Be sure to welcome back Ping Xu. He spent the summer in China. Reports are that he was very busy setting up an exchange exhibition for the University Art Gallery and serving as a tour guide and host for other Truman students in China over the summer. That is above and beyond the call of duty. Rusty/viscom blog
Author: art department
Welcome Back!
Classes begin on August 26th. I hope everyone has had a good break. If anyone has had an interesting internship or learned anything interesting related to Viscom, let me know and I'll blog it. See you soon. Rusty/viscom blog
Visual Communication Senior Show
Round table and Portfolio Review with David Gibson
For those of you who signed up for the round table discussion
or portfolio review I have the letters ready outside my office (OP 1227). Please take one, if you need more than
one make copies and if you still want to sign-up I can add you to the list.
Lab and Print Monitors WANTED!
We
are needing students with Scholarship and Work Study hours to sign up
to be Lab and Print Monitors. This is critical for off-hour access to
the computer lab (OP1224 and 1222). The smaller the work pool for Lab
and Print Monitors, the less time the lab is open for you to complete
your projects and a smaller window for getting projects printed to the
large format printers. Only Lab monitors have off-hour access to the
labs. You can be both a Lab and Print Monitor or one or the other. If
you are interested contact Professor Derezinski and sign up. You will
be helping out everyone in the Viscom major with your service.
Art Directors Club: Young Guns 7 Competition
Here is yet another competition for you to enter your work in and get nationally recognized for your work. The Art Directors Club has extended the deadline for their Young Guns 7 competition until May 22nd! So hurry, get your best work together and submit for your chance at fame!
Produce huge volumes of work!
I found the following interview with Ira Glass of NPR's This American Life fame (if you don't listen to this, it's time to start). While Ira maybe a writer for a radio program, his message applies to design as well. You will continue to produce bad work unless you are willing to put the time, effort and repetition in until your execution is equal to your vision (and this takes years by the way).
Print’s Magazines Student Cover Competition
The winning entries will be published in the April 2010 issue of Print. Designers should pick a global problem and create a cover design that shows how design might solve that problem, such as sustainability, human rights, or the future of food.
The designer should also include a headline, a subhead, and three proposed cover lines for possible stories supporting their theme in their design. The covers will be judged on both the strength of the concept and the execution. Have fun!
DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS JUNE 30, 2009
Click here for more information
Art student creates invisible car with cool paint-job
Sara Watson, who is studying drawing at the University of Central
Lancashire (Uclan), took three weeks to transform the car's appearance.
Things to Do This Summer
OK, yes you probably need a break after a long year. But that doesn't mean you need a 4 month break from design either! You need to keep those ideas flowing by exercising your creativity. So, how do you exercise your creativity you ask? Well, it's pretty simple. I'm going to list few things you can do on a regular basis for fun to exercise your creativity. Remember, these should be fun. So, if one particular exercise doesn't excite you, move on to the next. The point is to keep creative.
Word It: Is a web site that invites people to submit 5"x5" visual interpretations of a random word. For example, the word for May is "Here". You can submit up to five each month. I think this is a great place to start.
Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far: Is a web site by Stefan Sagmeister that is a follow up to his book "Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far". Through the web site, Stefan is collecting visual interpretations of the things YOU have learned in your life so far. You never know when these submissions or the ones from Word It may end up in a book so it's worth the effort.
Design Observer: Is a design blog maintained by industry leaders in graphic design. Many of the articles are insightful and motivating. Make it a goal to read three articles a week. Indulge yourself with a iced mocha or espresso brownie and read an article or two. You learn a lot!
Daily Monster: At the Daily Monster blog, you can download an "Open Source" monster (an ink blot) so you can create your own monsters. Do three or four a week and by the end of the summer you be surprised just how much your creativity has grown!
Obsessive Consumption: The purpose of this blog is really to sketch, and to sketch everyday. The sketches don't have to be good. The idea is to find something that you can visually explain through a sketch on a daily basis. Why not sketch out your "To Do" list instead of simply writing it? Maybe sketch what you had to eat each day. Sketch your daily activities, such as watching T.V., going to the park or meeting your friends. Do this every day and you will be visually communicating at a higher level in no time!
So, remember the summer isn't down time, it's fun creative time! You will leave all the other design students behind as they sit on the couch this summer! Keep creative and it will show in your work! Also, check back often. I'll post more fun ways to stay creative while on break. The ones above were just to get you started!