Addy Awards banquet

Lastnight was wonderful. I bought the best color of red nail polish I could find, got ready, and went to Greenville for the Addy Awards lastnight. My mom came too and was proud of the awards. I'm glad she got to meet my professors.

I won a silver Addy for my Faber & Faber book cover series design, and a gold Addy for my tea packaging/branding. I had always dreamed of winning an Addy my Senior year, after going to see all the other Seniors win in years past. I am so thankful that I made it.

God and Poetry

This is a really good sermon that a friend posted. It speaks beautifully about poetry, lent, and silence. She says it's "one of the best sermons I've ever heard. But don't let the word 'sermon' throw you off." It's about 14 minuted long, and well spent if you have a small block of time.

Alice in Wonderland, by Vogue.

I found these wonderful Vogue photographs shot by Annie Leibovitz. Here's the link if you want to see more of the fashion designers for the clothes.

Addy results

I found out today that I won 2 Addy awards! I won for the Faber & Faber book series, and the tea packaging design. I totally didn't expect it. That definitely made my Monday better, and gave me a little more confidence as a designer. I've been doubting myself horribly in this field for the past few months. I like design and enjoy looking at exquisite design produced by other people. Sometimes, I can really get into it and almost become obsessed/OCD about a certain project, but I've been really questioning lately if it's what I'm meant to be doing with my life and professional career. I feel much more drawn to painting and would love to live the lifestyle as such, but that path is a lot more unsure. It's not comfortable, but purposeful. I feel that design is a more stable career path, a set 9-5, unyielding deadlines, everything defined. At least I know if I take a crack at it, I can do it.

Whatever I may choose to do after I graduate, I hope I can put all my effort into, wholeheartedly, and to never give up.

I told myself that if I won, I would allow myself to buy my favorite kind of soap- C.O. Bigelow Mentha exfoliating bar soap from Bath and Body Works- it really helps wake me up in the morning:

In honor of St. Valentine's Day

There's only a few hours left, but I thought I'd post this anyway. I came across it yesterday on the Dieline. It's an adorable printable "love coupon" matchbook designed by Rachel Wiles. It's free to print out on her site, Benign Objects.

Logo update

Here's the direction I'm working toward after having class and peer discussion today:



I'm going to kern between the "of" and "colleges" in "Southern Association of Colleges and Schools". I may change the column a bit so it may be slightly cleaner and easier to embroider if needed (as suggested by Melanie). Most people seemed to like the type on top of the column, but I can't make up my mind about it yet. At first inclination, I don't like it as much, but I think I've been staring at it too long (the column started to not look like a column anymore!) I shall step away from it to give it some visual rest and return when my eyes can see it fresh.

Logo

So far, this last semester is kicking my butt. I'm trying to keep up with Photography, Printmaking, Painting Senior Project, and Senior Seminar in Graphic Design. And I also have the BIO lab. It seems like I can't quite get on top of things this week. I still need to start my 2nd painting, because it needs to be done by critique in less than 2 weeks. I had a limited time to work and develop photos, but the developer was bad, so it shot my whole roll and the time I put into it. I'm working too slow in Printmaking, but I'll get it done. I've got logos due today for Graphic Design, but I don't like any of them. We're designing them for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. They're an accrediting committee for most universities/colleges in the Southeast.

Here are the logos I've come up with:



Any suggestions?

Modern Art in a nutshell...

"Duchamp owns everything."

The painter thinks in forms and colors. The aim is not to reconstitute and anecdotal fact but to constitute a pictorial fact.

Hatch Show Print

In all the excitement of getting classes underway and projects started, I forgot to blog about Hatch Show Print's presentation in Greenville a couple weeks ago. Jim Sherraden, chief designer and archivist at Hatch, came to speak about the oldest working letterpress in the U.S. (1879). He was a great speaker, interesting and humble. The prints spoke for themselves and each one was unique and amazing in its own way. I wanted to buy every one of the different designs. 

Sherraden began by saying that Hatch was still a working press today, designing new posters, wedding invitations, etc. while still drawing upon resources from decades back and keeping historical prints alive and in circulation. Despite the invention of the computer and its mass production for most of today's advertisements, Hatch is going strong. Sherraden remarked that the computer has actually helped Hatch establish itself in a specific niche in the design world. 

The computer has made ads so convenient today- compiling the files and adjusting with creative suite programs, and circulating them not only through easier mass printing, but through email and web design. The cleanness of digital representation and exactness is very helpful, but it lacks a kind of personality unique to hand-made design, letterpress, woodcuts, etc. Nice details like the variation of ink density and the indentions from the press give woodblock prints a more personal feel.

I'm the kind of person that cherishes the tactile qualities of paper, books, hand-done design, carefully crafted items that cannot be correctly duplicated in such a "human" way by computer. I'd like to think that as long as there are people like me to appreciate these valuable things, print will never die (or be overcome by the computer). Not to say that computers don't have their place, I just enjoy the unique qualities that can only come from print.

These are the 2 I bought at the Hatch Show Print presentation. I was ecstatic about the Elvis one. I spent days hoping that it would be there, and when I arrived, it was the only one being sold. When I thanked Jim Sherraden for it, he said that it was very rare that they take that one to sell at presentations, but somehow it got there. I'd like to think it was meant for me.