Concept Mind Mapping and Idea Clusters
On wednesday, one of the important things that I picked up from class was the statement that "over-thinking can prevent ideas from having space to emerge." As an artist, a designer, and let a alone a cancer sign in astrology, it's in our nature to OVER-THINK! We over-think everything, over analyze, over criticizes and scrutinize. But it's a thin line when you try not to over-think things when we are programmed to really look deep into a subject critically in the art world.
In class we watched a simple video about Idea Creations by Paul Foreman. The video showed us how he goes about creating his ideas with mind mapping techniques and idea clusters. Foreman used simple phrases and doodles to express his ideas quickly. I think this method of organizing ideas works great for putting your ideas out there quickly so that you have more concepts to choose from. It's like discovering by sketching. Same goes with gesture drawings when you quickly put your drawing on paper, it increases your drawing skills when you do slow down and start to create. After the video we drew our own little mind map from three choices that Jimmy gave us: 1.) Alien's in your bed, 2.) You win the lottery, 3.) Trade places with anyone from anytime. I chose option 3 and I trade places with a cave women from 3000 BCE! It was fun to get my ideas on paper. I started my mapping with where this cave lady was from, what she wore, and what she did for a living. I then branched out from there. I will try this mind map with my next creative process and keep you updated :)
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Design Competence, You'll Need it!
Today in concept development class, we did some very valuable group work and also watch a documentary. We went into four groups and discussed an article we all read together on AIGA's website. Link to Article: Designer of 2015 Competencies
This article gave us 13 insights on what a new up-coming designer should be competent of in the year 2015 and the skills set required by studios and design departments nationally. In a group we asked ourselves what we all think each skill meant and how each one of us have learned it in school or outside of school. I think some of the skill set in the list of 13 were quite complex. In my opinion, instead of 13 things, it should be more like 43 things! There were multiple required abilities which needed to understood in each topic. Not only does a designer has to be good at developing concepts and creating them, they have to have an all around understanding of many disciplines and have an emotional intelligence for culture, technology and business as well. This list can seem overwhelming and intimidating to a newly graduating graphic designer stepping out into the real working world.
As for me, I do feel intimidated by this list as many designers are graduating each year and our raw talent is not the only criteria anymore of snatching a good, stable paying gig in the design field. Having people skills, being able to present yourself and your concepts to prospective clients and holding a confident, professional image online and in person are just a few more of the things that expected now.
It can be a lot to take if you are not well prepared.
Overall, I find these tips to be valuable to me and I will take every bit of advice that I can capture to make myself a better designer, entrepreneur and human being.
After our discussion, we watch a interesting documentary about the history of Polish posters during WWII called Freedom from the Fence. I know this is off subject but it had a good soundtrack. It sounded a little creepy but cool at the same time. Enough of that. So back to the documentary! The video had some really good example of poster designs that I've haven't seen before. We watched interviews with poster artists who were American and Polish and example of their work and their connections with the communism era.
One of my favorite posters from the video is by Mieczysław Górowski and it was named, Policja or Police in english. This image is so strong and visually disturbing. Is that a noose? And is that man a police officer or is that a man the police tortured? From what I can read from just the image I think it's what happens to you if you don't listen to the police! You can almost feel the rope in your eyes and the expression on the mans face depict a kind of twisted pain in your neck and ears. Wow. I'm glad Jimmy Moss showed us this video because it broaden my range of global art and it's history and I definitely need some more of that in my curriculum.
With viewing this documentary, we were assigned our next exciting concept development project, creation of artwork in any medium for the deadly 7 sin. This is going to be fun because now we get to put a little designer/artist skills into our "homeplay."
As for this coming week, I'm also excited to announce that our speaker series event with brand coach, Sunook Park presented by CSULA's GUAGE is coming up on Thursday, February 7th. It's always good to hear from a working professional in the field of design and I'm anxious to meet him and hear what he has to share with us. Event is open to the public and starts at 7PM in King Hall, Lecture Hall 1 at Cal State L.A. If you've read this far after finding me on the web, you should come join us!
This article gave us 13 insights on what a new up-coming designer should be competent of in the year 2015 and the skills set required by studios and design departments nationally. In a group we asked ourselves what we all think each skill meant and how each one of us have learned it in school or outside of school. I think some of the skill set in the list of 13 were quite complex. In my opinion, instead of 13 things, it should be more like 43 things! There were multiple required abilities which needed to understood in each topic. Not only does a designer has to be good at developing concepts and creating them, they have to have an all around understanding of many disciplines and have an emotional intelligence for culture, technology and business as well. This list can seem overwhelming and intimidating to a newly graduating graphic designer stepping out into the real working world.
As for me, I do feel intimidated by this list as many designers are graduating each year and our raw talent is not the only criteria anymore of snatching a good, stable paying gig in the design field. Having people skills, being able to present yourself and your concepts to prospective clients and holding a confident, professional image online and in person are just a few more of the things that expected now.
It can be a lot to take if you are not well prepared.
Overall, I find these tips to be valuable to me and I will take every bit of advice that I can capture to make myself a better designer, entrepreneur and human being.
After our discussion, we watch a interesting documentary about the history of Polish posters during WWII called Freedom from the Fence. I know this is off subject but it had a good soundtrack. It sounded a little creepy but cool at the same time. Enough of that. So back to the documentary! The video had some really good example of poster designs that I've haven't seen before. We watched interviews with poster artists who were American and Polish and example of their work and their connections with the communism era.
One of my favorite posters from the video is by Mieczysław Górowski and it was named, Policja or Police in english. This image is so strong and visually disturbing. Is that a noose? And is that man a police officer or is that a man the police tortured? From what I can read from just the image I think it's what happens to you if you don't listen to the police! You can almost feel the rope in your eyes and the expression on the mans face depict a kind of twisted pain in your neck and ears. Wow. I'm glad Jimmy Moss showed us this video because it broaden my range of global art and it's history and I definitely need some more of that in my curriculum.
With viewing this documentary, we were assigned our next exciting concept development project, creation of artwork in any medium for the deadly 7 sin. This is going to be fun because now we get to put a little designer/artist skills into our "homeplay."
As for this coming week, I'm also excited to announce that our speaker series event with brand coach, Sunook Park presented by CSULA's GUAGE is coming up on Thursday, February 7th. It's always good to hear from a working professional in the field of design and I'm anxious to meet him and hear what he has to share with us. Event is open to the public and starts at 7PM in King Hall, Lecture Hall 1 at Cal State L.A. If you've read this far after finding me on the web, you should come join us!
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