HT DESIGNS_ BE INSPIRED

Design Lessons I learned in 2011: Transitioning from School to Work

In May 2011, I joined the HTdesigns team as a junior graphic designer. Post-secondary school taught me the basics but the professional world schooled me in a whole new different way.

1. Do homework. Just because you are out of school, doesn’t mean doing homework stops. Learning, in general, does not stop. The more you know about a project or a client, the better you will understand them and the better you will be able to represent their needs. I’ve learned that spending 30 minutes to an hour on your own time reading about the client really helped me prepare for the next workday.

2. Prove yourself. Being an A+ student in school doesn’t guarantee that your new employer will see you in the same way. Sure, you may have been hired because you have those A+ qualities, but more importantly, the next step is to show them that you do acquire those characteristics and can only grow from there.

3. Be aware. When I first started working, I thought I knew a lot about the design industry. In school, it seemed as though I had to be aware of the ins and outs of the creative world (past and current) because as a student, I was required to write essays and do presentations. This year, I’ve learned to take initiative about keeping myself aware of everything. Knowing all the important design news or trends simply helped me better my design process.

4. Ask questions. I can’t count the number of times I’ve called on to Lisa to help me with a million and one things – whether it’s about a software issue, design advice or everything else in between. I’ve learned to be comfortable enough to ask questions from everyone. In order to maximize my productivity, there is no room for me to shy away from asking for help. I’ve learned to be proud of being a rookie because that is who I am and there is nothing wrong about it.

5. Proofread. The most difficult thing I had to learn the hard way this year was proofreading. In school, it was the least of my worries. The reason being was my works were not going into production. I was not paying thousands of dollars for printing; therefore I was more concerned about the process rather than the production. In the professional world, both aspects matter equally.

6. Work faster. Doing things right the first time can definitely make a difference in terms of maximizing your production time. This is very well practiced in the office and something I had to learn in order to be able to do more in less time. Spending a bit of time learning new software tricks now and then adds up and becomes a great time-saver, especially during crunch time.

7. Surprise yourself. The biggest challenge I gave myself this year was to dive into the world of web. In school, I did not take any web design classes because it was not part of the curriculum. When I was given my first web design project in the office, I was afraid of not being able to deliver. I tackled this problem by just immersing myself in the project. This was my chance to learn something new in a small amount of time and now that I know a little bit about it, I cannot wait to dive into it more in 2012.

Written by Anne Mendizabal, Junior Designer at HT Designs

Inspirations from Italy - Part Two

As a city I enjoyed Florence more so than Rome, it’s less crowded and easier to navigate. While there, I took a Tuscan cooking class which was a lot of fun and also took a side trip to see some of Tuscany (including the Leaning Tower of Pisa!)

Florence is home to Michaelangelo’s David, which was as spectacular as they say. Along with David, Florence’s Accademia housed some of Michaelangelo’s unfinished works which I found just as inspiring as the David. Michaelangelo was known for not creating a model prior to starting his works, instead saw his work as freeing the sculptures from the block of marble. I also thoroughly enjoyed the extensive collection of work by neoclassical sculpture Lorenzo Bartolini.

Image Source

Florence is a beautiful city, filled with beautiful Renaissance architecture. Although I didn’t get to see it from the inside, the façade of the Duomo is beautiful. I also enjoyed walking along the Arno river and across the Ponte Vecchio which is a medieval bridge. On the bridge there are all these little shops, at first glance it really seems almost like a bazaar but in fact they sell mostly jewellery! A very expensive bazaar!

On my day trip to other parts of Tuscany we went to the beautiful cities of San Gimignano, Siena, and Pisa. While I really wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa after being so amused by pictures of it as a kid that was probably the least eventful part of the day. Siena is a beautiful city filled with medieval architecture. The Siena Duomo is spectacular and unlike anything I’d ever seen before. The inside and the outside are decorated in strips, which I found unusual for a church but stunning regardless.

Unfortunately my trip to Florence ended on somewhat of a bad note as I lost my camera so the only pictures I have from my trip are from my iPhone.

My trip to Milan was pretty short, and much like Florence and Siena the Duomo there was one of the highlights. It’s definitely a sight worth seeing. I enjoyed walking around the shopping streets of Milan event though I couldn’t afford to do more than window shop in stores such as Valentino and Armani!

Despite a complete lack of sunshine my two days in Venice, and the flooding (rainboots apparently are a must pack item which I didn’t happen to clue in on in my pre-trip research) I rather enjoyed my trip to Venice. I would love to go back and see the Venice when it’s not rainy but this was a bit of a funny experience walking across the flooded squares on a makeshift platform.

In Venice they have water buses called vaporettos, it was an interesting experience that made my stomach turn for the most part, but fun at the same time. The vaporetto also goes to the other islands including Murano, which I spent a lot of time on! I really loved popping into the different shops and viewing all the beautiful Murano glass jewellery (and shopping a bit too!). I also viewed a glass blowing demonstration which was pretty interesting! Also on the main island there are a lot of shops that sell beautiful masquerade masks and I was able to expand my collection.

My trip to Italy was filled with amazing sights from the ancient ruins, the beautiful landscapes of Tuscany, and the beautiful architecture. Words can’t explain the amazing gelato they have over there, and the food wasn’t too bad either (I’m not sure pizza here will ever be edible again)! There was so much to see and do I wish I could have stayed a month!

Inspirations from Italy - Part One

Back in October I took a solo trip to Italy (the perk of going solo is that you can do whatever you want!) In my 11 days in Italy I visited Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice and a few others briefly.

Rome is an amazing city filled with so many historical sights, you turn every corner and you come across more amazing sights. I spent four days in Rome and still found it somewhat of a whirlwind tour. There is an unbelievable amount to see and do in Rome.

I half expected the Colosseum to be on the city outskirts with not much around it. That was a misleading assumption on my part! I stepped out of the subway station and there it was.

The place is unbelievably crowded (tip: buy a Roma Pass and you skip the line), and a bit on the touristy side but regardless it was one of my favourite parts of my trip to Italy (other than the amazing gelato! If you’re in Rome visiting Gelateria Della Palma is a must! ). It was a colossal (pun intended) structure, looking at the ruins I wished I could have seen it in ancient times with the Emperor on his throne and the crowds cheering for their favourite gladiators. If you climb (the very steep stairs!) to the next few levels there’s an exhibit filled with ruins. I actually really enjoyed the graphics that were part of the exhibit, you wouldn’t expect it to be so modern and vibrant in colour (think shocking pink and bright yellow) it was an interesting juxtaposition and let the ruins stand out, not blend in with the info graphics.

During my time in Rome I took a side trip to see the ancient ruins of Pompeii. They did an amazing job excavating it. It was a city buried under so much volcanic ash and dirt yet today you can see the city that once existed and walk the same streets as the people of Pompeii once did. Below is a picture of the incredibley well preserved bathhouse in Pompeii.

Other sights I enjoyed seeing were the Trevi Fountain (I saw it 3 times in fact!), the Roman Forums (beautiful columns), the Pantheon (beautiful structure, with the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome). I also visited the Vatican Museums on my last day and I don’t think I’ve seen so much art in one place, it was incredibly inspiring. Their collection includes everything from ancient ruins to modern art. I never realized how much I really enjoyed sculptures till I saw the enormous collection housed by the Vatican museums. However I think I might be one of few people who have visited the Sistine Chapel and been somewhat underwhelmed. No disrespect to Michelangelo but after seeing so much amazing artwork (many by him), and amazing ceilings on my way to the Sistine Chapel I think I was expecting more. Of course seeing the Creation of Adam was worthwhile enough to go into the chapel.

 

One of my favourite parts of my trip to Italy was to wander the streets around the piazzas and just take in the architecture. Even the buildings holding the shops and restaurants are beautiful, and this was true for the streets around the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon.

SPARKED: VOLUNTEERING FOR BUSY PEOPLE

Sparked is an "easy, social, online volunteering for busy people." Ben Rigby and Jocob Colker founded this online platform in 2008 when they recognized a problem in the volunteering world- not everyone has enough time to give back. Volunteering at Sparked includes design, research, social media, H.R., marketing, blogging, copywriting, fundraising and so much more. This network makes it easy to get involved wherever you are and whether you've only got 10 minutes to spare or a whole hour. There is a new "challenge" requested by non-profit organizations everyday and a certain timeline is given. Challenges may include designing a banner, brainstorming, or even just asking questions to spark up conversations about improvements of the organizations.If you've been wanting to volunteer but can't seem to physically bring yourself to the location of your organization, online volunteering may just be the perfect alternative.

 

 

 

(via: Sparked)

SAN DIEGO ZOO - WILD AT HEART

Andy Baron has done a proposed identity for the San Diego Zoo. He has designed his approach around their tagline "Wild at Heart." He created a series of illustrations of their most loved animals in the shape of a heart. I'm absolutely smitten by his illustrations- they scream fun, cute and adventure!

The monkey and elephant are my absolute favourites!

(via: Andy Baron)

MARICOR/MARICAR (or Maricor and Maricar Manalo) are "graphic designers, illustrators, animators and makers of things assorted." They specialize on everything hand-crafted which includes embroidery and paper cut outs. They recently did an embroidery illustration for the "Go Play" section of ESPN magazine. I love that the colors are playful yet the typeface remains true to the magazine's guidelines. Here are photos of the intricate process:

(SOURCE: Maricor/Maricar blog)

Heinz Serious Good Pasta Sauces

These are great, fantastic and seriously cute artwork!

The retro type faces are great, and I love how they show all the ingredients and kitchen tools that are used to make the Heniz pasta sauces in the shape of an image that shows the type of sauce, cheesy, tomatoe saucy, mushroom sauce, and the most hilarious one is the "creamy" sauce shown as a cow! Very eye catching ads. Would love to try the sauces, I have a feeling they are only sold in New Zealand!

Designed by: DDB, New Zealand
Source: Ads of the World

A CARTOON UNIVERSE

Luke O'Sullivan's works fulfill my biggest dream as a kid to live in a cartoon-like universe. Isn't it intriguing to see cartoons clasing with real objects? That is exactly what Luke has done in his series titled "Triple-double Stacked." He brilliantly screenprints his own illustrations onto wood, creating objects that we are fondly aware of. What I love most about his works is the subtely of the transitions from illustrations to sculptures. This is a characteristic that is critical to graphic design. Extensions of a brand should not look forced but rather something that flows freely.

 

Typography by a paper artist

I came across Bianca Chang's website this morning and thought I would share it.  She is inspired by the subtle tone on tone and shadows of 3 dimensional letterforms created by paper. Even though paper is considered disposable, the impact of the time invested and the hand details, turn them into works of art.

 

 
SOURCE: Bianca Chang

IT'S NOT YOU, IT' S ME.

As opposed to making it quick and easy, Jon Jackson had a different idea of a break-up. Heading over to NY to work as a Creative Director for HUGE, Jon took this opportunity to spark up some conversation about the process of breaking up. In the duration of 3 weeks, he has created five 10 x 23 foot billboards, a website, a Facebook group page and iPhone wallpapers. He has used 5 classic breakup to inspire those who may  need a bit of a push to make a change in their lives.

I'm enjoying the typography treatment and the colors of these pieces!

  

Two words to describe this break-up: ouch and expensive!