{November 2011

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

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

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