April 4 Update

What I did:

Thursday I met with an associate at Print Tech and talked to them about how I need to cards printed for the prototypes. They gave me a quote for pricing by Thursday afternoon, and will have proofs for me by Wednesday or Thursday. They are also giving me a quote for the poster, which will take three days to print, matte laminate, and mount.

I also got back 100 copies of a kinda sorta maybe card that I had printed at gotprint.com for $24.00. I really like the way they look. I am going to order more from that website to use as take aways, and I will just have to ration them between the opening and graduation.

I went to Hollanders and bought a white, printable cardstock and a bone tool. I have two different patterns for two packages that I need to print and assemble ASAP.

I am reworking the poster now, and am going to tile it tomorrow. It is now 43 x 30 inches. Once I've got it good tomorrow and tiled up, I am going to use that as the placeholder for Mark/Stephen for Tuesday. I also will bring my shelf and bracket, but want to keep it packaged up until its in the appropriate place in the gallery so it doesn't get scratched. I also need to decide if I am going to keep it the wood color or make it white.

I found some wooden, clear and translucent boxes as possibilities for the gallery.

Things I've Done This Week

1. Found business card sized envelopes

2. Found 2.125 x 2.125 envelopes

3. Ordered test prints from gotprint for a "kinda sorta maybe" proof.

4. Found mini cello bags/packages.

5. Have an appointment at Print Tech on Thursday afternoon to consult with an associate about printing the final prototypes of my products on particular papers.

6. Am getting close to finalizing my poster that has all the cards on it.

7. Am photographing my final products on Tuesday 4.6.10. Am thinking of using edited photos of final products in the gallery as well, mounted on foam core like the poster.

Questions:

1. Should I have a donation bin? Should I be selling the cards at the gallery? How would I even do that? Is that allowed or completely taboo?

2. Still working through final packaging stages, but have four finalized "groups" of cards.

3. Need to seriously work on my written thesis and make that rock.

Proofing/Printing/Gallery Installation

I'm getting three of my card sets ready for print. I am going to try out gotprint.com and printing.com and see how it goes this week. The goal is to have one fully packaged and printed version of each set, as well as a ton of take aways. I have a plan for the gallery installation and am working on getting that accomplished, as well as a plan for packaging for each set. I am still working on my forth set-calling that my emoticons set-and am potentially going to have a fifth.

Set-Shit

side one
side two

Instead of having a card set with 10-20 different variations on an idea, for the SHIT set, I chose the four strongest, and will package those in a set. I will print five copies of each, so the package will contain twenty business sized cards for someone to use.

Post Card Image

Eventually, when I have all of my cards, I want to create an extended version of this card to have printed large scale. I also need to finalize my sets, print them on legitimate quality paper, and package them. And take pictures. "Shit," right?

Also, ffffound these. They are cool.

Found this at ffffound.com, and felt that it was pertinent.

Small Crits 2.16.10

Thanks to Seth and Franc for coming to crit, and to Elona and John for organizing. I don't want to regret saying this later, but having crits helps me because not only do I get good feedback, but it provides a deadline of sorts and gets me to produce more solid work. So thanks!

For record keeping sake, I'm posting the work I showed today.

Recent

What I did this morning

Currently in my studio, not sure if I missed a potential meeting with anyone...I was in a different IP section meeting about resumes, which was wonderfully helpful and I have a lot of good changes to make for my resume.

In terms of work, I will upload more this afternoon...

Progress/goals

I've been making more cards, similar to those I had been making before break, and have edited out cards that I'm not going to finalize. I am going to keep the following:

1. Shit

2. Right now, you suck

3. It only matters if you want it to

4. Kinda sorta maybe. Think your wonderful.

5. I'm not ready for this.

I am working on the following new:

1. Seek counseling

2. I wonder what you would have if you could stop pretending.

3. Fantastic!

4. Woops!

5. Try smiling more.

I wanted to move away from the sugary sweet ones, even though I didn't mean them to be so sugary, such as "I am yours, to keep" and try to make cards that could be applied to many different situations, that could be sarcastic, humorous, serious, or all three simultaneously. In Stephanie Rowden's Penny Stamps Lecture she spoke about how her project in Krakow demonstrated the way that in one place, at one specific moment, there are so many different types of emotions and different situations playing out. My work relates to this because I want the works to be applicable to many different situations and people. This statement, as well as what I think was said Professor Cogswell's introduction, I plan to quote and reference in my thesis. I think it was Cogswell, but it could have been Rowden, regardless it pertained to Rowden's work, but it was talked about that Rowden is a listener and understander of communication. Communication requires a mutual understanding and is a complicated, indepth process that requires the parties to rely on one another. I am going to watch the lecture again and write down exactly what was said so I may reference it in my paper.

I also have a newish idea for the exhibition for my work. I want to have the physical work available for people to see, but I think to frame the idea and context of the work, I should photograph the works in the world and display them that way, so that the audience at the IP show can understand that they are meant to be out in the world and interacted with. This will mean I will get to show them to people and then photograph with them. I also think this will be good for me because I realized I haven't been working in another medium outside of graphic design for quite awhile and think that I should go out and shoot.

Today is...January 26. Before the spring break, I want to have all of my cards designed and ready to go, so that the month of March I can photograph the work, focus on the exhibition and work on my written thesis.

Moving Forward/Thesis Writing

It was nice meeting Jennifer and talking about writing. I'm moving forward with my thesis paper and want to spend more time in the paper talking about my ideas rather than the actual manifestation that the work will take. As I said before, writing is so helpful in synthesizing my ideas concretely. Thinking about what a business card is fundamentally has been helpful and I am continuing to work. Since my ultimate idea is to rethink communication and provide a new idea within communication, the concept of a business card is not exactly what I am looking for, but is helpful. Business cards are sort of dry and just state a little information. I may still make some cards within the business card category, but am also still working on the cards more like what I was making before the December crit. After the class crits last week, people really like the more wry, ambiguous cards. I have been trying to come up with more phrases in those kinds of categories.

Since the way that people interact with these cards is really important, I think I want to exhibit them so that people can touch and hold them, as well as show large photographs of the cards in an environment. I was thinking of looking for second hand frames to frame them, because it would be both cost effective and more casual than matching wooden frames, which might offer a more conversational feel rather than a formal, gallery feel.

Research

I've ordered and received some books that may or may not be helpful. So far I have (don't laugh) The Assertive Advantage: A Guide to Healthy, Positive Communication and The Talk Book. I also spoke with a friend of mine in the Org Studies program, and she has given me about fifteen articles about how people communicate in relationships and how relationships work psychologically. I'm trying to finger through all of the content. I'm glad to have found at least a strong starting point for more academic research. I don't know entirely if this reading will correlate easily with my work, but I think its been helpful so far.

Was interesting to see others work during the crit this morning and thought there were some good comments, also, many of us are really at similar points in our work. It made me feel better about my issues to see others having similar issues, not that I don't wish they were farther along, because I wish I was farther along, but it was reassuring to see the stages my peers are in.

I haven't installed Flash on my computer yet, but for Thursday I want to have some sketch ideas of what would happen in my piece that will accompany cards. I want to essentially create brand identities for people that will be shown via what we know to be business cards. But the cards will also include clear personality traits or facts about the person that are integral to who they are and what others might want to know before they get to know them better. What does the flash piece have to do with this? It should be on the web site exhibiting and selling these cards, where i will make my argument for direct communication, and how the way we communicate is directly tied to our identities.

Update

I apologize for not writing all break. I spent much of my break working on my resume, job search etc. and thought daily about my IP work. The critique in December I felt was positive, however I am really disappointed that Holly Hughes did not make it to my presentation. As Prof Overmyer and I are familiar and have similar interests, and John has been along for the ride since September, I would have loved to have a different perspective from a different kind of artist. However the feedback was helpful. What I got most from the feedback was

1. Turn the Julia to 11 and I agree, I am influenced far to easily in every part of my life and need to listen to myself a lot more.

2. Leave the realm of the greeting card.

3. I want to push the conceptual aspect of my work farther.

Other things I am thinking about...I have starting to think about displaying my work and creating a piece to display these small paper works. I also REALLY want to create a piece in flash to exhibit all of the concepts I am interested in. I think a flash piece makes so much sense. It would use letters and words, which are inherent in my topic of communication and language, to show my argument and concept through moving type and image.

I also have emailed some of my friends on the Psych department and want to talk with a counselor at CAPS at the Union about communication and the problems people face, and the psychology behind it. My plan for today and the weekend is to buckle down and get some good research done.

Also, I want to use some of my grant money to buy Flash for my computer and take some tutorials. I feel a bit scared and overwhelmed, but thats okay because thats how I get work accomplished. Sorry again for not posting over break. I swear I wasn't being useless!