Three day type design course at my school. We sarted with ink and moved on to fontlab (Where I worked on the letter “S” at least half the day, leaving little time for the other letters). All in all, I think I’ve found my calling <3
the ampersand blog
uncommon knowledge for designers at Ace Jet 170
“Happy new year!” we said to each other in the morning. And it’s fitting. The fall is always a new start for me. I feel a lot of things are changing - shifting. I like it, I feel awake.
One of my goals this year is to report here more on what I am doing and learning at school. Writing things out like this will probably help me make sense of my education and perhaps even be of interest to someone.
One other thing I decided on today was to start a proper skethchbook/scrapbook/notebook for school, similar to the ones I kept at fashion school. It worked wonders in clarifying my design style and will probably work again. Also I hate it when I feel like I have nothing much to show for my work, a few grubby sketches maybe and a finished project. I want to chart the process too.
I go to a great school, and I really want to experience that to the fullest, that’s why I am trying to concentrate on school more and cut back on work projects now. I feel last year I just waltzed it through… well getting good grades but nevertheless… I was pretty burned out in the end. I hope to spend a bit more time socializing and just lazing about as well.
Today’s highlight was the presentation of Dai Fujiwara at the opening ceremony of the university. He works as a creative director at Issey Miyake (one of my all time favourite designers). I love the A-POC concept. It reminded me what I really want my future work to be - developing ideas and concepts.
The rest of the week will be about more inspiring people. Starting tomorrow we have four days of nothing but guest lecturers talking about things relating to graphic design and design (and sometimes life) in general. It was excellent last year, so I hope to be inspired…
And on Friday there is a party.
Unlike I imagined it, Graphic design school has been less about sitting on the computer and more about pen and paper. Drawing. Illustration course, drawing human figure and drawing from life. (See some of the work, scanned here)
And it’s very different in other ways too. Much less about history and theory and more about just doing stuff. No books to read or papers to write. But maybe there is a hidden agenda, something seeding in our minds, making us go and learn by ourselves… which is surely the best way. I have to admit it was a shock at first, me calling the school a daycare centre, constantly wondering when “the real work” was going to start… But it’s been fun, and challenging and tiring and exciting.
Lately I’ve been busy packing stuff to officially move in with the boy. We are settling in, little by little, soothing all glitches as they come along. Important things, copic markers, shoes and computer, have lived here for a while already and I have started to call it home.
P.S. Oh look, one day the crazy hubby-to-be made this! No toasters, but design books, naturally!
(of course I had to scan it)
I got in!
The results were supposed to come on 21st day, at the latest, but they already came yesterday! I am so incredible happy it is hard to describe. Socks rolling on your feet, like Eero, the friend I got to know in the exams said (he also got in, yay!). Although I feel so weirdly calm, that the whole thing probably hasn’t really sunk in yet.
My total score was 48 (out of 55), and 40 was the lowest score to get in. What makes me most happy is that I got full points for the interview. And for the comic book as well.
What more can I say? Life is changing again…
(10 page comic book in four hours… madness)
Yesterday I fell asleep during kiss kiss bang bang on dvd. That gives you some idea how tired I am.
It is such a strange feeling when something you have waited and feared for, for over a year, is done, gone. There is nothing else I can do anymore, to make it happen! The scores from the second stage were something so amazing to me… like a validation of all the hard work I’ve put into this. Whatever happens, it’s a great win. And it feels good to continue from here.
They are picking 16 students of the 42 third stage applicants. The final results should come June 21st at the latest. Until then I have to try think of other things, although I know it is impossible. I do have this urge to do some art, so maybe that helps.
One of the exam assignments was to visualize your room in your favourite artists style. Mine was Hundertwasser. I don’t know which I like more, his paintings or his thoughts…
It is difficult to explain how I succeeded. Certainly not by force, also not by reflection, and not by intelligence, and not necessarily by intuition, but rather like walking in a dream. The work of an artist is indeed very difficult because it cannot be undertaken by force, dilligence or intelligence.
sketching at the exams
Long time no see…
I made the cut. With the shared highest score of 19 points. The initial goal was to make it to the third stage, but obviously, now, the bar is much higher.
I have really been enjoying the exams, which I guess is a weird thing to say, since most people hate that kind of stress. But me… I just didn’t remember how much I love drawing, since I rarely get to sit down and just do it and nothing else for hours. It’s kind of relaxing too. Very Zen.
Obviously it’s exhausting as well. After eight hour days, I come home shattered. Emotional stress is pretty hard to determine at this point. This kind of stress makes so much of you shut down. I will have to write more about the whole thing later. Only tomorrow to go!
And then I got an invitation to take part in entrance examination to TAIK’s graphic design and illustration program. Yay!
It is really amazing how many times you can print pages in wrong order and upside down! Or maybe that is the inevitable consequence for using singleside-printer for both sides-printing, manually. I even had to make a dummy model of the book to get the right pages on the right sheets. And we are only talking 12 pages here…
In other words: my application portfolio is ready and I am relieved. Tomorrow morning I fill out the application form and take them to TAIK. Then try to forget about the whole thing for two months or so. Oh and work on the other applicatios, to two other schools, due next week!
While waiting for things to print out I have been enjoying reading typography-guru Ellen Lupton’s (and her sister Julia’s) blog design-your-life and also her website design-writing-research. She’s put online some material from the book she’s edited, d.i.y. (teachings-page, scroll down). It’s all about designing and making your own things, from business cards to press kits. There’s also free advice.
I like Lupton’s thoughts on design:
Design is an instrument for packaging ideas and making them public. People who have access to design tools can make tangible their own knowledge and concepts. This active mode of literacy folds back into the ability to read and understand what’s out there in the world. Learning to build your own Web site, or edit your own movie, or publish your own book, makes you more critical of the media you see and read each day, and more cognizant of the skill and artistry required to create such media at the highest level.
and
Design is art people use.