We were introduced to some of the staff, which basically we sat in awe as their careers and experiences were verbally depicted for us. I hope to grab a single breath of creativity from these people because I know it will take me far. I plan to be like a sponge and soak up every single thing that they say and teach us. Everyone looks really friendly as far as the students go. Age ranges from right out of undergrad to school to married with kids. Also, not to mention lots of cute artsy chicks that I can't wait to "work on projects with." We settled with financial aid, took our pictures for our id's and picked up the parking pass, then we got our schedule.
Here is mine for the week, just so you know:
• Wednesdays - 8am - 12pm Typography Fundamentals (dealing with use of type in works. One of the major struggles for designers is creatively sending the message of the work on a parallel that matches the art itself. We will be designing our own fonts as well I assume.)
• Wednesdays - 1pm - 5pm Electronic Digital Applications (class overviewing the use of the Adobe Creative suite, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign, along with Quark. These are programs I have used a lot in the past and will use even more in the future.)
• Thursdays - 8am - 12pm Seminar (the whole school student body as well as public attends this. We meet in the biggest room in school, also known as the Los Angeles room, and sit to hear speakers from the creative world that come from agencies and companies all over the nation. Good chance to network and plant that seed for possible future employment. Frog Design is coming soon, which is an incredible studio which has a location in NYC. Time for some butt kissing.)
• Thursdays - 1pm - 5pm Integrated Print and Electronic Production (I believe this is just the basics about how to prepare to start building a portfolio in print as well as electronic, such as a website. We shall find out soon.)
• Thursdays 6pm - 10pm Emotive Type (Again, not too sure of this class, but the supplies list was hella long. I do know however we will be making our own books, binding them and all. have actually seen finished products and they are legit books. Should be interesting.)
• Friday 8am - 12pm Design Aesthetics (Oh yes, the class also known as hell on earth. From all the students I have spoken with, the most warning comes for this class and instructor. Not too sure what goes on in this class but I do know that my free time as I know it disappears completely once I begin this course. I am however extremely excited because this is just the challenge I have been wanting!)
So there you have it, the schedule. Not too bad but I may be singing a different tune this time Friday. Here is a picture of my recent art store trip, purchasing products I had never even heard of. But thanks to Alan at Binders, I was able to locate everything. He also was very helpful to explain the structure of the store, and let us know he was always there to help when we needed.
For my Typography Fundamentals course, I have been reading the book, Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton, which is one of my required textbooks. It is actually really interesting, as others may not think so much, to explore the histories of where certain fonts have come from, and how they have changed over the years. I am very interested to see how my design will go when I start to brainstorm it up. Hopefully it won't suck!
I also wanted to really quick throw out a thank you to all of you who have shown your support tremendously. It really means the world to me to have such great friends and family backing me up when I am chasing my dreams into unknown territory. From little financial presents in surprise cards to simply a phone call or text message telling me good luck in class, these are all things that have made a great foundation for me to walk strongly about. I can't wait to see what all is going to happen for myself my career with Portfolio Center, but I do know there is no other place in the world I would rather be at this time then where I am, and my happy cup runneth over!
