1. Frederick's Oktoberfest 2015
On Saturday, October 3rd, I and two of my friends attended the Oktoberfest in Frederick, Maryland, held at the Frederick county fair grounds. One of my friends had wanted to take me along for about three years now and I never had the opportunity to attend with her, but this year I was finally able to. In the main hall, they served traditional German foods such as bratwurst, wienerschnitzel, many other sausages, sauerkraut, kartoffelsalat, and dessert pastries such as strudel. They also held a yodeling contest ans had a traditional band to play polka music. I heard there was some traditional dancing as well, but at the time it occurred I and my friends were in a different hall.
In the other buildings, there were booths set up like a fair where attendees could purchase various items. One of the halls was devoted entirely to watching sports on big screens they had set up. The hall that my group spent most of our time in was set up as half vendors and half seating area with a stage. There was a couple performing traditional German and Swiss mountain music which was quite fascinating. There was some dancing as well.
Overall, it was a good experience. I really enjoyed hearing the music and tasting the foods and taking in the festive atmosphere of the whole event.
2. Five Years of Commercial Type: It's Not Just About the Money. It's Not Just About the Art.On Thursday, October 22nd, I attended a lecture given by Paul Barnes as part of the Baltimore Design Week 2015. My Typography teacher took a group of students and professors up to Baltimore to attend.
Paul Barnes works to create typefaces, and he began his lecture by explaining how he and his partner Christian Schwarz (also a typographer) began to develop typefaces together and eventually formed Commercial Type. It was interesting to hear the stories behind some of the typefaces they have developed, and situations with clients that have gone both well and not so well.
Paul said a few things that stood out to me. He said that when you choose a typeface for a design, you have to consider its past, it's "baggage." Everyone has seen typefaces in certain ways before, so if you choose a typeface that is most commonly used for, say, children's books, and try to use it to promote a research program at a University, more often than not people will not take the design - or event - seriously because of the type's background and common associations. Another thing he said that stood out to me was that "the first 90% of the work is 90% of the work, and the last 10% of the work is 90% of the work. I think this applies to far more than just typography as well. Every project that you do, both parts take the same amount of effort.I learned a lot from this lecture and am glad I had the opportunity to attend. They also gave out booklets with samples of their typefaces to attendees.
3. The Secrets of Engaging Mail
On Thursday, October 29th, I attended a lecture by Trish Witkowski of foldfactory.com that was held by the Blue Ridge AIGA. Trish is well know as an expert on folds used in mailing design, as well as what tools designers can employ to get people to actually open the mail instead of trash it. She spent the greater portion of the lecture talking about the categories of design formatting that are frequently successful when employed; such things as mailing addresses that look hand-written, unique paper and color choice, placement of design on the packaging, and what one can see through the "window" of the envelope.
It was interesting to see the examples of her points on the slides, but I was a bit disappointed that she didn't bring any physical examples for us to look at.
There was a question asked in the Q&A session afterwards that seemed important to me. The question was "how important is the design really in mailing?" and the answer that Trish gave was that the most important parts are really making sure you find the right audience and having something of interest to offer those people. The design takes a "behind-the-scenes" role in mailing and packaging design. I thought this was important because I have often heard it said that the best video editing is the editing you don't see. It's best to support from behind the scenes and let the message take the center stage.4. Masterworks Chorale
On November 14th, I performed with the Masterworks Chorale. The pieces we performed were "Missa Gaia (Earth Mass)" by Paul Winter, "Chichester Psalms" by Leonard Bernstein, and John Rutter's "Gloria."
Performance, I have found, is an experience very much like viewing a performance but from a different perspective. I am taking in the music just as the audience is, I simply have a different role to play than just observer.It is always fascinating to me to see how even when performing the same music I've rehearsed for months, on the stage it feels brand new to me. I find myself more focused on the music and everything around me that is creating the performance. This performance was no different.
5. "Getting Away with Shit"
On November 23rd, during Thanksgiving break, my Typography teacher took myself, another professor, and a local AIGA member up to Pennsylvania to an AIGA lecture there. The designer giving the lecture was Timothy Goodman, and his talk was called "Getting Away with Shit."
He briefly covered his background in design and moved on to talk about what he is most well known for: Sharpie hand-lettering. He said that he had been in a bit of a slump and so he tried something different and it turned out he was very good at it and enjoyed it, so he pursued that.
Tim laid out six things that we should keep in mind as designers (and creative people). The six things are:
- Know the rules
- Have some audacity
- Don't ask for permission
- Listen to yourself/your gut instinct
- Put yourself into your work
- be young and stay young
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