Although it may look like I've been MIA the past couple of months, I've actually been centering my focus on all the projects I've wanted to complete but didn't due to my busy college schedule. I will never, ever seriously complain about being busy, but this semester didn't allow for much time to ponder, poke and polish my art. But thanks to summer creating an easier schedule along with Milwaukee finally giving me some sunshine, I've started truly feeling a break down on all the creative blocks that I had previously felt. I've also managed to transform my unpaid internship at Moon Landing Agency into a part time paid position as a graphic designer. This is a considerable and even ambitious step for my career and I. It was only a little over a year ago when my hopes to launch into the path of a trained graphic designer were diminished as the college advisor told me that I was "too late" to sign up for the program. So as I fall deeper and deeper into my self-made trail of becoming a graphic artist, I'm inevitably falling deeper into what that means. Immersing myself into this world was the first and never ending step. Identifying myself as an artist is still new to me and I'm learning the process of being a creative along with tying that into my future career plans. But there are moments which remind me that my efforts are not going unnoticed and even times when I surprise myself. Like the logo I created in less than 24 hours for a friend working at a nonprofit in Bolivia, South America whose goal is to create sustainable sanitation for the people of Cochabamba. Or the email I opened up yesterday morning which subject line read, "Request to Feature your Art". And the girl from high school who went out of her way to comment on a design I posted on Instagram to tell me that her and her friends are loving the stickers they purchased. Finally, the noticeable improvements in my speed, thought and progress for client designs here at Moon Landing. So how to be an artist is the motion I am going through, not only taking charge of my own path but also allowing the process to carry me where it may. Even though it's not 100 percent known exactly where I'm headed, the creative mindset and I are taking off running.
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When I saw the email invitation for "Life of a Campaign Designer: 568 Days Designing for Hillary for America" I knew there was no way I could miss this. Even reading the description of the event gave me butterflies. Hearing Chelsea Atwell and Ida Woldemichael discuss their hard, dedicated work on Hillary's campaign was absolutely inspiring. I could feel the passion as they spoke about the long hours and seven-day work weeks at Hillary's headquarters in New York City. So much so that emotions were shown as they reminisced on the toughest day of the campaign, November 8, 2016. It was clear that Chelsea and Ida had put their heart and soul into this bold project. I had the opportunity to talk with Ida after the presentation and I continued to be impressed (by the way she's the one who wrote, "I'm with Her."- woah!). She was extremely easy to talk to and answered all my questions like, "Did you go to art school? What advice do you have beyond networking as I enter my career?" Chelsea went to Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) so it was encouraging to see someone from Milwaukee break into the big city and work on something so important. I hadn't thought about campaign design before attending this event, but it's promising to know how many different alleys my career path could take me. The idea of campaign design and the trials and tribulations that come with it intrigues me to the highest degree. I'll always remember how I sat on the edge of my chair with goosebumps while hearing about their 568 days of work for Hillary and for our country. Moral of the story, these women are my new role models. I'm grateful that this triggered another spark in my motivation and anticipation for the future and I'll be looking for challenges that I can take head on just like Chelsea and Ida did. A special thanks goes out to Elisabeth Filmer for attending this with me and being just as energetic and excited about our future careers as I am. It was a great event pulled off by United Adworkers at Third Space Brewing here in Milwaukee. Thank you to all for this opportunity!
My amazing friend Matthew Unger is not only an incredibly talented and driven individual, he's also one of my favorite human beings on this planet. He interviewed me about my graphic design and created this quick video. Check it out on his blog. Check out the slideshow below to see character design transformation that I created on Photoshop. So we had a Twitter assignment for my PR writing class. Here’s my dilemma: I have a personal twitter account and a professional twitter account. As someone who wants to enter a creative field I am having trouble finding a balance. Because creative people are supposed to be zany, off the wall and independent. And trust me, I can do that. Yet the other side of me is my public relations and marketing studies. In this field I must act professional, network, follow the guidelines and have a crisp LinkedIn profile. So my two Twitter accounts represent the imbalance I am feeling. I used my professional Twitter handle for this assignment since it related to PR. I enjoyed the pressure of having to create content for this account and it’s nice having a professional presence on social media. I also enjoyed tweeting about Marquette because it’s important to appreciate a place that has made such an impact on who I am and where I will go. Looking back on my photos of campus fills me with anticipatory nostalgia because I'm graduating this fall. There's this one spot on campus, on a pathway in between 11th and 12th on Wisconsin, where I have taken dozens of photos of the Jesu since my freshman year. Each photo shows a different season and a different stage in my life. I'm glad that this Twitter assignment had me reflect on what it feels like to embody that phrase #WeAreMarquette. What I didn’t like is that I had trouble releasing my own personality into this account. Which brings me back to the imbalance. I hope that as I advance in my career I am able to find a happy balance between the creative field and being a public relations professional. I definitely think that this is possible.
What’s frustrating about graphic design is that the only way I’m going to learn is by failing over and over. I’ve heard this countless amounts of times from the resources I’ve been using to study design. But lately what’s been exciting me the most is the new Netflix documentary, Abstract: The Art of Design, which follows one expert in a different area of design each episode. Anything from stage design to architecture to illustrating. These experts are who I aspire to be; not quite world famous like a celebrity in TMZ, but famous and respected in the industry. These people are my vision of success for myself. One of my favorite episodes so far followed Tinker “Tink” Hatfield, the legend behind Michael Jordan sneakers. Tink’s now an older gentlemen still designing, skateboarding, surfing... you name it. I admire Tink because he spoke about his failures in shoe design. He was not afraid to admit the downfalls in his career. The way that these experts think along with their total commitment to design inspire me heavily. Obviously there’s an episode titled “Graphic Design” but honestly I’m a bit too overwhelmed to watch it. Sometimes watching these experts overwhelms me with the amount of work I still need to do. I only have about 4 designs on my official portfolio and I know that I need to keep building it. Juggling school, an internship, a job, a social life and my dreams to be a designer are creating some obstacles for me. All those responsibilities I just listed are the reason why the #weeklychallenge I posted about last week will be so difficult to complete. But luckily, I received my order from RedBubble of my sticker designs and I love the way they turned out. Here comes a cheesy way to end a blog post but a few months ago I found the quote, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Perhaps I’m crazy enough to think that I can be an expert in design and one day be asked to be featured in a documentary. I’ll work with that for now.
Independent motivation is what I mentioned in my last post and my focus for this year. It's incredibly important that I stay determined and like Nike says, "Just Do It." So last week I created a design of Chance The Rapper in Photoshop using a photo of him from his gig at Saturday Night Live. I first posted it to my Twitter with 37 favorites and 7 retweets thus far... not bad considering I don't have the highest following on this platform. Later in the day I also ended up posting the design to my Instagram, currently at 164 likes, while gaining some new followers thanks to the ability to use so many hashtags like #GraphicDesign and #Photoshop. One week later I've finished a design for the little known hip-hop singer Kodie Shane. Which I just posted to Twitter. Utilizing social media is going to be critical to my career path as a public relations professional and graphic design artist. In fact, I just unfollowed all the inconsequential celebrities that were clogging my Instagram feed and dug around for some graphic design accounts to keep my eye on the prize. Luckily I feel like I'm pretty well-versed in the social media world. For example, I know that the best time to post an Instagram is after 5 p.m. so that is gets the highest amount of exposure possible. Unfortunately for many companies the social media thing hasn't gone so well. Lack of research or concern can create some embarrassing moments and messy PR crises. But there are some organizations that are doing it right. My personal favorite is Denny's. Their extremely casual use of social media along with their knowledge and correct usage of memes–that's key!– is a refreshing change from the boring, robotic corporations and their attempts at social media. So I will be using social media to post my designs while also keeping my followers engaged with my content. That's why I am making a goal to create something at least once a week so that I can stay consistent and motivated. I can already see improvements in my Photoshop skills– and that's just within one week. Take a look below and on my social accounts!
UPDATE: Kodie commented on my Instagram post! Super excited to be recognized by her and hopefully it will boost my exposure! Ever since my advisor told me that I was too late to minor in graphic design, I've had to find a lot of independent motivation. This isn't easy, of course, to attempt to learn a new trade on your own time. Working on a few projects here and there last year, 2017 was exactly what I needed to kick start that motivation I was so longly looking for. I've started picking up new projects, using every aspect of my day as inspiration. So when I saw that my friend Tayo had launched his own blog, The Ghetto Flower, I jumped at the chance to create a design. Tayo was on board with the idea and wanted me to create something to test my skills. I went straight to his Instagram, grabbed a super awesome shot of him and headed to Photoshop. From there, over a few days, I used mainly the pen and brush tool to create this: To which I posted on Twitter and Instagram and received an unexpected amount of love and appraisal from it! I plan on continuing to use social media as a tool for both my graphic design and public relations career. I feel pretty lucky as an artist that I have such an efficient way to share my designs with the world. Instagram is particularly helpful because I can add dozens of hashtags like #GraphicDesign and #DigitalArt to gain more exposure. I also use Instagram as a tool for inspiration. For example, the original photo I used for Tayo's design was taken at the Milwaukee Art Museum by a guy named TJ. I've never met TJ but thanks to social media I became inspired by his art. My Instagram and Twitter will hopefully help take my designs to the next level. As for now, I have a nice list of designs I want to create along with working on revamping the logo fro The Ghetto Flower. Time to get to work!
Trying is the first step to actually achieving a new goal. At least that is what I am telling myself as I pursue my creative goals that I have set for 2017. About a year ago as a second semester sophomore who had already tried about 3 different majors I decided I wanted to pursue a minor in graphic design. Unfortunately for me, I was too late in my college career to sign up for the program which is run by Milwaukee's Institute of Art and Design. So I've turned this situation into a personal challenge. I will act on my creativity at least once a day and teach myself (with the help of YouTube tutorials and helpful professors at Marquette) more and more about graphic design.
So, I want this blog to center around my goals and growth throughout the semester. More specifically I would like to write about graphic design, my journey, and tying in my major of public relations. I officially declared my major less than a year ago and just a few weeks prior I wanted my major to be advertising. Before that I gave a shot at the education program and even before that I floated around in the college of arts and sciences as an "undeclared" student. Clearly, I haven't had the most straight-forward path in college unlike my nursing and engineering friends for example. But I've found my place in the communications school and am enjoying learning more about public relations. Everyday my communications research TA takes attendance by asking us a question. Last Thursday she asked "What is your dream job?" A simple enough question for a normal college student perhaps. I ended up saying something along the lines of "I'm not sure...hopefully something creative." Although I hope that is true I also envision much more for myself. I don't know specifically if there's even a job title for what I want to do, but I feel as if studying public relations is a great jumpstart. I think a public relations background will be beneficial for my communication skills along with knowledge in how to maintain an image whether that be a brand or an individual. The moral of the story is: I don't really know what I'm doing, where I'm going or how exactly I'll use my college major in my career but I do know that I'm excited for the uncertainty. I'm proud that I've set some goals for myself and I can't wait to share what I create. As for now join me as I'll be blogging, tweeting #PurelyPR and figuring it all out. |
AuthorMy name is Sarah Jane and I'm just figuring it all out. Archives
June 2017
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