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Megaspel posted:Is there any advice for someone looking to do a placement year? Have you thought about focusing your showreel a bit? A wide ranging skillset can be good, but I think it could help. What are you most interested in? Animation? Modelling/Texturing? Character design? You even have some OpenGL stuff in there. It's hard to get a sense of what your main areas of interest are, and that might be why you're having trouble. If editing your showreel or producing new work is out of the question, then I think you're making it very hard for yourself. Do you know any former students or other contacts that you could talk to? That would be my first thing to try. If you can't find a placement, I would just focus on improving your work as much as you can instead. As for a VISA, companies usually help you out, although I've never heard of one going through the trouble for an internship or someone looking for a junior position. There's plenty of stuff around the EU too, though. Germany, Scandinavia and even Eastern europe (Czech Republic and Hungary to name a few) have solid (although comparatively small) VFX houses that you could try.
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Apr 23, 2013 23:21
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gimpfarfar posted:Have you thought about focusing your showreel a bit? A wide ranging skillset can be good, but I think it could help. What are you most interested in? Animation? Modelling/Texturing? Character design? You even have some OpenGL stuff in there. It's hard to get a sense of what your main areas of interest are, and that might be why you're having trouble. If editing your showreel or producing new work is out of the question, then I think you're making it very hard for yourself. Do you know any former students or other contacts that you could talk to? That would be my first thing to try. It's a bit too late to do any more editing on my showreel. It's at the point where if I don't get an offer in a week, I'll have to quickly find a place to live for my next year at university. I did have a shorter reel, which is a tiny bit more specific, http://youtu.be/gIiZZwLk88I . I suppose my main problem is the only work I've had time to work on, for the past two years, is Uni work, so it's all over the place really. Animation was going to be my main focal point, but I don't have anything else of quality to put in there. If I don't get a placement, I'll definitely try to get some more work in there over summer. Thanks for your help, I'll try emailing some more people around Europe and then just move on to making my comic.
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Apr 24, 2013 16:14
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My company is currently hiring a mid-level font end web designer / developer. We're a very small studio where every person has a huge impact. We're growing and working on some pretty nifty projects, but are in need of more interactive help. I'm happy to answer any questions folks might have in PMs or by email [redacted], or just here in this thread I guess. Generally speaking this is a great position for someone who's experienced enough to hold their own without lots of guidance. If you're looking for more creative freedom, more of a voice in projects/company direction, demanding and rewarding work in a fairly laid back work environment – we're right up your alley. If you want a huge company where you can blend into the scenery and play Facebook games all day, this isn't the position for you. Posting is here: [redacted] Word to the wise – do not judge us by our current site, it is ancient and soon to be replaced. kedo fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Jul 31, 2015 |
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Apr 24, 2013 23:10
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Avshalom posted:
If you want to be an environmental artist, than make a portfolio with environmental concept art in it. Further specialize your portfolio for what studio you are sending your resume/portfolio/cover letter too. Like if you are applying at Disney to make princess cartoons, don't send them artwork of armored orcs with swords. From my understanding it pays in the long wrong to be a generalist, but early on in your career it's probably better to occupy a niche. quote:It's a bit too late to do any more editing on my showreel. It's at the point where if I don't get an offer in a week, I'll have to quickly find a place to live for my next year at university. I did have a shorter reel, which is a tiny bit more specific, http://youtu.be/gIiZZwLk88I . I suppose my main problem is the only work I've had time to work on, for the past two years, is Uni work, so it's all over the place really. Animation was going to be my main focal point, but I don't have anything else of quality to put in there. Focus on improving your demo reel and portfolio. Given you put in the required effort, if you are talented enough employment will find you.
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Apr 25, 2013 08:52
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kedo posted:My company is currently hiring a mid-level font end web designer / developer. We're a very small studio where every person has a huge impact. We're growing and working on some pretty nifty projects, but are in need of more interactive help. I'm happy to answer any questions folks might have in PMs or by email ian [at] ripe [the thing next to the comma] com, or just here in this thread I guess. Any thoughts to out of state?
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Apr 27, 2013 21:38
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cheese eats mouse posted:Any thoughts to out of state? It's an in studio position and we're not much interested in telecommuters for this position unfortunately. However we do use out of state freelance front end devs from time to time if that's your skill set.
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Apr 29, 2013 14:30
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kedo posted:It's an in studio position and we're not much interested in telecommuters for this position unfortunately. However we do use out of state freelance front end devs from time to time if that's your skill set. Oh I was looking to relocate to some place new.  I saw your e-mail. I'll polish up the old resume and send over some design and site samples.
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Apr 29, 2013 19:59
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I just got hired to this. They're hiring a lot of other people too. Basically if you have a chill attitude, are easy to work with, and have good quality drawing/animation work, you're what they're looking for. In particular they REALLY need storyboard artists right now - but they're hiring all kinds of artists. Background painters, layout artists, animators, cleanup, character designers, etc. The primary program used for their show & shorts animation is Flash. If you're fluent in flash for 2D animation, you have a good headstart on this as well. quote:Friends Night, the production company behind Fox's new, Saturday, late-night, animated block ADHD is looking for artists! They're keen on training up new people from entry level too. If you want to talk to me to find out more info, I can be best reached on steam here: http://steamcommunity.com/id/spacedad or alternatively you can forum PM me.
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May 6, 2013 05:16
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Hey folks. My company — a fairly large advertising firm — is looking for a fulltime Flash/Motion designer at our office in New York City. You'd be working on a lot of big-name clients, including Oreo, Coke, Smirnoff, Canon, and Ben & Jerrys. Optimally, you'd be experienced in Actionscript-based animation and interactive work, and have a good feel for motion and timing. The majority of your work would be Flash-based to start, but with an eye towards moving into HTML-based stuff in the future. In terms of work-environment, we're on 4 floors of the AT&T building in Tribeca, and it's a pretty nice space. We have whiteboard-paint on most of our walls, open seating, glass conference rooms... the normal hip ad company layout. Oh, and we have a bar (with beer on tap) on every floor. So there's that. If you're interested, feel free to hit me up via PM or email. You can check out the company here: https://www.360i.com And the posting is here: http://careers.360i.com/jobdetails....&job_number=477
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May 10, 2013 14:54
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How's the illustration/concept design market look around the San Francisco area, mostly northern SF and East Bay? My schedule's opening up, and I'd like to get out of print production and into illustration.
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May 10, 2013 23:26
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I'm in the process of re-enrolling in school to learn the digital aspect of illustration and animation. I'm unsure of whether or not I should actively pursue a degree or not. I understand that a solid portfolio will get me far. Does having an art degree on my resume help me or hinder me further? Edit: I'm likely going to enroll in credit courses at the city college of San Francisco. I'm in the process of contacting the instructors to get a feel for what their programs offer. Is/are there any talking points I should address? Right now I want to see the facilities, examples of student work, and gauge their competency as instructors. dog nougat fucked around with this message at 20:35 on May 13, 2013 |
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May 13, 2013 20:31
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dog nougat posted:I'm in the process of re-enrolling in school to learn the digital aspect of illustration and animation. I'm unsure of whether or not I should actively pursue a degree or not. I understand that a solid portfolio will get me far. Does having an art degree on my resume help me or hinder me further? Portfolio > all. Degrees can get you past the HR filter, but they rarely come up in interviews. The real answer is that it depends entirely on the company you're applying to, the personal philosophies of the HR person that gets your application, and whether or not they're in a bad mood. In general, though, portfolio matters way more than a degree.
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May 13, 2013 20:34
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mutata posted:Portfolio > all. Degrees can get you past the HR filter, but they rarely come up in interviews. The real answer is that it depends entirely on the company you're applying to, the personal philosophies of the HR person that gets your application, and whether or not they're in a bad mood. Ok. Cool. I guess the only hindrance to pursuing an actual degree is a financial one.
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May 13, 2013 20:37
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dog nougat posted:Ok. Cool. I guess the only hindrance to pursuing an actual degree is a financial one. That is how I personally see it. For example, I'm considering getting a masters, for example, but only because my employer has an education reimbursement thing.
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May 13, 2013 20:42
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mutata posted:Portfolio > all. Degrees can get you past the HR filter, but they rarely come up in interviews. The real answer is that it depends entirely on the company you're applying to, the personal philosophies of the HR person that gets your application, and whether or not they're in a bad mood. To expand on this, the size of the company you're applying to also plays a large role in how important degrees are. Small companies may not even have an HR department. When my (small - 5 person) company is hiring, our designers and creative director are the ones reviewing applications, and resumes are the last thing we look at. However a few of my friends work at medium to large companies (200+) that have large, bureaucratic HR departments that have to tick checkboxes for each person they hire. So also consider the type of place you want to work someday.
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May 13, 2013 20:44
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kedo posted:To expand on this, the size of the company you're applying to also plays a large role in how important degrees are. Small companies may not even have an HR department. When my (small - 5 person) company is hiring, our designers and creative director are the ones reviewing applications, and resumes are the last thing we look at. However a few of my friends work at medium to large companies (200+) that have large, bureaucratic HR departments that have to tick checkboxes for each person they hire. To expand on this a little more as well: I run our Creative Services for a largish (700 people) company and after having to fill a junior graphic designer position and a production artist position on my team I can tell you that if you don't have an online portfolio, I wouldn't even consider you as a candidate. It used to be we designers had to have a physical portfolio that we'd truck around to interviews or send in to agencies. This isn't the case anymore. When I'm reviewing hundreds of applicants (even after our Recruiting department has prescreened resumes), I can tell very quickly the skill level of a designer by a quick glance at their website. You don't have to have a custom coded, hand-built site (tho' that will put you above those that don't), but your work needs to be online somewhere. Degrees? I don't care if you have an AA or a BA (although you need one of those), but a Masters in Graphic Design was also an immediate disqualification. Why are you taking 6 years to get your portfolio together?! If you haven't learned it in 2, 4 might not help. And 6 definitely won't. Get your AA in design, your BA in business, and your Masters in Marketing if you feel the need to push your education that far. No one is going to hire someone with their Masters as a Production Artist or Entry Level Design position. Get your lower degree and then get an entry level job to help learn by real-world experience. As for your resume, if you made it past the web portfolio pre-screen, only then will I look at your resume. But yes, your portfolio is your all. It's your first impression. It's your life-blood in the design world.
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May 14, 2013 01:24
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Braincloud posted:online portfolio I know this is slightly off-topic, but do you know of any good online portfolio templates to get a novice started?
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May 14, 2013 03:10
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Braincloud posted:To expand on this a little more as well: Man you and your company have your poo poo together and now I'm curious where you work. e: Then again, maybe I'm just so astonished because I'm currently reviewing applications and that's pretty much my exact set of qualifications. I am constantly boggled at how many people just send a 12pt Times New Roman .doc resume and zero portfolio. archwhore posted:I know this is slightly off-topic, but do you know of any good online portfolio templates to get a novice started? That's not off topic at all, that's pretty much the entire point of this thread, no? If you're looking to code it yourself a la Braincloud's advice (which is totally right if you want to do web design), it still depends on your skill level. If you're comfortable with HTML and CSS this shouldn't be all that difficult. Otherwise if you're really a novice I might start with some intro classes before you jump into making your own portfolio. If you're a super novice, maybe try Treehouse to get some of the basics. Otherwise maybe download a few off the shelf templates and see what those folks are using and how you might improve upon 'em. If you're not looking for an interactive gig, I like viewing portfolios on Prosite because at least they're easy to interact with. Cargo collective is also nice. e2: I realized you asked for "good online portfolios" and I did everything but give a link for one. You can probably find a ton at Template Monster, however if you're looking for a job at a good firm you should expect people to review your code. If they see a template, that's a massive mark against you if you're applying for a web design gig. I mean come on. If this is you, use templates for guidance only, or else you'll have problems landing a job at a good place. kedo fucked around with this message at 03:44 on May 14, 2013 |
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May 14, 2013 03:26
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There are a few portfolio sites I kept running into when reviewing applicants. Bear in mind, I only know of these from a viewer point of view so I can't tell you how easy they are to use: Behance.net was probably the most prolific. About half of the applicants without a custom website posted their work on here. CargoCollective.com was the next in line. They both had decent interfaces and were easy to navigate. I will say though that a slicker way to get around having your own website with little or no web skills is to buy your domain and then point it to a Wordpress you've tweaked. It comes across as more personal, you can customize it very easily, and it doesn't have stupid ads or extraneous crap to distract from your work. Again, the best is to create a website from scratch, but if I'm looking for entry level candidates, they're usually fresh out of art school so I cut them a little slack. But taking the time to create your own portfolio site tends to show that you take extra pride in your work. Whatever you do, DO NOT POST A LINK TO YOUR DEVIANT ART PAGE for your portfolio. Ever. Nothing screams amateur like a Deviant Art page. I actually should just post a list of do's and don'ts. Sounds like an idea for an inaugural blog post...
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May 14, 2013 06:33
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I was only a design team lead for a brief time, but yes -- your portfolio website is incredibly important. From a hiring context, it took me on average 3 minutes or less to decide if someone was coming in for an interview or not. Sometimes just the typography of the resume would flag someone as in/out. Things like "no website" and "cutebabycakes69@hotmail.com" made the work pretty easy*. In addition to things like the 12pt Times Word Doc thing, remember that your resume is also important as a design piece. But don't go stupid crazy with it and remember its place in relation to your work. Some other nice sites: http://4ormat.com/ http://squarespace.com (* Don't make it this easy) Disreputable Dog fucked around with this message at 06:01 on May 15, 2013 |
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May 15, 2013 05:57
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Hello everyone, it would be great to hear any opinions on my portfolio. https://www.jqim.co.uk Thanks
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May 15, 2013 22:12
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Jqim posted:Hello everyone, it would be great to hear any opinions on my portfolio. • Slideshare is terrible. • I might drop the first three items from your "Some of my skills" graphic, as they're sorta bs :P • Style your links • Lose the blog unless you plan on putting meaningful posts in there • You need way, way more work. Wallpapers tell me nothing about your skill. • Include non-coursework in your portfolio. Do some self-initiated and/or fictional projects if you don't have any. • House your work on your site, not on some other blog. If I have to click four times to see your work on two different sites... do you think that's good UX? e: Also your logo is interesting ( 
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May 15, 2013 22:44
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kedo posted:• Slideshare is terrible. Thanks Kedo, just a couple of questions. Is the slide share terrible because its a slide share or would it still be terrible in a more usable format? The link to a tumblr was the actual submission for a group project. How could i host it effectively myself? My problem is I hate most of my work, any tips for getting self initiates projects done that are more than just a wallpaper?
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May 16, 2013 06:18
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Jqim posted:Is the slide share terrible because its a slide share or would it still be terrible in a more usable format? Because it's a slide share. The way you have it embedded on the page it's way to small to read, and opening it full screen opens it ... in full screen (bleh). I'd suggest pulling a few of the most important, visually interesting slides out and sticking them on the page like you do here, then provide a link to download the rest as a PDF. Also as I've been sitting here writing this post so far, I've only been able to load two slides... it's pinwheeling on the third. Slide share is just awful, so awful. Jqim posted:The link to a tumblr was the actual submission for a group project. How could i host it effectively myself? Depends on what your goal is with this portfolio. If it's to get a job, you'll want to give folks a reader's digest version. No one is going to take the time to read through that entire tumblr unless you've already sold them on why you and that project are so awesome. From a UX perspective I want to know A) what the problem was, B) your approach to solving it, C) how effective your approach was. I might be able to glean that information from the tumblr, but would I have the time? Probably not. Again, taking a sort of magazine-layout approach like this page wouldn't be bad. Maybe stick a few of those wireframes + sitemaps in there, and then at the end provide a link to the tumblr. Jqim posted:My problem is I hate most of my work, any tips for getting self initiates projects done that are more than just a wallpaper? There are a few ways to start on some self initiated projects – the easiest is to just fabricate some for a fake company. I really like seeing this type of work in a portfolio as it tells me the person is so excited about what they do that they do it in their free time. Coursework just tells me you're doing coursework. You can also try soliciting local businesses or organizations you think need some help, I know a few people in school who were able to land freelance gigs to practice on. Granted you may not get paid much, but it's real world experience.
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May 16, 2013 14:44
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Thanks so much, this is really valuable critique and advice and I appreciate it a hell of a lot. I am just about to start an internship in UX and have been helping to interview the possible replacements for my current (design/artworker) job. Very odd feeling seeing portfolios better than mine with less experience. Also even more odd asking people interview questions I have stumbled on in the past and hearing much better answers than my own. Been asking, phrased differently for different people but effectively: Whats your design process? Wrong answer = to start talking about tools and software Right answer = define the brief and listen to the client What was your worst client like? why? what did you learn? To make sure people have respect and can be professional for even the difficult people How would you persuade a non-believer in your work to see the right design solution? Right Answer = (quickly) Do their idea anyway, show it next to yours and talk through it explain the rational Wrong answer = arguing, being cocky or arrogant
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May 16, 2013 15:48
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Hey designers, if you've done some logo studies for fictitious companies that you want to post on a portfolio, would you just label them as "logo studies" or would you label them, like "Logo for airline" even though prospective clients might see that and think you did a logo for an airline even though you didn't?
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Jun 6, 2013 22:26
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mutata posted:Hey designers, if you've done some logo studies for fictitious companies that you want to post on a portfolio, would you just label them as "logo studies" or would you label them, like "Logo for airline" even though prospective clients might see that and think you did a logo for an airline even though you didn't? Logo studies. Better to be transparent up front, in my experience. There's nothing worse than being in a meeting where someone says, "Oh, so I saw you did X for Y company," and you have to say, "Oh, Y doesn't actually exist..." It looks like a lie, even if it isn't, and it's a horrible way to start a relationship. e: "logo concepts" is another good term. Not sure why but it sounds better to my ears than "studies" kedo fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Jun 7, 2013 |
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Jun 6, 2013 22:34
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kedo posted:Logo studies. Makes total sense, just wanted to see what others have done. Thanks!
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Jun 6, 2013 23:02
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I'm about to start a freelance job for the first time since graduating and I need to do it properly with regards to keeping track of hours and rates. I'd like to at the very least work out a contract with the client but I've really got no idea where to get started with that, are there any resources I could go to?
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Jun 7, 2013 20:41
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kidcoelacanth posted:I'm about to start a freelance job for the first time since graduating and I need to do it properly with regards to keeping track of hours and rates. I'd like to at the very least work out a contract with the client but I've really got no idea where to get started with that, are there any resources I could go to? http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3468091
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Jun 7, 2013 20:54
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Well that'll do it!
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Jun 7, 2013 20:54
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There are a few design sites that have sample contracts you can use, but I'm spacing on them at the moment. However, every single designer in the world should own a copy of the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook. It has pretty much every single thing you'd ever need to know about the business side of design in it. iirc, it also has a sample contract.
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Jun 7, 2013 21:05
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For a foolproof but nice-looking portfolio site, you can't go wrong with http://www.carbonmade.com It's free for up to I think 3 projects, then there's a premium version with more. It's pretty cheap.
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Jun 8, 2013 01:18
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I tossed the PDF version of my portfolio onto issuu.com while I was building my website. I had it in a library next to the project books for my other projects so anyone looking at it could look more in depth at anything they saw in my portfolio. I didn't have my website up and running when I was job searching and got a job with just my Issuu page and Coroflot profile (which I hadn't updated in AGES and didn't link them to but they still found it). I don't work for a traditional design firm though, so YMMV. If you're applying to a huge company that isn't solely a design practice, you'll have much better luck internet stalking their design team on LinkedIn and trying to get in that way rather than calling HR. If you call HR at my company they'll tell you we don't hire designers, which is false since there are 7 of us hiding amongst all the engineers.
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Jun 8, 2013 16:55
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I am going to be starting my teaching career next year teaching high school art at a rural school in the Midwest. I have gotten the awesome opportunity to start an new course in Digital Arts and Graphic design. Software wise we will have access to CS5 on Macs. Our goal for this class is to give students skills that will allow them to get jobs in creative fields and give them a foundation to help them be successful in design programs at the college level. With that being said, I never took any college level graphic design as my emphasis was in K-12 art ed and painting/printmaking. I know my peers that were in graphic design at the time struggled because their classes didn't teach them how to use Photoshop/Illustrator, and they had to teach themselves to be able to do their assignments for class, so it is important that my students get a good handle on those programs. I did learn basic Photoshop and Illustrator about 8 years ago on a pre-CS version of the software so I plan to spend this summer looking into tutorials and brushing up my very rusty Photoshop skills. As of right now I plan on focusing on basic elements and principles of design, color theory, Phototshop/Illustrator basics and how to use all the tools. Then I think we will move on to graphic design and typography and talk about layout, logo design and different types of fonts. I would like to spend some time on digital painting and photography. Just from reading the last few pages I know I need to do a unit on creating an online portfolio and how to make it user friendly and have good design, and talk about web design and maybe teach them some basic coding. For students currently in school and graduates from design programs, what skills do you wish you had learned in high school that would have helped you out in your classes or helped you decide if graphics is for you? What do you wish a teacher helped you prepare to help you get your portfolio ready or college admissions? For goons working in the industry, I want to make sure I am teaching students good habits and giving them real job skills. What bad habits can I stomp out early, and what do you think I should I focus on in the class to give them a good breadth and a good foundation? I would also love any book or website recommendations that I could look into over the summer as I am doing my research and planning. Since I have no formal graphic design background, all my knowledge comes from lurking these threads so I would really like to learn more that I wouldn't have gotten from a general design class.
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Jun 16, 2013 18:38
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I've been reading a few posts here but I kinda need advice in terms of picking a school. So I was offered a free ride to any university of my choice as long as it's a public campus in California (UC/CSU). My issue is that I want to get into an animation program and I was told to look into schools I want to get into (since I've been hankering for animating for a very long time but know nothing but basic techniques). I know none of the UCs offer animation with the exception of UCLA. However, that program is for graduates only, and I've heard horror stories of students going in and out with no connections or work opportunities due to lack of experience and guidance. I know SJSU and CSLB have animation programs as well but I know next to nothing about them connection-wise or if their courses will offer me anything worthwhile. I also don't know any other public California universities that offer the program. I guess I just need help figuring out what I'm supposed to look for when researching their animation programs I guess. Also would like to know if there are courses in the UCs that can generally help me with anything, even if they don't have actual animation stuff. I'm really inexperienced with all of this and the counselors in my CC don't help much at all since they generally think an art degree of any kind is wasteful. I already have transfer credits, so I'm not too worried about needing to take general education classes or any of that. I also have an AA in studio art. Thanks in advanced.
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Jun 17, 2013 09:10
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Ring of Light posted:I am going to be starting my teaching career next year teaching high school art at a rural school in the Midwest. I have gotten the awesome opportunity to start an new course in Digital Arts and Graphic design. Software wise we will have access to CS5 on Macs. Our goal for this class is to give students skills that will allow them to get jobs in creative fields and give them a foundation to help them be successful in design programs at the college level. With that being said, I never took any college level graphic design as my emphasis was in K-12 art ed and painting/printmaking. I know my peers that were in graphic design at the time struggled because their classes didn't teach them how to use Photoshop/Illustrator, and they had to teach themselves to be able to do their assignments for class, so it is important that my students get a good handle on those programs. I did learn basic Photoshop and Illustrator about 8 years ago on a pre-CS version of the software so I plan to spend this summer looking into tutorials and brushing up my very rusty Photoshop skills. Man I just read an amazing blog post about this the other day but now I can't find the link. But basically if you're not teaching these kids about web design / interactive design / whatever you want to call it, you're doing them a horrific, terrible disservice. Every day there are fewer and fewer really great positions that are print-only, but there are more and more web gigs popping up all the time. A basic understanding of usability and code will soon be a minimum requirement for nearly every position. Also, I'd focus way more on theory as opposed to the how to use the Creative Suite. Any idiot can become proficient in CS in a month or so if they're motivated, but it takes a deep understanding of design principles and theory to actually become a great designer. It was disturbing to me how many people in my class graduated with terrible, hideous portfolios full of uninspired, trite work. However they were all able to use the Creative Suite.  To date out of the dozen or so people I still follow up with, two have good jobs (the ones who had a solid grasp of theory), while the rest have crappy and/or non-design jobs. Also software changes. By the time your students graduate from college, Adobe may not be king anymore. Knowledge of CS may only serve them for a few years while a solid grasp of theory will serve them the rest of their lives.Honestly, if they're in high school you should spend the first half of the year off the computer. They have such a long time until they'll actually need to know the Creative Suite that you can put it off for awhile. Teach them typographic theory and basic layout techniques. Make them go buy dry transfer type from your local art store and have them make band posters or something completely by hand. If you plop them down in front of the computer right off the bat, all you're going to get are poorly thought out layouts with lots of unnecessary rendering effects (which is a good habit to stamp out). Printmaking is also an awesome skill for every designer to have, and requires a lot of critical thinking in the conceptual stages (ie. you can't just Ctrl+Z a burned screen if your layout sucks). Then, only after they've learned how to think about design, put them on the computer. If you don't have any design experience yourself, I'd recommend reading up so you can understand all the theory and whatnot yourself ahead of time. The Elements of Typographic Style is a great book, and anything by Edward Tufte is worth reading. I'd also just start consuming design from a designer's perspective. Read Brand New to learn what makes a good and bad brand. Grain Edit is great for modern and vintage inspiration. </soap box> kedo fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Jun 17, 2013 |
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Jun 17, 2013 15:47
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kedo posted:
Don't worry about the soapbox because it's what I wanted to hear. I had never considered how printmaking could really help them with their design skills since I was so stuck on it being a tech based class. Now I want to get them going on some screenprinting and drawing things out by hand so thanks for the perspective. One of my goals as a teacher is to tell my students that their work sucks My high school teacher was not afraid to say this has a too shallow idea/bad craftsmanship/bad composition/no use of the elements/principles etc, and tell us to keep working on it. Sometimes I hated it when I was really attached to what I was making, but she was always right. When I was teaching jewelry and ceramics last year, I made students spend way more time in the planning stage than the making stage, and that is something I definitely want to keep going in this class. I think spending some time at the beginning talking about copyright would be time well spent. High School students just have trouble getting past the I drew it so it isn't plagiarized mindset. Those book recs look great and I will check those out this summer. I have been starting to just look at graphic stuff on Pinterest and just think critically about what I like and don't like and why, and I am considering having students do the same to just get them looking at lots of stuff. I also need to go back a few pages and bookmark the coding resources that someone posted. Is there theory that is specific for web (like these colors look like poo poo on a screen) or is good design on paper good design on a website? I would love to hear what blogs you follow also.
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Jun 17, 2013 21:04
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Ring of Light posted:One of my goals as a teacher is to tell my students that their work sucks That's great. I think that's probably part of the reason why so many people in my class graduated with lovely portfolios... everyone would treat them with kid gloves even if their work was atrocious (except me because I have eyes). Your kids might have a long time before they have to face the harsh realities of designing in the real world, but better to ease them into the critique process sooner rather than later. Ring of Light posted:Is there theory that is specific for web (like these colors look like poo poo on a screen) or is good design on paper good design on a website? Usability is key for all design, though with the web it's sort of the cornerstone of good design. If someone can't use the pretty thing you created, then your pretty thing is quite literally useless. But a lot of the same rules apply. Good typography, hierarchy, clear calls to action, etc. are all extremely important. I'm not sure of a good article that provides a primer to what's good vs. bad web design, unfortunately, or else I'd send you one. I'll keep an eye out. Fake edit: Actually, if you were to do the Aesthetic Foundations and UX Foundations videos on this page on Treehouse (which is a fantastic resource for newbie web designers/developers, by the way), it'd probably give you a good general overview. Ring of Light posted:I would love to hear what blogs you follow also. I mostly follow inspirational or very technical blogs, which may or may not be helpful for you. But here are a few things: Non-blogs The Vignelli Cannon - Vignelli is kind of the grandfather of good design in the US Web Design & Development megathread - Lots of good info, but very specific to web. The "Design Principles and Theory" section might be good for you! Blogs A List Apart - Web specific, pretty technical Styleboost - Web design inspiration
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Jun 18, 2013 14:53
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Thanks so much for helping me out, and I will look into all of these resources. I am hopeful I will have some really great student work to show you guys soon.
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Jun 18, 2013 21:28
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