Surround Yourself with Diversity & Your Creative Potential will Accelerate

Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build an Incredible Career.

Chapter 3: Cultivating Relationships

Jocelyn K. Glei

In this chapter of “Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build an Incredible Career,” I read about how to build collaborative alliances and networks that will enrich my work.  “Put simply, opportunities flow through people.  If you want a job, what you need is someone to hire you.  If you want capital to start a business, what you need is an investor.  If you want to sell a product, what you need is a customer.  At every stage in our careers, whatever level of opportunity or growth we seek, we depend on relationships to drive us forward” (Glei 129).

“To achieve all that we’re capable of, we must enlist a group of allies to accompany us on our journey, empower our coworkers and clients to give us honest feedback, build collaborative teams with an eye toward fresh perspectives, and tend to our network of acquaintances with generosity and authenticity” (129).  Many creative people see their work as primarily an individual endeavor, but this chapter taught me that even though in the creative realm usually the best work often reflects a strong individual vision rather than a collective one, that if this approach is followed too closely, then we can miss out on valuable help that can advance our work.

The key takeaways that I got from this chapter were tips on how to work with people when things are going wrong, as they inevitably will, and how to manage it because “everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves,” a quote by Carl Jung.  Don’t go it alone by seeking out people who you can trust and ask for help, and who will hold you accountable, create social contracts by addressing “what could go wrong in a creative relationship up front” so then “when a conflict does arise, you’ve created a comfortable space for talking about it,” trust in generosity, ask and you shall receive, know that cross-pollination begets creativity and “try to assemble creative teams that include both veteran collaborators and newbies” because diversity accelerates your creative potential, and act like a master builder, not a master mind (181).  One point that I really liked was to “focus on how you can help others, and lasting connections will come.  The true spirit of networking should be generosity, not obligation” (181).

“In a world of collaborative creation, whom we surround ourselves with dictates how much we can achieve” (129).

Excellence: not an act, but a habit.

Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind.

Chapter 1: Building A Rock-Solid Routine

Jocelyn K. Glei

In this chapter of “Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind,” I read about how to give structure, rhythm, and purpose to my daily work.  A quote that I came across that stuck with me is “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit” (39).  This quote is by Aristotle and I really love it.  It reminds me that in order to get your tasks done, you need to work at it repeatedly and really hone in on your creative practice.  “Cultivating a daily practice is a necessary prerequisite to achieving great things” (Godin 41).

The hardest part about getting a daily routine right is that some people have broken strategies.  There are a lot of talented folks who are not succeeding the way that they want to because of this.  Seth Godin thinks that “the strategy is to have a practice, and what it means to have a practice is to regularly and reliably do the work in a habitual way” (42).

“There are many ways you can signify to yourself that you are doing your practice.  For example, some people wear a white lab coat or a particular pair of glasses, or always work in a specific place—in doing these things, they are professionalizing their art” (42).  This goes along with my strategy, which is to wake up at a reasonably early hour (for me this means sometime before noon—sooooo 11:45am, because if I wake up after noon then my day is done...  I have officially let my laziness take over the possibility of getting anything productive done that day and I most likely won’t even move from bed), I must get a coffee, and go to the library or the IDD lab.  I need to be in a quiet setting, where I can dedicate my focus to my work and not conversations with friends or where I can avoid people watching every time a human being walks by a window that I might be sitting at in the caf or student center, for example.  I also like the big screens in the library or IDD lab where I can view all of my work in a more organized and visible way, as opposed to on my 13” Mac laptop screen.  My strategy jump-starts my creativity by establishing this routine as my “associative triggers.”

The key takeaways from this chapter on how to build a rock-solid routine are to put great work before everything else, jump-start your creativity by establishing “associative triggers—such as listening to the same music or arranging your desk in a certain way—that tell your mind it’s time to get down to work,” feel the frequency by committing to working on your project at consistent intervals—“ideally every day—to build creative muscle and momentum over time,” pulse and pause by working hard and then renewing your energy by taking breaks in between working bursts, get lonely, and to not wait for moods by showing up, whether you feel inspired or not (Glei 65).

Finding Focus in a Distracted World

Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind

Chapter 2: Finding Focus in a Distracted World

Jocelyn K. Glei

In this chapter of “Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind,” I read about how to find focus amidst all of the distractions that we have in our world today and more importantly how to hone my attention to produce work that really matters.

In the past few decades that I have grown up, the amount of information that we are confronted with on a daily basis has grown exponentially.  “Open-plan offices have brought the buzz of other people’s activities into our workspaces.  The Internet has provided an infinite source of distraction right inside our primary workstation—the computer.  And smartphones have made the allure of new information available anytime, anywhere” (Glei 69).

I find this problem to be totally apparent in my every day life as well.  Every time that I am on the computer trying to get a project done, create design work, or work on a paper, for example, I time and time again find myself procrastinating on Facebook scrolling through some girl who I haven’t talked to in year’s family vacation albums or scrolling through endless addicting BuzzFeed posts on cute goats.  It is a real problem!  Also, my mom told me last month that we are now known as “the generation in their palms,” referring to the fact that we cannot keep our heads out of our palms, constantly checking our smartphones and never bothering to look away and notice what is going on in the real world.  We never bother to stop for a second, take a breath, and actually see the leaves growing on the trees!  I constantly am caught up in other people’s lives or posts, games, pictures, articles, etc. that I have found that are totally irrelevant to me.  The entire point of the invention of these apps or websites is to get people addicted to them and in hopes that they will spend and rack up countless hours a day on their platform.  It is all a trap that I have completely fallen for.

Yet today in our society, and especially in the design world, you are sort of required to keep up on all portals of the internet, be on top of your social media game, and know how the design world and its technology is constantly changing.  If you look away for too long, you will feel totally out of the loop.  In fact at my internship this summer on the Social Media team at an advertising agency, it was part of your job to constantly patrol social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google +, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc.  Up until then, I had never even created a Pinterest account because I just knew that I would become addicted to it and spend countless hours procrastinating on the platform instead of doing something productive.  However, at this internship they made me make an account so I could surf and explore the different pages and see what was trending so I could help come up with ideas of how to better brand and sell our accounts on these platforms.  In the end, I discovered that Pinterest, for example, was actually an awesome tool when it comes to designing and advertising your brand.  Yes, some time on this platform may be used procrastinating, but I actually find that I spent a lot of the time on this platform well spent by researching and finding inspiration from other users.

So obviously, I need some help.  In this chapter I learned how “amid this constant surge of information, attention has become our most precious asset.  To spend it wisely, we must develop a better understanding of how temptation works on our brains, cultivate new strategies for enhancing our self-control, and carve out time to truly focus on big, creative tasks (69).

The key takeaways from this chapter were to defend your creative time, focus when you’re fresh, kill the background noise (by turning off your phone, email, and any apps unrelated to your task!), make progress visible, give your brain a break, and tap into transitional moments.  “Take a break from checking your smartphone during transitional moments, and open yourself up to opportunity and serendipity” (116).

“In a world filled with distraction, attention is our competitive advantage.  Look at each day as a challenge—and an opportunity—to keep your eye on the prize” (69).

Information Architecture of Portfolio Site

Portfolio Website Information Architecture Version 1

I am a Feather

I have finally come up with a totally different logo redesign that I am very pleased with!

I went in a different direction that I was talking about in my previous post where I was going to use a wordmark as my logo that I created based on some curly/handwritten looking typographic elements.  I doodled for hours coming up with several different sketches of versions of my name and then I finally narrowed it down to one that I really liked.  I liked it because I thought it looked simple, yet elegant and sophisticated, while also feeling personal.  I scanned it in, then touched it up in Illustrator for hours, and left it clean yet not completely perfect looking so you could tell that it was handwritten, which makes it feel more personal and customized to my brand and identity.

Here is the wordmark that I am going to use of my name:

(I think this dark gray/mud color is really growing on me)

My next idea was to compliment my wordmark with a logo/picture that was also drawn/handwritten and curly looking.  I doodled for HOURS, combining as many elements from all of my original ideas that I could into one great looking design.  Such elements included tribal themes, patterns, flowers, curly and flowy lines and curves, and an actual picture/icon of something that I thought represented me and my personality or meaning in life.  The icon that I chose to incorporate all of these elements into is a feather.  I chose the feather because it has several meanings that apply to my life.  In dreams, feathers mean travel or the ability to move more freely in life.  They also are a sign of obedience and serenity.  I believe that I am like a feather, constantly moving freely in my life, and by being very independent yet also being able to go with the flow.  I absolutely love traveling and taking in the beauty and serenity of the world.  I live for adventure and I live my life very spontaneously.  As far as being a sign of obedience, I am disciplined, driven, and motivated to perform to the highest of expectations and am able to prioritize needs by balancing my life in order to get all tasks done on time.  I have become especially good at prioritizing needs by balancing academic and athletic time commitments throughout my time as a student-athlete in college.

Here is the doodle incorporating all of those elements that I decided to use for my icon/logo:

After scanning it in, I played around with it in Illustrator and Photoshop and turned it into a clean looking design:

Now I need to expand on these ideas and incorporate them into my business cards, envelopes, and letterhead layout designs.

Back to the Drawing Board

After I developed my crab logo idea further and experimented with it by playing around with size, positioning, color, etc. on business cards, envelopes, and letterheads, I wasn't completely satisfied with it.  It was a cute idea, but the other direction that I was originally thinking about when deciding between the crab idea or another one was really pretty and curly typography of my name that would serve as a wordmark, or a text-only typographic treatment of my name that would serve as my logo itself.  Since I didn't seem too happy with the final results of my crab logo, I decided to go in a completely different direction and start from scratch, YET AGAIN.  I am running out of time but I am going to put in numerous hours this week to get some good results that I am finally happy with.  I can't just use a mediocre brand identity to represent myself for the next year or two.  I won't be happy every time that I look at it and I won't feel confident every time I apply somewhere or show anyone my branding.  Most importantly, I won't get NOTICED by potential employers if I do not stand out and have something spectacular and original.

So, I have decided to go back to playing around with the other idea of using my name as a wordmark.  I have sketched out several different versions of curly, flowy, circular, hand-written fonts of my name.  Some stand alone, some are accompanied by a little design, and some are placed within some type of border or shape.  What I am primarily aiming for is a sophisticated and neat look.  The colors that I am thinking about using are black and white.  Black and white together and alone looks so simple, yet elegant and sophisticated, while also edgy at the same time.  I am still in the works of playing around with adding one color to the black and white color scheme, which will really make some elements pop.  Also, maybe instead of black I am considering a very very dark gray mud-ish looking color.

So while I work on this brand new identity direction for the rest of the week, here are my previous crab logo ideas on the business cards, envelopes, and letterheads, which I will post in this entry and then ditch the ideas and never look back again.

(note: some of the letterheads have two or three different versions of a header because I was experimenting with different typefaces, colors, and/or positioning)

In the meantime.. getting organized

Mind mapping is a powerful graphic technique that helps us develop our project ideas.  "It harnesses the full range of cortical skills - word, image, number, logic, rhythm, color and spatial awareness - in a single, uniquely powerful manner.  In so doing, it gives you the freedom to roam the infinite expanses of your brain.  The Mind Map can be applied to every aspect of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance" (http://thinkbuzan.com/).

Using the tools of mind mapping, I am going to get organized and take action.  The mind map process fosters creativity and flexibility.  My brain is all over the place; my thoughts and ideas come to me very quickly and messy.  My brain needs freedom, color, image, and quick linking tools to stimulate it fully as I have artistic note-taking styles that include branching structures combined with sketches and keywords and doodles... AKA a mess.  Mind mapping will be my preliminary tool for organizing all of the content that will be in my portfolio as well as all of the tasks that I need to put on my "To-Do List."

As I started putting together my Mind Map it became pretty intimidating.  I didn't realize how exhaustive this map was going to be and it reminded me of how much work it was going to be putting together this portfolio.  I used an app that I bought on the app store called "MindNode," which very easily helped me to quickly add more branches as all of the topics and ideas kept flowing through my head.

Here is the current version of my mind map which includes: all of my projects and work I may want to include in the portfolio, self promotion/brand identity & resume info., my skills, relevant coursework that I have taken throughout college, and lastly my to-do list.

Rough Sketches

Here are some of my (very rough) sketches & comps that show all of the different directions I experimented with for my logo design

Logo Design (and all the frustration)

When I first learned we were going to start branding and making an identity for ourselves I was so excited.  A million ideas were flying through my mind of ideas for a logo.  Examples ranged from my initials or monogram, to my full name, to flowers, anchors, stamps, arrows, tribal patterns, popsicles, waves, and even crabs.  I thought I would without a doubt come up with several excellent ideas but when I went to actually sit down and start it was a lot harder to get started than I had thought it would be.  I had been researching online for plenty of inspiration.  I Googled for hours and also searched Pinterest, which is an extremely helpful tool.  When I went to start actually drawing my ideas, I remembered how terrible of a drawer I am.  I can make beautiful design and art on a computer, but when I go to draw nothing quite turns out how I pictured it in my head.  Although, I have learned that this is sometimes a good thing.  My ideas accidentally change and inspire and push me even further with new developing ideas.  After sketching for hours on hours, I still was not happy.  I hadn’t come up with anything that I was crazy about yet, so I went to sleep and thought I would try again tomorrow.  That ENTIRE night all I can remember dreaming about was logos on logos and patterns and designs.  This happens to me every single night after I am doing design work all night.  Last semester I was having weird dreams about HTML and coding, and when my alarm was going off in the morning I was still half asleep dreaming that an obnoxious siren was going off in the school and I had to figure out the code to get it to stop.  Digital design literally can drive a person crazy!

So to start, I started with drawing different variations of my name in different fonts—curly, boxy, cubed, geometrically… I really love typography so I was initially trying to incorporate something fun into the way my name would look.  After the first critique on my first set of sketches I felt discouraged because after spending countless hours on my first set of ideas they were basically all turned down.  That means all that work was for NOTHING.  Frustration kicked in.  I focused too much on coming up with designs using my initials and the feedback that I got told me to focus on either my whole name as a word mark for my logo or to consider coming up with an icon or symbol that I could design into my logo that would represent me.

This past week I spent just as many hours mocking up numerous designs that went in a totally different direction from my previous ones.  In the end, I decided that I really liked the ones that incorporated a flower or feminine and curvy looking designs paired with my name, or the ones that I created with a crab icon.  The crab I considered for many reasons.  First off, I am from Maryland where we are famous for being so plentiful in crabs in our Chesapeake Bay.  Growing up in Maryland, I am OBSESSED with crabs.  I pretty much eat them at least once a day when I am there.  Seriously.  I was picking crabs when I was not even a year old.  Also, my zodiac sign is cancer, whose symbol is the crab.  I came up with a cute little crab icon who looks super friendly and playful.  As of right now I am thinking that I am going to expand on this idea and develop it more because I think the crab logo would look good paired with my name in a simple sans serif typeface yet can also stand alone on items such as my cover letter, letterheads, envelopes, thank you notes, or resume.

So close, yet so far....

My name is Kayla Fu and welcome to my blog!

This blog will act as my reflective journal for my thoughts and processes throughout the semester.  You'll read about my successes, my failures, my ups and downs, my hopes and fears, and my terrifying journey through my last semester of my college career.  You will also see my process for coming up with my designs, my branding, and making of my portfolio.

To start off with a little bit about myself, my name is Kayla Fu and I am a senior at Quinnipiac University, which is lockated in Hamden, Connecticut.  I am an Interactive Digital Design major and a Sociology minor.  I am also a dedicated member of the Quinnipiac Women's Lacrosse team, where I play the position attack.

I was born and raised in the adorable town of Annapolis, Maryland.  I am a driven young woman who lives her life carefree and spontaneously.  I absolutely love to travel and I have a craving for adventure.  I have an affinity for sunshine and a firm belief that chocolate is the cure for almost anything.  And as a true Annapolitan, I due for just about anything with crab or Old Bay in it.  In my free time I love to explore the unknown, listen to music, spend time on a beach, go boating, snowboard out west, play sports, spend time with family and friends, and watch lots and lots and lots movies.

Throughout this last semester of college, I hope to showcase how much I have learned about the design world in the last four years that I have been at QU.  However, I also hope that this semester will bring some clarity as I am trying to decide exactly which field of design to pursue after I graduate and am in the working world.  I am not going to lie, at this current stage in my life I am absolutely terrified and stressed out about graduation... not knowing if I have a job yet when I graduate, not knowing where I am going to live, not even knowing WHAT JOB IT IS EXACTLY THAT I EVEN WANT!!!!  So hopefully by the time I am posting one of my last posts of the semester I will have all of this and my next plan in life all figured out.