It’s been quiet on the blog front the last few days as I was out of the office tending to a family medical situation. All is well, but what it had me thinking about is the balance between one’s work life and non-work life. It’s a top priority to take care of family, of course, but I always feel weird taking any time off from work, especially as an intern relatively new to the field. I feel I haven’t earned the privilege to take any time off. Even taking a lunch break feels a little weird. (I think I’ve gotten better, though, in recognizing the benefits of taking breaks every now and then to stay fresh and energized.)
Meatball and spaghetti
When we were visiting Singularity University down at Ames yesterday, we heard on a couple of instances the NASA logo being referred to as “the meatball.” Apparently it’s a semi-official nickname used by NASA personnel. When we got back to the studio I looked it up and found out that NASA has three official marks. The round meatball is officially known as “the insignia” and was designed in 1959 by James Modarelli, a former employee. When I think of NASA this is the image that pops into my head, along with a shuttle launch scene.
And Ben Affleck in a bright orange space suit.
The meatball insignia sort of replaced the red wordmark—a stylized N-A-S-A rendering known as the “worm” that was retired in 1992. And I don’t know if this is actually true, but word on the street is that the worm was also called the “spaghetti” logo. This would possibly explain the meatball thing, but I don’t know about that one. More triangulation needed.
For more info on the NASA meatball, this is a pretty funny official release that mentions what a “design nightmare” it is. And this is NASA’s beautifully designed online graphics standards manual. Make sure you have at least Netscape Navigator 4.0, though!
Is this yours®?
In addition to a number of small-ish tasks that got taken care of today in the studio, there was plenty more discussion and design surrounding MINE™’s new future website. One of the interesting topics that came up—one that I hadn’t really previously considered—is the idea of balancing one’s personal communication (and to a certain extent, work) with a studio’s own communication (and work).
This is especially applicable with a studio such as MINE™ that has multiple streams of information constantly flowing to the outside world—the main studio website, this intern blog, the studio’s facebook page, Christopher’s CCA blog and his twitter feed, etc. If an employee of an active studio like this is extremely active as well, and accustomed to posting links/images/articles throughout the day, at what point do they stop [more]
May 27
The first few times the phone rang this morning I was fully expecting a callback from our friends from yesterday. Luckily that feeling didn’t persist too far into the day, as Thursday turned out to be a rather uneventful one. I spent a few hours in the morning combing through samples of MINE™’s previous work. I first saw some of the studio’s pieces a few years back, and it’s been an interesting progression, first viewing the work as an outsider, then getting a different perspective having Christopher as an instructor and him bringing in and discussing work in class, and now getting an inside view of the operations behind the work.
In the afternoon Dave and Paul from House of Air came by to talk about the website design Tim and Christopher have been working on. They were really digging it, and it sounds like a few small tweaks here and there is all that is needed. It was a smooth meeting. They also made some decisions regarding furniture—café tables, picnic tables, and the like. No $3700 Belgian picnic tables this time around, but that’s okay.
To wrap up the day, Christopher, being extremely involved in the education of young designers’ minds across the land, headed out early to the Academy of Art Spring Show. I continued making some changes to the grid/layout of the intern binder, and Tim was busy burning some project files to CD. Every third disc made this weird tuba-esque sound as it spun in the drive. Sort of like this.
Other than that, at the end of the day I made a few things on the scanner with stuff lying around the comp room.
For example,
something dark
and something light.
Through rain, sleet, or Ice
When I arrived at the studio this morning, I had a pretty important email sitting in my intern inbox. I knew it was important by the subject line. It’s amazing how much urgency one can convey with just a few words. The subject began, “For Mr. Intern…” Before I could properly respond, my attention turned to an even more important matter of the day: packing and shipping a few design competition entries, particularly for the 2010 Chicago International Poster Biennial and the Mohawk 11 show. It was my first experience filling out the entry forms, printing all the necessary labels, and properly packaging the work for safe delivery, so I took extra time to make sure it was done properly. It’s the type of thing that, once you do it several times, probably becomes second nature. In the early afternoon, a few folks from Mohawk stopped by and chatted with Christopher, and then took our entries to delivery for us. Convenient.
For the past couple of days I also have been doing some image research for a few projects, and even some furniture research for House of Air. I was looking into picnic tables that can be used for the kids and families that will be populating their facilities in the near future. I came across this especially nice set of tables from Belgian designers Wim Segers and Ronalde Mattele, also known as Cassecroute. After spending some time browsing their site, I decided that I really want one of their tables. I just have to figure out how I’m going to find one and pay for it. I’d use it in my house, even if it would take up the entire living room. Those are some nice picnic tables.
We finished the day out by listening to some great music provided our newly created Vanilla Ice Pandora station. Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer, Marky Mark, Will Smith and Right Said Fred all in the span of 20 minutes. Quality.
Jimmy jam box
Today at MINE™ was filled with a little variety in the activity department. Mid-morning I worked on some final revisions for the walkathon t-shirt. The drawing I had done/modified was fine, but I needed to make a few changes to the type. After browsing the collection of fonts on hand for a few minutes, I ended up drawing some letterforms that fit in with the “modern 80s/90s hip hop” feel the client was looking for. I hope so, at least. Christopher saw it on my monitor from his desk and liked it as well (“that’s cool” were his exact words), so hopefully the client is into it. We also learned that another way to refer to a boombox is to call it a jam box. I may change my name to Jimmy Jam box. Once 12pm rolled around we had to head out of the office for a lunch meeting at RN74, a wine bar and restaurant by Michael Mina. It was a great place with some good food. One of the coolest features is the wine list, displayed large on the walls as an old train station timetable. At various times of the day, you hear this “click, click, click, click, click” and look up to see the information changing. After lunch we had to book it back to the studio so Christopher and Tim could meet with a client regarding the House of Air project, which is sounding and looking pretty cool. I finished out the day looking everywhere in the studio and in the garage for a simple CD case for Tim. After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally found a pile of old CDs from some of Christopher’s former students, so I stacked them neatly together and stole the jewel cases for future use. Tomorrow morning when I get in I will be doing some touching up of an image for Tim. And since this is the 3rd post in a row with no images, tomorrow I’m going to focus on taking some photos to add to the blog.
Thursday, revisited
Yesterday I mentioned the futuristic-nature of my new camera and its photographs. Here’s how that works: Let’s say I take a photograph on a Monday. Well, this camera is so scientific, so futuristic, that the world just isn’t capable of seeing or comprehending the photograph on that same Monday. We have to wait another 21 hours before we’re even ready to view it. Our human minds essentially have to play catch-up. So I was pretty excited, to say the least, to see what gems we took with this thing on Reena’s last day yesterday. I was not disappointed. Here’s a beauty, taken just as we were leaving the office for pizza:
Here I am trying to get help stepping over the caution tape, but Reena is too busy laughing at the suits Tim and Christopher decided to eat lunch in. (We set the camera up on the shelf and Hailey the cat pushed the shutter release for us.) I think to bypass the whole 21-hour time restriction thing moving forward I’ll just take photos with a regular DSLR. You never know when I’ll want to post a photo the same day I take it; that might come in handy.
We were out of the office all day today, so on Monday I will fill you in on a bit of what we were up to.
holiday party™
One of the most enjoyable and memorable non-design events of my tenure as an intern at MINE™ was attending the annual holiday party.
Held at Nihon, a fancy Japanese restaurant and whisky lounge (apparently offering the largest single malt whisky selection on the west coast), the holiday party was a great excuse to get former interns and employees together.
wednesday is the new thursday.
School started up last week, and so my schedule has changed. I’m here Monday through Wednesday — meaning I would potentially be missing out on our creative chats on Thursday’s.
But, as it turns out, we decided to move the creative chats / fun lunch to Wednesday! Yes! I still have good quality food to look forward to, aside from my standard PB&J and the candies that I hide in the desk.
Tim brought forth a topic for today’s discussion: innovation in graphic design. As a studio, how do we approach innovation? How does design in general approach innovation? Is it necessary?
thursday.
Knowing a good lunch spot is like knowing a good designer. Once you find a good one, you recommend it to all your friends¹.
Such was the case regarding today’s lunch and creative meeting. Tim heard by way of an XXXXX XXXXXXXX article about the existence of a XXXXXXX district liquor store/tiny sandwich shop that concocts some of the most elaborate, super ingredients-filled sandwiches imaginable. Out of 12 total ingredients, 6 were meats: ham, chorizo, chicken, milanesa, hot dog, and bacon. We ordered three of them and then went, sat, ate, and talked in Jackson Park. Very filling; I only ate half.
thursday.
Following tradition, Thursday lunches at MINE™ are brimming with creativity. Christopher takes the office to a different restaurant each week, wherein we eat and discuss topics of personal interest and MINE™ related projects.
Today we went to Slow Club, located near the KQED building, between Potrero Hill and the Mission. Tim and I immediately saw and ordered the Cheesesteak sandwich, and Christopher had a burger. Tim and I also both had Guiness¹, with Christopher opting for a glass of pinot.
Today we hashed out ideas for a proposal to The city of San Francisco. The project attempts to beautify vacant storefronts in various SF neighborhoods. We tossed around various ideas for interesting, compelling, provoking storefronts. We’re sending out a proposal next week, so I’ll keep you updated with the status.
¹ I don’t like coming back to the office after having beer. I feel too mellow. Next time I’ll opt for the Diet Coke, my old standby.
everything went ok
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.
Frank La
The smell of ink
Just making sure
Checking the colors, registration, and signing off
Proofs in hand, we headed back to show Tim
thursdays
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.