Cornish BFA show

So this afternoon I headed to the Cornish BFA show downtown and I was quite surprised by what I saw. I knew that Cornish had a very different design aesthetic- one that was more illustration based- but it also appeared as though their general educational focus was quite different than the UW Design program. There were soo many different kinds of projects it was a bit overwhelming. Some of them were very thorough and polished while others seemed a bit open-ended and incomplete. I almost wish they had each included a sample portfolio so you could have the opportunity to get a feel for all they're involved in- which some of them actually did, and it really helped to illustrate where their general interests lie. There were a couple projects that seemed almost design studies oriented which was nice to see, and a few projects that were very image methodology based. 

As for how the show was arranged- there were a few things that I really liked about how they dealt with each student's work. The show had very clean and simple take-away booklets with a small profile picture of each student and an image that represented their interests or work with was nice to carry with you through the show and reference when you came across their final project. Also, each student got their own section in the show. Either part of a wall or half a cubicle. I thought that was a nice touch because it allowed them to spread their work out, gave them move space to meet and greet guests, and allowed them to determine their own display style and have their business cards on display for whoever might be interested. 

Overall, it was really nice to have a brief look into what another school has been doing, and what their students have to offer in the field. It was interesting to see just how different our education has been- not necessarily better, but definitely different. Just another reason why I love design soo much- there are soo many different flavors and personalities involved.

Now on another note- this week I'm trying to concentrate on nailing down a grid and feel for my book. I want my cover fairly solid so that I have something clean to turn in on Wednesday for the judges. Monday morning hopefully I'll be coming in with an a nice selection of options for everyone to look at. 

So far this week I've been continuing on my journey of writing my copy for the 

my book, and I've been looking into various pre-existing design books for ideas on what I want my look and feel to be. I think right now building my layout has become my largest worry. Since I have such varying information and imagery, coming up with a book that looks clean, functional, and yet interesting is giving me an ulcer. But, I've found a few books that look promising- a couple from the library and a couple off Amazon. Right now I'm looking at Kristen Cullen's Layout Workbook. It seems to have a nice balance of text and image use in a fairly clean way soo I'm trying to pick up her style- via osmosis. Fingers crossed.  Aside from that my personal goal for this week is to get into the photo lab and take quality photographs for my portfolio work. I keep putting it off because some of my work is at my home in Mukilteo but I'm having my parents bring it all down this Saturday before we go to our concert.

On another note- I went to the offset printing talk the other day. It was a flashback to having Doug W. as a teacher. It all sounded interesting and overwhelming at the same time. I feel like its almost impossible to fully grasp the professional printing practice without actually going to see one. I need to see a press. You can go on all day about duo-tone, monotone etc but I don't think I'll fully understand how the process works until I see it for myself- and I find it a bit frustrating that I'm graduating in a little over a month and I know so little about the process. It seriously seems like something any designer should know because from what the guy was saying- the actual design must be put together with printing in consideration. I would hate to go through the whole design process and then discover that I used weird layering or colors that cant be matched. Maybe its just one of those things you learn once you're in the field...I dunno. 

Post presentation

Overall I feel confident after my presentation. I know I have a long road ahead of me in terms of work, but I'm comfortable with the direction I'm going in. I think at least after all of this I'll have a piece of research that will be nice reference material for my future work in design- whether its in exhibition design or not. Putting everything together is going to be tedious and I need to begin coming up with a grid for my book but at least I have my list of topics and a general table of contents to work off of and maybe that way it will help give me more structure in terms of showing me what needs to be done and which direction I'm heading in. 

I agree with Axel about the redesign aspect of my project. I was beginning to question whether it would be an appropriate part of the book, and I wasn't sure if it would be even possible to do considering my timeline and the availability of information. Maybe if I have time I could do what Dana had suggested and pick specific aspects of local exhibits that I have ideas for- we shall see! 

As for the visual look and feel of my book I've started to try and brainstorm how I want it organized. Since my content is so fixed on the senses should I have pages that are more tactile or should I keep it fairly solid in terms of grid because I'm covering a lot of information to keep it as clean as possible? Should it be super visual? I don't exactly have access to a printer that I could use my own paper on. It's something I'm gonna have keep thinking about...but I've got to hurry up.

A good book can do wonders...

I have finally found a book that is helpful! It took long enough. The book is titled Sensation and Perception, and its one of the textbooks used in the UW's psychology department. So for the last couple of days I've been working on rounding out my definition list, and diving a bit deeper into the areas that I find a bit more pertinent. My goal is to have my list done by this week so that I can start on the writing and organizing of my actual book. I'm a bit worried about it all coming together in a coherent manner though. I think I need to start working on my book arrangement so that the flow from one example to the next makes sense and it isn't confusing for the reader. 

I'm also beginning to look into possible design examples to work with in terms of my redesign project. It'll have to come from a book Im thinking because so far I haven't found an exhibit with extensive enough information on the web in order to make it possible for me to fully tackle the project. It may come down to me doing parts of the exhibit instead of the whole thing based on the availability of information. In terms of time that might be the best option but when considering how much it'll make sense for the book, I'm a bit skeptical. 

Whats the game plan?

Ok so, there's a lot to do this quarter and not very much time to do it in. I have been working on compiling my images and information for the installations as well as continuing my research on sensory perception. I found a book through summit that I ordered and it's ready for pick-up, which I'll be doing tomorrow. It looked really promising in terms of specific information on each individual sense. I've been struggling in terms of finding reliable resources that are easily read. Most of the technical information I've found has been WAY too thick, making it difficult to extract pertinent information. I'm going to try and email Axel's wife as well and see if she might have any tips in terms of textual resources. I know her specific field is lighting but its definitely worth looking into. 

I feel like right now though, its developing my own timeline that has begun to worry me. At some point I need to decide when to stop collecting and when to begin detailing and narrowing my list down to the examples I want to discuss in my final book. I hope to be at that point within a week or two. I've started to search for existing exhibits that may be nice candidates for me to apply my research to. I'd like to have that solidified sooner rather than later. And then comes the design of the book- establishing a grid to work off of. I would say at this point I'm mostly just overwhelmed. I need to start outlining a way to break all this up in order for me not to keep stressing about it all getting done. I suppose that's a good goal for this week. 

DScapstone

testing. testing....