Y Announcement

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

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

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

Hi Everyone,

I know it’s a little late, but I wanted to share some info about the web host I use.

I’ve been using MacHighway Hosting (www.machighway.com). Not only are they mac friendly, but the company and servers run entirely on Wind Energy! The customer service and technical support is outstanding and available 24/7, and when you call for help, you get a real person to talk to right away.. For only $39.50/year I get 10GB space, 10 sub domains, and 5 emails addresses. In addition to that, Mac Highway offers seamless and simple integration of CMS (content management systems) like wordpress and concrete5.

I know most everyone is already underway with their websites, but if not, and you’re not scared of word press or exploring other CMS, this might be a good way to go. I’ve never had a single problem with this host – I recommend it.

_Topher

f Topher

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

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

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

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

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

Artecnica has some great designer bios and pics.
http://www.artecnicainc.com/Designers

The risd.edu furniture dept website has a bunch of great faculty bios to look at as well.
http://www.risd.edu/Furniture_Design

f Kate Golden

“When I see professional clowns, mimes, or people who make professional balloon animals, I think of their relatives and how disappointed they must be.”

– Jimmy Fallon

“You have to come in on a professional level to make it, otherwise you just can’t get into rap.”

– Ice T

f Kate Golden

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

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