I have written many posts and tweets as a different persona than the one I chose for this class. As the Sheetwise Designer I have written about graphic design and the tips and tricks that I have learned in my career. Because I needed to create an anonymous persona for this class, I wanted to stick to what I know (graphic design) but find a different angle than my existing online presence.
As The Design Shrink I sought to tell my personal struggles in the design industry. I wanted to bring solace to those designers who find themselves burned out and angry in an unforgiving profession. I was once a burned out and angry designer. It took me a long time to gain confidence in my work and I have struggled to show that confidence in my writing. In the few posts that I am personally happy with as The Design Shrink, I discovered that I might one day be good at telling the stories of my own personal journey.
Unfortunately, through our last assignment of searching for alternative publishing opportunities for The Design Shrink, I discovered that my persona as The Design Shrink doesn’t have a focus that would garner many readers as an online presence should. I focused on writing about my own experiences as a designer and have realized that my experiences aren’t interesting enough to propel The Design Shrink into legendary status. Maybe one day, when I have 40 years under my belt, The Design Shrink will re-surface and write an entire book detailing my adventures. But for now, The Design Shrink must be retired.
I am now left with a quandary. I am well versed the field of graphic design and could write post after post about the knowledge I have gained, but I would like to test the waters in writing about a completely different field of interest. I am in the process of building an interactive kayaking trip report website focused on filming and documenting overnight kayaking/camping trips throughout the country. I have been gathering information and filming some of the trips I have taken already, but have yet to launch any online presence for the website.
I propose to write as Paddle Savvy in an effort to jump start our online presence in anticipation of the future website.
Paddle Savvy will be an outlet for kayakers looking for a river they have yet to paddle. The website will focus on safety and providing information that is currently difficult to come by. PaddleSavvy.com will provide one place for all of the information needed for over-night kayaking trips. Kayakers will be able to find the water levels for rivers, where to put in and take out, and where safe parking areas are for overnight parking. The proposed trip reports will include videos of the trips where possible, maps and written reports detailing any issues that could be encountered along the way.
My online persona for the second half of this semester will focus on garnering interest in overnight kayaking/camping trips, and writing trip reports for those rivers I have already traveled.
My writing has improved with practice and I think I am ready to launch the early stages of PaddleSavvy.com.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
Publishing Plan
As The Design Shrink, I thought it possible to assist my fellow designers through storytelling. By telling my personal experiences of fighting my way through an unforgiving profession, I sought to ease others minds and help them realize that criticism of their work shouldn’t be taken as a slight against them personally.
Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much interest in publishing articles of this style. I looked through multiple magazines in an effort to find one that might be a possible fit for my writing, but sadly I couldn’t find any.
How Magazine is dedicated to the graphic design industry, but most of the published articles focus on interviewing specific designers. My writing focuses only on my own design experience which doesn’t seem to be what they are looking for. On the How Magazine website they write “writers must exhibit a thorough knowledge of their subject matter, as well as the ability to incorporate the character of the creative(s) about whom the article is written.” While I have a thorough knowledge of the subject matter, I only incorporate my own character the articles I have written.
After discovering that How Magazine wouldn’t be a good fit, I tried Graphic Design USA. Graphic Design USA is a similar publication to How Magazine with a few extras. They do seem to have a few articles posted that are editorial in style rather than only interviews, but again I was forced to conclude that the pieces I have written as The Design Shrink might become redundant and might not be a writing success.
After looking through more publications focused on graphic design, I came to the same conclusion. I am forced to conclude that while I enjoy writing as The Design Shrink, the focus I have created for the persona is not one that would garner many readers.
Thinking as a designer and always coming up with new ideas, the only viable option I have thought of for The Design Shrink stories is to convert them into a comic strip. Unfortunately, converting the stories to a comic strip would mean paring down the writing that I took so much care to create. I might in the future create an interactive comic strip to portray the stories I have told as The Design Shrink, but for now sadly, The Design Shrink must be retired.
Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much interest in publishing articles of this style. I looked through multiple magazines in an effort to find one that might be a possible fit for my writing, but sadly I couldn’t find any.
How Magazine is dedicated to the graphic design industry, but most of the published articles focus on interviewing specific designers. My writing focuses only on my own design experience which doesn’t seem to be what they are looking for. On the How Magazine website they write “writers must exhibit a thorough knowledge of their subject matter, as well as the ability to incorporate the character of the creative(s) about whom the article is written.” While I have a thorough knowledge of the subject matter, I only incorporate my own character the articles I have written.
After discovering that How Magazine wouldn’t be a good fit, I tried Graphic Design USA. Graphic Design USA is a similar publication to How Magazine with a few extras. They do seem to have a few articles posted that are editorial in style rather than only interviews, but again I was forced to conclude that the pieces I have written as The Design Shrink might become redundant and might not be a writing success.
After looking through more publications focused on graphic design, I came to the same conclusion. I am forced to conclude that while I enjoy writing as The Design Shrink, the focus I have created for the persona is not one that would garner many readers.
Thinking as a designer and always coming up with new ideas, the only viable option I have thought of for The Design Shrink stories is to convert them into a comic strip. Unfortunately, converting the stories to a comic strip would mean paring down the writing that I took so much care to create. I might in the future create an interactive comic strip to portray the stories I have told as The Design Shrink, but for now sadly, The Design Shrink must be retired.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
My Favorite Typo
Perhaps it was a Freudian slip, a Parapraxis. Whatever you want to call it, it lives in my memory as my favorite typo.
It was a typical summer day in Charleston, the kind where the humidity makes you sweat the instant you step out of the air-conditioning. The tiny window unit in my office was running full blast but not making much of a difference. My boss told me there was a new customer who had walked into our lobby and needed a flyer design.
I was hesitant due to the fact that the company is located in an area where customers aren’t known for walking in. I met the man in the lobby, and got the impression after chatting with him for a few minutes, that this wasn’t going to be easy. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was an uneasy feeling that I wasn’t able to place at the time.
The man handed me a digital camera that he told me contained photos of some of the clothing in his store for use on a flyer. He also gave me hand-written content he wanted included. I took the job, but for some reason I walked back to my desk lacking my usual confidence.
I sat down and got started. I connected the camera to my computer and opened the folder containing the photographs. It is difficult to ignore photographs once a folder containing them is open, and there were hundreds of images on the camera. I had to scroll through all of them before I reached the images of the clothing. My eyes couldn’t help but see some of the personal family photos that were contained on the camera.
I am not one to get involved in the affairs of other cultures, but a few of the images were difficult for me to ignore. The images were of a hot summer day, just like the one we were having and the location of the photographs was familiar. It was one of the beaches in the area where bikinis aren’t in short supply. But the clothing his wife was wearing in the photographs didn’t quite fit the scene. She was wearing a black robe, from head to toe, and looked as if she were about to keel over from heat exhaustion. She was wearing a Burka. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression from what I am writing, I firmly believe in freedom of religion and never consider myself in a position to judge, however when I reached the images of the clothing that her husband was selling in his store, I judged.
The racks in the pictures were filled with lacy, backless, half shirts for women. The clothing looked like it would barely cover one tenth of the person wearing them. It was then that I looked down at the hand written content. At the top, in big lettering, were the words “Sexiest Women’s Clothing in Charleston.”
I was confused. Clearly the man was adhering to a set of standards for his personal life that he ignored in his business dealings. It was hypocritical.
Being a diligent designer, I shrugged my shoulders and did my best to ignore my disgust. I went on with the design and did what I could with the photographs and the content. The first proof was sent.
Instead of emailing back with changes, the customer chose to show up in the lobby to inform me of my mistakes face to face. After the meeting, that feeling was back in the pit of my stomach.
I went back to my desk and made the changes. We went through five proofs in the same manner, before he was satisfied and approved the file for printing.
The days past and I went back to my normal work routine. On the third day, my co-worker, who is notorious for finding typos, called me. She found a mistake on the flyers for my hypocritical customer. I couldn’t figure out what the mistake could have been since I remembered running a spell check before sending the file to print.
She brought the finished flyers to me and pointed out the mistake. In big letters on the front, I had miss-typed “Sexiest” and instead typed “Sexist” so the first line of type read “Sexist Women’s Clothing in Charleston.”
I was in tears from laughing when my boss came into my office. I had to explain myself. Thankfully, he too laughed and decided that we wouldn’t point out the mistake. We would cross our fingers and hope that the customer didn’t see it until after the flyers were paid for.
My boss personally handed the finished flyers to the customer and accepted payment. We both breathed a sign of relief when he drove away, and we never heard from him again.
The story I have just told should be documented as proof of the theory of Freudian slips. Typos are a constant in my profession, but this one will live in my memory as my favorite.
It took me a day or two, after the flyers were paid for, to figure out what the uneasy feeling was that I felt every time I met with that customer. There was a slight condescending tone that the customer had with me. It was so well crafted I didn’t immediately recognize it. I have experienced that type of attitude before, but never that well masked.
Beware to any sexist customers that may cross my path: my mind will eventually let you know what I am feeling.
It was a typical summer day in Charleston, the kind where the humidity makes you sweat the instant you step out of the air-conditioning. The tiny window unit in my office was running full blast but not making much of a difference. My boss told me there was a new customer who had walked into our lobby and needed a flyer design.
I was hesitant due to the fact that the company is located in an area where customers aren’t known for walking in. I met the man in the lobby, and got the impression after chatting with him for a few minutes, that this wasn’t going to be easy. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was an uneasy feeling that I wasn’t able to place at the time.
The man handed me a digital camera that he told me contained photos of some of the clothing in his store for use on a flyer. He also gave me hand-written content he wanted included. I took the job, but for some reason I walked back to my desk lacking my usual confidence.
I sat down and got started. I connected the camera to my computer and opened the folder containing the photographs. It is difficult to ignore photographs once a folder containing them is open, and there were hundreds of images on the camera. I had to scroll through all of them before I reached the images of the clothing. My eyes couldn’t help but see some of the personal family photos that were contained on the camera.
I am not one to get involved in the affairs of other cultures, but a few of the images were difficult for me to ignore. The images were of a hot summer day, just like the one we were having and the location of the photographs was familiar. It was one of the beaches in the area where bikinis aren’t in short supply. But the clothing his wife was wearing in the photographs didn’t quite fit the scene. She was wearing a black robe, from head to toe, and looked as if she were about to keel over from heat exhaustion. She was wearing a Burka. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression from what I am writing, I firmly believe in freedom of religion and never consider myself in a position to judge, however when I reached the images of the clothing that her husband was selling in his store, I judged.
The racks in the pictures were filled with lacy, backless, half shirts for women. The clothing looked like it would barely cover one tenth of the person wearing them. It was then that I looked down at the hand written content. At the top, in big lettering, were the words “Sexiest Women’s Clothing in Charleston.”
I was confused. Clearly the man was adhering to a set of standards for his personal life that he ignored in his business dealings. It was hypocritical.
Being a diligent designer, I shrugged my shoulders and did my best to ignore my disgust. I went on with the design and did what I could with the photographs and the content. The first proof was sent.
Instead of emailing back with changes, the customer chose to show up in the lobby to inform me of my mistakes face to face. After the meeting, that feeling was back in the pit of my stomach.
I went back to my desk and made the changes. We went through five proofs in the same manner, before he was satisfied and approved the file for printing.
The days past and I went back to my normal work routine. On the third day, my co-worker, who is notorious for finding typos, called me. She found a mistake on the flyers for my hypocritical customer. I couldn’t figure out what the mistake could have been since I remembered running a spell check before sending the file to print.
She brought the finished flyers to me and pointed out the mistake. In big letters on the front, I had miss-typed “Sexiest” and instead typed “Sexist” so the first line of type read “Sexist Women’s Clothing in Charleston.”
I was in tears from laughing when my boss came into my office. I had to explain myself. Thankfully, he too laughed and decided that we wouldn’t point out the mistake. We would cross our fingers and hope that the customer didn’t see it until after the flyers were paid for.
My boss personally handed the finished flyers to the customer and accepted payment. We both breathed a sign of relief when he drove away, and we never heard from him again.
The story I have just told should be documented as proof of the theory of Freudian slips. Typos are a constant in my profession, but this one will live in my memory as my favorite.
It took me a day or two, after the flyers were paid for, to figure out what the uneasy feeling was that I felt every time I met with that customer. There was a slight condescending tone that the customer had with me. It was so well crafted I didn’t immediately recognize it. I have experienced that type of attitude before, but never that well masked.
Beware to any sexist customers that may cross my path: my mind will eventually let you know what I am feeling.
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