Senioritis

With April beginning in just two days, I'm sure senioritis has made an appearance in every high schooler's mind by now. I, myself am starting to look forward to allowing senioritis to enter my life (in about 15 days, after I finish all of my important work and can look forward to graduating college). It's a fun time in life and you get to look forward to and concentrate on the future and all that's ahead in life. For some it is scary and for others it is exciting. It's all too easy to emphasize on the scary things like: "What will college bring?" "Will I make any friends?" and other "what if..." questions.

Make sure to take time and enjoy your summer before entering college, but one thing that it is good to focus on is getting a summer job. For the average person, college is only moderately expensive. You'll need the average school supplies, plus living supplies and a laptop and printer if you're lucky. The more intense majors like Graphic Design and Interior Design will require a lot more funds though. Not only are laptops and printers must-haves, but you'll need art supplies as well. Art supplies can get quite expensive and they are required. There are also expenses for each project, at least for graphic designers. For one project I had to buy kitchen utensils (garlic press, cheese slicer, pizza cutter, egg slicer, melon baller, etc.) at the dollar store. The assignment was to make cheap products look expensive with packaging and an enhancement of some kind to the physical product (I bought cherry spray paint to make them look like they had wood handles). Some people bought more expensive products to start so they could focus on the packaging itself. For a different project, I know one person who spent about $50 on printing alone. My point is: this program takes you great places, but you'll need a little spending money on hand.

Keep an eye out for my next blog post about where all graphic design has taken me!

Location, Location, Location!

Probably one of the best things about La Roche that doesn't have to do with education is that it's right off of McKnight Road. While there isn't a Walmart, there's just about everything else you could need right on McKnight. (If you really need it, there's a Walmart on Route 8 in Gibsonia and one in Cranberry.) For a graphic designer, La Roche is situated very well. It's a 15-20 minute straight shot into Pittsburgh from school. This is nice because a lot of AIGA (professional graphic design organization) events are in various parts of Pittsburgh. Research for projects has led me into Lawrenceville many times and I know my way around there almost without GPS. Speaking of GPS: though you don't need a car when you come to school, you might want to make friends with someone who does have a car or learn to use the public transportation systems so you can venture out and about. There are also lots of resources for designers on McKnight and in Pittsburgh. Here are some places you'll want to keep in mind:


McKnight Road
-JoAnn Fabrics: craft supplies, art supplies, paper, sign up online for coupons
-PaperMart: party store good for inspiration/boxes/bags
-Michaels: craft supplies, art supplies, sign up online for coupons
-Target
-Dollar Store: located in Northway Mall, good source of materials for some projects
-Borders: best selection of design books around, sign up online for coupons (and on Facebook)
-Half Price Books: how-to books and design books
-Giant Eagle: located in McIntyre Square, open 24 hours, has a RedBox
-OfficeMax: located in McIntyre Square, cheapest printing on McKnight
-FedEx/Kinkos: printing (there's a 24 hour one in Cranberry too!)
-Ross Park Mall: good for research and inspiration on some projects
-North Park Lounge: best lounge fries, the one on Route 8 has pool and games too


Pittsburgh
-Copies on Carson: printing
-Alpha Graphics: printing
-Print Tech: paper, printing
-Dozen Bake Shop: fantastic cupcakes, desserts, and food in general
-xpedx Paper Store: specialty paper, envelopes
-Gallery Crawl: networking, viewing art and entertainment
-MinuteMan Press: printing, also on Route 8
-Utrecht: art and graphic design supplies, student discount
-Artist & Craftsman Supply: art and graphic design supplies
-CMU Art Bookstore: art and graphic design supplies, hard to find items

Positive Space

http://www.laroche.edu/positivespace

Positive Space is La Roche College's annual student art show and it's coming up this Thursday! I mentioned in a previous post that in Senior Seminar, two groups of senior graphic design students compete for a client and that one of those clients is always Positive Space. The group that won Positive Space last semester designed the fliers above, as well as the entire Positive Space campaign. As I mentioned, Positive Space is La Roche College's student art show, which means that anyone who has taken at least one graphic design course at La Roche can enter something in the show. The work students submit can be from classes at La Roche or from outside school.

This particular piece lists all the categories of Positive Space: Typography, Illustration, Multimedia, Green Design, Package Design, Interior Design, Drawing / Painting, 3D Modeling, Graphic Design, and Photography. Typography is essentially anything with lots of words (type) and the focus of anything submitted in this category would be the design of the type itself. Illustration is hand-rendered or computer-rendered drawings. Multimedia encompasses both video production and web design. Green Design is a new category this year and can include entires that have an environmentally sustainable purpose whether it's in concept or execution (environmentally conscious in ideas or actual design). Package Design is the design of products to be sold. The Interior Design category was added a few years ago to expand the show into a graphic and interior design show where the two departments could work together more closely. Drawing and Painting is exactly what it sounds like. 3D modeling is mainly focused at interior designers as well and their use of programs like AutoCAD and their scaled mockups. Graphic Design encompasses anything you can't pin down into a specific category that combines words and imagery in a unique way. Last, but not least, Photography can include black and white as well as color.

All the students get excited about Positive Space because it's a juried art show. This means that there is a specific drop off day for entries and then a few days later, a team of jurors (professional designers that don't know any of the current students submitting work) looks at all of the work in all of the categories and decides what is good enough to make it into the show and what is not good enough to make it into the show. They also judge a first, second and honorable mention within each category. The night of the show -THIS THURSDAY!- we will all find out who got accepted into the show.

Positive Space takes place at La Roche College, in the Cantellops Art Gallery from 7-9PM. There is also an awards ceremony in CC Square. If you're interested in the work that the students produce here, this is definitely a great chance to see the best of it! There will also be free food and a chance to mingle with all the current design students and even some professionals! Visit La Roche's website to learn more about the event. Hope to see you there!