Freaking Out

Every year, when school starts, I start to freak out. It's been a tradition since when I went to my first day of Kindergarten. I was never nervous about leaving my family or spending the day away. What made me nervous were things like "What will the teachers be like?" "How difficult will the material be" or "Will it be challenging?" Wondering what the year would be like - all that mystery - made me anxious beyond belief.


I'm graduating in May and I'm actually asking myself these same things. For the first year, I'm more nervous at the end of the year than I was at the beginning of the year. I'm asking myself "What will my employers be like?" "Will I like my job and will it be challenging?" Even the dreaded question: Will I get a job? I hope I get a job. I hope I like my job. I hope my job pays well. Before I can leap off that bridge to employment though, there's a lot of things I need to do first. Completing this semester of classes is a must, and I'd like to do it with a 4.0 again. I need to touch up projects from my years here and compile them into an official design portfolio. I did design myself a logo and build my resume already, so those things are good to go! I also still have to design myself a website. This will be an important self-marketing tool because I can direct future employers there to see my work before I meet them in person. These days, a design graduate must have a website if they want to be seriously considered for any job applications. I also have a portfolio show on April 13. As you can tell, there is a lot of work to be done. The deadlines are fast approaching and everyone keeps reminded about them thanks to the many professors who like to stress us out (which really just ensures that we enter panic mode and get our things done in a timely manner). 


As you might guess, I enjoy over-achieving because not only does it give me a sense of pride in knowing I did well, but because it also puts me ahead of others who might not work as hard. Because of my relationships with my professors here, I've been able to learn about some subject matter that isn't covered in the classrooms and I know that will set me apart from other graduates. Graphic design is a competitive field and I want to be successful upon my graduation from La Roche. As I continue to work, I will also continue to be stressed out about what the future holds. The funny thing is: no one knows what the future holds. While I almost wish I had more time in school to delay this unknown future, I am glad to be almost done with my formal education and rely on self-learning after graduation. Wish me luck in my endeavors!

Adventures in Printing

Whether or not you look at the time of this post is up to you. As you might guess, I try not to stay up until 3 in the morning, but it's becoming my normal bedtime. This isn't because of partying or completely poor time management either. I'm actually working on developing my graphic design portfolio because I'll be graduating in May. Graphic designers use portfolios to showcase the best work that they've done in their college careers (freelance and internship work too!!) and they show these portfolios to potential employers. Preparing a graphic design portfolio takes a lot of hard work and time and requires you learn a lot. Loosely, this brings me to the point of this entry.

Today (well, technically yesterday now), I went to OfficeMax to get some revisions of projects printed for my final portfolio. As a young graphic design student at La Roche, you will probably be assigned to find at least 5 local printers. This is a really useful assignment because it teaches you how to find resources and how to talk to people professionally. Here's a heads up though: OfficeMax and Kinkos are two of the most frequented printers in the area. OfficeMax is on McKnight and has a nice selection of both paper and print staff. There's a 24 hour Kinkos in Cranberry which is convenient for last minute prints, though it's a bit more pricey. When you go to get your first project printed, you really don't realize how many choices there are to be made. Yes, you probably know going into it that there's regular paper, card stock, and photo paper, but it's more diverse than that, even at an office store. You will soon learn that you need to ask questions and pay attention to details. Is the paper shiny? Is it too shiny? Is the paper too thin? Can the paper be folded easily? These are only a few questions and they all have to do with the type of paper you're using. Additional things to consider when printing are whether or not you want it double sided or whether you want to assemble it yourself. Not to take all the fun out of it, but double sided prints are never completely lined up, so you really have to learn how to prepare your files for print. Preparing files for print is covered thoroughly in your time at La Roche. Sometimes you can even pick up tips from the staff at the printing places. Before you get too far into the printing process, one of the most important things to remember is: Always bring your computer with the original files! When you're a beginner, when you're tired, or on any given day, you might accidentally forget to do one step in the preparation for printing and it's always easier if you have a charged laptop with your files right there to fix it.

Getting away from the overwhelming nature of first-time printing, you'll quickly realize that you need to pay attention. When your print comes out, you should look at how vibrant the colors are and see if you're happy with it. If not, you'll need a different type of paper (perhaps a smoother one or one with some type of coating). You should feel how thick or thin the paper is when you're handed your print. Ask questions too! If the staff is busy, try to keep it short, but asking questions like "Do you have anything just slightly thicker than this?" will help you learn a lot. Also, if you pay attention to your receipt, you'll see there are weights listed for the paper(s) you purchased. By learning what the paper you use is called, you can directly ask for it again instead of jumping through hoops. This will make it easier on you and the sales associate both.

Another important thing I've learned from a professor at La Roche is to never take or pay for a print job you're not happy with...as long as it was the printer's fault and not yours. Sometimes it's busy or they didn't turn the paper when they double sided your piece. Things happen, but it's important to catch them early on so you can have corrections made.

At the end of the day, you'll be truly satisfied because it's always nice to see your work in it's real form and not just on the computer screen.

Pittsburgh Gallery Crawl

La Roche is taking a bus to the Gallery Crawl in Pittsburgh at 6 p.m this Friday. If you've never been to a gallery crawl before, you should really try to make time for it. Whether you go with parents or friends, through La Roche or on your own, you can have a truly good time. Each gallery crawl event is different, so if you have been to one, don't be afraid to go to another! You'll find the most information on the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust website: http://www.pgharts.org/education/gallerycrawl.aspx. The site has a full listing of the events going on each time. There is live entertainment and open art galleries with different collections (from paintings to sculptures depicting ice to comics). Handmade Arcade sponsors a craft night during each gallery crawl where they reuse something (for example, t-shirts) to make something else (for example, totes) and they also have button making available. Le Cordon Blue Institute of Culinary Arts is a gallery crawl participant and features sugar and tallow sculpture pieces created by the PCI faculty. They also have hot food and beverages prepared by PCI students. One time when I went in the fall, there was cinnamon hot chocolate and very delicious and very chocolatey brownies. If you still manage to find yourself hungry and walking along the streets of Pittsburgh during the gallery crawl, I definitely recommend you stop in Dozen Bake Shop or Crazy Mocha because they are two Pittsburgh places you can't miss!

The Big Day

Well, today was the big day. Or one of them anyhow. It didn't seem like a big action at first, but I submitted my application for graduation today, along with the fee and my completed program guide. It didn't hit me until later when I was in my Portfolio Preparation class (for graphic design) and my professor gave us a timeline of when we should have the various steps of our final portfolios ready. Speaking of which, the senior graphic design and interior design portfolio show is April 13, 2011 at the USX Tower in downtown Pittsburgh. It's a great chance for prospective students to come and see what they will be spending their college career in preparation for, as well as a good environment for professional networking. It then hit me again later in another class when my professor told me there were 15 weeks until graduation. I've spent four years learning how to design and constantly bettering my skills and this is it. It's my chance to prove that I've got what it takes to be a designer and jump into the deep end of the big kid's pool. While I'm very nervous for what the future holds, I'm also a little excited.

Graphic Design Senior Seminar Follow-Up

Senior Seminar presentations were made into an event for high school students this year. The Exposition (The Expo, for short) was for high school students interested in graphic design to come to La Roche and have questions answered as well as see how a major in Graphic & Communication Design at La Roche prepares you for the real world.


The Senior Seminar presentations took place November 15 in Kearns Spirituality Center. Senior Seminar (or Senior Design as it's called in the books) is a semester long course with the class dividing into six groups. There are three real-world clients that come in to partner with La Roche for this class and two are from the Small Business Administration in Pittsburgh. Each client has two groups competing against each other to win the client after all the work has been done and presented at the final presentations. Family and friends of the students are invited to come to the presentations, as well as prospective students this year. Oftentimes, other professionals and recent graduates join us for this event.


This year, the clients were Positive Space, Equita, and Artemis Environmental. Positive Space is the annual art and design show at La Roche. It is a juried show, which means that La Roche brings professional designers and artists in from the community at large to judge the pieces that are submitted. Only the best pieces are displayed in the Positive Space show. From that selection, there are approximately 3 winners per category. Positive Space takes place in the spring semester, but the planning starts now. This year, to add a twist to things and to show how environmentally conscious La Roche is, Positive Space is going green. Both groups had a different idea of how to accomplish this and both did it successfully. For a look at Positive Space last year, check out its Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/positivespacelrc. The next client, Equita, is an environmentally and socially conscious shop in Lawrenceville with a high emphasis on chic design. Equita sells fair trade items from all around the world and is very fashion forward. Check out their site here to learn more about them and fair trade: http://www.shopequita.com. Artemis Environmental was the last client this year and it is a green building company. Artemis carries a wide variety of building materials for home owners as well as contractors who want to keep their homes or buildings green. To learn more about Artemis, visit their site here: http://www.artemisenvironmental.com/Home.aspx.


My group's client was Equita and we developed various solutions for them. The biggest emphasis for our client was on a website design and an event booth. The design solutions varied for each client. For example, for Positive Space, the groups designed everything from the logo to posters for the categories and proposing entertainment for the night. The Artemis groups were provided a logo that they were encouraged to "tighten up" and then use to create stationary, as well as a website and promotional items such as brochures and mailers. The requirements were relatively minimal, but many groups chose to create and provide extra materials to win the clients over as well as generate more portfolio pieces.


The professors were very proud of the presentations and the prospective students who attended said that this solidified their desire to come to La Roche for graphic design. It was a very successful presentation night and fun was had by all! The following Monday after the presentations, the clients returned to our Senior Seminar class and gave us feedback on our designs. At the conclusion of class, winners were chosen for each client. Now the winners have time to work with their clients for the rest of the semester and everyone has a bit of a chance to finally breathe. For more information about The Expo, visit its website: http://www.laroche.edu/expo/home.htm.

Interested in Graphic Design?

My last post was about a big project called Immersions, but another large Graphic Design event coming up is the Senior Seminar presentations. Senior Seminar is a class everyone at La Roche must take and each major has its own content for the class. In graphic design, the class focuses on providing quality work for clients. At the beginning of the semester, three clients come in to the college to have design work done. The whole class divides up into enough groups so that each of the three clients has two groups of designers creating competing designs for them. Near the end of the semester (in this case November 15), there is a large presentation where all of the groups present their work to the clients and other students, faculty members, and the general public.

This year, the event has a name: The Exposition. The presentations will be at 7 p.m. but there is a lineup of events for prospective La Roche students prior to the Senior Seminar presentations. For more information on this event, please visit http://www.laroche.edu/expo and please come out and see us!

Graphic Design Immersions 2010

Immersions is a graphic design event held over two days where the junior and senior graphic designers are divided up into groups and assigned to compete to come up with designs for a nonprofit organization within 48 hours. Typically, the solutions include a new logo, business card, letterhead, envelope, promotional materials (such as brochures, signs and posters), and a website. This year, the junior class at La Roche was smaller so each competing group consisted of three seniors and one junior. There are typically 6 or 7 competing groups. Surely you're asking: "How can four people do all this work in only 48 hours?!" We don't sleep. Seriously. The graphic design major here at La Roche is so intense (and because of this, so beneficial!) that we occasionally have to pull all-nighters and sometimes go on little sleep.

The client for Immersions this year was the Western Pennsylvania Small Business Network. This organization is responsible for nominating small businesses that have shown great improvement and increased success within the past year. The winners are then featured at an annual luncheon sponsored by WPSBN. The winners from western PA then go on and a select group of state and country winners go on to an event in Washington, D.C.

Our tasks for this Immersion client included:

1. New logo design

2. New business system (business card, letterhead, and envelope)

3. Brochure / invitation for the luncheon event

4. Web site for the organization and the luncheon event

5. Web banner ads (at least 4 sizes)

6. Luncheon posters

7. Awards luncheon program

8. Printed sponsorship brochure

9. Postcard reminder for luncheon event

10. E-mail reminder for luncheon event

11. 1 page leave behind of your group solutions with names and contact info

12. Possible video sample for winner using nothing but images and royalty free music

13. Additional material to promote the event

As you can tell, all of us had our work cut out for us. Not only did we have to develop all of the materials listed as 1-12, but we had to print some items (printing shops have limited hours!) and come up with a few extra things that we thought would impress the client and that no one else would think of. FInally, we had to burn CDs of all of our work and create a leave behind (put pictures of everything we created on a page along with some notes about the items) for the client and our professor.

The client came in on Wednesday, November 3 at 10 a.m. and it was at this time that we found out who the Immersions client would be and what they needed. After the client presented a background of their organization, an overview of their needs, and answered our questions, it was time for each group to get to work. My group made a quick Starbucks run because we knew we were going to need it and began brainstorming for the project. As soon as we got back, we started to work and didn't stop for more than a 3 hour nap until Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. Friday at 9 a.m. all the groups got together with the client again and presented our solutions in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. Immediately following all of the presentations, all of the groups displayed the hard copies (mounted print outs) of their work and there was a short intermission as the client went out of the room to ponder over the solutions. After the intermission, the client returned and announced that it was a tough decision, but that there were 3 top groups. After naming them (who the client would like to work with to develop final design solutions for the organization), a student choice was announced as well. That concluded the events for the day, but the client is going back to her organization and meeting with everyone there to discuss the groups she chose. Following that, an agreement will be made between the La Roche College graphic design department and the Western Pennsylvania Small Business Network to have the winning students continue to work with and develop final solutions for the client.