Fly

Design & Me: What Do You Do?

Lately, I find more people understand what it means to be a graphic designer. Nowadays it's even trendy to say you're an art director, an animation designer, or a lettering artist. I've also noticed that you can find a graphic designer written into some movie or sitcom story-line because the general public now has an idea of what we do. This is great because when I go to family functions or networking events I don't have to go into a deep explanation about what a logo is and say, "you know, like the Nike symbol," and they blankly say, "Oh, I see," when they really don't.

It's so funny because although my parents support me in every way, I know they still don't understand what I do. And poor mom, she has a really hard time explaining my career of choice to our family members in Brazil. They have no idea what graphic design entails, so she just tells them I draw on the computer. Hilarious. {{Read more.}}

Design & Me: Show Off

I accidentally posted this the other day, I hadn't even proofread it so the previous version was raggedy with grammatical errors. Here it is, revised:

In my design career as both a student, a professional, a student again as well as a teacher (yes I'm teaching now) I've gotten so many words of advice from supervisors, professors and mentors and they all shared really great inspirations. But the best advice I got was from my professor when I was in undergrad when we were getting our portfolios together just before graduation. He told us seniors to get out there and show off our work, whether or not a company is looking for new talent make sure you try to meet with them anyway. It was a great way to practice interviewing skills as new designers entering the professional world, and also gives you more exposure. Yes anyone can see your wonderful work on the web but there's nothing like meeting with the person behind the work and seeing actual pieces in their book (yes, you should have some actual pieces in your portfolio). Then he would finish saying that by showing off our work to many companies, even if they are not hiring, you might impress them enough to refer you to a company who is hiring. {{Read more here.}}

Design & Me: Get a Mentor

When I was in undergrad pursuing my B.F.A in graphic design I had an internship every summer. It was extremely important for me to have work experience before actually entering the work-world that would soon come after graduation. I was truly blessed to have some amazing jobs with a design firm in PA and a wonderful institution in Washington, D.C. You see my internships were not only a great way to get experience in regards to design, but it was an eye-opener to the world of office politics.

At this particular institution I was giving the opportunity, along with another intern, to design a huge banner that would be placed outside of the building. Separately, we would create designs and present them to our director to select which one would be produced. My design was selected and I was thrilled because it would be my first official printed piece.

This project went down an interesting path when it came down to this very picture you see here. This picture was taken when I was asked to be featured in the institution's newsletter, it suddenly became a question as to who designed the banner. Long story short, I ended up in the office bathroom-stall fuming because of a confrontation, finger pointing and back-stabbing. {{Read more here.}}

Design & Me: Flip Floppity

Once I graduated from Temple I began preparing for interviews, so I needed to go shopping and buy interview-appropriate clothing. I had a few decent pieces I could wear but I really needed some nice shoes. At the time my favorite place to buy shoes was Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th. There I found two pairs of really cute BCBG pumps both with a sweet kitten heel. One pair was a true pump the other had a little strap that went around the ankle. I tried them on and walked around the store with them feeling confident that they would be fairly comfortable for walking around New York City with my portfolio. Boy was I wrong.

One of my very first interviews was with a headhunter located near Madison Square Park. I went to New York for two days and stayed with a girlfriend who moved there a year before me, she lived in Brooklyn Heights. I had never been on the NY subway by myself so I left with her the morning of my interview as she was going to work so she could show me how to get to where I needed to go.

So we’re walking to the train and I’m pulling my portfolio on a little carrier with wheels (because it was way too heavy to carry by hand) when I realize my shoes, the pumps, are literally flopping off my feet. WTH! They were too big! My walk-in-the-store test tricked me because these shoes did not fit. We didn't know what to do, my friend was trying to help me but she also didn’t want to be late for work. It didn’t make sense for me to go back to her apartment because I didn’t have any other shoes to wear. I had to think quickly. For some reason I had a plastic bag in my purse. I took it out and shredded it into pieces and stuffed those pieces into the front of my shoe. I stuck my feet in and it was better but only a temporary solution. I would walk a few feet feeling okay and then my shoes would flop again, and then I would have to stop to stuff more plastic. The pressure of me walking pushed the plastic further into the front leaving me back where I started. It was horrible and it didn’t help that I was lugging this huge portfolio. {{Read more here.}}

Design & Me: In the Beginning Pt. 2

Read Part 1 here.

The portfolio review really shook me up but I had to do something so I enrolled in another art class at school and asked the teacher to help me build a portfolio. I did extra watercolors and drawings and actually felt pretty confident with the body of work I created, so I made an appointment with the admissions people at Tyler for another review.

This time I had a leather portfolio case of my own. It was a little big considering my pieces were no bigger than 11" x 17" but anything was better than that big heavy duty trash bag. I felt good and I was ready to show them I belonged at their art school.

My mother and I drove to the little suburb outside of Philly where the art school was located. We got a little campus tour and I was in awe of how beautiful and peaceful it was, it felt so perfect for me. Finally, after saying goodbye to our tour guide we went into the admissions office for my appointment.

I opened my portfolio and proudly went through every piece explaining the process and so on. The lady, who remembered me from the National Portfolio Review, just sat and listened patiently. When I was done she sighed. She explained to me that she felt I had the potential but she was afraid I would not be at the same level as the other freshmen coming in. She told me to follow her. The lady led my mother and I into the waiting area to a charcoal drawing that had to be at least 4’ x 6’. It was so beautiful and very expressive, I had never seen anything like it. The admissions lady went on to say that a freshman did the drawing in her foundation drawing class. I would be expected to have the same if not higher level of skill. At that moment I understood. She was really trying to save me the agony of not being prepared for their competitive program, but still in my heart I knew I belonged at that school. The challenge made me want to be there even more. {{Read more here.}}

Design & Me: In the Beginning

After reading the comments from the Fly Survey (you still have time to fill it out) I found that you, or should I say some of you, wish to read more about my design background and my design advice. It’s a brilliant idea, I always thought about sharing a little more about myself in my discipline of choice but never got around to it. So here I am about to share some of my experiences as a designer. Along the way I'll share some advice from myself and other design professionals who have a wealth of experience in the industry.

In the Beginning…

When I entered my senior year in high-school I had no idea what kind of career I wanted to pursue let alone where I wanted to go to school. I loved art and knew I had to get a job where I could be creative. Somehow I learned about the graphics arts, did some research and decided on three schools where I would apply. I don't even remember how educated those choices were but I do remember being intrigued by the idea of going to school in New York City, which lead me to apply to Pratt Institute. Then I read somewhere that the University of Akron had a great design program so I applied there as well. But my top choice, Temple University in Philadelphia, was where I really wanted to be.

Temple University's Tyler School of Art intrigued me because of it's wonderful fine arts curriculum and rigorous design program, and the school was located in a city that wasn't too far from home but just far enough for me to feel like I was grown (ha!). But what really drew me to Temple was Bill Cosby. I remember seeing that big Temple "T" behind his office desk on the Cosby Show and wondered, what does that "T" mean? Recently I learned that at the time the logo in his office was not even an official Temple logo. That Temple "T" was a test logo designed by a Temple graphic design student. The project was commissioned by the university president who decided to have a new school identity designed by the graduate design students who attended Temple. Out of several designs, Kristine Herrick's Temple "T" was selected, but they wanted to test the new logo. Cosby has ties to Temple and placed the logo on the show to see if people would notice and react. It worked, it got me interested and very pressed to go to this school. It also showed how the graphic design department indirectly inspired me to get into their program. {{Read the rest here.}}