cobusier stencil is my type! I’ve never heard of it before, but it looks awesome! Find out what type you are
http://pentagram.com/what-type-are-you/

http://www.t-post.se/index.php

t-post: the magazine that comes with a t-shirt for every issue. SO COOL!

I like the type on this video http://vimeo.com/12079648

calculator words
http://www.langmaker.com/calculatorwords.htm

I knoes! I will ask for people’s perceptions of their majors, and how they think other’s percieve it. then make a poster. yes

http://www.printeresting.org/2010/05/25/straight-to-take/

printing posters for people to take. I’ve had this idea for a while, and it makes me a bit sad that someone has already done it. This will motivate me to do it myself, perhaps I will print all of the posters over the summer, then slowly put them up around the school

http://uselessfliers.tumblr.com/
http://www.keepcalmgallery.com/new/dwamp-ampersand_id_chart.htm?browse=1

awesome movie posters
http://thedailywh.at/post/491419304/movie-poster-s-of-the-day-hexagonall-of-tron

neat grafitti design
http://vimeo.com/10555187

Kevin, Ireland, and Pervy Old Dudes

Kevin made it into London this past Saturday!  Hooray!  I went and picked him up from Heathrow with no problem and brought him and his stuff to my room so he could sleep while I went and finished what was left of my Silversmithing shortcourse!

Early sunday we hopped a plane to Dublin, and when we arrived it was beautiful!  The sun was shining, and the weather was warm (San Diego weather!).  The mix of blue skies and old architecture was cool to look at.

Our hotel was fantastic; we stayed at the Hampton Hotel in the embassy district, and as soon as we stepped inside, it felt like we had falled down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland.  The wallpaper was all curvy and consisted of pinks, purples, and black.  Our room was even BETTER, with a large flatscreen tv, heated bathroom floors and towel racks, and a huge fake fireplace (my personal favorite) that had realistic looking flames and everything! 

More to come…

math and design? My head hurts:
http://ministryoftype.co.uk/words/article/guilloches/

LMU/CSM comparison

Yesterday I bought cereal as I had run out, and today I bought milk.  Just realized that I hadn’t eaten a proper breakfast for the last week.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d still eat, but it’d be digestives (strangely yummy) or a crossant at a convenience store. 

This also helped me realize something else: I completely devoted myself to creating artwork through my time at Central Saint Martins.  This is something that hasn’t really happened at LMU.  Again, don’t get me wrong, I do work hard.  But I force myself to work hard.  This hard-working does not come naturally to be in terms of my business undergraduate degree.  I just don’t enjoy it… I don’t get the same satisfaction out of balancing accounts as I do with finishing a silkscreened poster.

Not only that, but I’ve seen this forced effort in my design efforts for classes at LMU.  I’m not sure what it is that separates the design program at LMU and CSM as they are so different.  CSM has SO MANY resources available to it’s students (letterpress, professional quality silkscreening materials, etching, textiles, plastics workshops… and these are just the ones that LMU doesn’t offer, they have many more facilities).  Not only that, but the people that go there are MOTIVATED to do well.  It’s such a creative environment, inspiration is everywhere.  LMU seems stagnant in comparison.

All in all, there’s two things I’m curious about:

1) what will it be like to be back at LMU in creative classes?  Will my CSM drive carry over?

2) hey parents, can I get my masters in London?

My semester abroad is officially OVER!!!

I can’t believe it!  It seems like it’s been so long and so short all at the same time.

These past few days, I’ve been preparing and practicing for my final presentation (and sacrificing sleep).  Its paid off, big time.

The day before my presentation, I furiously printed the last of the posters for my portfolio (this poster was a small, 1 color poster done in the style of wild west postings and medicine show adverts.  It was advertising “M. SWEET’S MIRACLE HAPPINESS ELIXIR” and looked really cool.  Kevin gave artistic input/suggestions).  Once some were dry, I started to hang them up for the benefit of the two professors that would be giving me my term grade.  I walked around the building, hanging some up in high-traffic areas.  3 minutes later, I would return to see that some were already gone.  Intrigued as to who would take them down, I asked some students who the culprits were.  They said that other students had taken them down.  At first I was upset, then I realized that stolen posters was the best compliment of my work.

I asked another professor about it, and he said:

posters advertising events at Central Saint Martins are rarely designed well.  The goal is to design a poster that is so beautiful, that students will take them to keep before the advertised event even takes place.  It is the ultimate compliment

With that in mind, I was stoked.  Things were looking good!  I spent most of my day at school, staying until 8 PM cutting my larger posters to a uniform size.  Then I went home to continue to work on my presentation notes.

I woke up early this morning to practice and finish my notes.  For the final presentation, they recommend that students arrive early to avoid being late.  Tardiness, even by 5 minutes, results in a capping of your final grade at 40%.  That means you can’t get any higher than that.  They’ve VERY SERIOUS about being timely.

So after practicing and getting ready (I wore a new dress and thick tights), I left my dorm at around 2:40.  My final presentation was at 3:40.  No big deal, takes about 15 minutes to walk to the bus stop, and 15 minutes on the bus to get to school.  Got it.

Walk to the station to see that I JUST missed the bus.  It’s alright, no big deal.  Another comes along and I hop on.  But then, halfway to school, the bus STOPS at a station.  A voice comes on, saying that the bus will be idle until it’s back on schedule… I guess it was a bit early, BUT STILL.  The one day I need to get there in a hurry, go figure.

5 minutes later we’re off again, and I make it into school in time to pick up something from the printer, print out my notes, and pick up my silkscreened work to be in front of my scheduled room 10 minutes before go time.  PHEW.

After a student finishes their presentation, I’m asked to come inside, set up my work, and get ready.  I make small talk with the two professors doing my review, and proceed to do a series of hops and jumps to help get all of my energy and nervousness out.  Both professors start laughing and say “you’re so american!”  How is hopping around strictly American?  Nevertheless, they claimed to have meant it in an affectionate way, and I started my presentation.  Pretty much flawless!

At the end, they took turns asking me questions “Why is all of your work so personal?  Would you be able to adapt these to commercial work?  What was your theory behind this?” etc.  I answered all of the questions with enthusiasm and excitement, and they could tell that I cared deeply for each of my projects.  I am very proud of them, and they could see it.  They then shooed me outside to investigate my work and privately assign me a final grade.

10 minutes later, they call me back inside.  What happened next blew me away:

Do you have any extras of these two posters?  We would both like to buy a copy of these two, not only to hang in our homes, but to save within the CSM archives

Um… wait WHAT?!?!?!  Really?  Uh, yeah of course I have extras!  HOW EXCITING AIEEEEEE!  The two posters requested was 1) To the Future, which I made for Kevin as a V-day gift, and 2) the Miracle Happiness Elixir poster.  The first has already been inducted into the CSM archives, but they wanted to add the second as well.  Just to clarify, I’ve been at CSM for less than 3 months, and I have been asked to submit 2 posters to be cataloged along with work that currently hangs in the Tate and museums all over the world.  Some people are never asked to submit work, and I’ve been asked TWICE!  AND they want to buy a copy for themselves.  Wow.  I suppose my presentation went well : )

Upon returning back to my dorm, I asked one of my British room mates about the UK grading scale.  There’s 3 levels: passing, merit, and distinction, with passing being the most common and distinction extremely rare.  It’s considered a tremendous honor to receive a grade with distinction… I may just be riding a wave of shocked bliss, but I’ve got a feeling that some sort of extra awesomeness is heading my way.  Nevertheless, no matter what I get, I’m still stoked over the fact that I had this oportunity to study abroad in such an amazing institution.  Now I’m waiting until saturday, when I pick up KEVIN!!!