Another day, another deadline dealt with. My thoughts for this segment of classes? Drop or reschedule something. I feel like with the 3 major projects in that short time frame, my mind was not fully in anything, just rushing rushing rushing! I'm leaning towards adjusting the number of reflexive writing assignments to 2, allowing more time to work on each part, and of course requiring more work. I really do feel that would decrease the pressure immensely, and also simultaneously increase the quality on the group presentations and the professional presentation, in addition to the quality of the reflexive writing assignments itself. But I finally finished everything, so that's a relief. ...uhh, that's...all I have to say this time! See you in a weeeekkk, mind fleek.
Many times when a small business becomes large, I’ve noticed that they pride themselves on remaining not only close knit, but quirky and somewhat unorganized. I can see the appeal. After all, who would pick Walmart over a funky little shop with some sort of punny name? Or Outback over their favorite little hole in the wall café? Who? …me. I love big businesses. I love the knowledge that what I’m getting is the industry standard for that item; if I drive to the next store, they’ll have basically the same thing. Standing out for the sake of standing out bothers me. If your store is meant to be unique, it will happen. Forcing creativity and uniqueness cheapens it. If your “creative” and “laidback” organizational system gets in the way of progress, you should change it, even if it means [gasp!] doing what others are doing. Sometimes something is considered the norm because it works. It works well. A store that sells nails is still a store that sells nails, whether it’s called “Nail Store” or “Naily Daily!”, whether it’s logo is (surprise) a nail, or some cute ironic cartoon of a nail. And at the end of the day, which one is going to do well? Who knows. Maybe it’ll be Naily Daily due to their fabulous customer service. Or maybe it’ll be Nail Store because people just want to buy nails without dealing with awkwardly adorable cashiers making jokes about nails in order to provide a unique experience. I’m not knocking on innovation in presentation. I am aware that people demand a business to have an image now, it's how the world is changing. I’m just saying that "down to earth" doesn't have to mean "unorganized". Be classy. Don’t let your style get in your way; it's meant to work FOR you, not against you. Be conscious of the expectations of people and how your product/company/image stands in relation to it.
One thing I’m trying to include a lot of with your daily serving of college kid whining is lots of pretty pictures that (in my opinion) help to establish a mood for each entry, or otherwise provide some visual aid. If you’re wondering- each and every image on here will always be made or drawn by yours truly. Why? Because of my crippling and totally unreasonable paranoia that someone, somewhere, READING THIS BLOG AT THIS EXACT MOMENT is waiting for me to use something in a totally harmless way and then POUNCE AND SUE ME. And well…I don’t want that. I need that money so I can waste it on chocolate puffs at the ice cream and chocolate shop not far enough away from here. So, unless it illustrates some point far better than I can with my box of crayons, I shall continue to only use my images until I have a lawyer that does all the copyright stuff for me. I could use my creepily lawyer-like dad, but I feel weird about that… “Hey, Dad, um…can you tell me if I’m violating copyright law?!” “…uhh…I…I’m busy [playing Collapse on MSNGames]” “DAD PLEASE IT’S IMPORTANT [shoves sheaf of papers at him]” “GO TO YOUR ROOM” “…BUT THAT’S DOWN IN SARASOTA! DAAADDD!” “GO! GO AWAY!” [struggle] (By the way, if this seems unsettlingly violent to you, then you can relax- we get paid to do this. …Wait, wrong answer. I mean, we do this all the time. Gratuitous martial arts fantasy violence is my family’s way of showing our bond. You should see when my bro and I go at it- it kind of looks like the following video)
Uhh, my point is, I like seeing my own pictures above my own words above my own name. I am all about total self-sufficiency.
(By the way, I might do a post on what they're doing in that video- parkour/free running. It's just one more unusual career goal of my brother's and mine)
I'm dyyiiinnggg. This stylebook project is heavy. Very heavy. This whole couple WEEKS has been heavy. Not exactly sure why everything decides to happen at once- when it rains it pours I guess! Just a short plea for the next semester this class is taught- maybe split up the work/due dates for the reflexive assignment and the professional presentation of self. Even if you've got a good time management schedule going on, it's really distracting from each if they're happening simultaneously. I personally feel like the professional presentation of self could take the place of one of the reflexive writing assignments, but that's just my opinion. Now, back to work!
(THIS. IS. LONG.) As you may or may not notice, I don’t use my real name on the internet very often (If you haven’t noticed, maybe you should pay more attention, this stuff is deep). I use a pseudonym, Desude Lashada, to refer to myself on this blog, as well as most public galleries and sites that require a nickname. I even use it occasionally when I’m feeling the need to be especially mysterious or subversive when ordering computer parts or candy online. My family seems indifferent, so why not? In fact, my mom actually does the same thing (I like to think I thought of it first). So where did this name come from? Let’s rewind the video back to about- oh say…6 years ago. I was about 13 years old, in 6th grade. At this point I’m the type of kid who is constantly trying to be “weird”: blue jeans with a black floor length jacket, red, purple, and blonde streaks in my hair, annoyingly brooding and chubby. I was in a little gang of 3 girls who were best friends. We had a lot of fun, and the best thing about friends in middle school is that you are constantly with them, bumming on their couch or eating ramen noodles and soda. We would be friends forever, until the backstabbing, gossiping, and insults meant to rip from the roots caused a major fissure and changed one of the us for the rest of her life. But that’s another post. So, my friends and I are in a little group. We have countless nicknames, usually borrowed from tv shows or books. At some point I come up with the idea that we needed original names: something easy to remember, but totally unique to each of us. So I picked out 3 letters in each of our names, and mine ended up S D E…and turned into Des. Which turned into Desdemona Von Pinacoladarita Von Armada III, and then shortened into Desu, which finally turned into the very nice, even sounding DESUDE. Dezooday. I love saying it, I love hearing it, I love being it. Desude is my best friend, my shield, and my sword. I can do anything with that name. People love Desude, she’s talented, confident, and knows how to conduct herself in whatever affairs she can get herself into. And, that name is mine. It’s something I made. It’s as much a piece of art, a piece of my portfolio, as that picture up there. Desude is the public identity, I am the normal one. Desude will do great things, and I will profit from it. (…does this sound creepy to you? It does to me) When I’m my original name (my real name, from my parents), I have to follow the rules of the world that name was born in. If I make a mistake, or screw up, it STAYS with me. Maybe the edgy Desude doesn’t mind, but cautious “me” minds. A lot. Easily googled, my mistakes can cost me a job, a scholarship, or a friendship, although going that far is unlikely. But it’s a possibility. I used to want to work for the CIA really badly when I was younger. My dad warned me that if I really wanted to do that, I needed to have the cleanest record ever (He was in the Air Force, in the intelligence sector) They would ask my childhood friends about me, my teachers, the mail dude, everyone. I became dead set on never tarnishing my name. This paranoia never really faded after I decided I wanted to open my own company. What if I suddenly wanted to work for the CIA? I couldn’t with that overdraft fee hanging over my head!! (Ok, I’m exaggerating. A little.) So I’ve protected my real name with the ferocity of a thousand ducks. Uh…in case I want to work..for…the …CIA? Ok let’s look at the big picture: I don’t want anything “unprofessional” or unfortunately worded casual statements I made somewhere on the internet connected to my real name. Sometimes I think about changing my name to Desude Lashada. But then I realize I much prefer the comfortable dichotomy of two names. Make Believe and Reality. Art and …Business! And of course, it serves a practical purpose too. Protection from creeps. If you are established on the internet, someone will stalk you at some point. It also serves to separate my younger self with the me I will become. It gives me a chance to throwaway Desude if I want to.
Well, my Professional Presentation of Self is well underway! …sort of. Ok, I’m still working on the cover design. It’s a start. I’ll probably have about half of it done later tonight, my main concern is my indecision about how I’ll approach the form this stylebook is going to take. Prepare for some more boring indecisive rambling about how I’m gonna do this (I PROMISE TO STOP). Let me straighten out my extremely professional crumpled piece of notebook paper, and talk about the possibilities until I end up arguing with myself about what I really want to do. Option A: AKA “The Original” Just a really nice, expensive coffee table book. PROS: ….mmm glossy pages I kind of think once you have a coffee table book it means you are immediately more impressive and pretentious (wow, is this really a pro?) CONS: Exactly the kind of crap no one cares about. The whole “expensive” part, my budget is…$-10. Boringgggg Boorrrrinngngngjsdfkdfj
Option B: Cards shaped like magnolia petals, possibly on a ring or circle thing (I hate the word “grommet” really bad, sounds like “vomit” and “grouch”), then when you fan them out, it looks like a magnolia or lotus blossom (my personal insignia) PROS: Portable Able to have better quality materials because each “page” is smaller Cool looking, good if I ever manage to make the magnolia icon official. CONS: Admittedly, a bit impractical in the context of this assignment. It’s TOO portable, too cute, too easy to lose. Not sure how those little metal circle things work. Do I need a machine?
Option C: A petal/leaf shaped envelope with the leaf shaped pages sitting inside. PROS: Cool, without being unnecessarily super unusual (“LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME”) Self contained Portable CONS: Not sure if I like the envelope concept.
Option D: A folder with loose papers inside. Might be a trifold, shaped so that when it’s closed, a “crown” of three points resembles a simplified magnolia blossom. PROS: Simple, unassuming, but still cool Professional Easy to produce
CONS: …I like this one. No cons for now.
Option E: A simplified book, kind of like a greeting card, with horizontal orientation, bound by either book tape or ribbon (because it’s pretty!) PROS: Easy to understand Fairly simple to produce Attractive CONS: A little boring General apathy towards this idea
Option F: A slim box with the loose pages inside PROS: Very very attractive design Self contained Impressive Fairly simple design CONS: The box (how do I make/find one?) A little bulky
I can tell I’m already leaning towards the last two. As soon as I finish a few more pages I’ll try to make a final decision.
I need to get some stuff posted here. Weekend, come faster!
While the cold entries are still in the microwave, I'm going to post some freethinking for my Professional Presentation of Self. Warning: this is very very faithful to my thought process, which means it's very very thorough, very very redundant, and at times very very misinformed/dumb/nonsensical. Proceed reading at your own risk.
At the instant the assignment was …assigned, the rapid-fire thought was “I already have that…my online portfolio”. Then I continued, “Wait, I don’t really have a portfolio. More like a blog and an account on an art social network. That’s not something I’d feel comfortable handing into someone for a job. Hm, maybe a digital portfolio on my own domain?” Then I felt…bored. All of my stuff is digital. I have no hard copies of anything to hand out ever because I’m creepily attached to the idea of virtual space. I need something…tangible. Something pretty. Something WELL MADE. My thought was "art book". Art books are the one type of tangible book I will still spend money on. It is my guilty pleasure; if I had enough money, I could probably replace all food with art books and THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING I LOVE FOOD. Art books are just collections of art (and sometimes cool stuff like sketches, interviews, or a walk through of the artist's artistic process) from an artist (or several). They're usually shiny and very verrryy good looking, and everyone can find one they like, as long as they have eyes. And it’d be so awesome to have one of my own work. I kept thinking. An art book is good for my actual ART, but I don't consider myself solely an artist, and sometimes, I don't like to say I'm an "artist" at all. At least not with the connotations currently assigned. To only address my artistic body of work for this assignment feels like I'm neglecting the bigger picture, and I am all about the bigger picture. So...next thought was "style book". My imaginary label in my head has a very specific set of standards for design. So why not practice applying that to a product (assignment)? In my head, a company that deals with Beautifying Da World (I promise to never put that in an official document) should have something in it's arsenal to show people: a definitive resource that is the essence of their aesthetic. Something that clients could consider, fans could collect, and designers and fellow innovators could keep on their bookshelf. Also, it sounds really cool. As of this moment, of course, I don't have a company. But I have an aesthetic concept. And I have a crumply piece of paper with blueprints for a store on it! Moving on, a "style book" would need to be consistent throughout. My initial thumbnail sketches laid out around 15-20 pages. This is a large workload in terms of work, money, time, and...stuff. I'm amazing, but usually fall a tad short of "miracle worker". And in the case of budget for materials...let's say the $$$ is in the double digits and one number is not higher than "2". So maybe 10 extremely essential pages? Maybe I can do 15, the thumbnails allocate a few pages to such features as: "Pretty Space Wasting Title Page", "Table of Contents", "Weird Blank Page That All Books Are Apparently Supposed to Have at The Back, Possibly Called an End Paper, I'm Not Sure", "Introduction" (to something, the concept? The back-story?), and "Biography/Credits". The other pages would include a page devoted to concept work, sketches, and idea revision (essentially showing the first steps of the creation process), another page with completed works (maybe one digital page and one traditional page, if I can scrounge up any photos I took of them, pages about my goals for the future (entrepreneurship), and pages maybe detailing a step by step through a piece? I do have some really cool pictures throughout my time doing some wall art for my grandma. …Why does any sentence that ends with “for my grandma” sound really uncool? DISCLAIMER: I LOVE MY GRANDMA AND ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SUGGEST OTHERWISE WILL GET A FACE FULL OF FIST. Moving on, I guess I should include a resume. Maybe I can work the resume into the biography page? Essentially, I want it to leave no questions unasked. I feel a little bit like it’s leaning towards art book a bit too much, but…working through it. Overall, I want something tangible. I’m currently working on the various ideas I have for the form it’ll take, and I’ll probably make an entry on those pretty soon (I’m giving myself a Friday night deadline for the decision). Until then, please find something to entertain yourself with.
