Porcelain Clink Clink
Cut Crinkle Crinkle Crinkle
Fold Bend Crease Fold Fold
Yes, my haiku is so esoteric. You’ll have to order the The World’s Greatest Mug to decode it’s meaning. As of today, they are ready to be shipped!
Fun with Vectors
I only did one thing today; I worked on a logo. Or actually, I worked on 5 options for one logo. They’re not all working yet, but it’s fun to see how a mark evolves after each round of feedback from Christopher. When we give these to the client on Thursday it will be round one.
I like working with someone when designing. When I feel like I have exhausted all options, Christopher will point out something that I didn’t try and a whole new set of options and challenges manifests.
Many people who are not designers do not know how much time it takes to make something concise, simple, and meaningful. I’ve been working on this logo for almost 8 hours now, and I know it’s possible to work on it so much more.
For the most part, the Good Design Book is designed. At the moment Tim is waiting for text and other minor-ish things. Since that has slowed down, other projects are starting to come through again. Tim has been working on this crazy booklet. I say crazy because the format is interesting and is posing a design challenge. It’s all coming together though.
Hello, Estonia!
So I am completely obsessed with Google Analytics. I am big in Japan! Well, at least one person in Tokyo has checked out the blog. I think that counts.
If any of you out in the world want to comment and say hi to me, that would be awesome. It would be like a virtual handshake. Especially you, Estonian. I feel funny being obsessed with you as a statistic and not as a person. (Other places that are totally into me: South Africa, Sweden, Portugal, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, Dominican Republic, Australia, Cyprus, and Lebanon. I would love to hear from you as well.)
As per usual, we were working on the Good Design Book which included more photographing and more Photoshopping. Tim had to give me a little lesson on color correction. Not knowing how to do things in Photoshop makes me feel inadequate as a human being sometimes. But Tim was gracious and helpful, so I only felt slightly inadequate.
Other than work talk, the three of us also discussed the passing of Alexander McQueen (sad emoticon), Bollywood, and the number of ways to say “behind” in a hip hop song.
Booger Glue: My Archnemesis
My title sums up the last part of my day. Christopher asked me to help him prepare for his class tomorrow morning. This required taking labels and the branding off of many white objects. Sorry in advance for the student who gets the thing that is still sticky.
Other than using all the brute strength I had in my nails to scratch off labels, I submitted work into a competition and assisted Tim with the Good Design Book. Remember when I said we had one last picture? That again was a lie. We found something new to re-shoot today, and it’s a tough one. Difficult angles and weird shadows. But I’ll get it tomorrow.
Christopher had an eventful day. He got in touch with Kalle Lasn of Adbusters for GDB matters, and he got some fantastic looking samples back from a recent job. They were screen printed and had another unique production quality, but they are part of the secret project that will be revealed next week sometime.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Stuffed Whoopie Cakes
So Tim’s parents are way cuter than mine. I get a newspaper clipping and he gets Chocolate Peanut Butter Stuffed Whoopie Cakes. Tim’s an upstanding guy, so he shared. Thanks, Tim’s parents!
That was definitely the best part of the day. The rest of it included compiling URLs for the Good Design Book and calling Kinko’s, or FedEx Office if you want to be with the times.
My Parents are Super Cute
One of the outcomes of my intern blog is that my parents suddenly know way more about me than they have since I was 10. Or at least they’re proving to me that they have an idea of what I do now.
I asked my mom to send me some ski gear from home. When I opened the box, not only did I find an airless vacuumed plastic pack of clothes, I also found a newspaper clipping and a small note in a plastic bag sandwich bag.
Process and Exploration
I earned a photo credit in the Good Design Book today!
The photo studio is back up. We’re shooting and reshooting, and only two things are left on the photo list. (I love crossing things out.) My day was peppered with inertia, but Tim and Christopher had their noses to the ground. It’s been a crazy week in terms of clients needing to get in touch with Christopher so he has been knee deep in emails and phone calls.
Since MINE™ has not been my first internship, I’ve been able to see what it’s like to work in a variety of different places. I’m impressed with Christopher and Tim’s ability to wear so many hats. They’re doing all of the visual work, and also interacting closely with clients. They know exactly what their clients need and work with them so that both parties are happy. It’s very human and personal way to work. I like it.
Another thing I learned today is how to streamline the work process while also involving the client into the discussion. We came up with a list of questions for the client and will use the answers as the basis for our logo design. It keeps the design in the realm of what the client is looking for, but also helps justify the choices we make if they happen to be a little far out in left field.
Christopher recently recommended I watch Michael Bierut’s speech at the 99% conference. So I took his advice and was delighted. One of the lessons that Mr. Bierut learned was that usually the solution can be found within the problem. In a few of his case studies, his initial sketch from a client meeting was essentially the idea that he would execute.
I have a tendency to over think my design problems before I come to a decision. So I’m interested in how looking for the solution in the problem, as per Mr. Bierut’s advice, will work out for me in the upcoming weeks.
Museum of Art and Design identity by Michael Bierut. Photo found here.
Enlarging Explosions in the Airstream
I just verbally Nonseked today’s events! Boo yah!
There were no actual explosions except for the one’s coming out of our speakers brought to you by Pandora and one of Austin’s finest, Explosions in the Sky. The airstream bit came from Christopher’s Good Design Book interview today with Emily Pilloton, founder of Project H. (Did you see her on Colbert Report a few weeks ago?) She will be kicking off a nationwide tour bringing socially conscious design to a city near you in an airstream. Lastly, we’re trying to make gigantic photos.
If you’re in the SF Bay Area tomorrow, there will be a Design Revolution kick off in the parking lot of the Academy of Art University featuring an airstream full of humanitarian products, a taco truck, and a cupcake truck. It’s not to be missed! One of the great things about working here (besides meeting a lot of different people), is feeling like you’re always in the know.
Tim and I were in the office working on more Good Design Book details. He’s finalizing art and layouts. I answered a billion phone calls, and I even used Jedi mind tricks to create a Word document. For real.
Minutiae
Tuesday’s tedious tasks totally took too much time.
(I was going for a sentence with 100% alliteration, but that was pretty good.)
We’re down to the details for the Good Design Book. I spent hours going through the submissions and extracting all the Grant of Rights forms, while Tim sorted them out. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon copy editing the credit listings for all the work. In fact, I’m not even finished with that task. I have two more sections to go, but I’m taking a moment to blog.
Christopher has spent the whole day designing a coupon. It should be one really rad coupon. He’s involved in a super exciting project that will launch mid-month on both coasts! So NYC peeps, look out for it on a city corner near you as well. The MINE™ office will be in attendance at a fancy launch party. I’ll be sure to post some pictures from the event to reveal this top secret project.
Being an intern today hasn’t been too glamorous, but someone has to do this kind of stuff. The best thing that happened today is the realization that it’s February! Our Pandora account has re-upped, and we’re back on the juice.
In the Particular Lies the Universal
“James Joyce wrote, ‘In the particular lies the universal.’ Which means that the more authentic and genuine you become in your expression, the more others can relate to it. So, if you want love, attention, and appreciation, you need to give love, attention, and appreciation. You need to put it in the work. I think this is what separates great work from the herd. Working with the truth, and not just a trite design motif like CSA clip art takes a bit more effort, but also makes my work and life worth it. And I have found it also excites other people.”
That is an excerpt from an interview with James Victore from STEP Inside Design magazine.
My brain is full of facts
AHH! I’m ready to check out for the day. Or at least ready to not stare at any glowing rectangles for the rest of the evening.
*DRAMATIZATION
To krump, or not to krump.
Yes that’s right. Dizzee Rascal was blaring through the speakers, and I was asked to krump on command.
Today was another full day of working on The Good Design Book. I was part photographer, part model. Thus the krumping.
A Good Design Book Day
Does anyone know if Lance Armstrong started the rubber wristband trend? I tried to look up the history of it, but I had no luck. As you’ve probably noticed, you can find a wristband for any cause you can think of. But you can even get one that says PRINCE V MICHAEL to wear proudly.
You might be thinking, “What does that conversation have to do with Reena’s day?” Well, plenty. Wristband hunting and Lance Armstrong were all part of my Good Design Book Day. MINE™ is nearing the end of the road on the book, and there are still some additions and edits to do. At the moment we are gathering/photographing work and accoutrement to fill in the few blank pages that remain. So today our office doubled as a photo studio. We have some seamless cleverly tucked away in a cubby and some professional lighting equipment. We had an intense moment with Lance Armstrong, but we pulled through in the end. As the person in the office who wants to prove herself, it’s a bit disappointing for me when I don’t reach the solution myself and without help. I was initially in charge of the photo, but it got tricky with what the outcome needed to be and the parameters of the page the photo would be on. So it became an intraoffice event. But I recently read some where that if you feel like you’re not the most talented person in the room, you’re in the right place. So here I am.
My blog fans (ha! yeah.) have requested photos. So next week I’ll do a photo a day.
A Monday List and Korean Design
Today is what seems to be what a typical Monday around the office will be like.
8 emails
4 of which are for Viagra
1 Avocado
1 Fake salami sand which
1 Head cold that’s making me cranky.
1 Cup of tea made by Tim
1 Good Design Book request made to American Apparel.
1 U-line sample request for the World’s Greatest Mug.
1 visitor proposing an exciting opportunity for MINE™
2.5 Successful entries/exits through the baby proof gate
1.5 Failed attempts
0 Contests entered sponsored by David E. Carter
1 Arrival of New Normal: The Netherlands, courtesy of Niko (With shout outs inside to previous MINE™ interns, Jennifer, and Oona. Seems like an amazing experience.) Which also inspired my thoughts on Korean Design today.
PHOTO CREDIT: nikoskourtis.com
good design.
We’re done!
Not really, actually. But all of the on-time submissions have been sorted and placed into their respective piles (yes, maybe, no). And the office is (mostly) back in tip-top shape. It was messy there for a little while. 100 FedEx boxes will do that.
good design book, part 1.
Over the past weeks a steady stream of packages have flooded our small office. Last week especially, as people rushed to get their submissions in. Friday was a non-stop doorbell-ringing, hauling boxes, unloading UPS/FedEx trucks type day. If you’re feeling numerically lucky, you can guess the number of submissions we’ve received to win an advance copy of The Good Book.