Friday, September 4, 2009

Sunday, August 16, 2009

A new chapter

Recently I was asked to become the Houston plus sized examiner for examiner.com. I am very excited to share my knowledge and style tips with the plus size community of Houston. Please check out my page at: http://www.examiner.com/x-20359-Houston-PlusSize-Fashion-Examiner and tell me what you think!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

this tastes funny!?!

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) once said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day."

Graduation is past, my last class is Friday and I am done with work study and internship... NOW WHAT? I do not feel as confident as I should about my portfolio and my work. Is this normal? Should I be more confident and self assured? I know there are better graphic designers out there, so why would they want to hire me? These are the questions that plague me since the graduation ceremony.

I am looking for a job in a design firm and I have a meeting Friday with the Production Manager at a major graphic design firm here in Houston. I am eager to hear what he has to say about my work, even if it is not good. I feel like I need direction and a chance to improve my work.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Mac and Cheese

HTV - same ole same ole

HCC - same ole same ole.

what is my point? ok well, sometime life is mac and cheese and sometime it is steak. The steak is great, but if you eat steak every day it will clog your colon like hank hill. but i digress, anyway, mac and cheese is fast, easy and edible. So when you get the steak you enjoy it more, you savor the flavor and appriciate the meal.

What the hell does this have to do with graphic design? Working in production you do virtually the same thing day in and out. You refine your typography and learn who you want to be creatively. When you are confined by a brand standard, it makes you re-evaluate your skills. You look for better ways to make the project work and new solutions to the problems set before you.

I love a good steak, but for now i am happy to feast on mac and cheese till the chef is ready to plate up a nice dry aged, medium steak for me.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

this isn't what I ordered.

Finally the card is done and on press... not without its share of revisions. I read on THIS website 34. A client who knows exactly what he wants is worse than one that has no idea. So I create the design they asked for and we get the proof back and had to reformat the card. we get the next proof back and we had to add more info to the card, then today the final proof was horrible! the logo looked like a graffiti artist spray painted it on like the puffy letters you see on the side of the freeway (I will add the image later when I get a copy). What I don't understand is if the copy place can see the mistakes and pointed them out to me, why didn't they fix this before they called? Why did she waste my time with going to look at this thing when she knew I would not approve it. So the real me is ready to lay into the woman and ask her these probing questions. I controlled myself and for the sake of the piece I zipped my lips and swallowed the brussel sprout that was my irritation.

They sent it back to the printer and they fixed the problems. We got a new proof and approved it. We should have cards on Monday!

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

stale bread

Wow it has been over a month since I posted a blog. I hope I don't get counted off for it.

What has happened since the last post? Well, spring break came and went with no break. I had to work the break since HTV doesn't get spring break off. Ok, so last week I hit a little snag in my HCC internship. It wasn't a snag in so much as it was a lesson in client handling. I was creating a flyer for a job fair at one of the campuses and the client was not happy with the stock photo I picked. I listened to what they wanted and found what I thought would work... I was wrong. I then looked for something else to no avail. Finally, I had to get 10 pictures together and send them to be evaluated and NONE of them worked. I knew exactly what they were looking for, I explained that I am limited by the resources available to me (our stock photography service). If I cannot find it on the service, then my hands are tied. Ideally, I would prefer a photographer to go out and shoot the material, but with the time constraints it is impossible. Needless to say I was frustrated to no end but I kept my cool and talked to my mentor who then handled the problem. I know that may not happen in the "real" world, but I am proud of the way I handled the situation.