ArtBistro

h2. Being original This is a continuation of my previous column in which I looked at our need to be different as a condition of "considering ourselves creative.":"http://artbistro.monster.com/education/articles/7380-how-to-be-original" In it I shared an example of a Bielenberg-inspired “think wrong” technique for uncovering new and authentic ideas. Of course, there is no single method for generating new, interesting and relevant ideas, but ...

Pack that Portfolio When we get ready to graduate from those long days of design school, it's time to think about our portfolios. What do we include in there? What kinds of work should we show? Do we just throw every project in it? I have a few thoughts on this and want to share them with you. h4. The Best ...

I think I've pulled my first ever all nighter in college, the all nighter where I stayed up til 6am, napped for an hour or so, then got ready for another class. Doing that just totally messed up my sleeping schedule, which is why I'm blogging in this at approximately 1:30am. I have 2 more weeks of school left and it ...

I was looking through some of my old textbooks that I used at the onset of the new Millenium and had a chuckle on how old and outdated much of the information already is. We've come a long way in the areas of the Internet. We've also had many changes in the software and other applications in how we design. h2. ...

Those of us in the graphic design profession often get a call to design a logo. Sometimes it's a first-time logo for an organization that's never had one before. Sometimes it's a redesign for an old logo that's been around for a long time. Many clients, and sometimes we designers, don't really know the difference between a logo and a brand. ...

Now don't take that PostSecret image the wrong way. I haven't been depressed, I just have been stuck in a rut. Been caught drowning myself in life's difficulties and not finding the strength to leap over those obstacles. It really does plug up the outlets where my creative juices flow out onto the piece of paper for a couple of days, ...

This is the time of year when students of all types have winter break. It's a nice and well-deserved reprieve from the papers, projects, and other studies of the school year. I haven't been a student in a while, but I still remember the anticipation for the break and the relief when it finally came. During the time off, it is ...

About school, school will forever keep me busy, and I like that. I put school first more than anything or anybody. I put art first, so yeah, I've been slacking in my Geometry class, but I'm back on ground with it. The projects in my art class are just more important to me because they are the building blocks of my ...

We all know that the business environment is tough right now. Consumers aren't spending money, and our clients aren't either. We may have some ongoing services we're providing, like site maintenance, but what can we do to keep some business coming in and save ourselves some income - and worry lines? h2. Be Grateful for What You've Got In these times, ...

The majority of us have done it already - gone through school to obtain some sort of design or art degree. The grueling days of classes, projects, and tests are over. We're out in the work world and, hopefully, have a job that we like. In school, we've been trained on the latest design software applications and feel pretty proficient in ...

We see everyday how ethics come into play in big business and politics. Usually there seems to be none, but ethics do exist just the same. Of course, there are personal ethics that most of us have as well, and those are a personal choice. But, what about those grey areas of design ethics? How do we make sure we're practicing ...

The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity. - Thomas Carlyle h4. Being original As designers, we are constantly tasked with being novel, unique, original and new. This expectation places a tremendous burden on us — a burden that becomes even greater when we consider the familiar admonition, “Everything has been done before.” As I teach and as I ...

Many times, in our designing lives, we come across making the decision about the typeface(s) we need to use to put our copy to effective use. Sometimes this entails using a simple, tried-and-true serif face. Other times, we need to use a sans serif. Still, there are those times when only a display face will do - especially for headlines. With ...

Storytelling As far as I’m concerned, all design is storytelling. Brochures and books tell stories in a very familiar way; they have covers, chapters and pages. Posters tell stories in three acts (act one from afar, act two as you approach, act three up close), even logos tell succinct moral tales. Thinking of design as an act of storytelling may help ...

As I've been out in the design world more, I receive a lot of "Call for Entries" postcards and email messages for various design competitions. They come from design magazines, most of the time, but they also come from professional organizations looking to showcase some current work from their memberships. The CFEs from the magazines, usually for their Design Annuals, are ...

In part one of this feature I highlighted a few of the more obvious things you can do as a student to help enhance your chances for success — showing up, sowing your work, taking notes, and being an active participant. Here are a few less intuitive recommendations to round out that advice: h4. Be courageous I have great admiration for ...

A Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art is a professional degree that will prepare you to sell you work in galleries, graduate school or a variety of art related careers. The first year of your program will give you a foundation of visual art skills such as drawing, sculpture, color, and composition. In the second year you will typically explore different ...

A Bachelor's of Fine Arts in new media /animation is a professional degree that will prepare you to work as web site designer and animator. The first year of your program will give you a foundation of visual art skills such as life drawing, 3-dimensional design, color, composition, and some computer aided design. In the second year you will typically explore ...

A Bachelor's of Fine Arts in interior design is a professional degree that will prepare you to work as a designer in an architecture firm, interior design firm or to start your own interior design business. The first year of your program will give you a foundation of visual art skills such as spacial drawing, 3-dimensional design, color, composition, and some ...

A Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design is a professional degree that will prepare you for the professional workplace of a designer. The first year of your program will give you a foundation of visual art skills such as drawing, 3-dimensional design, color, composition, and some computer aided design. In the second year you will typically explore different types of ...