else.

CLEAN NEW WORLD

When I started thinking about Culture, Politics, and Graphic Design I automaically go back to Maud Lavins book, Clean New World.

Our culture is dominated by the visual. Everything we see has the power to attract an audience or not. Yet most writing on design reflects a narrow preoccupation with products, biographies, and design influences. Maud Lavin approaches design from the broader field of visual culture criticism, asking challenging questions about about who really has a voice in the culture and what unseen influences affect the look of things designers produce. Lavin shows how design fits into larger questions of power, democracy, and communication. Many corporate clients instruct designers to convey order and clarity in order to give their companies the look of a clean new world. But since designers cannot clean up messy reality, Lavin shows, they often end up simply veiling it.

A perfect example of all this is Sheppard Ferry and his contribution to the Obama/Biden campaign.The way he was able to but images and words together was not just powerfu but memorable, so people associated with his work and many say he is one of the largest atrubutes to  Obamas success.

Lacking the power to influence the content of their commercial work, many designers work simultaneously on other, more fulfilling projects. Lavin is especially interested in the graphic designer’s role in shaping cultural norms. She examines the anti-Nazi propaganda of John Heartfield, the modernist utopian design of Kurt Schwitters and the neue ring werbegestalter, the alternative images of women by studio ringl + pit, the activist work of such contemporary designers as Marlene McCarty and Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and the Internet innovations of David Steuer and others. Throughout the book, Lavin asks how designers can expand the pleasure, democracy, and vitality of communication.

Here is another article that is very relatiev to this discusion.

By LESLIE CHESS FELLER

<!—-> <!—-> <!—->Spin is in. With everything from Pepsi-Cola to politicians being packaged for public consumption, Maud Lavin, who teaches art history and visual culture at the Art Institute of Chicago, argues that the visual language speaks louder than words. In ”Clean New World,” she discusses the divergent voices of graphic artists whose images have shaped society. Although meticulously researched and illustrated, Lavin’s very scholarly analysis requires a dedicated reader. Her collection of essays begins with the anti-Nazi photomontages of John Heartfield, an intellectual hero to 1980’s artists like the group Gran Fury, the visual arts affiliate of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (Act Up). She also explores the representation of women by female artists and the role visual propaganda played in polarizing the abortion debate. Lavin’s essays pose interesting questions, but too often the answers are buried in academic verbiage. Some nuggets are worth digging out. In 1993, the Barbie Liberation Organization switched the voice boxes on 300 Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls. With a pamphlet denouncing sexism and violence in the toy industry in every box, the dolls were put back in stores in time for Christmas. The rewired Barbies now bellowed ”Eat lead, Cobra!” while the G.I. Joes trilled, ”Let’s go shopping!”

divURGENTdrifts

David Josef Tamargo says:

Chaz Maviyane-Davies eloquently illustrates a consciousness of reinforced fear in current American culture. The United States of America, a nation which once resorted to terrorist activities and tea parties to gain its independence has come a long way; unfortunately the Homeland Security color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale proves just how equally far in the forgotten past FDR’s four freedoms speech and the lessons of our founding fathers may be to American citizens today.

MANtone_colour imaging

more of Davies work on cultural identity and use of color

CULtural.CULours

Next i wanted to explore the cultural use of color. I had no idea how important color really is, and what kind of impact it can make. First i checked the basic definition of culture use of color at wikipedia and was amazed at the information i found, color actually has rich symbolism and a unique psychology.

In art, color symbolism refers to the use of color as a symbol throughout culture. Color psychology refers to investigating the effect of color on human behavior and feeling, distinct from photo therapy (the use of ultraviolet light to cure infantile jaundice).

Color symbolism and color psychology are culturally constructed linkages that vary with time, place, and culture. In fact one color may perform very different symbolic or psychological functions at the same place. Color symbolism is a contentious area of study dependent upon a large body of anecdotal evidence but not supported by data from well designed scientific studies.

There is a distinct definition of every color and what it implies, means and casts on art. For example i had no idea that the color grey came with so many implementations, Elegance, humility, respect, reverence, stability, subtlety, wisdom, old age, anachronism, boredom, decay, decrepitude, dullness, dust, entanglement, pollution, urban sprawl, strong emotions, balance, neutrality, mourning, formality, March.

Two blogs that help with comprehending cultureal uses of color are color meanings and color symbolism, which really gets into the psychy of major countries and the true connotations of color within those countries. A great designer to look at to help understand cultural uses of color would be Chaz Maviyane-Davies who has made a lasting impression on me personally as well as the world, with his design work ranging from culture, health, environment, society, politics, and global concerns.

comprehending_color

Sometimes, for me, color is the last thing I think about, and quit often something I dont even think about ever. I tend to be drawn to black and white images, from design work to my own photography, I simply love black and white. Most likely because I am intemiated by color, I think things dont look right, and dont particularly know what colors are best suitable for certain work. The fact of the matter is, color is intemidating, it can make or break a visual. What is wrong and what is right when it comes to color, what are the right colors for such works? I have found some really nice blogs and websites dedicated to understanding color and applying color to design work. Most importntly are the visuals that each of these links contain, they were absolutely crucial in helping me understand certain color patterns and combinations.

First is the blog, Design Lab 1: 2D Visual Arts Blog by Paul Notzold. Here Paul and a group of students give both textual and visual definitions of different color patterns, through self-portraiture. From analogous to double split complimentary, there is a wide range of helpful images and understanding.

Below are examples of one students experimentation with, analogous, cold, warm, monochromatic and triadic color schemes. Each with a different purpose and a different affect.

There are also many links here, so you can look at other students work to get even a more imagery and information on color schemes, and simply understanding color better.

still confused?

here are some more links that will help you understand what exactly graphic design is:

here is a site by the aigi about what in the world graphic design is http://whatintheworld.aiga.org/

this blog has been created to get definitions from designers about what they feel their profession really is

another blog to help clarify graphic design designtalkboard

here is davidairey’s take on graphic design

jacob cass’s definition and blog

this site is amazingly designed, one of the best interactive sites ive ever seen, not really on the idea of what is graphic design, but exactly that at the same time, http://www.hejz.com/

one last site dedicated to help define design, www.cairril.com

these have all helped me understand that everything is design or had to be designed by someone, which is not only helpful in understanding graphic design but encouraging to know that it is in fact everything

what is graphic design

Lately ive been trying to figure out what in the world im going to actually do with graphic design and how im going to communicate visually to the world in a way that different from everyone else, because there is an endless sea of designers and ideas floating around out there and frankly i often get lost and sometimes feel like im drowning, so here are a few things that ive been looking at and things that have helped me stay afloat.

Is this graphic design? Of course, everything is design, EVERYTHING! And thats another thing im starting to figure out, i thought graphic design had to follow certain guidelines and have some kind of purpose, but it doesnt, you can throw some paint on a wall and call it graphic design. Here trevor jackson found a way to come up with a clever little poster that is humorous enough to actually get thrown all around the web. on different peoples blogs, he could have even done this in microsoft word, he could be an author rather than a “graphic designer.” I dont even know what it means anymore to be a graphic designer, of course there is a definition in the dictionary but i think it is anyone who can communicate in any kind of way to someone else or even themselves.

here is some good examples of what graphic design really is— what_is_graphic_design_poster_competition

make an assessment…

just another cool link for everyone to look at and enjoy, too much info and stuff. osocio.org/category/design/

i stumbled across a design blog that advertised this new font, Birra, as well as offered a link to a free download, its quite nice and free!!! if you like it, download it. diggit.com

ive also attached an example of Birra below.

“Birra arose from years of compulsive doodling in pen and ink, and conjures the whimsy and syncopated contrast of novelty handlettering in the early 20th century. Birra Stout is a free font, and the first release of a still-evolving project which we’ll expand as time permits.

here is a link to another blog called visual culture, i stumbled across it by accident, i saw some images of new bike rack ideas by local designers up in New York City, i think they are brilliant and i would love to do something like that around here, in Knoxville and even on campus at UT. check them out, o and the blog is very incite full as well visualculture.blog

heres an example of what im talking about, a bike rack that looks like a shoe and one that looks like a dog…clever!

here is something that we have been talking about for the past 2 years, just a new way to understand and look at it, – “what is graphic design…”

that video made me start to think about what is graphic design to me and what do i like about it so much; and i started to think of all the things i like about it, the process itself, starting with a simple idea or problem and watching the process fold out and realizing what you stumble upon, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose.
constantly looking around for inspiration and noticing things i never noticed before. taking in everything is possibly the biggest attribute of design and becoming a good designer. you have to constantly be on the look out, at new ideas, old ideas and other peoples work can influence immensely. possibly my favorite part of any project is watching it as it goes through its different stages and seeing what a simple idea can actually turn into is extremely fulfilling and keeps me pushing forward. another thing i love is looking back and realizing how much stuff you have, if you keep files, printouts, libraries, your work, other peoples work, you start to collect and before you know it you have a gigantic stockpile of stuff, stuff that you can look back on, use and share. these are jsut a few reasons why i like graphic design, there will be more!