Onward and Upward...

The plot thickens this week yet again. I’m taking a service learning course on the life and philosophy of Albert Schweitzer, and as part of the course, students must volunteer with a chosen non-profit group on a regular basis. I’ve been in contact with the Greater New Haven Cat Project, a group that cares for stray and feral cats, and when it came up that I was an interactive designer, they wondered if I could give their website a face lift. As you can see, there is room for improvement. This could be an excellent chance to apply some of the skills I’ve acquired, and some of the tricks I’ve picked up at my internship.
Speaking of which, the work I’m doing for Caffeine Interactive has gotten a lot more interesting over the past week. Beyond simple image manipulation, they now have me working on things that bear a strong resemblance to actual design. Just yesterday I was planning layouts and designing graphics for a page that I will be assembling tomorrow. It will be my first complete from-the-ground-up page with Caffeine.
My reading continues in “How To Be a Graphic Designer…”. Topics covered this week include clients and self promotion. The section on clients hit home with me, pointing out some of the observations I’ve made myself over the past few years. I think the most important issue addressed was the power struggle that can occur between designer and client. All too often I have had to suppress a deep sigh as a client requests something which is contrary to good design sense. The Book recommend forging a relationship where you both have a say, and should be firm when you need to. Easier said than done.
I’ve also been progressing further in “Designing a Digital Portfolio”. A brief section on developing old work to a higher standard was of particular interest to me. As a young designer (still a student, even) I do not have an enormous body of work to draw from. The fine art of taking old, lackluster projects and polishing them up will be something I will probably have to master in the coming months.
What other news? I have chosen a logo, and applied it to a range of media, including business cards, envelopes, and letterheads. I cooked up several versions of each, and still need to figure out just which ones to use. You can check ‘em out below.
Well, as usual, I am being whisked off somewhere by the forces of obligation. Until next time, dear reader.