Posted June 4, 2010 6:44 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times, process
Tags: 1000 fan giveaway, Brett MacFadden, facebook, fans, ipad, jelly beans, Kate Earhart El-Bizri, Omar Dbeis, posters
Some of you may have noticed over the past couple months on Facebook that MINE™ has been looking for suggestions on stuff to give away once the 1,000 Facebook-fan mark is reached. There have been a handful of suggestions—a few being a jar filled with 1,000 black and white jelly beans (from Brett MacFadden); an ipad (totally reasonable request by Omar Dbeis); each of the posters the studio has printed (thanks, Kate Earhart El-Bizri)—all equally excellent suggestions, no doubt.
Well, earlier this week we hit the magic number (woo hoo!). We decided against the ipad route and spent some time scouring the archives to pull some posters, stickers, and a few surprise items; it was a pretty fun task. Today we finished picking all of our lucky winners by way of a random, but highly structured, process. It was even more entertaining selecting the winners. The first thing we did was open the Fans window in Facebook. This window only shows a small portion of the total number, so we figured out how many of these subsets existed that made up our total fan count. Based on those figures, we began a scholarly, well-respected technique for determining number pairs. It went like this: Justin, pick a number between 1 and 10. Okay, now pick a number between 1 and 100.
After several rounds of this we had our winners, but in number only. The next, and longest step, was to use our previously identified window subsets and manually find out exactly who 3, 44 and friends were, and then getting a mailing address from them. If we encountered any problems—like the person not allowing any emails via Facebook—rather than simply choosing the next person on the list, we would use our 1-thru-10 number and move down that many steps to the next person. Needless to say, it was a very exciting system, and the suspense kept building as the number of available prizes dwindled. As we were selecting, an interesting thing happened. The fan count began to increase fairly significantly in a short amount of time, dropping people into different number slots. This just made it more exciting—like hitting a moving target!
So to all you winners out there, the faster you reply the faster you’ll get the goods!
Posted June 1, 2010 5:50 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times, school
Tags: breakdance fighting, cca, cinthia wen, class, noon, Photoshop, professionals, school, sleepwalking, spam, tim belonax
After the long weekend, MINE™ was back in business today, sans Tim. Well, kind of. The morning consisted of some standard studio maintenance tasks—breakdance fighting, file organization, spam email deletion. Then, about mid-day, the doorbell rang. It was Tim and he was sleepwalking, his muscle-memory kicking in and leading him to the office! When he woke from his deep sleep he decided to stick around for a few minutes and take care of some last minute odds and ends.
There are a few upcoming design competition entry dates, so I took some time today compiling all the pertinent entry information in preparation for our potential submission. I finished off the day doing a little Photoshop work on a file for Christopher, and am now finding myself having to cut this post short to head out to the first day of my summer Transitioning To Professional Practice class at CCA, taught by Cinthia Wen of Noon (and CCA’s newly appointed chair of the Graphic Design program). The class meets twice a week in the evening, so I will have to start my blog posts earlier on these days! Until tomorrow…
Posted May 28, 2010 5:04 pm.
Filed under: first times, inspiration, school
Tags: CalArts, last day, mfa, mine™, tim belonax
Today, Friday, May 28, 2010 is Tim Belonax’s last day at MINE™. He is leaving the studio to go live next to an amusement park (as Christopher puts it). I have had the pleasure of working beside Tim for two weeks now, and while a little bummed I won’t be able to continue learning from him, I am ultimately excited for him.
(Never fear, MINE™ fans, as we have a great designer stepping in to get busy.)
I will post more about that later, but for now will let Tim take it home.
Posted May 25, 2010 5:45 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times
Tags: bloody motherf*****, fake yellow pages, scam
If you happened to be in the studio today around 4pm or so, you would know that today’s blog post can only be about one thing: the phone conversation that went down between MINE™ and the Fake Yellow Pages scammers.
In retrospect, it all began earlier in the day when I fielded a call from someone purporting to be from the Yellow Pages’ online directory. I immediately had feelings that it was suspect, but decided to listen for a minute in case it was legit, especially as the guy on the other end simply wanted “confirmation” on the studio’s “business information”—phone number, address, etc. Basic info that anyone can find out and that makes sense being in a business directory. As soon as the guy wanted me to start giving him new information, I declined and suggested we just stick with the basic info. He said okay and then thanked me for my time.
Done, right?
Nope. Around 4pm, I get another call from the same guy. I already spoke to you, I tell him. He replies with some business about a problem with a server and having to redo it all. Whatever. The thing that changes on this call is that now he wants me to create some “easy to remember 4-digit password” in order to secure the information. I told him that I didn’t feel comfortable creating a number and that we would decline, and that it doesn’t even make sense for me to create a password for a free business listing. So basically, for the next few minutes, after I keep telling the guy no and hanging up, he calls back about 4 or 5 times. Rapid-fire style. Christopher is on the other line and is hearing what I’m saying, so when he gets off, he tells me to put the call through to him.
The rest of it plays out more or less like this:
Christopher (CCHS) tells the Fake Yellow Pages Guy (FYPG) that he’s the owner. Christopher sits through the same “information verification.” Then he stops the guy short.
CCHS: So let me ask you something. Is this ever going to cost me anything? (his voice starting to raise)
FYPG: No, it’s free.
CCHS: So this is never going to cost me anything? Ever?
FYPG: Totally free. Forever. All you need to do is create a passcode and confirm blah, blah, blah and (speaks this last part fast—think Micro Machine Man from the 90s style) you’ll be upgraded to the elite listing for $39.99 a month, which you can cancel within two weeks.
From here on out, Christopher’s voice, tone, temper gradually accelerates with each second.
CCHS: Wait a minute. You’re telling me I have to cancel after two weeks or I’ll have to pay for it? That’s not what you said a minute ago. When I asked you if it would ever cost me anything, you should have said yes.
Fake Yellow Pages guy starts talking.
CCHS: Stop talking. Stop talking and listen for one second. I don’t want you calling here ever again. Do you understand?
Silence.
CCHS: Do you understand?
FYPG: No.
CCHS: What? What don’t you understand? Never f****** call my office again. (voice especially raised)
FYPG: (pause) You bloody motherf*****; You are a motherf*****.
CCHS: Are you serious? (laughs) Are you serious? Let me speak to your manager.
Hears phone rustling.
Same guy gets back on; changes voice to different pitch: Hello?
CCHS: Yes, i just spoke with your associate who called me a bloody motherf***** after i told him i didn’t want to buy his services. Is this how you’re operating your business?
FYPG, part II: You are a bloody motherf******. I will f*** you in your a**, you motherf*****. I can take more than you can, you motherf*****
CCHS: (very forcefully without hesitation) Don’t ever call my office again.
(hangs up phone)
END SCENE
This Fake Yellow Pages Guy either needs to take the advice on my tea tag and act a little greater, or he took the advice too far and was feeling a little too great about himself.
Posted May 24, 2010 4:44 pm.
Filed under: clients, first times, process
Tags: potential client, tea
Today was awesome. We had a potential new client come in and meet with us over tea for a few hours in the morning. It was exciting for me to be able to listen to, and even participate in the conversations at this really early stage. Plus, the person we met with was real cool, and the business pretty sweet. It would awesome if we end up being selected for the job. Christopher will be spending the next few days writing a proposal, and hopefully we will find out soon. Exciting stuff, no doubt! One of the items on my list of “things I would like to learn/do while at MINE™” that I gave to Christopher is to be a part of a project from A to Z, from its inception to its completion. Maybe this could be the project.
The whole business side of the job is fascinating to me. The presentations and meetings, the creation of proposals—basically everything needed to be done (aside from doing great design) to successfully run a business. One of the things that is hard to simulate in school is this client interaction. I love the assignments I have gotten in school, have loved getting up and speaking about my work, and have learned some invaluable lessons. But creating your own fictitious ________(insert event/publication/etc here) and creating an air-tight, compelling story to inform or back-up your design choices is one thing (a fun one at that). The added variable of a client, and the direction that a project can take based on the clients’ interaction can be quite a different experience. The quote on the back of Dan and Andre’s book Never Sleep (which I have received three copies of as gifts recently) comes to mind: There is a major disconnect between the life of a design student and the transition to being a design professional. I guess you could say that a big part of my internship here at MINE™ is to help with the bridging of that gap.
Posted May 18, 2010 5:42 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times
Tags: book, logos, model, photo shoot
Today I took part in my first photo shoot of the summer. One of the projects underway here at MINE™ is a book of the studio’s logo and identity work. Tim and Christopher have been discussing possible front and back cover options over the past few days in between work on the Stern Grove, House of Air, The Energy Project, and other jobs, and it’s been fun listening in and seeing the progress each day. There are a few spreads in the book that still need images, and so today Christopher asked if I would do some modeling for a few of those spreads. We grabbed the camera and headed upstairs. The first task was to do a little hand/ring modeling for a Singularity University project the studio did a while back. I had to look super sophisticated, of course, so somehow I managed to contort my long arms just enough to slide on one of Christopher’s button up shirts and jackets. Actually, it took two jackets because the first one’s sleeves only made it down to my mid-forearm area. We had to grab a second one so I could slide my right arm in to give the impression in the photograph that it was one, super-sophisticated garment. I have to be honest, I had flashbacks of this clip with the coat(s) on (video after the jump): [more]
Posted May 6, 2010 5:43 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times, school
Tags: Christopher, first day, Reena
“Hey Young World”, Slick Rick, 1988
This is Justin Holbrook, broadcasting from Putnam Planet 190. As Reena mentioned yesterday, I will be assuming control of the blog-writing duties for the summer. I am very excited and grateful to begin my internship here at MINE™. I applied as a joke after losing a bet with a classmate this past semester. It wasn’t even my fifth choice.
Actually, the truth is that I knew I wanted to be a part of MINE™—even if only for a few months—after I took Christopher’s GD 2 class a few semesters ago at CCA. I learned a lot that semester and figured that it could be an even greater learning opportunity if I had the chance to see how he runs this ship from a closer view. So here I am.
My first official day, I think, was yesterday. Reena, of course, was in and I spent much of the day familiarizing myself with the studio and getting the lowdown from her on various tasks/procedures. We all went out and had a nice little lunch up the hill, and I figured out my bicycle route for the upcoming days. Today Reena was in for just half of the day, so we ate some delicious Indian pizza and saw her ride majestically into the Mission sunset, onto BADder things (BAD = Bigger And Deffer).
To top off my glorious first day of blogging, I got to take some photos with my brand-new, futuristic, top-of-the-line camera of our eventful day. This camera is so futuristic, in fact, that the world isn’t ready for the pictures that were taken with it. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow, but trust me, it’ll be worth it!
Posted May 5, 2010 5:59 pm.
Filed under: first times
Tags: Azerbaijan, cca, Christopher, Justin Holbrook, Qatar, Yemen
It’s my last blog post and my last full day at MINE™. I’m really sad to go, but at the same time feel like this internship has prepared me to move on. Christopher and I went over the list of things I wanted to learn that I wrote back in January. One logo, a press check, some client meetings, typography knowledge, a few thousand photos, and six web banners later, here I am standing before you with 10.5 out of 14 goals achieved. I smell success.
It’s been a great run. I’ve learned a lot and made some friends along the way. Goodbye to all my international fans especially in Azerbaijan, Yemen, and Qatar. Thanks so much for reading!
Justin Holbrook, CCA student and the newest addition to the MINE™ posse, starts blogging tomorrow.
Be excellent to each other.
Reena
Posted April 27, 2010 2:36 pm.
Filed under: clients, field trips, first times
Tags: Christopher, House of Air, oscar printing, press check
It was rad!
Christopher let me tag along on a press check for the House of Air business cards. It was a simple one, but I got the idea. We were there to make sure that the color is correct, the copy is correct, and that there were no strange marks on the print out. Then Christopher signed the proof and it was over. We had a discussion about larger printing jobs and how sometimes you might have to hang out at a printer all day. He informed me that in the good ol’ days they would wine and dine you, but alas those days are over. After we signed off on the proof, Christopher took me on a tour of the Oscar Printing facilities. Some how I got out of design school without ever going to a printing press, so this was interesting for me to see. I didn’t realize presses were so huge and that printing could be such a technical skill. Christopher explained some technical aspects of printing to me such as using an instrument that measures light refraction to see if you color is even on the paper.
Going on a press check was on my list of things I wanted to learn at MINE™. I’m down to the last eight days of my internship and we might have officially completed my list.
Posted April 26, 2010 1:27 pm.
Filed under: clients, first times
Tags: cca, Flash, screen, Tim
Sorry for not blogging on Friday. We were out of the office to screen print posters. The good people of the CCA Oakland campus were kind enough to let us use their facilities.
We’re running a tight ship today. We have a deadline to meet for a client tomorrow, and it’s all banner ads. They are simple enough, but there are many to do. Flash can be a tedious program so it just takes some time to do these. Tim is a machine. I have built two in the same amount of time he has done approximately six to eight. Other than the Flash, I checked my first printer proof today. I didn’t ask if this is a common practice, but as I checked each letter to see if their were any errors, I placed a tiny red dot next to the letter. Tim also informed me that if you have a lightbox, you line up the crop marks from your files with the printer files and check for errors that way. I like learning little things like that, because it makes me like I’m a part of a profession that has it’s own secret codes and ways of doing things.
Tomorrow we might be back at CCA to finish screen printing posters, so it’s possible that there may be no Tuesday blog. Look out for pictures of our finished posters on Wednesday!
Posted April 1, 2010 5:53 pm.
Filed under: clients, first times, process
Tags: business cards, Christopher, House of Air, identity, Tim, web site
Who would have thought?
We had a meeting with our House of Air clients and I’m pretty sure we spent as much time talking about the right color blue as we did talking about their web site. Color is a very subjective thing. People have different associations with them and feel different emotions. The conclusion was to keep it the same…I think.
Building an identity for a company is a funny thing. For example, we had the House of Air colors planned with a primary and secondary palette. But when we actually executed designs, we noticed that we didn’t ever use one of our primary colors which canceled out our two tier system. It seems that as the project evolves, so do the branding specifications. When you actually start using the elements of the identity, you begin to see a pattern where certain elements work better in certain situations. You end up assigning meaning to these elements and decide to limit the places you use it. We have a stripe pattern that we use in the signage and for super graphics. They can be over powering so we limited their use as super graphics in certain areas of the building. When the building opens and begins to have meaning to others, we might have to adjust the identity again. Then when the brand has been around long enough like Coke, I guess you have the identity down to a t.
The House of Air identity is moving along though. This week Christopher and Tim have been working on the business cards and web site. The concept for the web site and the cards are super rad and will be something to be proud of in the end. Tim taught me how to write printer specs to get a quote on the cards. It’s a totally mundane task, but I was happy to learn it. Each piece of knowledge gained will help me disguise my inadequacies at my next job. “But it’s not like I have that many,” she says as she grins.
Posted March 30, 2010 4:58 pm.
Filed under: first times, inspiration, lessons learned
Tags: cca, Christopher, code, email, Tim
It’s been an interesting few days at MINE™. I myself haven’t been terribly busy, but I feel like I’ve been learning a lot nonetheless. Whether or not I am directly involved in the things that are going on around me, I’ve been soaking it in. I have found that just knowing the possibilities is the first step to actually doing something. The more knowledge you have, the more you can participate in the conversation.
For example, Christopher invited Tim and I along for his GD2 class’ film viewing at CCA yesterday evening. We watched a lot of shorts done by students who produced video for the first time. If I had been given that assignment, I would have been in their exact same shoes. I remember how daunting it can be to dive into something that you’ve never done and have to go through the pains of learning tools before you can stylize just the way you want it. Just by viewing the videos and talking about them with Christopher and Tim, I learned about uses for software programs that I hadn’t considered before. Now if I’m ever in the position of producing a video, I at least know where to start and where to look for help. The other thing that I’m not doing, but am more familiar with now is creating email newsletters. Christopher has been working on one all morning and asked me to look up some code. Again, if I ever need to create an email for myself or a client, I’ll know where to begin.
Video after the jump [more]
Posted March 26, 2010 2:56 pm.
Filed under: first times, lessons learned
Tags: Christopher, Flash, genius, Tim
Today was awesome, because I did something that I didn’t even know I was capable of doing. Since Tim was out of the office day, Christopher let me take a stab at some Flash files and I rocked it with little trouble. Every time Christopher asked me if I could do any Flash, I told him no. I guess I was wrong. I’m proud of myself, but in reality it wasn’t rocket science. It was super simple animations, but I’m pretty excited about it anyway. It’s a good end to the week. Hello, weekend!
Posted March 25, 2010 5:45 pm.
Filed under: clients, first times, process
Tags: Christopher, House of Air, Idea+ology, signage, Stanley Hainsworth, stickers
We’re waiting for clients to get back to us, so things are a bit chill today. But that’s the reason why I had time to work on stickers for House of Air for a few hours. It was fun to play with composition, color, and type. But I was some where between uptight and the state of mind I needed to be in to execute them to my satisfaction. I don’t think I have gotten over the fact that people can see what I am doing all the time or the mindset that it’s ok for me to make mistakes. Maybe I just work like Michael Bierut does. He says he has to do a lot of work just so the probability of having something awesome is higher. So yeah, I’m going to compare myself to him (smiley emoticon), even though he hasn’t accepted my friend request on Facebook. I have faith though, Mr. Bierut.
While I was designing stickers, Christopher was meeting with Dave and Paul of House of Air. He presented the signs that we spent the week creating and they are totally stoked about them. This project has been such a great opportunity for everyone involved. Dave and Paul want their space to have a cohesive look and feel so they want to push the branding. For us that means we get to keep working with great clients on a great project.
Lastly, we received a second copy of Stanley Hainsworth’s Idea+ology. We were definitely surprised because when MINE™ has been featured in a book in the past, no one sent a free book. So thanks, Rockport!
Photo taken by my Verizon Wireless Crackberry
Posted March 18, 2010 5:38 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times, lessons learned
Tags: blog, Christopher, css, House of Air, html, Puppycam
So we’ve finally made the switch over to the new blog theme. Pretty rad, right? I have some things to tweak and type to finesse before everything is in ship shape. Since Wordpress sites go live as I update it, you’ll get to see changes in real time. It’s like watching Puppycam, but not as cute.
I worked on House of Air for a few moments, but most of my day was spent working on the blog. There’s nothing better to kill your self esteem like trying to figure out how to code things for the first time. I spent an hour or more trying to customize our header. Christopher walked up and the task was completed in minutes. It seems as though I didn’t close my tag. After I cleared that hurdle, Christopher and I spent some time trying to figure out other pieces of code to change color and column width. I have a long list of things to change still, and it’s going slowly. Once I get more familiar with it though, I hope the process will pick up the pace.
Coding is a tedious task, but it’s a fun thing to do. It’s kind of a like solving a puzzle and is really gratifying to see something start working how you want it. I’m excited about doing this project, because working with css/html was one of the things on my list of things I wanted to learn at MINE™. Two and a half months into the internship and I’m pretty sure I’ve already done most of the things on my list.
Posted March 15, 2010 8:24 am.
Filed under: first times, lessons learned, process
Tags: Christopher, d.School, House of Air, Tim
I know the time changed yesterday, but I feel like I lost track of an hour sometime today. We weren’t particularly busy, but I must have been busy enough to not look at the clock.
[more]
Posted March 10, 2010 6:27 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times, visitors
Tags: Anne, Christopher, d.School, Hemlock Printers, Keynote, The Haiti Poster Project, Tim
My firsts included using Keynote, dusting, and meeting Ann from Hemlock Printers.
Christopher informed me that I was the first person to dust the cabinets. For some reason, I feel a little proud about that fact. But as you can see, I was desperately seeking something to do at the moment. Today was a little slow around here. We’re waiting for client feedback on a few projects so that we can proceed with them. It’s just the normal ebb and flow of things.
[more]
Posted March 9, 2010 5:44 pm.
Filed under: clients, first times, process
Tags: Christopher, d.School, Grace, Palo Alto, Stanford, Texas
Today was pretty exciting. I went to Palo Alto for the first time ever. I didn’t see much of the city besides Stanford and the d.School building, but the drive there was gorgeous. Sorry for gushing. As most of you probably know, I’m from Texas. I’m used to seeing flat lands and tumbleweeds.
[more]
Posted March 2, 2010 6:32 pm.
Filed under: clients, first times, visitors
Tags: Christopher, FSC, Laura, LEED, Nature Conservancy, Paragraphics, Tim, UV ink
Yesterday I left work feeling a little bummed because, I didn’t come up with a logo concept that was presentable to our client. So bummed that I couldn’t shake it until I went home and created a moodboard for it. So I came to work prepared with that, and spoke to Christopher about yesterday’s attempts and the moodboard. (He laughed because it was full of references to beer and guns, and our client works in education). From all the useless stuff yesterday and Tim and Christopher’s suggestions, we were able to come up with a new direction for me to take. I worked on it all day, and ended up with something that will be thrown into the mix of logos that will be sent to the client today. It wasn’t world changing stuff, but it feels good to be able to contribute.
[more]
Posted February 15, 2010 6:39 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times, process
Tags: Buckminster Fuller, Christopher, geodesic dome, logo, Tim
One of my favorite things about design is getting to learn about new things all the time. I did know who Buckminster Fuller was before today, but I had to delve a little bit deeper into the origins of the Geodesic dome. All of the research was for the logo that I started working on today with Christopher. I am totally stoked!
[more]
Posted January 21, 2010 7:02 pm.
Filed under: first times
Tags: dj stout, pentagram
Sooooo, blah blah blah shooting photos, silicone wristbands, intern stuff. etc.
BUT
I just wrote an email to DJ Stout at Pentagram!
[more]
Posted January 12, 2010 6:39 pm.
Filed under: clients, details, first times
Tags: kerning, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mayer Hawthorne, Nature Conservancy, World's Greatest Mug
Oh, kerning! How I’ve missed thee. Kerning to Mayer Hawthorne is even better. Well, either I really do miss school or being hopped up on DayQuil makes anything better.
[more]
Posted July 14, 2009 6:54 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, details, first times
Hello! This is Ethan, the brand spanking new intern here at MINE™.
Originally I wasn’t slated to be (or blog) here until this Fall. Circumstances changed, however, and Christopher called me yesterday to see if I could start today. I said “You bet!” and that was that. Besides working on a few other projects, my summer had been wide open. But in the back of my mind I was very much aware of my ever approaching internship. I spent time wondering how it was going to go, how to make a good first impression, what I should wear, if I was going to fit in, if my design skills were up to par, and that hilarious something I would say on the first day to make everyone laugh and put me completely at ease, that kind of stuff.
[more]
Posted July 8, 2009 5:51 pm.
Filed under: Uncategorized, first times
Tags: productivity, vacation
So this past week Christopher took some time off to enjoy family time, the great outdoors, s’mores, and patchy wireless reception on his iPhone.
That leaves just Tim and I to hold down the fort™, which has been going very smoothly beside my brief tango with sickness yesterday. Having Christopher out can be strange at times as Tim and I are very focused and vocally reserved while working. I often realize that we haven’t said anything for an hour and that we’ve been listening to a strange internet radio station for even longer than I could recall. Having Christopher away generally means an increase in writing down missed calls and an increase in the importance of being self-directed as an intern. Staying focused is even more important when there isn’t someone behind you poking you with a stick and addressing you as intern™.
Posted June 17, 2009 5:47 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, first times, lessons learned
Tags: duties, intern, office life, tasks
Throughout my experience as an intern thus far – a day hasn’t passed without my technical, organizational, and thinking skills being pushed into unfamiliar and sometimes – uncomfortable new territory. It’s unnerving, exciting, and a bit frightening all simultaneously.
Whether it’s being asked to perform design or administrative tasks – everything is seemingly new. Especially the behind-the-scenes operations in a design firm. From quoting prices on plastic baggies and military patches to answering phones and keeping the office organized – there is always something to do and I’m learning to keep myself on task (something which often proves difficult for me in school).
One of the broader lessons I’ve learned while being here is to take the initiative. Rather than wait until Christopher or Tim ask for something to be done – I try and look for things to do. Keeping MINE™ a well-oiled machine is my job, and I’d like to think I’m getting better as the days go by. Of course, taking the initiative is a way of acting and thinking, something I plan on improving upon during my time here.
Posted June 4, 2009 5:49 pm.
Filed under: clients, daily happenings, details, field trips, first times, inspiration, lessons learned, mistakes, opinions, thursdays
Tags: everything is ok, frank la, holga, oscar printing, sputnik
Today I accompanied Christopher to Oscar Printing to do a press check for the next installment of the Everything is OK Action Kit. I had been to Oscar before during my time in Sputnik when I went on my first press check for my design of CCA’s President’s Letter. Everything went smoothly today because Frank is Franktastic. I also got a chance to try out Christopher’s new Holga conversion lens to document the trip. Below are the (admittedly shaky) results.
Checking the colors, registration, and signing off
Proofs in hand, we headed back to show Tim
Posted June 2, 2009 5:49 pm.
Filed under: clients, daily happenings, first times, lessons learned, mistakes
Tags: intern, problem-solving, progress, responsibilities
I started my internship at MINE™ not really sure of what to expect. I knew their work, a handful of the previous interns, and had Christopher as a teacher in my GD2 class at CCA – but becoming an employee was beyond my foresight. Would I be serving tea all day? Doing the laundry? Asked to fix the roof? I’ve heard horror stories from interns at other firms but I kept my hopes up and looked forward to doing some actual designing alongside the caffeine duties (hopefully not roofing).
I’m pleasantly surprised at the amount of responsibility I’m trusted with. Today for example – I helped design and finish two deliverables for two different clients. One being a full page ad for the Stern Grove Festival and another being a series of letterhead templates for another client. I was given the task of learning the iWork “Pages” software, and simultaneously finding out a way to customize the templates so that the client can easily prepare a letter in the software she is most comfortable with.
Not every day is as heavy on the production of course. Some standard duties are keeping the office organized, filing, corresponding through the intern email address and answering phones. But so far – I’m really enjoying the responsibility I’ve been granted at MINE™ and I can’t wait to get my feet wet with some more jobs as soon as they come. The tea here is pretty good too. (and gladly I have not seen the roof yet)
Posted May 27, 2009 5:46 pm.
Filed under: daily happenings, details, first times
Tags: everything is ok, how to, intern, oona lyons
Everything is OK began as a simple project in our design studio. Faced with the mounting inequities in our world and culture, we set out to assemble a list of resources that would point people toward positive action. We launched a simple website as a means of sharing these links. To promote the site, we created barricade tape with the incongruous message “everything is ok.” The tape was first deployed during the 2006 US election, and then again during a massive pillow fight in San Francisco. The response to the tape was overwhelming, and we quickly realized that people were more interested in the tool we had created than the project it was designed to promote. It started showing up in design annuals, museum collections, books and blogs. People started writing to us asking for tape of their own. Gradually, we became interested in exploring the possibilities represented by this intersection of design, art and activism.
Here is what goes into creating each can:
First you pick one of the many, lucky cans to be saved from the wretched future of becoming a container for a Hormel product of some kind.
These have been pre-filled by one of the employees at MINE™ with rolls-onto which the OK tape will be wrapped.
This device (designed by Oona Lyons) is then cranked 172 times in order to transfer 100ft. of tape from the larger spool to the roll that will be placed back inside the can.
Once the roll is placed inside the can, some OK goodies are added to the mix. Stickers shown here.
And buttons shown here.
More button fun.
Once all the goods have been placed in side the can, the signature OK sticker is applied and carefully wrapped around the perimeter of the can so that the graphics align perfectly. (Tougher than I expected)
And lastly the can is placed into the grips of this beast of a tool – where the MINE™ intern develops a healthy sweat and cranks until the can is completely sealed and air-tight.
Victory! Social activism in a can. Use at your own risk.
Posted May 19, 2009 5:47 pm.
Filed under: ffffound!, first times, inspiration, process
Tags: context, design as art, ffffound!, image sharing, inspiration, online communities
As part of the immersion into the intern program at MINE™ you are granted your very own, highly-coveted, ffffound! account.
During the past school year, I spent countless hours obsessing over the wonderful user empowering image bookmarking site (mostly during classes I will not mention here) and having an account is even more of an enveloping experience. The simple interface and link-based navigation makes it dangerously easy to get lost in the sea of beautiful typographic specimens, architectural photographs, foreign product packaging, modernist design posters, vintage paperback design, dutch industrial design, toy-camera photography, cutting edge illustration and and pretty much anything else you can think of. The number of styles, new artists, and interesting works you can discover on ffffound! is about as extensive as the length of time you’ll find yourself clicking endlessly through it all.
The most surprising aspect of ffffound! is the quality of the imagery – I’m not talking about dpi or color vibrancy – but the taste of the users. Generally I’ve concerned pretty much everything to be of some visual interest or conceptual merit – and I have yet to stumble across a single image of tasteless nudity or anything remotely approaching derogatory (although I have seen some aggression towards Bush, Cheney and Palin which might shed some light on the political leanings of most ffffound! users).
There is something to be said about the experience of sifting through all the images – and the fact that the majority of them are up for viewing without context. Explanations are absent – and they can be judged almost purely on their formal qualities. Two unrelated images juxtaposed side by side start to have a conversation with each-other. A visual relationship which was never intended by the creators and wholly unique to the viewer. I find inspiration in a lot of these serendipitous happenings – a photograph of vintage signage from a candy store in Norway, displayed next to a Donald Judd minimalist sculpture start to poise interesting questions about the rigidity of the structures within art and design. What happens when a road sign is inserted into a gallery space? Or when a Donald Judd sculpture is placed in a playground? And what does that say about the place of graphic design within the larger art world? Does it have a place there? It seems that online galleries like ffffound!, flickr, manystuff and others are bridging the gap between art and design closer and closer by the link.
Here are the past 10 tagged images at the time I last checked:
Posted May 14, 2009 5:30 pm.
Filed under: first times, inspiration, thursdays
Tags: hort, nathan cowen, neil donnelly, portfolio, progress
Every Thursday at MINE™ we take some time out from the work day, enjoy lunch together and share some things we’ve recently been inspired by. On this particularly sunny day in Bernal Heights, we relaxed in the backyard and indulged in some Indian pizza from local restaurant Zante’s.
Having a ritual like the Thursday lunch is another one of the really great aspects of working at MINE™. It’s a chance to get to know each other from a different vantage point – not from behind a desk or under the pressures of a strict deadline. The opportunity to recline in the back patio underneath the trees, talk loosely about design and life in general, and take a much deserved break from the work we’ve been putting in was a nice breath of fresh air and a tradition I’m looking forward to upholding.
After we had our fill of Indian pizza (pretty incredible by the way) we headed back downstairs and I showed some of my most recent work to Christopher and Tim. I was pleasantly surprised with the range and scope of the work I’ve done at CCA. It’s not every day that I pull out all of the pieces and look at them as a body of work. The progression from Level 1 to current work was pretty startling – assignments that seemed stressful and challenging at the beginning of my design education look simple and almost trivial now. I suppose those feelings are evidence of my own progress as a designer – and I’m sure I’ll have similar feelings in a few years when I look at the work I’m doing now. I can only hope to keep progressing and learning and challenging myself with every new project.
Some really nice work that has been inspiring me lately is by the studio Hort in Berlin. They do some really unexpected and beautiful things with type and lo-fi imagery that are really discordant and dynamic (Nathan Cowen, a CCA grad works there as well! See his work here). Also check out the gorgeous print work by Neil Donnelly.
