On Grids and Other Nerdy Design Things
So we had this group presentation in Theory. On the Grid.
- Group presentations in a lecture class, are you out of your mind?
- I have to sit through 11 presentations on designing on a grid? You're trying to kill me, aren't you, snarky Chris Cubed.
- I have three professors this term. They're all named Chris. It's like the Michael of England or something.
And thank Jesus he included that little bit that we're not limited to the 2D. Cause I don't think a single group did a presentation on a poster, thank god. We needed one example of an innovative use of a grid, and one example of an ineffectual use of a grid. After I wrangled myself into a group. Gosh, I'm just growing up so fast and not throwing tantrums in uncomfortable situations anymore. Except for last night, when my Brookstone power adapter stopped accepting plugs. There are these little doors over the outlet and now all of a sudden they're locked down like some kind of a chastity belt AND IT WAS VERY STRESSFUL.
I found a group. We chose our examples:
- Innovative: Lattice pies.
- Ineffective: Windows 8.
And apparently pissed off A LOT of Windows owners. This is like a whole new world. I thought I was the only graphic designer on the planet insane (unwilling to spend the money on a Macbook) enough to use a Windows machine. Well, no. Cause everyone and her mother thinks Metro is beautiful and customize-able and AWESOME. I don't even like Apple and I know that OSX is better. OPEN YOUR EYES.
As for the lattice pies bit of our presentation? That only got a half-hearted chuckle. C'mon, we're in a design class, people and we chose to do our assignment about pie. We're hysterical, why don't you see that?
But in other news, like projects that actually matter, I'm still working on this self brand thing. I was going for a spin-off of the Silent C in my last name, since I might as well be listed on my birth certificate as Jessica Griscti The C Is Silent for the amount of times I've uttered that phrase. But Chris Squared said no one was going to get it if I called myself The C Is Silent. Fair point.
So, then Eric suggested I call myself !
And I kind of loved it. ! Like, you'd just have the receptionist make a noise when she answered the phone. "Hello?" "Yes, this is <SQUACK>. How can I direct your call?"
But the learning curve on that one would have been a little high, people'd just end up calling me Exclamation Point/Mark, and really, you've met me. I'm so much more than that.
Ergo, Character.
Character is perfect. I can't believe it took me so long to find it.
- It has a silent letter. (H)
- It starts with a C.
- It means letter.
- It means character, like a storybook character. (And I'm a writer in addition to being a designer (two words that also coincidentally have silent letters).
- It also means that I have character, I have integrity, which you know me, is true.
- It's an awesome name for a type foundry / custom lettering studio.
- I came up with it all on my own.
But we haven't had a single crit yet. You have to pluck one of the tutors from the wind as they rush by to one of the other 64 students in the class. And there are no desks, we work hunched over in plastic chairs like animals. so we grabbed some legs on Wednesday, and what used to be old doors and the men built us tables. Suddenly, the room was awash in collaboration. It's so much easier to ask your fellow's opinion when you're staring her in the eye all day while you're drawing a large spencerian C you then have to digitize in Illustrator.
Seriously, stop trying to pen tool on your trackpad and buy yourself a mouse, hmm?
And do I hear you talking about daFont as a legitimate site to find actual typefaces on? Is that you in the corner? You need to be hit over the head with a saucepan. daFont is for children and baboons. Hold my hands, say it with me: Lost Type Co.
No but seriously. I want to see everyone's work. How else am I supposed to know how I'm doing when I'm working in this godawful vacuum?
We did have an interesting chat during group work time on Tuesday, though. Apparently this mediocre, sit in the studio for 6 hours in order to chat with a tutor for fifteen minutes thing isn't normally how things are done here. And the UAL students are just as disappointed as I am. So, here's to hoping our deathly ill tutor makes a full recovery, because it's not like we've got heaps of time lying around to turn this semester on it's head. I'm supposed to be done with classes in a month and a half. With somewhere between 14 and 16 credits, my god. It's like getting away with murder. 4 classes, 16 credits.
But I'm concerned now. We have our first crit on Monday, and I've got to find a gimmick, a bunch of self promotional ephemera I could sell to the general public, and I had this idea about calligraphy and character's names and defacing old books with ink stains and making prints or notebooks or greeting cards, only Photoshop is not being helpful tonight, and I don't have a scanner. And my brain has gone into hibernation with the lack of work stimulation.
AND H&FJ IS DOING AN AIGA TALK AT PARSONS WHILE I AM IN LONDON AND EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT IS JUST HEAPS OF UNFAIR.
Stray observations:
- Everything about the New York subway system theoretically sucks. In reality, it's the easiest thing in the world. It only goes north and south in the places that matter, and every station is on the same street. STOP SAYING IT'S CONFUSING. I LOVE IT AND YOU WILL NEVER MAKE ME CHANGE MY MIND. Also, we need CityMapper in NYC like yesterday.
- In order to find the good British food, you need to hang out with real life British people. Seriously, those caramel biscuits were bomb-ass.
- I will never be as funny as a real life British person. They are all so clever.
- I've since located Parmesan outside of the Piccadilly Circus Whole Foods.
