MY IN YOUR FACE DESIGN STUDIO

I talk about having a design studio, but very few people ever get a chance to make it to the studio to see where I do my creating. I just uploaded images of the design studio to Flickr. I'd like to say it's not always so messy, but it's how I work (organized chaos).

The images feature my collection of vinyl toys, art on the walls, book binding equipment, and my large library of design books.

Check out the tape-Doll, and cloth monster doll I purchased from students in our Design and Sculpture programs.

-Daniel

FREE TEXTURES

This is a quick posting to let students know about this site I just came across.

TEXTURE KING

Texture King has a huge number of free high-quality textures to select from, and they are all categorized for easy navigation and search.

Check the site out and start designing.

-Daniel

STUDENT PROFILE 2: DANIELLE BLIXT

At the beginning of this current semester I decided to introduce CrowdSpring.com to my Art-32 Typography students. None of my students had used the site before, so it was a new and exciting entry into the design industry and the use of speculative design projects.

Daniel Blixt, a second-semester student in our design program here at Butte is currently enrolled in the Typography class. After designing and uploading the first project the class was introduced to, Danielle dived into CrowdSpring and has participated in almost 30 projects to date. Out of those 30 projects, Danielle has won two project awards, each worth $300. Danielle says she spends three to four hours a day working on CrowdSpring submissions.

Before attending Butte and entering into our design program, Danielle attended Purdue University and took several design classes, including 3D Design, an AutoCAD class, and a 2D design class. Last semester, Danielle took associate design instructor, Dylan Tellesen's Art 31 Intro to Graphic Design class here at Butte.

Danielle's educational goal is to finish up at Butte and then head Cal Poly and enter the schools design program to continue studying. Her design goal is to become a logo designer, and if the paying client's on CrowdSpring are any indication, she's already on her way.

WHAT IS CROWDSPRING?
CrowdSpring is Web site that offers clients the opportunity to add a project to the site (usually logos, identity, brochures, or Web page designs). The clients offer a fee for the projects based on what they want to pay. The minimum fee is $250, and most clients offer the $250-$300 for basic logos, though more $1,000 to $2,500 projects are beginning to appear on the site.

Once the project is uploaded, the client selects from the 25+ designs that have been uploaded and must choose a design, or CrowdSpring chooses for them. The clients place the funds they set as the fee into an escrow account, so that CrowdSpring can guarantee payment to a designer.

DESIGNING ON SPEC
Sites like CrowdSpring are popping up across the Internet, and they are garnering as much bad press as they are good press. The good press is that designers are making money and client's are getting decent and sometime really great designs for cheap prices.

The bad press is that one designer out of 30 or 100 makes money, but they all design a project, speculating that they might win (hence the term designing on "spec"). The bad press continues with the idea that clients are getting a project designed for very little money.

Many designers are against designing on spec because of the amount of work that goes into any design project, and the idea that a client doesn't have to pay for the work unless they like it. Designers also feel that sites like CrowdSpring can take away from the credibility of a designer's skills, and diminish the value of design, when design is opened up to amateur designers (such as students), who win design projects.

My take is that CrowdSpring and others like it open up a fantastic opportunity for upcoming designers and students to begin building portfolios and make some money from clients who would probably never hire a professional designer.

There is good and bad about these kinds of site, but seeing how excited my students get about the idea of being able to compete and possibly win a project, helps me to focus on the good that these sites can offer.

Let me know your thoughts about this subject.

-Daniel

One Trick Pony

Greetings all. As I'm sure most of you know by now I am a new student at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I attended Butte College for 2 years before moving on to further my design career. There was a time when I held the idea of a design career as impossible, and something that really wouldn't amount to much as far as making a living. I was wrong.

During my first year out at Butte my eyes were opened to new possibilities in a field that is constantly growing. But how can you possibly keep up with an industry that has built up so much momentum? Really the answer is simple. Be as diverse as possible. Think about it, how much are you worth as a designer or as an employee if all you know how to do is graphic design and nothing else? As a designer you shouldn't stop at labeling yourself as any one thing, be more flexible. Skill diversity is one thing that is constantly preached here at AAU.

I was recently told of a student that got a job at Yahoo! some years ago. With the country's recent economic crisis the internet giant started making lay offs in the thousands, this particular designer was called in to bring his position amongst a team of 20 or so designers into question. His job was spared the first round of lay offs because he knew more than just graphic design, part of his curriculum upon graduating included motion graphics. During the second round they pitted him against several others who were motion graphic designers, he was spared once again because he was also well versed in 3d modeling and video editing. And so it all continued through 4 more rounds of lay offs, and to my knowledge he still remains at Yahoo! today. Being a multidisciplinary designer can lead you into more opportunities, makes you a more valuable individual, and can even raise your pay grade a few figures. But not all of us are in it for the money ;)

So, keep that in mind when you are choosing your classes. Maybe try everything out as long as your schedule permits, or take an online course and get certified; for those of you who haven't checked out some of the learning sites out there such as lynda.com, take advantage of them in your spare time, some of the Butte MSP courses have a membership there and you can surf it during your lab time.

Here is another blog that goes over this subject in a little more detail:

http://www.creativebehavior.com/index.php?PID=170

Thanks, and stay tuned.

URBAN ART: SHEPARD FAIREY

There's a chance you may not know Shepard Fairey's name, but unless you've been without a TV or any kind of news in the last few months, you'll recognize his art shown at right.

Fairey's iconic image of President Barack Obama has been shown on newscasts, plastered on walls and telephone polls across the nation, and featured on magazine covers such as TIME and Esquire. Just last week, an original of the Obama HOPE image was also selected into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian. 

Two months ago while I was in LA, I came across an original Obama poster that had been stapled to a telephone pole in Silver Lake. I didn't want to pull down the poster with a lot of people around, so I awoke at 4 a.m. and drove back to the place where I'd seen the poster. When I went to take down the poster, I saw that the bottom of the poster (and every other other poster on the block) had been ripped off. Unlike the "HOPE" image above, the poster on the pole was the "OBEY" Obama poster. I can only assume that the individual who tore off the OBEY on the poster, thought that OBEY was referring to something derogatory, and didn't know that OBEY is actually Shepard Fairey's tag that he has become known for in the urban art world.

I took the image anyway and have it hanging in my design studio office. It reminds me of the campaign, the hope that a lot of people are looking toward for the future, and it is a reminder that not everyone who comes into contact with your art will understand or agree with it.

CHARACTER APPROVED

Check out this great video of Shepard Fairey explaining his art and processes.

Other urban artists and sites you should check out:

WK Interact (NY street artist)

Wooster Street Collective (Street art collective in NY)

100 Artworks (urban art from the UK or sale)

Art Crimes (Best of Graffiti art sites)

Have fun.

-Daniel