Graphic Designer & Calligrapher
I recently began to pay more attention to hand painted signs. When you see a hand painted sign its as if you can imagine the time it took to create sign and many other things. Knowing there’s a store that stilll uses hand painted signs I’m pretty sure the vibe and feel of the place is very different compared to other stores.
When I first seen everyone with a blackberry I instantly wanted one. Then when I got one I got addicted to using it. The simplification of going from the P.O.S phone that I had before made the blackberry great. Then they continued to do the same thing over and over.
They had released the Blackberry storm as a competing phone against the iPhone which was great at the time. But they continued to fail I believe with the problems of the phone. More so releasing Junk and not worrying about releasing quality products.
On the blackberry curve the button placement was a little odd to have the numbers on the left. Which I’ll admit at the time was great. Just that it got a little annoying to deal with. The chunky plastic buttons did not make me feel comfortable owning this phone.
Eventually blackberry started to fall behind. You can only be paid attention to for so long eventually people are going to get bored with you. I for one feel the reason why a company like Apple and Google continue to grow is because they are always innovating. What did blackberry do to improve peoples lives ? When they tried to innovate it was too late and people no longer cared about them.
Whether you are a designer, speaker, business owner yeah you may be making money now but it will only last for so long. You have to provide value with what you are offering. While doing so make sure you are always looking at ways to improve quickly and not sluggishly.
Being a graphic design graduate can be frustrating especially when you do not get any responses from the jobs you’ve applied to. While you are applying to those Jobs what are you doing to set yourself apart from the rest of the other designers. Many people who claim to be a designer next year they will probably not be one or trying to be one.
I have learned recently that while whatever you are pursuing make sure you are busy working. Meaning “Do not sit and watch TV or do anything that will not help move you forward”. If you are for example a fashion designer and you want to become a better fashion designer then learning a new skill will help. One of the most important things I learned from a 50 cent words of wisdom video is when he said ” When I started making music it was full time everyday”.
Just think about how much your life would improve if you took action instead of just thinking about it. You may be a person who says they are waiting for the right time. I’ll admit I used to think there was a time for certain things. But in actuality whenever your time comes are you going to be prepared? Learning new skills will help you in the long haul. Just think of people who found a job thought they would not need to learn other skills, then got laid off and struggled to find work.
There really is not any reason why everyone nowadays does not have more then one skill. You have access to millions probably billions of free articles, videos, tutorials on whatever you want to learn. Remember whatever you are going through someone else has to learn from them. Stop just thinking about something you want to do and go do it.
Make it a priority to take action and if you fail at least you tried and then keep trying until you succeed. The only thing that comes to someone who wishes is a dream without any results.
There has been many times when I have seen the logo for complex that is totally different on a business card, Compared to the one on the gate. This could simply be branding not being thought all the way through to the last piece. When you start anything that requires a brand you want it to be similar in every aspect.
If you were for example lets say Nike you would not want to have a Michael Jordan logo on something that is not related to his brand. Then another company example would be Holiday Inn. If you were opening a Holiday Inn branded Hotel you would not just put the word Inn in big letters on the building and put Holiday Inn on your business cards. It simply would not work because using the word Inn would be confusing and is a word that is used in many different brands.
When you are designing anything think about every aspect of branding. This means from the logo, stationary, building letters and etc. You want people to know what to look for.
One of the big debates that people seem to get confused is having a design style vs approach. To me a style is what you come up with from the approach to completing a project. Because if you want to design a poster in a swiss design style then you would have to learn the principles and then take an approach to come up with a similar style.
Your style will mold itself when you continue to work on your approach to projects. The way to improve your approach is to practice thinking about how to approach the project differently. The approach could range from doing things differently then you normally would to designing in a different place.
So with this said do not worry so much about your design style. Style is something that everyone seems to want to have. Your style will develop overtime through looking at more design and designing more. Your approach will develop the more you look at how you are working from beginning to end.
I just love seeing handmade products from the beginning to the end. What shocked me about this guitar is how many hours it took.
Have a good weekend
This project was one that I had tested myself to see what I could come with. Since at the time I had thought why not try my hand at rebranding a cafe. Then thinking of how to embody the branding throughout each piece.
A couple of design podcasts that I listen to are and highly recommend for good quality information
When I first came across the deeply graphic design cast I had no idea what to expect. I immediately became more knowledgeable of being a designer. Also I made a good friend from one of the episodes. If you are in college or already in the creative field go ahead and subscribe to this podcast you will not be dissappointed.
The Sean McGabe (Seanwes) and Aaron Dowd podcast is fairly knew to me. I have already listened to all 7 episodes and have learned a lot. Sean and Aaron are a great group of guys who have fun. When your listening you can really tell they are having fun. Definitely go subscribe to their podcast as well you will not be disappointed and will really learn some new techniques from them.
What are some podcasts that you listen to?
We all experience times when we feel as if we are getting burnt out in every shape or form. When that happens it can end up taking away our motivation or it could be another situation that causes us to lose motivation. Because when t comes to creativity we use it daily.
The way we use creativity can be how we avoid running into walls, how we avoid dropping food while eating. But lets stay on topic. Another thing that can happen is we feel that we are burnt out completely creatively. Which has happened with me a couple of times.
Here are some ways that I got back my motivation after getting burnt out and tired with designing.
When you start art school it can become a bit overwhelming. Then after that happens you do not realize the amount things start costing. You may have to buy sketchbooks more often. Then buying textbooks and supplies which will start to add up really quick.
Now there are ways for you to avoid having to buy textbooks simply because you can download ebooks for free. Honestly there’s ton’s of resources that are free and one that I use for ebooks is booksos.org . They also have a good amount of design books as well for free download.
What I did to budget my money properly while in school was to not buy the most expensive supplies I could. Sure I did once or twice. But honestly the supplies you use does not matter with the quality of work you do. Because for example you could own a ferrari and still not know how to drive properly. The main thing to remember is your skill and work quality depends on you.
The second thing is to be very frugal with eating out. This can make or break your bank account depending on where you go to school. Sometimes you can be tempted to go and eat at the delicious pizza place or get a coffee or brownie every morning. After you realize how much money you’ve spent you start to realize that “hey I could be using that money for something else”.
One main thing for you to remember is the difference between needs and wants. You can want to do a thing but in actuality to you need it. Learning how to say no is a struggle for some and easy for others. When you say no do not be afraid, you are simply demonstrating self control.
Also if possible get a part time job while in school to keep some cash in your pocket. There is nothing worse then going through college struggling to pay for supplies and etc. There’s 168 hours in a week what you do with those hours depends on how your current circumstance in all aspects of your life will improve.
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