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.

Push things forward

Today was a humbling one for me. At the end of the day yesterday I found out that I would be working on some graphics for a t-shirt; a project that previous intern Reena had begun. The client responded to the first round of submissions and we had some feedback to move forward with. It’s not an overly complicated project by any stretch of the imagination, but I found myself struggling to work fast and just get it done. It’s insightful to see the differences between school projects, where you might have a big chunk of time dedicated to brainstorming, then sketching, then revisions, etc. Here “in the real world” that process just has to be condensed into a much shorter timeframe, and after working most of the day today, I just need to get better and faster. That’s why I’m here. Theme song for my ride home.

reel.

One of the latest developments at MINE™ has been discussion about our reel and portfolio. (You can see it here.) Yesterday we ate lunch at Tu Lan (yum!) and talked about various ideas and possible directions.

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an intern alone.

Tim and Christopher have been in meetings and out of the office for most of the day, thereby leaving MINE™ in the hands of Summer/Fall 2009 intern (me, Ethan Davis). Being in the office alone is interesting. I always try to get a run down of what I’m supposed to be working on from C & T before they leave. There’s nothing worse than being stuck alone and unsure of what you’re supposed to be doing.

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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?

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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.

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