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Mentoring at MIDPOINT – MCAD

Mentoring is a relationship that brings people together to offer guidance, support and encouragement aimed at developing the person’s competence and character. A mentor is anyone who, provides support, counsel, friendship, reinforcement and constructive examples of how to make choices. Mentors are good listeners, people who care, people who want to help bring out strengths that are already there.

While attending MCAD I was empowered by my mentors and to this day I still seek guidance from them. (THANK YOU.) The only option was to pay it forward and become a mentor myself.

MIDPOINT was MCAD’s first alumni show featuring a traditional gallery exhibitions in addition to platforms that foster new relationships between students and alumni. The show was developed as part of an effort to connect students to the possibilities of the program and to inspire while educating.

I participated in a Speed Mentoring event. Just like speed dating, alumni and students got the chance to interview each other, share their experiences, and talk about what it takes to make that next step. I took that opportunity to look at work, give critique and engaged in conversations that hopefully helped answer concerns.

It was a great experience to give back and I hope you think about taking time to do that same.

 


Spike Jonze: Mourir Auprès de Toi (To Die By Your Side)


Stop-motion, felt and Spike Jonze all have a special place in my soul. So when I stumbled upon Jonze’s new tragicomic stop-motion animation, I watched it over and over again. The story takes place on an enchanting shelf in Parisian bookstore, Shakespeare and Company. A breath-taking location—perfect for a tragic, lustful animation with a happy ending. The project sprung to life after Jonze requested a Catcher in the Rye embroidered piece to put on his wall from epic designer Olympia Le-Tan. Le-Tan asked for a film in return. 3,000 hand-cut pieces and six months later, voila!

Watch. Enjoy. 


Bumble and Bumble Design

It’s important to me to stay interest in a wide array of design disciplines. A great stylist, musician and owner of the local salon Mezzanine, Jonny Kelson, invited me to participate in a design discipline much different then print. Hair styling.

Bumble and Bumble a wide spread cosmetic line offers training programs in traveling cities and sure enough they came to Minneapolis inviting Jonny to participate. I of course had to tag along to soak in the experience and get my hair styled.

Howard Mc Laren, Bumble and Bumble’s Vice President Senior Artist Director, lead the workshop focusing around customizing cuts to the clients lifestyle, habits and wants. I was stunned with how similar his concepts of approaching hair styling were to approaching graphic or industrial design.

He talked about getting to know the client and their interests, leading the stylist to understand the likes, dislikes and environments the client is involved in. The demographic information, basically. He explained, in order for a client to walk away happy with their cut, they have to know how to manage the equity they have. Finding the best cut is the one they can maintain, understand and embrace. Howard taught stylists to educate their clients about products or cut styles (razor cutting), so they could be aware of why, when and how they should treat their new look and fashion. In the end giving the client a total experience and makeover.

Within any design discipline, understanding the cultural and economic climate before starting the project will only make the outcome last longer and become more vibrant.


Visualization Studio – MCAD

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In the professional world, projects are successful completed through the efforts of teams: through leadership and collaboration, planning and innovation, structure and flexibility. For the last two years I have been assistant teaching a class at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) called Visualization Studio, teaching students skills to visuals problems and work together to find solutions.

Trying to understand that our thoughts, perceptions, memories, interests, and knowledge, are made up of mental images and models that we create and carry with us. These visualizations help us gain a sense of place, being and understanding. The visualizations we create in the class offers maps, explanations and narratives to the audiences we wish to communicate with.  They help us provide understanding to others in regards to needs in design. It’s how we explain these narratives to clients and coworkers to make a project come to its full potential.

While teaching these practices of visualizing the process of design and how to better communicate ideas, I learn something new from each class. It’s a struggle at first for groups of: designer, project managers, and web developers to come together and talk the same language. To be creative and talk about expectations, I see the similar problems semester after semester but never the same solution. This class is constant reminder of the energy around students that is irreplaceable and innovative.


Desprately Seeking

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This is a collection of typography found in my everyday life.
Type is all around us: signs, signage, hand-lettered signs, and anything that communicates to you. Some of it is decaying to where it barely communicates, others unintentionally, and most of them beautiful to me. I tried to capture images of signs and type that are even meant for our subconscious. Found type are like instructions to the way we exist, communicate and navigate in out daily life.


Commercial Interruption

People like to know what they’re buying and employers like to know who they are hiring.

It should be no surprise that online advertising for personal promotion is as important as the off-line world. Off-line world already contains a mass of advertising standards: resume, cover letter, design sample, billboards; 30 sheet posters; bus and taxi displays; the list goes on.

While thinking about how I was going to make myself stand out from numerous advertising channels at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design Portfolio Day; television came to mind. Consumers love to get their information from a 30 second time slot; so should employers.

I created a 30 second commercial to convey four of my core values to employers efficiently and creatively. Firstly, I edited a two hour film on 1950’s technology boom to it’s core inventions, this representing an era of innovation and productivity, similar to the boom within my own skills.

Next, distinguishing my skills core values.
KNOWLEDGE OF WORK: establishing my understanding of the design language on many different medium types: video, audio, and print.

SKILLS IN INSTRUCTING: tutoring for the Bachelor of Science: Visualization Program and speaking to Senior Graphic Design students about professional practice.

SKILLS IN LEARNING: displaying technique in multiple platforms.

SKILLS IN IMPROVING METHODS: taking an analytical mind for: research, prototyping, clarity, and emotion to design.

So for the same reason that you listen to advertising supported radio, watch TV with ‘limited commercial interruptions’ – it enables us to obtain something of value for ‘free’.
Please enjoy these values for free.


Mission Behind This Blog

In order to become a better researcher, designer, trend forecaster, or individual, it’s important to constantly be observing the world around us. My intent is to regularly document the strange, curious, funny, intelligent and beautiful observations that I see in daily life. Learn to keep a close eye on the artifacts, signs, designs, behaviors, products and experiences that I encounter. There is something very personal about how and what we see.

The telephone is an object we encounter daily and take for granted. In curiosity, observation, and trying to see an ordinary object differently the telephone transforms. It’s a devise that transfers ever-changing content; conversations never duplicate. It changes in form, feel, and aesthetic with the passing of time. Below are representations of romance, reverent, business, mystery, and melancholy content of the same image.

Romantic

Reverent

Business

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Melancholy

A Special Thanks to Eric Eul for helping me shoot these photos.