Christopher Specce has 46 post(s)

Just want to make sure everyone is aware that we are having class today (December 5) during normal meeting times: 6:20 pm – 9:20 pm. Also, remember that our final review is next Monday, December 12 at 6:20 pm.

f Christopher

I just wanted to let everyone know that for part of tomorrow’s class will  go over how to layout a book in InDesign. If you are not yet comfortable with this software and would like to use it to prepare your sample portfolio book, focus on getting all of your content ready, in the meantime. Ideally, the content from your website can be transferred directly to your portfolio book.

f Christopher

Since nearly everyone forgot to submit their printed summaries of the reading for Assignment 9, please create a new post with your response in the body of the post. Be sure to mark this post with “Assignment 9” as the category. If you were one of the few who did not forget to turn this project in, I’ll kindly ask you to post your response as well.

f Christopher

In case you did not already notice, I’ve added a new feature to our class website: “Member Websites”. Its on the right side of the site, and I’ve included links for everyone who completed Assignment 8-web (looks like there are about 7 or 8 missing projects here?). For those of you who neglected this, if you post a link to your site, I’ll add it to the list.

f Christopher

I came across a supposedly real anecdote from an employee of “large multinational tech company” who is responsible for hiring new staff. The author shares his take on why women regularly are hired for 65% – 75% of what men make: they don’t negotiate as often or as forcefully. He also reveals a little about the dynamics between HR (human resources) policy and management responsible for hiring. Who knows if its true or not, but I thought it was interesting in light of our discussion during last class.

But even if it’s not a true story, the point the author makes has some validity. Linda Babcock (Ph.D, Professor at CMU) and Sara Laschever (M.A., widely published journalist) have written several books on this very topic. Their latest is Women Don’t Ask. In it, the authors “explore the personal and societal reasons women seldom ask for what they need, want, and deserve at home and at work–and shows how they can develop this crucial skill.” According to their research, men ask for what they want twice as often and initiate negotiation four times more often than women do. See more interesting statistics they’ve found here.

Check out the book’s website to learn more about the authors, read a Q&A, or some interesting quotes.

Will this change as your generation takes the reigns?

f Christopher

Part 1: Reading on Salary Negotiations
Read the following excerpt from Richard Nelson Bolles’ book, What Color is Your Parachute, on Salary Negotiations. There is also a page that compares the methods of the job seeker to the employee seeker.

Part 2: Final Project
Continue working on the materials required for the end of the semester:

• Professionally printed business cards (at least enough to share with the rest of the class)
• Presentation quality printed resume
• Portfolio website
• Printed bio with professional quality headshot/portrait
• presentation quality printed sample portfolio

By this point, you should be finishing up your design for your business card and resume and have selected a printer to work with on your business card. You should also have most of the content for your website compiled and have selected a CMS. You should be experimenting with styling a theme that you like, and should have content on your site. You should have layout concepts for your portfolio and should begin printing test pages and experimenting with binding techniques.

f Christopher

It’s not too exciting, but there is a new book in the library with material that is relevant to this course:
The Designer’s Guide to Marketing and Pricing, by Ilise Benun and Peleg Top

I’ve put it on reserve, but you can check it out for one day.

f Christopher

Part 1. Reading
Read the following excerpt from John Mullin’s book The New Business Road Test. This introductory text outlines the important factors an entrepreneur should consider in order to predict their chances for success.  If you are interested to read more, this book is on reserve in the library for overnight loans. After you’ve finished reading, write a 5 sentence summary of the text. Print this text and bring it to class next week. If you are curious to learn about corporate structures – the difference between a sole proprietorship, LLC, LLP, etc, I’ve included an overview here, excerpted from The Small Business Start-Up Guide, by Robert Sullivan.

Part 2. Final Project
Continue working on the materials required for the end of the semester:

• Professionally printed business cards (at least enough to share with the rest of the class)
• Presentation quality printed resume
• Portfolio website
• Printed bio with professional quality headshot/portrait
• presentation quality printed sample portfolio*

* Your sample portfolio will be representative of a layout, print quality, binding technique, typography, etc  – in other words “design” – that can expand to accommodate your work next semester and beyond. For the purposed of this assignment, your sample portfolio should include 4 projects.

f Christopher

I just wanted to remind everyone that we have a field trip scheduled for this week’s class. We are visiting two studios, so we need to leave promptly at 6:20. We have 2 vans to get us there, so we will meet in front of Prov-Wash. Our first stop is Kaiju Studios (where I work). From there, it’s about a one minute drive to Keeseh Studios / Studio Dunn (where Kate Golden and Taylor work).

f Christopher

Part 1. Final Project
At the end of the semester, you will be expected to have the promotional materials listed below. Between now and the end of the semester, you are expected to be working on perfecting and producing these materials.

• Professionally printed business cards (at least enough to share with the rest of the class)
• Presentation quality printed resume
• Portfolio website
• Printed bio with professional quality headshot/portrait
• presentation quality printed sample portfolio

Part 2. Website
Continue working on your website. Continue collecting, creating and documenting all of the content you will need to include on your site, and consider what you want your domain to be and look into registering it. Begin populating your site with content and share your results with the rest of the group in the form of a post. Be sure to mark this post with the category “Assignment 8-Web.”

Part 3. Photoshoot
Team up with a classmate and photograph at least one piece that you plan to include in your portfolio. Create a new post with at least two of your best images. Be sure to mark this post with the category “Assignment 8 -Photo.”

f Christopher

There was an interesting Op-Ed piece in the New York Times this past weekend, Generation Sell by William Deresiewicz  It attempts to (sort of) characterize the current generation of young people as inherently optimistic and entrepreneurial, if not naive and consumerist. To me, some of it rings true, but a lot of it is just sort of dismissive and suffers from old-foggi-ism (“when I was your age…”) As you might imagine in any attempt to characterize 20 somethings, the term “hipster” is used liberally. An interesting counterpoint is Gavin McInnes’s (co-founder of Vice Magazine) Hating Hipsters.  It may be a little of topic, but I thought it was a relevant piece to consider in light of our discussions about what you all want to do when you graduate and the discussions about starting a business and selling your work.

f Christopher

The website Design Sponge  has an annual scholarship that awards $10,000 to “assist art and design students in the pursuit of their creative endeavors”. Graduating students are still eligible, you just have to be a student when you apply. Its a no strings attached award and there are awards for both graduate students and undergraduate students. Last year, RISD Furniture Alum, Misha Kahn was the undergraduate winner. The deadline to apply is Monday November 28th at 6pm. I’m pretty sure that public voting is part of the judging process, you can see the “ballot” from last year’s undergrad and graduate categories. Its worth a shot.

f Christopher

A little off topic, but I thought I would make sure you are all aware of the competition Core77 is hosting, Fast Track to the Mobile App. It’s sponsored by Windows Phone and challenges entrants to “push the boundaries of productivity by designing an app for Windows Phone.” Winners receive an app development contract (with profit sharing), and a bunch of Microsoft stuff (Xbox + Windows Phone). The contest ends November 18, but the barriers to entry are fairly low. Check it out.

f Christopher

Part 1. Reading
In preparation for next week’s guest speaker, Paul Loebach,  read the following content on licensing.

Part 2. Website
Start working on your website. If you are not comfortable with HTML or CSS, you are encouraged to use a hosted service, such as Cargo. In class on Monday, we will spend some time looking at how to use Cargo, and we will also look at some other options for easy to use website building tools.

Part 3. Printing
If you’re going to hand out a business card, having it professionally printed makes a big difference. Begin looking for a printer that can work with with you to achieve the result you are looking for. For next week, you should have 3 quotes for your business card.

f Christopher

On Saturday, November 12th, the RISD Career Center is hosting the Entrepreneur Mindshare, an event that “strives to ignite the inherent entrepreneurial spirit at RISD.” It sounds like a good event, with a full day of speakers that span a diversity of disciplines. There are also two competitions, the Kickstarter Project Support Award, and the Etsy+RISD Mindshare Fellowship. Its a free event, but you have to register.

f Christopher

Part 1. Reading
In preparation for our guest speaker, Steven McDonald, RISD’s General Counsel, read this packet (16MB) as an overview of fundamental intellectual property concepts. Make a note of any questions that come up as you go.

Part 2. SiteMap
A sitemap is a document that represents the relationships and organization of all pages within a website. Create a sitemap for your website that defines the scope of work you plan to show, the organizational structure you plan to use, and the kinds of content you plan to include. If you already have a website, this is a chance to think critically about how it can be improved. The format of this document is up to you, but it should clearly express scope (how much you will include, what you will include) and structure (how things will be organized, how pages will be related, how navigation will work). It does not need to be visual, but often it is easier to show scope and structure in graphic or chart form. You are encouraged to try using LucidChart, and you all should receive an invitation to create a free account. As students with an .edu email adress, you can get a professional account for free. Whichever format you create your sitemap in, share it with the group in a new post. Be sure to mark it with “assignment 6” as the category.

f Christopher

Our guest speaker from Monday’s class,  Tanya Aguiñiga, will be giving a more thorough and broad lecture tonight (rumored to be 300+ slides). I hope to see you all there. Here are the details:

Wednesday October 26th
6:30 pm
BEB room 106 (not the tap room!)

f Christopher

I just want to remind everyone that we have a guest speaker coming to class tomorrow. Part of the time will be spent hearing her reaction to the materials you have been producing (resume, business card, quote, etc). Be sure to bring printed copies of these materials with you to class tomorrow. The point of this exercise will be for you to demonstrate your ability to create “professional” quality materials, and receive feedback from someone with significant experience. This will be an in progress critique and accordingly it’s acceptable to have “mock-ups”, but make your best effort to bring prints that are self explanatory in terms of what you are trying to achieve.

As I think I have mentioned in class, our guest will be Tanya Aguiñiga, RISD alum and multi-disciplinary designer, and I’m really looking forward to having her join us.

f Christopher

Part 1. Proposal
Projects that involve research and conceptual, technical and material exploration offer significant opportunities for creative and financial reward. Since these kinds of projects often encompass a scope that is less predictable and more expansive than is required when selling an existing design, estimating compensation for this kind of work can be challenging. For this project you will prepare a proposal in response to the Chace Center Cafe brief that was presented to you in class. The presentation document is reposted below for your reference, as are the slides from the lecture on proposals. Keep in mind that your proposal will be evaluated for not only the time frame and budget, but also for your strategy on how to best address the needs of the client.

Approach
Begin by reading the attached guidelines for writing a proposal. One is tailored to the interior design profession, the others to graphic design projects. Neither address the specific needs of this project completely, but both provide good guidance that can be adapted to the task at hand.

From there, consider the needs of the project and how you would propose to address them. Keep in mind that this is not a design proposal and you are not expected to directly address any of the project needs with your proposal. You are not expected to do any design work or to describe the solution you might eventually arrive at. Be sure to be explicit about what you plan to deliver, when you plan to deliver it, and how you will complete the project. Your proposal should include, at the minimum, the following content:

• cover page
• problem analysis
• strategy / approach
• deliverables
• schedule
• budget and fees
• closing statement

Submit your work as a new post in PDF format. Be sure to mark your post with “Assignment 5” as the category. Name your file with the following convention: FirstnameLastname_Proposal.PDF

Slides from the lecture on proposals

Presentation from the Chace Center Cafe design brief

Part 2. Feedback meetings
Form a group of 3 students and schedule a meeting to give and receive feedback on the materials you have created to date. Spend at least 30 minutes, with time divided equally among group members. Each group member should print the content they want feedback on and bring it with them to the meeting. You are encouraged to invite the Instructor and the Teaching Assistant to these meetings.

Part 3. In-progress critique
Next week we will have a guest speaker joining us for the duration of class. Part of the time will be spent getting feedback on your work thus far. Make any necessary revisions to your work and bring printed copies of your materials to class next week. The work will be reviewed with an understanding that it is in progress, but it should be printed and presented so as not to distract from your content and is conducive to productive discussion.

Deliverables

• Professional quality proposal responding to the Chace Center Cafe design brief.
• Printed copies of your materials brought to next week’s class for in progress critique.

f Christopher

For those of you who have already submitted assignment 4, or have a draft in the works, you probably noticed that there was no “Assignment 4” category available for you to mark your posts with. Sorry, I forgot to add this category, but it’s there now. I’ve gone back and marked the assignments that were posted previous to this post with the correct category.

f Christopher

I didn’t have time to collect your business card mock-ups after our field trip on Monday, so I’d like to ask everyone to drop them off as soon as they can. Please put them in an envelope indicating that they are for me, from you and place them in the mailbox that is in Prov Wash, above the “240” tag in the area outside our classroom.

f Christopher

I’ve gotten a couple inquiries about the epoxy putty I showed you all on our Monday field trip, so I thought I would post the information about it here.

The material I used is called Apoxy Sculpt and its made by Aves. They make several other similar products with varying properties for various applications. You can buy it direct from Aves, but I got it from Reynolds Advanced Materials, which has a store in Boston, so shipping might be faster. It’s not on their website, but you can order it over the phone. It’s also available through Amazon.  If you’re using it for filler or fairing compound, 4 lbs is a lot of material and should last for many jobs. It has lots of uses and can be modified with dilutants, dyes and fillers. See more info here.

There are similar products on the market, such as “Magic Sculp,” which are made specifically for model making and are non toxic. There are also other 2 part expoxy puttys that work the same way for applications ranging from plumbing to boat repair. The Metcalf Store / RISD 3D store carries some of these general purpose puttys, but none specifically for model making. They might work just as well, but I’ve never tried them. I’m going to request that they order some of the good stuff.

f Christopher

Determining the value of your efforts is an essential skill regardless of how you plan to earn your living. If you plan to sell your work, arriving at a fair, competitive, and profitable price requires careful consideration of many factors. For this project you will quote a price for a significant piece you have already designed and built assuming two hypothetical models: direct to the end user, and wholesale to a retailer.

Some conditions:

• you are not quoting for R&D, only the cost to produce and deliver the product.
• assume a nominal overhead of $600/month for rent and utilities (shops, studios, labs). Factor into your overhead any additional monthly business expenses you incur (supplies, services, etc)
• consider all of the factors it takes to get the product in the hands of your customers
• Assume that you are operating a business and that there are costs associated with any goods or services you derive value from (nothing is free). Wherever possible, figure out a monetary value for those costs.
• assume your direct sale customer is in Boston, MA and is ordering one unit
• assume your wholesale customer is in Manhattan, NY and is ordering 5 units
• determine a schedule / terms for delivery and payment

Some characteristics of wholesale vs. direct to customer models:

marketing goods direct to end user

• inventory – management of unsold product, use of space, cash tied up in product
• customer acquisition / promotion of product – effort involved with getting customers
• fulfillment – getting product to customers
• customer service – making sure the customer is satisfied, issues after product is sold
• retailers are  “middle men”, so of course they charge more for the product than they paid for it. If a producer skips the middle man, there is an opportunity for higher profit margins.

wholesaling / serial production

• potential for savings on bulk material purchases
• more value derived from production set-up time / ability to work an “assembly line”
• increased revenue
• lower profit margins – dealing with “middle men”

Approach
Begin by reading the attached excerpt for guidelines on how to arrive at a price.
For each sales model, create a spreadsheet that itemizes every factor that contributes to your quote. Include at least the following information:

• value of your time per hour
• cost of raw materials
• cost of services
• cost of supplies
• cost of delivery
• operational expenses (overhead)
• profit margin

From there, prepare a professional quality quotation document that includes at least the following information:

• your contact information
• client’s contact information (create a tasteful, generic, dummy persona)
• date
• indication that the document is a quote
• price
• description of goods quoted
• quantity of goods quoted
• payment schedule and terms
• delivery schedule

Deliverables:

• 2 spreadsheets, itemizing all factors that contribute to your quotations. Make a spreadsheet with a “sheet” for each client model. You are encouraged to use Google Doc’s spreadsheet application, but any spreadsheet application is fine (excel, etc). Name this file FirstnameLastname_QuoteSpreadsheet.?
• 2 professional quality quotation documents suitable for presentation to a client. Make a single PDF that contains both quotes on seperate pages as well as a photo of your piece on a seperate page. Name this file FirstnameLastname_Quote.PDF
• Create a new post with these documents attached or linked. Be sure to mark your post with the Assignment 4 Category.

f Christopher

Updated October 9, 2011
By now you all should have received feedback on your goals projects from me in the form of an email. I’ve been working on doing the same for your bio’s and hope to have it you Sunday morning (October 9) sometime this week. I’m trying to be thorough and critical and its taking me longer than I anticipated. As a result, I don’t think I will not be able to provide feedback on your resumes or bio’s until after this assignment is due. So, at this point you should continue working on your formatted resume as was discussed, but ignore the part of the assignment that says “Taking into account feedback from your … instructor” and skip the bio portion of this week’s homework assignment. You will have an opportunity to further refine and revise, but your work for this week should still represent a careful and deliberate effort.

The assignment posting has been modified to reflect this change.

f Christopher

In light of all the discussion around Apple in last week’s class, and the passing of Steve Jobs, I felt it was appropriate to link to a piece in The New York Times’ that calls attention to Steve Jobs’ belief in the power of design. Perhaps more than any other person in a position of significant power, Steve Jobs was design’s biggest advocate. His work made it clear to both the public and corporations that good design is valuable.

f Christopher

From American Psycho

f Christopher

Part I: Bio Revisions POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Taking into account feedback from your peers and instructor, make any necessary revisions to your bio. Submit work in the form of a new post with “Assignment 3A” as the category.

Part II: Formatted Resume
Taking into account feedback from your peers and instructor, design your resume for the format of a single 8.5” x 11” page. Carefully consider how the structure and categorization of content, and typography can best serve your audience. The goal is to have a coherent and concise document that can be digested quickly and efficiently, but its also important to consider this as an opportunity to begin to formulate and implement a consistent visual identity system that will be expanded upon as the semester progresses. Work for this assignment should be submitted in PDF format on a new post marked with the category “Assignment 3B”. Files must be named with the following convention:
Firstname_Lastname_Resume.PDF

Part III: Business Card
A business card is a useful item to have as you expand your network of professional contacts. In addition to serving as a memory aid to the person who receives your card, it’s also another opportunity to affect (positively or negatively) the perceptions of your new contact through your visual identity.

Design a business card for your personal use. Create 3 iterations on a single theme that offer some variation on some of the following:

• content (mailing address, email, land line, mobile phone, etc, etc…)
• size
• orientation
• color
• stock (paper, etc)
• printing method
• cost
• 1 sided or 2 sided
• font / typography
• graphics

Work for this assignment should be submitted in PDF format on a new post marked with the category “Assignment 3C”. Files must be named with the following convention:
Firstname_Lastname_BizCard.PDF
Additionally, print a “mock-up” of your 3 design iterations and bring them to class.

Deliverables:

• Revised Bio. Submitted in the form of a new post marked with the category “Assignment 3A”.
• Formatted Resume. Submitted as a PDF in a new post marked with the category “Assignment 3B”.
• Business Card Designs. 3 variations on a single theme. Submitted as a PDF in a new post marked with the category “Assignment 3C” and in the form of a printed mock-up for each variation.

f Christopher

Look at the short biographies and portraits (and if possible, résumés) of other designers. When you find a good one online, post a link with a brief description in the comments of this post. If you find something offline, make a note of what it is and where you found it in the comments. If possible scan or borrow it so it can be shared with the group.

f Christopher

Part I: Unformatted Resume
a. Read the document linked to below for clarification on what content to include and advice on best practices. This same content is also available on reserve in the library.
ResumeReading.pdf 

b. Type all of the content you will include in your resume. You will need to consider how your content is formatted, but the primary objective of this assignment is to perfect the composition of your content, including: spelling, grammar, punctuation, wording, tone, accuracy. Consider the hierarchy of information you are presenting and how the structuring of your content helps the reader’s comprehension. At a minimum, your resume must include the following content:

• your contact information
• your relevant educational experience
• Your relevant employment experience

Part II: Biography
If a resume is summary of your career in non-narrative format, a biography (or “bio”) similarly summarizes and highlights your accomplishments and experiences, but in narrative format. A professional bio can serve several purposes, often different than what a resume might be called on for. But in general, the goal is to provide people with a better understanding of who you are. A bio will help a journalist (or blogger) understand your work, personality, and outlook, but it will also give them a starting point if they are writing about you (in many cases, the starting point is “copy and paste”). A manufacturer who produces your work will often want to include biographical information about designers in promotional materials, as will a gallery when exhibiting your work, conference when hosting you as a speaker, grant when announcing fellows, etc…

Compose a brief biography that can be used in the promotion of your professional career. Your bio must be written in third person and should be 1- 2 paragraphs. Some guidelines to follow:

• Don’t be funny, clever, inappropriate, or irrelevant
• Don’t start every sentence with your name (or he/she).
• Use descriptive language to emphasize objective facts about you and your work more so than to provide a qualitative assessment of your character or your work. For example: Jim’s drawings are huge and they rule. instead: Jim makes large scale drawings and they have attracted an international following.
• Who – What is your name
• What – what do you do, what do your call yourself (artist, designer, craftsperson, maker, etc)
• When – how long have you been doing it
• Where – where are you from, where are you now, where are you going
• How  – what is your approach, methodology, values
• How – how did you get here
• Why – why do you do this
• What – what significant things have you done

Part III. Portrait
In many cases a portrait accompanies a bio and is used for the same purposes. Take a photograph of yourself, or have one taken for you, that is suitable for professional uses. Consider what message the composition, lighting, content and styling convey to the viewer. Take a high-res image (at least 1500 pixels by 1500 pixels).

Deliverables
create a single post for all of your work this week. It should include the following:

• unformatted resume, zipped and uploaded in orginal document format (word, illustrator, etc)
• biography, entered as text directly in the post
• portrait photograph, saved as a jpeg, no larger than 700×700 pixels
• Be sure to assign your post to the “Assignment 2” category

f Christopher

We are going to be working on resumes for the next couple weeks, but I imagine some of you already have a resume that you use. If this is the case, please print a copy (can be a “draft quality” print) and bring it to class. If you don’t yet have one, don’t worry.

f Christopher

This should be a good lecture. Recommended, but not required.
Friday, September 23, at 6:30 pm in the Metcalf Auditorium, Chace Center.

Since 1982, graphic designer Michael Bierut has carried a series of notebooks in which he writes incessantly and draws occasionally. These books are, in effect, the diaries of a working life that spans four decades. Michael will give a short talk about what these books mean to him, followed by a conversation with Graphic Design faculty Doug Scott.

f Christopher

“If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time” – Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker

f Christopher

Part I:
Setting concrete goals for your career can have a profound impact on the trajectory of your professional development. By clarifying your near and long term objectives, you can weigh decisions and take actions that will bring you closer to achieving your ambitions. In order for the class as a whole and you as an individual to better understand your professional ambitions, formalize your goals into a thoroughly considered and strategically composed written document.

The primary objectives of this assignment are to help you navigate your career path and to establish a framework upon which your efforts in the class can be directed and evaluated.

Approach:
Begin by reading the following articles:
http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_87.htm
Using the S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound) principles, write your goals for the next 10 years with specific milestones outlined for this semester, this year, 2 years from now, 5 years from now and 10 years from now. Consider how your near term goals relate to your long terms goals. Write your goals as positive statements; state the desired outcome and not the situation to be avoided. For example: “I want to be wealthy” is a positive statement, as opposed to, “I do not want to be poor.” It may be that you will have fewer goals the farther out into time you project, and you are likewise not expected to detail a day-by-day schedule for this semester. What is expected is a realistic, clear, comprehensive, and actionable plan for your future.

Some realms of achievement to consider as you compile your goals:

• Education
• Recognition / Awards
• Financial / Salary
• Public Service
• Philanthropy / Charity
• Rank / Title / Status
• Artistic / Creative
• Publicity / Media / Publication
• Exhibition
• Production / Distribution
• Skills / Knowledge
• Travel
• Peer Group / Relationships
• Clients

Part II:
Create a list of professionals and organizations (companies, collaboratives, etc) whose careers you admire. Include a brief explanation for each item in the list. Your list can draw from any field, but should include some entries that are directly related to the areas indicated by your goals.

Part III:
Set up your profile for the class website.

Deliverables:

• Well organized, thoughtfully composed, carefully edited document stating your goals for a scope of 10 years.
• List of professionals and organizations you admire with brief explanations.
• Post your work to the class website. Be sure to check “Assignment 1” as the category.

f Christopher

Welcome to the website of Professional Practice, a class in the Department of Furniture Design at RISD. The Course Objectives and Schedule can be viewed on this site, from the navigation found at the bottom of all pages, under the heading “resources”.

f Christopher