So, you're bored this summer?

So, you're bored this summer and want to keep up your game, huh?

Summer is a great time to do those things you never find time to do in a full semester. Here are five things to help you stay out of trouble (and one to get you into trouble), but all will help you along your path.

[*Karen is actually very busy this summer.]

1: Getting into good habits

• Go to a museum. Choose a day/time and make it "museum day" (or museum-morning)... the MOMA, Oakland Museum of California (ask for AAU alum Dave Gottwald), the DeYoung, Cartoon Art Museum... many are free with a student ID (MOMA). Take your camera.
• Go to bookstores. Not Barnes-and-Noble, but some out of the way ones... especially the ones that carry a great magazine selection. Check Yelp.com for referrals.
• Read. You guys know I'm not a super-fan, but maybe you are. There are a great number of design-related books to read. Anything by Stephen Heller, for instance. This deserves its own separate post.
• Start your Blogroll. Don't know what that is? Look it up. Ever seen dieline.com, underconsideration.com, designobserver.com, ffffound.com, jjjjound.com, grainedit.com... heck, start your own blog, too.
• Start your own blog. No really, do it. Experience with blogging platforms like Wordpress has become essential out in the wild (aka job market), so it's best to get in good habits now. Even working with platforms like Blogger, Typepad or Tumblr will get you started. This blog is "powered by Typepad".
• Start your Newsreel. It's easy to think you're the center of the universe, but check out: sfist.com, sfgate.com, NewYorkTimes.com, salon.com, bbc.com, TMZ.com (really)... Begin to set up RSS feeds and news alerts for fringe topics like "russian prison tattoos" for kicks.
• Wander. Hop on MUNI or BART and head to some way-out place. Get a burger. Hop back on the train and head the other direction. Rent a car and drive to Baskersfield. Why? Because you've never been there. The journey is the destination here.
• Live. Shower, go to the gym, stop smoking, sleep, do some yoga, get a haircut, call your mom, visit your granny, write some thank-you notes... As an AAU student, there's all sorts of CampusLife stuff going on, including entry to the gym.

 

2: Keeping your skills sharp

• Head to the bookstore. Get a book on (_?_) (? = InDesign, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, AfterEffects). Learn the ins-and-outs of the application... beyond what you already know, of course. Video-based storytelling is becoming increasingly popular (for instance, Kickstarter.com requires a video for each submission). That might be a good place to start.
• Do something crafty. Get your hands dirty. Look into silk-screening classes at the Mission Cultural Center, Bookbinding at Center-for-the-Book, community gardening...
• Practice. If you've been thinking of picking up a new tool (D90, Wacom tablet, Flip-video, AppleMotion, large format printer, CS6), Summer/Winter break is a great time to learn new technical stuff and try out new toys (and work out the bugs)... a lot better than 2 weeks before an assignment is due.
• Learn. Check out SkillShare and How DesignCasts.
• Geek out. Learn to code (or get familiar with web technology): CodeAcademy, and Lynda.com are good places to start.
• Expand your horizons. Stanford's D-school is up to some heady stuff these days. Check out some videos on TED.com, too.

 

3: Tackle some self-directed assignments

Below are a few... perhaps tackle them in small groups and get together at a peer's apartment for a critique session. 

A: Form into Format...  This quickie layout charrette will get you used to the things you'll cover -- or refresh what you've covered -- in your type classes. It also forces you to think about imagery in a new way.

• Take a piece of classic literature available widely on the web: Plato's Republic, The Christian Bible, The Koran, Ulysses, etc... make it something classic, iconic and well known. Perhaps you use just the first chapter, but make it so that you're not keying the entire thing in.
• Find six examples of visual magazines in widely different genres: Nesting, Fashion, Sports, Art... look to Real Simple, Esquire, Bazaar, Field and Stream, Cook's Illustrated, etc... some domestic and some international. Ones with diverse visual spreads are better (so, the Economist might be out).
• Choose a particularly compelling layout in each of these magazines and dissect the grid. What's the page size? Column-width? Type size, face, spacing and leading? Everything... use your Schaedler-rule to measure it out right in picas and points. Recreate this template in InDesign and set up style sheets for body copy accordingly (perhaps it's a good time to learn those). Make it tight.
• Now, coming damn-close to copying the layout, flow your new copy into the format... remembering, though, that your new subject matter is very different from the old, which means that while some things will stay the same from old to new (base body typeface specs, overall layout), some things will be very different: illustrative/title faces, colors, illustrations/photos... the end result will look quite different from the inspiration because of this.
• Find new sources for the new materials channelling the style of the magazine. For instance, when you flow the Koran into Real Simple, what images will you use and what style is appropriate to Real Simple? When you do the same with GQ, how will those photos (and type styling) be different. This is a very important part of the assignment. Think indexically and symbolically about the imagery. How could the "water into wine" bit be visually translated for a surf magazine? A cooking magazine?

• ... There are 2 ways to look at this assignment... maybe you do both:

1. One piece of literature into six different magazines. How would different magazines approach the same subject? The National Geographic version of The Kama Sutra vs. the Cosmopolitan version...
2. Six pieces of literature into one magazine. How would the same magazine look at 6 divergent pieces of literature (Plato, Einstein, Joyce, Bertrand Russell, Umberto Eco, etc.)? This one can be tricky because you're adapting very different content into a singular visual style.

B: Catch and Release... This is similar to an exercise we've done for years in one of my classes and something that Cardon Webb started recently. It's fun.

• Find a piece of communication that's just bad. A lost-cat sign, a roommate-wanted poster... take a picture of it (and note where it is).
• Redesign it, looking at copy modifications in the process. Use the computer and interject new type, imagery (and copy, as mentioned)
• Replace the original with your redesign... take a picture.
• Option: in small type at the bottom, place "Redesigned by (your name) for your enjoyment. (your website)"... this might nab you a freelance gig (or a funny, perhaps profane, email from the original artist).

C: A Big Budget Rebrand... Even if you haven't taken a branding class, you can try this one. This is sort of like project-3 in visual literacy (and like the semester-project in Nature of Identity), but more logo/brand focused... and helps out the little guy.

• Find a really low-fi retail establishment... A taco truck (the real kind), a lemonade stand, a farmer's market stall, a flea-market vendor, a garage sale... what are they selling? what are they really selling? They might be selling plums, but are they really selling "freshness"? They might be selling jeans at the flea market, but are they really selling "assortment"?
• Find out as much as you can about them. When were they started? Where is their "corporate HQ"? Who are the "founders"?
• Design/Discover for them:

1. Describe their history in a narrative format. Use pictures where possible. Typeset this.
2. Define their audience: Create 6 archetypical "characters" that might like this brand for different reasons. Describe them in words and pictures.
3. Define their competition: Who else might the audience buy from if not from your brand? Look to ways to distinguish your brand from them... perhaps keywords, perhaps a visual chart.
4. Design a new logo: again, look to the "heart" of what they're selling. Go beyond the obvious.
5. Design business cards and letterhead... remember, if they're a (insert atypical business here), perhaps they don't need an 8.5X11in letterhead... maybe postcards are better.
6. Design some sort of promotional item or campaign to help them do what they do.

• Wrap it all up in some sort of "package" -- a book, a folder, etc... with all the parts and pieces (history, audience) and give it to them. Seriously. Walk up to them and say: "Hi, I know this is weird and that you don't know me, but I'm a graphic designer and I thought this would be a fun personal project and I wanted to give you the results. Have a great day. If you need or want to contact me, my business card is in the back, but otherwise, consider this a gift."

D: Take on a TapRoot project...  

 

4: Make friends with other professions

Designers are often dependent on other folks to get stuff done: Photographers, Illustrators, Bookbinders, Printers... find them. Buy them a donut and say, "Hi". Remember, the worst thing someone can say to you is "no" ("You have the right to remain silent." is pretty bad, too, though)... so take a chance and meet people. The AIGA traveling-lounge is great for that...

And speaking of AIGA. Are you a member? Could you spare a weekend to volunteer for something? Find out. The AIGA is chock-full of folks who will be most important to you in the next few years (i.e.: people who might hire you). Get involved.


5: For international students (specifically)

For international students, it's a great time to become more familiar with Western/American brands, vernaculars, idioms, habits, etc...

• Go shopping! How fun is that? Take your camera instead of your wallet, though... and get out of town! Take BART to Stonestown Mall, WalMart, Target, Home Depot... How are products packaged? How is the store layed out? How are they communicating to their customers? Remember, if you get stopped for taking photos, no one can take your camera or ask you to delete images, but they can ask you to leave the store (and when they do, you have to leave). It's also an awesome time to play tourist -- nothing confuses a security guard more than someone who speaks Thai or Farsi. They'll generally leave you alone once they think you can't understand them (and note how they try to communicate with you... it can be funny!). Be safe, of course... and use the golden-rule (look that up, too). However, remember your rights detailed here.
• Now, go to some boutiques, farmer's markets and flea markets... how are they different?
• Watch TV and go to the movies. Really, the best way to get used to conversational English is to practice and get your ear tuned to intonation -- the difference between anger and sarcasm, for instance, is slight... but very important.
• Practice with your friends and roommates. The only way to get better at something is to practice.

 

Have fun, be safe and keep learning.

Comments

[NetOpWibby]

I was not expecting to find an inspirational list of things to do this summer. Thank you!!