DESIGNING INTO THE NEW YEAR

It's just a few days before the New Year, and as I sit here surfing from site-to-site and seeing all of the amazing designers and design sites I keep coming across and bookmarking on my DELICIOUS, I wonder how many of our students and faculty are designing during the break?

During that first week back to school every semester, I ask students how many designed something, or who played with design software during the break, and the number of hands raised is sad. Usually, it's only one out of ten or less that actually did something design-oriented during their off-time.

I hear from so many of our students that they want to be designers, illustrators, photographers or multimedia producers, but many of them are caught-up in the get-rich-quick, reality-TV, dot-com millionaire concept of making it big fast, without having to work hard and build their way to becoming great designers. Let me tell you now, it's not going to happen. The way you become a great designer is by working your butt off and learning how to manage a business and people, by putting yourself in the right place at the right time, and by looking at design and making it happen every day.

So, start now and create something. Design today and tomorrow, and the next day. Don't stop until school starts again, and even then, keep up your own projects while doing school work!

For anyone checking this blog during the break, here's an assignment for you, go to CROWDSPRING, sign-up for free, and take on a project and upload it to the site. Begin building your portfolio now, so you have some content when you graduate.

Here's a site for a design firm that all design students and design faculty should know about: PENTAGRAM. If you haven't browsed the firm's work, then take the time now to do so. I also suggest you head over to the HILLMAN CURTIS Web site and view his short interviews with Pentagram and other well-known designers. Be sure to view the Philip Glass, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, David Carson and Pentagram videos

Here are a few links that I think are worth looking at:

Design is Kinky (not what you think)

Wooster Collective (street art)

Imaginary Friends Studios

View the three links above and then let me know what you think about them.

-Daniel