Slice of Life.

Yesterday I found myself at a friend's house printing out a copy of a poster I'm working on. He was finishing some work for the same class that afternoon. I borrowed his Ginsu sharp X-Acto blade to cut my poster together. It was a different type of blade, never seen one like this before, with a subtle curve along the blade. The Grim Reaper of X-Acto blades, and likely so, for as I began my first cut, my right hand slipped from the surface and slashed straight through the soul of my left index finger. One, two, bleed. A homemade wrap worked overtime to keep the blood from rushing down my arm. We went to class and my peers were instantly shocked at the red Bounty around my finger. So I presented, got feedback, and headed towards the hospital. Of course I had called Lyndsey and her sister, since it was still bleeding, the ER seemed like the right decision. I've got three stitches and am heading back tomorrow for a check-up, hopefully it's healing well.

Package Tests

PackageTests
Originally uploaded by jtpuck.

In my Packaging class, I've chosen Hanes Premium brand socks to redesign. They're only sold at Target in packs of 6 and in those blasted plastic bags. The Hanes Premium brand is said to promote comfort and durability so well, "your feet will forget that they live such a rugged lifestyle." I kid you not. Does the plastic bag promote a rugged lifestyle? or a Premium sock? I don't think so, and that is the challenge that lies ahead. The photo depicts a few physical packaging experiments I developed this past weekend. Obviously, some are NOT to scale. One of them though, with further development, may be in the right direction. We shall see.

The Wheel of the Woodlands.

Just a quick note really fast. Lyndsey and I were watching Wheel of Fortune when they introduced a woman, Amy something, from The Woodlands, Texas. Of course, you all know The Woodlands is where I used to live and work near Houston. Fancy that! Well, come to find out, she blows all the contestants away by solving every puzzle in the game, including the final one. Amy walked away with $55,000 in cash and prizes including a trip to Turkey. Lucky her. Oh, and she collects worms.

Bookmaking: Week One.

Books
Originally uploaded by jtpuck.

Wednesday night I have a Bookmaking class where we do as the name says. Make Books, different types, with unique binding ways and styles; and we'll do a new set each week. A viable topic in the curriculum of graphic design, bookmaking is one of the most important aspects of any multi-page document. How will it be bound? Why did you choose that particular way? These are questions that will come up in our critiques, and it has to work right, have the correct meaning.

This is a collection of Single Section Pamphlet books that could used for a number of things. Small promotionals, note taking, journals. They were stitched together and I have the scar to prove. After this class, I'll never look at a book the same way again. Instead of opening it up to read the content, I'll be checking out the binding. Maybe you will too.

100 Ideas of Peace.

Last night we had our first Seminar for the quarter. Our guest was Josh Chen, principal of Chen Design Associates (CDA) in San Francisco. He told us a great story of his upbringing from Singapore to Belgium, Paris, and eventually to Springfield, Missouri. His interest in art began from painting ceramics in kindergarten to his week long field trip to a castle in Belgium sometime in the 3rd or 4th grade. Yes, we gasped too. Elementary in Europe seems much different than the states. Chen covered some of his firm's projects including a recent book they designed and printed called "Peace 100 Ideas." A brilliant collection of ways to practice or preserve peace interpreted through words and image by the firm. Inspired by a project from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, CDA has created a welcoming piece with thought-smiling illustrations and mind stretching exercises. For more info on the book and to send your own e-peace card, check out www.peace100ideas.com. My personal challenge is #58. Clear Your Mind. What's yours?

Type is Mass.

That is the subject of my second class, learning to give character and meaning to large amounts of body copy. Taught by a great instructor, whom I had my first quarter. She's very talented, organized, demands a lot from us, and pushes us in new and creative directions. Perfect. The project this time around is to use a movie, play, musical, or opera as a subject. Find the text of our favorite scene, we'll be using this as visual fuel in our designs. One poster, a playbill (minus ads), a direct mail piece, and 3-dimensional version of the poster in the form of a mobile that would potentially hang inside the theatre. Very exciting, very emotional, and lots of sketching to do. Just the motivation I need.

Lyndsey and Ranger

Lyndsey and Ranger
Originally uploaded by jtpuck.

So I'm trying to work out the kinks in posting photos to the blog here. Thought I'd try it out with this image of Lyndsey and our dog, Ranger. Just after a freeze this January they sat by the window looking at the ice outside. Don't worry, those aren't jail bars outside the window, just the railing across the door.

3rd Quarter. Day One.

All right. It's time to get back into the swing of things at Portfolio Center. Picked up my schedule for the quarter, even added a 5th class to bulk up my time, four just seemed to little. Tonight was a Packaging class. From the sound of it, it's going to be a winner. Choose an existing product, research the hell out it, become the product, become the target market, concept a re-design and do it. 5 pieces for the final deliverable. Tons and tons of conceptual work will be done on this one. I'm going to try something new, something I haven't done before, something I'm...dare I say it...afraid of. God help me.

Free Film Finales.

Knowing quite well I'd miss most of the big summer season of films this quarter, I tried to catch a few this weekend. Thursday, I had tickets to a sneak preview of "The Ballad of Jack and Rose", a coming-of-age drama with Daniel Day-Lewis written and directed by his wife, Rebecca Miller. It was the first time Lyndsey and I could make it to a sneak preview, since I didn't have class. The film was great! A rough and sensually shot story about a dying father, his innocent daughter, and how their lives change when he invites his girlfriend and 2 sons out to their commune to live with them. With a great performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, "Jack and Rose" will make you uncomfortable and sympathetic for the characters. That's what drama should do.

Friday, I headed out to see Frank Miller's "Sin City", a comic book translated almost frame by frame to the big screen by Robert Rodriguez and an amazing cast. Compiling three of the comics, pulp fiction style, Rodriguez brings the high contrast black and white stories to life with visual gusto not scene in a very long time. Sin City is violent, hilarious, and sensual with powerful characters who believe revenge is a dish best served right away, their way. Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, and Brittany Murphy give the best performances with short shining moments by Alexis Bledel of The Gilmore Girls and Josh Hartnett. I loved the film's style, humor, structure, and the short bit with Josh Hartnett that bookends the film is classic film noir and the perfect way to set the film. I read the graphic novels before I saw the film, and was still excited how it worked on screen.

Now, if all goes well, we have a pass to a sneak preview for "Sahara" with Matthew McConaughey tomorrow night. This will probably be the last flick I see till Star Wars, May 19th. Hope it's fun.

2718 Grams.

3 Entertainment Weeklies, 2 Communication Arts, 2 Dwell, and 1 HOW magazine were set aside during the last month while I tended to my final projects and the end of the second quarter. 2,718 grams of intellectual and entertaining bliss sat there, neglected. Now that my two week break has come, it's time to catch up and not just on those mags. Between forward-thinking education at Portfolio Center and working part-time at Borders (NYSE: BGP) my interest in books and reading has serviced a major overhaul. I used to only read my email and Totino's cooking instructions, now I find a new book everyday at work. Some of which I should have read in high school, like "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." The movie comes out in May, the preview looks so fantastic, and I want to read it before I see it. Any other time before last fall, and you would have never heard me say that. Why ruin a good movie by reading the book first? My first experiment, "Sideways" by Rex Pickett. I read it at work a few weeks before I saw the film. Absolutely hilarious! Couldn't believe I enjoyed it so much. Saw the movie trying to forget I read the book. Enjoyed it very much too, outstanding characters, great story; but part of me was disappointed that some great moments from the book were not in the movie. I had become literate, and understood what my peers and English professors constantly mentioned with every film adaptation. Thankfully I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy after I saw the films...not disappointed in those, but they followed the books rather well.

Last week I finished the 3 graphic novels used in Frank Miller's "Sin City", a new film by Robert Rodriguez with a plethora of great actors. Very, very cool stories, lots of great moments, and Rodriguez is codirecting with Frank Miller to shoot the film practically panel for panel from the comic. It looks amazing and I simply cannot wait to see. 2 other books I'm trying to finish during the break: "blink" by Malcolm Gladwell about thinking and decision making controlled by our unconscious and "The Substance of Style" by Virginia Postrel discussing how the rise of aesthetic value is remaking culture and the marketplace. Anyone else have a suggestion? Maybe I'll get to it during the next break. Oh and out of those 8 mags, I have 3 left to finish.

Happy Easter to Everyone!

Thought I would drop that in while there's still time. Lyndsey and I had a great time today, probably the first time we have not spent an Easter with other members of our family. We found a church we like in the area, third one we've visited. Didn't realize we were that picky, but they did have the best cookies! Although the first church we visited had sausage biscuits so we really couldn't be that picky. The sanctuary was nice, people seemed normal, and it felt right. Enjoyed lunch at a restaurant we had never been to, BRIO tuscan grille, absolutely the best side salad I've ever had (the chopped one), and spent the day relaxed at the apartment surrounded by lightning flashes and thunderstorms. Enjoy your week.

The Sophomore Slump?

When bands release their second album, or a director makes their second film, the sophomore slump is usually feared by everyone, myself included, except this time it was for my Second Quarter Critique (crit). Having my projects completed one day early meant 2 things: one more day to prepare my presentation, and one more day to worry about how possibly negative this crit could turn out. Set for Tuesday at 8pm, I got a call that day to possibly come in at 6:30pm, apparently they had to juggle some other crits that people might have asked for extensions on (didn't think that was possible?). Packed up, went to school, waited to get called. Lyndsey came too. My projects this time were more realistic and less abstract which meant 'easy to pack.' Books, brochures, letterhead suites, posters, very manageable.

Panel Crits just like last quarter, 4 people, one of which was in my panel last time and was one of my instructors this quarter. The other three were 2 women, one I was familiar with, and another guy I didn't know. I felt good, the presentation was sound, felt positive about almost everything and before I knew it, I was done. The one guy I didn't know voiced his opinion first with a strong positive statement in a sad, underwhelming tone. "Well, I'm glad to see that you didn't stick with a particular method or style with your projects. It's good to see that you've experimented with different things so all your work doesn't look the same." CHECK, that was a primary goal I hoped to accomplish this time around. Then he counters, "but I don't think these were the best solutions to your design problems." SHUCKS. He continued in a depressed manner that I didn't approve of very much but I nodded and smiled. Then the lady I didn't know. She was reading a book I made with a personal story on Alzheimers I wrote, called "memory" (my favorite piece) She stopped and said, "I wish I had more time to read this, you're a very good writer, and this is my favorite piece of yours here." Would it have been inappropriate to embrace her at this time? And so was the consensus for all. Half was liked, half disliked. One person didn't care for a logo, and someone else said I nailed it. Welcome to the world of design.

Ok, Ok, Ok...

So I noticed it's been a while, and people have reminded me that it has indeed been a while (Aldo!!), but I didn't realize it had been THAT long. When I read that my last post was over 5 weeks ago, I nearly spit coke all over my laptop. Thank goodness I didn't. Lots of things to talk about, and I know you're all excited to find out how my second quarter finished up. Let's get to it.

My mom and aunt came to visit during Studio Week, the week before my final critique where I meet one last time with my instructors, go over final designs and commense final production on all projects. I had about 12 different pieces of work to complete and was frantically worried about balancing project time with family time. Lyndsey and I had it all figured out. We would rent the guest apartment at our complex for our visitors (cheaper than a hotel), and when they were in bed, I'd be able to work all night. We booked it a month in advance, and when I went to pick up the key, all mouths dropped when we found out they had just rented it out to someone else that MORNING! I am Jason's Heart Attack. Nonetheless, they stayed with us, I worked and attended class in the morning, we toured the city during the day, and I worked after they went to bed. Ended up completing my projects a day early....go figure.

One Week Less.

I was aghast today in class when we were discussing the rest of the quarter. Apparently we only have 2 weeks left of class before studio and critique week. UNBELIEVABLE. For some reason, I thought we had 3 more weeks of class left. Plenty of time to complete final concepts and really get my designs straightened out before taking them to print. Have I mentioned my mom and aunt are coming to visit during their spring break? This also happens during my studio week. I'll be working and celebrating a lot during that time. It's crunch time for this second quarter. For those of you out there expecting phone calls, letters, or long emails....expect short and succinct. See you at 3am.

Movie Break.

I'd like to take a moment here to talk about the recent Academy Award nominations. In my history of film appreciation, I have never missed so many films in one year as I have in 2004. I've always looked forward to the awards season from nominations to online contests and finally the show itself. This year, I don't feel like I can honestly say anthing should win because I haven't seen anything! In fact, let me mention it one more time, I haven't seen any of the big nominated films this year. From the top nominees, I've only seen one, "Sideways." This was a fantastic film, also a hilarious book, and I will pick up the DVD when it comes out, but it won't win Best Picture...probably just the screenwriting nomination. "Million Dollar Baby", "Finding Neverland", "Ray", "The Aviator", "Closer", "Hotel Rwanda", "The Incredibles", and "The Passion of the Christ" are all big movies this year that I've missed. Thankfully 2 of my favorites this year made some of the categories, "Collateral" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Perhaps I'll still be able to catch at least The Aviator before the big show. Props go to Jamie Foxx, Natalie Portman, Brad Bird, "Super Size Me", and Thomas Haden Church...hope some of you win next month. For a complete listing, go to www.oscars.org.

End of Week Two.

School is now challenging on an even higher level than last quarter, so for those that still don't quite understand what kind of stuff I'm doing here, I thought I might fill you in a bit. Grab a coffee, and enjoy.

Type II. After Type I, I thought we couldn't get into any more detail with Typography, but that's because I didn't know better. Here we're breaking type down to the parts of a letter, what they mean, type styles based on these letter parts, how they work, typefaces that can work together and why. I will never look at Helvetica the same way again. Final project here will be a 10-14 page brochure for something not yet announced to us.

Design II is about identity systems (logos, letterhead, envelopes) and promotions, plus we picked an Artist out of a hat and all our work revolves around the style and promotion of that artist. I reached in the cup to find that Frida Kahlo chose me. Yes, our instructor believes that WE don't choose the artist, they choose us. It really has proven true based on my classmates and the artists' that chose them. Deliverables are the identity system above, a poster, and a promotional product with packagaing.

My Color + Communications class revolves around seeing color, understanding it, breaking it down, and seeing how color palettes are used in projects, buildings, and aesthetics to communicate the idea you want. We've chosen a 'place' around town (for me it's the Starlight Six Drive-Inn, go figure), shot photos, developed a 20-30 color palette, and will develop a box of cards, a set of 12 or so with 5 or 6 different designs, promoting the place using the color palette of the place.

I've got a Photography and Writing class team taught by 2 profs, 1/2 the class is photography - learning the camera, depth of field, shutter, telling a story with a photo, etc. Different assignments each week that will lead to our final project. Other 1/2 of the class is about writing, learning metaphor, simile, dialogue, narrative, telling the story with words, utilize the senses, engage the reader to create a picture. Wonderful in class 20-min writing prompts, homework are writing examples, short stories, based on a single statement, or character, etc... Final project will be a hardbound, accordian fold book, one side photography, other side writing, telling a story, which we will create, most likely something personal. They really push developing personal life stories in our projects, the angels and the demons.

Lastly, Quark II, a page layout class. Had Quark 1 last quarter, no project, just learning the program. This time, more details, really learning what it can do and how to use it, also a bit of Photoshop tips and tricks for cool details. A huge project on this one. Create a target audience for a fictious extended-stay hotel which we'll develop, concept the amenities, location, name, then create a logo, a 12 page Brochure/pamphlet selling this place, and packaging for a product at this place (restaraunt menu, bar soap boxes, postcards, whatever).

So, that is what my quarter looks like. 5 classes, huge projects, 10 weeks. Wish you were here.

Jason and the Giant Peach.

For the first time in my life I saw the PEACH drop. That's right, peach, not million dollar crystal ball. Here I am in Georgia, some would consider the east coast. After spending my whole life in the Central Time Zone, you wouldn't believe how excited I was to experience a New Year time change in official EST, what the networks consider el primo tiempo zono. Lyndsey and I had a couple friends over for dinner, drinks, games, and to watch the ball drop. 3 out of 4 isn't that bad. In Downtown Atlanta, 40,000 people gather to celebrate the new year by watching a Giant, non-million dollar, orange fruit drop from a tall post. I know, just watching anything drop from the sky to celebrate a new year seems ridiculous, but the New York special was nowhere to be found on Atlanta television. No Regis, no history, just a peach and the local newscasters. The only highlight of the show were some great tunes provided by Sister Hazel. So I want to welcome everyone to 2005, a year of new beginnings, exercise programs, and many creative directors using the the 2 and 5 creatively and interchangably in many programs, brochures, and posters. Have fun everyone!

Spirit of Giving (and receiving).

With the first quarter done and the holidays here, Lyndsey, her sister and I traveled back to Texas for a little R&R with the family (hers and mine). Unfortunately, since a couple of us had to come back for work, we only had 3 days to celebrate. So between planned lunches, dinners, birthdays, Christmas breakfast, grandparents, cousins, and my family, it was a fast and furious Christmas. Fortunately, it was great to see everyone. They all seem to be having a great time, life is well, and we were all in the spirit of giving. We were given a lot! From Seinfeld DVD's to rent to a new portfolio case, it was a holiday to be thankful for and to tell all our family and friends how much we love them. Of course, by 'we', I'm including Lyndsey as an author on this blog. To everyone out there, Merry Christmas!

1st Quarter Complete.

Monday night at 8pm, I presented my final projects to a panel of 4 instructors/professionals from school. 17 minutes later, each of them spoke their minds about my concepts, execution, craft, and professionalism; and you know what, it wasn't as bad as everyone kept saying it was going to be. They were constructively positive....and negative. Craft was good, presentation was good, some concepts were great, some were not so well executed, mainly my work was too neat, too organized, and they wanted me to get dirty, get gritty, experiment more. The times where I was experimenting just needed to go further. And that's fine, no problem, that's been the design criticism of a lot of my work. So I'm making my New Year's Resolution now, design related, to get messy, not over-analyze my cleanliness (except in terms of not slicing through our dining room table with my x-acto knife), and let my ideas flow to infinity....as one of my instructors says, "Get Over It." Let's see what I can do.

Studio Week

We are on the quarter schedule here at Portfolio Center, which means we have 11 weeks of class and then a 2 week break. Of those 11 class weeks, 9 are actually in-class, the 10th is Studio Week, and the 11th is Final Critique Week. Today is Tuesday, studio week, and I have approximately 6 days to complete all my final projects (roughly 11 separate deliverables for 4 classes) and go over my short presentation. It's the time everyone cringes about. Admissions reps talk about it, former students ponder the importance of it, and our instructors constantly inflict pain through our skulls with just a mention of this moment in time. 2 ways these critiques can go: 1. Panel, where the student presents and defends his projects in front of about 4 instructors/professionals in a 25 minute time frame. 2. Round Robin, where a few students set up in a room as instructors go by each one to discuss their projects. Round robin takes longer because you have to present to 4 people individually, and the panel critique offers openness for a more intense critique. I'm hoping for panel, simply because I hope to be reamed severely, and it feels more like an official presentation. My only hope is that I convey my excitement and ideas for these projects thoroughly enough to keep the panel intrigued. First things first, let's get these projects done.