2*27*10

What a week.

Training for a new job, as well as still working the other. Should be great for the pocketbook, but doesn't leave me with a whole lot of time.

My Professional Practices class toured Wieden + Kennedy yesterday. I'm not even going to try to describe how freaking awesome it was because there is no way I could even begin to do it justice. I do know that it is my dream job, and I would be happy as a clam to work in such an amazingly fun and creative (if at times stressful) environment. The tour certainly left me feeling motivated and optimistic about bringing my own work, and the presentation of that work to the W+K level.

2*25*10

I've spent the last week looking over business cards, most of them on CardObserver.com, trying to get ideas for my own cards and overall branding. I think that I have come up with a pretty clever concept for making a unique card, but I don't really want to blog about it until I have at least begun executing it and see that it might actually work. I have found that so many of my ideas seem like good ones, until I began executing them and then it either evolves into something else entirely, or I realize that it was actually a really terrible idea and I become embarrassed for having even thought it.

Anyways... I still need to find a font and solidify a color theme that I want to use. I'm kind of obsessed with the font Tertre right now, but I'm afraid that it looks a bit too collegiate. Maybe I spent too long working at the college bookstore?...

Mt. St. Helens

I haven't posted the last couple days because I was busy preparing for, climbing and recovering from Mt. St. Helens!

It was AWESOME!

Now, back to the grind... I have so much homework to do and preparing for visiting Wieden and Kennedy on Friday with my class. Oh how I wish my business cards were finished in time for that!

Day Off

Today:

made some biscuits

ate breakfast with my sweetheart

drove to newberg

worked on my resume with Stephanie

took pictures of baby Evelyn

visited with Sandy

made quinoa and veggies for dinner

worked on my business card

watched Must Love Dogs

Pretty easy-going day off. Hitting the sack early for the 7:30 AM shift tomorrow.

Sandbox Studio

My Professional Practices class visited Sandbox Studio yesterday. It was soooooo neat! Their "studio" is a 13,000 square foot, old forklift factory that utilizes the natural light that pours in the many windows. They provide imagery and the "detailed production systems to efficiently support volumes of imagery".

It was so great to tour their space and see first-hand what working in a place like that looks like. At the time we were there they were setting up for a party, complete with a beer pong table (yeah, I don't think I'd mind working there too much!). I really wish I would have brought my camera along to snap a few photos of their beautiful space, so next time we tour a studio, I will definitely do that.

Font Geek

Such a very busy day, weekend and week ahead of me! Today: work on portfolio, go to work, work on portfolio more, go to class, celebrate Lindsey's birthday. I should have stocked up on redbull.

First project of the morning: find a font for a friend to use on an album cover for the artist management company that she works for. I would like to go more into the details, but I don't know that it would be kosher. The challenge with it is that the band's logo will also be on the cover, and it uses a very custom font. So I need to find a font that compliments it without competing with it, and also matches the album name.

Will post more with photos if they become available to me.

Momma Love

So I was watching the Olymics the other day at the gym and saw an ad for Procter and Gamble targeting moms. I was in a slightly emotional state anyways, but this thing almost made me tear up a bit, so I decided I should blog about it. Thats when I learned that it was created by Portland's own Wieden + Kennedy, the same firm that did the kick-ass Levi's commercials.

On a separate note, I e-mailed the SOU Art Dept this morning to find out how much (if at all) the brochures that I created my junior year are being used. I immediately got a response back saying that they use them all the time, that they go out in the mail to prospective students and are used at college fairs. Good thing to know for my portfolio!

Wish I had known about coroflot a long time ago! This class is already paying off!

Homework

I decided to go with the moo cards. I like that I can get several different designs, and only have small batches printed.

Next I will work more on choosing a color scheme, which is a much heavier decision considering that I will be using it for my business cards, website, and all other branding material.

Today I am taking a break from that though to do my homework: choosing pieces for my portfolio and doing these write-ups about them.

Cards

I've been looking at business cards and color schemes this morning. I'm not sure what it is about creating something for myself that makes me so much more indecisive.

I would really like to have a letterpressed card, but considering that they start somewhere in the $200 range, I'm thinking that they probably aren't really an option. Embossing might be an alternative option, but I think its still pretty pricey.

So, my other options right now:

• Design standard card that has a really awesome color scheme and design to make it stand out.
• Make moo cards so I have a variety.
• Design a rubber stamp that I can use to inexpensively create business cards anytime I want. This would also create an inconsistent effect in the printing, so I would need to design around that.

So I guess I need to decide on what type of printing I want to go with, then start working on color schemes again. Since I need deadlines, I'm going to say 4:00 today.

Colors, Ya dig?

Looking at colors for branding myself. I'm liking Pantone's colors for fall:

More on this tomorrow.

Sweet

I made tiramisu with my mom today. What a sweet, knowledgeable, caring and wonderful woman. I freakin' love her.

Back to School

I had my second day of class today. I'm enrolled at the Professional Practices class at Pacific Northwest College of Art. The class is for graphic designers that want to brand themselves, build their portfolios, get a job, etc. These are all things I need.

Today we worked on copy to describe various projects that we’ve done. I haven’t done this in a couple years, since putting together my (really awful) portfolio for some internships I applied for in 2008. Over the next week I will be creating copy for projects that I want to put in my portfolio.

Pasta is for Lovers

Last night I made whole wheat pasta with portobello mushrooms in a goat cheese and sage cream sauce.

Now I'm having it for breakfast.

Hair

I'm working on a business card for a friend.

She's hairdresser, just starting out, and working on building a clientele in the Portland area.

She has a tattoo of a pair of scissors on her arm, so I've been thinking along the lines of using a pair on the card.

I've also been thinking of using some hair texture on the card, and I was thinking something along the lines of this, probably with the text on top:

But then I came across this, which I thought looked fun and edgy:

Then there's also this:

Eeeew.

Letterpress

On my walk to the gym this afternoon, I finally stopped in to a store I've been eyeing for weeks.

Oblation Papers & Press is a shop that makes papers, does printing and letterpress. They also sell other stationary and office supplies.

The stationary they sell is stunning. They've got an amazing assortment of colors and graphics, and the whole store makes me want to write old-fashioned letters to all my friends.

If they sold ice cream, I'd probably be there every day.

I'm back!

I’ve graduated, visited 10 or so European countries, and moved to Portland. And now the time has come to re-awaken the blog.

Why?

Because I’m looking for a job, and trying to get back on the professional path, and blogging was always such a great way to organize my thoughts and reflect on my creative process.

So some rules for myself:

-Post something, anything, every day.

-No more than 100 words.

I think I can do that.