The Eternal Optimist

I find the current state of television shows depressing, exploitative, and not entertaining at all. To name a few that really fit this profile: Toddler's and Tiara's, Paris Hilton: My New BFF, and every news channel there is.

What will networks think of next to get viewers to tune in? Is there any hope?

I sometimes wondered what would happen if a society was overwhelmed with positive media for a week instead of another murder, another kidnapping, more crooked politicians?

Would people watching or reading be less interested? Or would they be less depressed and become more helpful and hopeful?

A favorite actor of mine, Michael J. Fox, filmed a documentary on optimism that I couldn't have been happier to come across tonight. Alright so I'm like 2 months later than the rest of the world, but I'm not much of a tv-watcher to begin with so I'm surprised I came across it THIS soon *LOL* It's titled "The Adventures of An Incurable Optimist".

I was especially intrigued by his visit to Bhutan, a Buddhist society that values joy in everyday, mundane activities. In 2006, Business Week magazine rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world, according to Wikipedia.

Sounds like a great place find some optimism. That's my kinda place!

But it wasn't just his visit to Bhutan or his interview with Lance Armstrong or his research into the genetic roots of optimism that got me; It was his journey, his experiences, his wisdom, his subtle humor about life, and ultimately his optimism that made me want more. It inspired me to become more optimistic myself and also be more accepting of who I am flaws, failures, and all.

Some that know me may tell you I can't get any more optimistic but like a true optimist I would say "There's always room for growth and improvement".

So thank you TLC, A&E, ABC, and every other network broadcast this special. We need more of these!

My gratitude also goes out to Mr. Michael J. Fox for filming this documentary. You are my new muse. Next book on my "to read" list: his book.

DAY 5 : Working with a Grid

Well it was my last class today and it was a bit sad to know I wouldn't be going back for another few months. Being at Emily Carr was an experience I couldn't possibly get tired of. Emily Carr is like my mother ship.

For the last class today we discussed page layout and working with a grid. This was something I never learned in my diploma course which is very strange but I learned it eventually through trial and error.

It's such a simple concept to keep things organized and give things structure it amazes me that it wasn't common sense to me way back when, but since it's not necessarily out in the open for all to see, a person may miss it if they're not taught properly. This is why I recommend going to a great art school.

All-in-all this course was a great starting point for communication design and gave a really nice mix of information. Even though it was an intensive, it sure didn't feel as overwhelming as I thought it was going to be. It was just enough of a challenge to keep me wanting more and I did learn a little more theory than I had going into the course.

Now I think I'll relax and await my next design challenge in September; more school and submitting my portfolio to the GDC to finally become an official member.

DAY 4 : Identity

In today's class we discussed logos, identity, and branding. What was really interesting was the fact I totally missed something in the FedEx logo that I should have really picked up on earlier. It's very subtle but it does exist for a reason; very tricky. Can anyone tell me what it is?

We then got into the creation of an identity and applying standards across letterhead, business cards, etc. Our assignment was to create a letterhead and a business card based on 3 logos that were given to us.

Class was let out early and I strolled through Granville Island before heading home.

Working on my assignment tonight I came across a temporary glitch; my computer chair literally split in two. I went to sit down and it just leaned over on itself and fell to the ground. I'm still laughing about it. It was just too funny. Being so involved in designing these identities and having a computer chair break on you. A true test to potential real-life pressures in the design field. LOL! Luckily I was able to steal my boyfriends chair for the night and get my project finished.

Since I've done a few identities, I'll be interested to see what everyone says about my stuff. I'm really hoping for lots of critique so that I can learn lots of new things.

Tomorrow is my last class and I'm a bit saddened it has to end so soon. Just when I was getting into the swing of things and having so much fun. But I plan to sign up to some more courses in the fall so this isn't the end by any means. It's just the beginning.

More to come...

DAY 3 : Typography

The topic of the day was typography. What a juicy topic!

Typography to me is like reading a mystery novel. You kinda have a sense of who dunnit and why but then as the story progresses, it reveals more details and throws more twists and turns in the plot, making you go "hmm!" or "aha!"

I know typography is an extremely complex area of design which was why I was excited to discuss it today. We delved into how and when to use certain typefaces, talked about how to make a page more readable, technical jargon, how to recognize a typeface by certain letters, and expressing feeling with type. It was a pretty fun day and our in class exercise was to name 10 typefaces that were given to us. I got 9 out of 10 :)

Our homework for the day was to write down a sentence that described ourselves and give it to our partner (and visa versa). Using that sentances context we needed to create a typographic representation of their name. So if they were artistic, they're name would have to be designed with an artistic typeface or designed to look somewhat artistic.

I'm really looking forward to the reveal tomorrow. I can't wait to see what everyone came up with. I'm also looking forward to seeing how well I did on mine.

DAY 2 : Composition

Today's class was another fun one. Working in groups yesterday really helped the class get a little more dynamic so the critique of our homework today was really fun. Some symbols were harder to express (and interpret) than others but it was a great exercise which further emphasized how something so simple can be so challenging to communicate. The teacher had to laugh at symbol I came up with for "keep plastic away from children". I thought drawing a plastic bag on a baby's head with a cross through the picture might have been a bit crude but it seemed to get the message across so I was happy about that.

Later we discussed composition in page layouts, comparing the different ways you can balance a page; by size, shape, colour, symmetry, or asymmetry, and looked at some really interesting examples.

We then put this to work on an in-class assignment placing black boxes on a piece of paper to describe a given verb, then critiqued each one. It's interesting how different people interpret or describe the same verb. Like our teacher says, if you give 10 designers the same design project, you'll get 10 different results.

That's the beauty of design; there is no right answer.
More to come...

DAY 1 : The Basics

It almost felt rebellious to wake up this morning and not go to work. *snicker*

It was a really nice change though, especially since I've waited so long to find an appropriate course (and school) to attend. I had also forgot how much fun it was to go to art school. If only I could get paid to do that :)

I left myself lots of time for travel, to find my classroom, and a nearby coffee shop to grab a warm drink. I was surprised that Granville Island had such an energy so early in the morning!

After wandering the island for a bit and taking in the sights, it was off to class.

We begin with introductions, a class overview, and quickly dive right into the good stuff, discussing effective communication design. Many examples of past and current advertising campaigns were used to really drive the message home.

Later in the morning, the process of conceptualizing, research, and technique were also points focused on and the afternoon was spent discussing symbols and communicating a message through icons and images only.

For our assignment we were paired in 3's and given 3 different symbols to design as a group. After we finished conceptualizing them, each of us had to finalize and mount one design each, for presentation and critique in class tomorrow. As simple as it sounds, it was definitely a challenge to make our symbols communicate the way we wanted.

I guess we'll see how well we did tomorrow when we have an actual audience to interpret them.

More to come...

One More Sleep

Sketchbook...check
Pencils...check
Creativity...check

Looks like I'm all ready to start my class tomorrow.

I'm a little nervous but I think more excited than anything. I'm really looking forward to learning, meeting new people, and going to a school I've always wanted to attend. Hopefully I can sleep tonight!

Stay tuned because I'll be blogging every day until the end of the week to give you the inside scoop.