A designer’s rant

I’m in the middle of creating my website for class/portfolio review/networking, and I must say, I do not like it one bit.  Not the site itself; the process.  I am beginning to think web design is just something I am not going to be good at, and that kind of scares me.  I want to be good at it, but I just don’t have the patience.  I get so easily frustrated with it.  I am beginning to think maybe I’d be better off sticking with print design.

The problem with that, obviously, is that everything is moving online.  Most of the graphic design job postings I see require web skills (more frustration on that later).  In fact, there are more web design positions available than there are graphic design positions.  Here, in Pittsburgh, at least.  But I have the nagging feeling that it’s like that everywhere and I just need to get my ass in gear, put my nose to the grindstone, and dive into it.

And why is it that graphic designers today have to know how to do everything?  When did Web become graphic design’s middle name?  We have to know Flash, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and be experts in print production, illustration, and photography!  And do you know what they’re going to pay us to do all of that??  You guessed it.  Next to nothing.  Is that why they’re starting to teach web design in high school?  Do we really have to get started that early?  Makes me wish I were born 30 years earlier, so I could’ve done graphic design by hand… actually draw and paint posters and advertisements.

At least I know I’m not alone in my plight.  I know there are designers out there who share my frustration.  But what do we do about it?  Yeah, okay, I know what we do about it… I just want to sulk about it a little more.

The “what if” monster got to me

I graduate next week. As expected, I’m speeding through my assignments just to get them over with; not necessarily to improve the quality of them and hone my skills. And I feel pretty guilty about that. But, that’s how I’ve felt about all my online classes. I definitely feel like something has been lost in translation, and I really wish I had worked it out another way so that I could have taken these last three classes on campus. I am virtually no more confident in my web skills than when I started, and I am not getting the good feeling of closure that I thought I was going to have with the Portfolio class. In short, the saying “You get what you pay for” doesn’t really apply here.

Or maybe it does. Maybe I should have tried the CMU thing (assuming I would’ve been accepted, of course, which I’m not so sure about). Or maybe I should’ve gone with the Associate’s program at AiP instead of the diploma program. Sure, both of those would’ve been more than double the amount of money I already have racked up in student loans, but would I feel better and more confident about myself and my abilities?

I hate the “what ifs.”

This is how I’m gonna do it.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted.  I’ve been busy with school and work and buying a house.  But now that the year is coming to a close and I am gearing up for the holidays and my impending portfolio show/graduation, I am thinking about what’s going to happen next.

I feel the need to continue schooling myself after December 18th (joyous graduation day).  I’ve compiled a laundry list of my skills/lack thereof that need improvement… things I think will be important for me to know how to do.  Now, the problem with that is I haven’t assigned any deadlines, and I’m not sure how to go about that.  For instance, how do I set a deadline on teaching myself how to use Flash?  Or Javascript?

I think one way to do it is to buy a Lynda.com subscription, and commit to doing x-number of tutorials, or concepts per week or day. Because I just don’t do the whole “reading” thing. We have books on HTML, Flash, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Photoshop, Javascript, and Perl at home. But do I read them, and refer to them when I have a problem?  No. That’s why I think the tutorial route is the best option for me.

So that I have it in stone (well, not quite stone, per se), I am hereby committing myself to learn the following:

• Javascript
• CSS
• Live Paint in Illustrator
• Live Trace in Illustrator
• 3D in Illustrator
• Flash
• XML
• Scripts in Photoshop
• Painting in Photoshop

I think once I get proficient enough in Javascript and CSS, I will feel comfortable enough to put “web design” on my resume.  And that’s really what this is all about.  Beefing up the resume.  Because you never know what can happen.

Welcome back, old friend. Now go away!

Yesterday, in addition to being absurdly tired, I had a migraine. It’s the first one I think I’ve had in about a year; and, as always, it lasted through the night and into the next day. So I still have it. But, it is much better than when I woke up this morning. Now it has subsided into a dull, numbing ache, rather than a railroad spike. This migraine made me realize how I wear my pain on my face. The area around my eyes is dark. It probably didn’t help that I barely put any makeup on. I could’ve made the effort to do that, but in my own passive aggressive way, by not trying to hide my pain, I’m telling the world (a.k.a., my job and school) “Yes, I am in pain, and look where I am! Not at home! I’m here. Where I’m supposed to be. HAPPY???”

So take that. Yeah.

Chalk one up

Yesterday I cooked my very first Easter dinner.  Being out of town half of last week, I didn’t get the chance to really ponder what to make.  I ended up cooking a ginormous ham with a tangerine glaze, mac and cheese with broccoli and cauliflower, sweet potato casserole, and asparagus.  For the hubby, mum-in-law, and me, it was quite a feast, and I am proud to say that it all came out lovely and timed just right.  Whew!

I even took the time to decorate the table:

…and it happens just like that.

When someone you love dies, everything stops.

Here I go again… (great, now I’ll have a Whitesnake song stuck in my head all day!)

Today marks the end of my six-month hiatus from school.  I am happy to report that the Art Institute of Pittsburgh really has their shit together when it comes to the admissions process.  My transition was nearly seamless.  Every step of the process so far has been extremely simple, and the staff seem to actually know what they’re doing.  And they’re friendly, to boot!  Now, I am comparing this directly to the staff, policies, and procedures of the Art Institute of Washington, where all they care about is getting their money.  Granted, I understand that all schools are really only interested in getting their money from you, but I already feel like this is going to be a much better experience.  Minus, of course, my dear friends I made at the Washington site.  You know who you are.

To jump start this whole “me getting back into school and hopefully producing some awesome work” thing, I registered to exhibit a piece at Art All Night in Lawrenceville.  Registered five days ago, and still am excited/nauseous.  I’ve submitted my work in contests before, but that was a mail-in type thing.  All I got was a rejection letter (except for the one contest, which I was a finalist in).  I didn’t have to stand there and see people walk past my work, point it out, or — dear God — criticize it.  This is a completely new venture for me, and I’m pretty scared, actually.  Especially since in my excitement I invited like two dozen people to come see it, and for the most part, they’re all frickin’ coming!  Just to see my little 8 x 6 canvas.

‘Scuse me, I’m going to hurl.

School days

I’ve been on hiatus from classes for about six months now.  I’ve kinda missed it, kinda not.  I do enjoy being home every night, having a real dinner, going to the gym, and (dare I say?) having something that resembles a life.  On the other hand, making art and being creative haven’t really been a regular part of my life outside of work, and I miss doing school projects.  Classes start April 6, and if I play my cards right and don’t go crazy from three classes the next two quarters, I will be done in December!  First up are Typography, Electronic Design, and Design Principles.

In other news, I’m going to see New Kids on the Block in concert this weekend, and I’m totally stoked.

Gas is a lovely thing

Western Pennsylvania was ravaged by winds of up to 92 mph last night.  Not surprisingly, we lost power, for most of the night and probably still now.  But the one thing we still had was hot water, thanks to our gas-powered hot water tank.  Ohhhhh the hot water.  It was such a treat that I took two showers in the last 12 hours!  Granted it was by candlelight, and I couldn’t really see how terrible I looked this morning when I was putting on make-up… but I think I would’ve lost my mind if it weren’t for that hot water.

But all the gas in the world won’t save the fridgeful of food we’ll most likely have to throw away when we get home.  Fridgeful’s a word, right?  Well, it is now.  According to the FDA’s website, refrigerated food only has about four hours of good non-spoiledness in the event of a power outage.  And the contents of a half-full freezer have about 24 hours.  Unfortunately, it appears my Lean Cuisine pizza didn’t survive the night.  I just hope I can salvage the pierogies.

Okay, 2009. Let’s do this.

I’m finally ready to begin the new year.  Yes, I realize a month and two days have already lapsed, but I consider January to be a “transition” time — especially this January, with Hubby being in Virginia for roughly half the month.  But now, feeling the calm after the excitement storm that has come to Pittsburgh after our Steelers claimed another Superbowl victory, I can finally say 2009 has begun.

Last night we signed up for a gym membership and got our first workouts over and done with.  I’m not sure that I’ll love going to this gym, because there seemed to be a copious amount of meatheads.  Even Ian pointed it out.  And that’s not something I’ve had to deal with at the gym since, like, college. My first post-college gym experience was at a tiny little World Gym Express in Fairfax, Va., and it was mostly housewives and old retired military dudes.  I loved going to that gym.  Then there was the gym at our apartment complex, which was a lot of military people and runners, and then all the ghetto dudes who would just sit on the machines because they were bored.  I did not love going to that gym.

So there’s the first resolution-y thing I’ve started: going to the gym.  The second, which I’ve already nixed for now, is to take cake decorating classes.  They started last night, and I ended up going to the gym instead, but trading one resolution-y thing for another isn’t a total loss in my book.  Besides, I’d rather wait until I can go to cake decorating classes with my friend.

The third resolution-y thing is to start taking graphic design classes again, which I’m planning on doing in April.  A simpler solution to my needing/wanting a graphic design degree is to do the Art Institute of Pittsburgh’s Digital Design Diploma.  It’s designed for people who already have a bachelor’s degree (Me) and who need night classes (Me again), and I can be done in a year or less.  Since I’ve proven I can get, hold on to, and excel in a graphic design position, I’m not sure pursuing the Associate’s degree is necessary at this point.  Plus it is a buttload of money and time and I think we’d rather save up for a house.

Those are really the big three things on my agenda for 2009:  get fit, make pretty cakes, get schooled.  Cheers!