Dating? In College?

One can debate all day about whether dating in college is a way to have an enriched college experience or if it acts as a distraction and an impediment to your academic goals. Irrespective to whether you think that this is a good or bad idea, I think that we can all agree that this is an inevitable idea. Dating is something that is going to happen when you put people of the opposite sex (or the same in some cases) in an environment where they see each other almost everyday; they share information; they get to know one another, and for many students, they use college as a pool to expand their social life. The answer to this question ultimately lies with the individual. There needs to be the understanding that whether it works out or not, the relationship can't undermine your academic aspirations. That can be a very difficult task, especially when it doesn't work out and you not only have to see that person daily, but you might be forced to spend hours sitting in the same room with that person-a very difficult idea for some.

A recent article on helium.com does a very good job of summing up the dilemmas one faces when deciding on whether or not to date in college. The key thing here is responsibility. Be honest with the other person and be honest with yourself. That being said, I wouldn't ever want to dissuade someone from approaching someone who they feel would be a good  match. The reality is that dating can cause complications in many areas of our lives; problems don't just come when that person goes to the same school as you. A good rule of thumb here is to apply the same standards to a person who is on the same academic path with you as you would with a person you meet through any other venues. There needs to be trust, honesty and communication. If you feel like that is going to be problematic then maybe you should really just consider the friends route with that guy/girl you have been thinking of.

Comic Life Project (Blog 5)

          I just completed my Comic Life project and I want to share a few thoughts I had on it. I aimed to make it something simple, fun and I really wanted to focus on imagery as much as possible, even it if it risked compromising an in-depth story line. Admittedly, a comic book story about hero cats and an evil dog is about as simple as you get, but again, I believe that it gave me the best opportunity to use simple, cute, clear cut images. I tried to apply the most basic principle of design (contrast, type, etc.) to the project. I found this difficult at times. One of the reasons that I believe I found it difficult is I never was a comic book reader, even as a kid. It's interesting because even though almost all of the projects I have worked on this semester brought to light new techniques, theories, software, etc., they were all bases on mediums that I had some familiarity with. Even if you do the research on a particular medium, if you haven't taken in the medium, or even utilized it in the most passing manner, trying to design it can prove quite difficult because because you don't have that mental portfolio in which to draw upon.

       There is no question that comics have had wide influence over creative culture; today, I believe that there is a comic renaissance occurring. The following video is one such example of that. Here are two visual artists discussing how comics have effected their art and now, how their other artistic training has effected their comic illustrations.

JOEY AND SIMON: ARTISTS AND THE INFLUENCE OF COMIC BOOKS from BLIND Films on Vimeo.

An Initial Impresson Via a Webpage

       Let me first say that no matter how far technology advances-even as it brings us into each others living room-Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, etc. paints an incomplete and somewhat shallow picture of a person. Irregardless, this doesn't change the fact that whether they are people in the corporate, educational or social realms they are going to investigate our online identities and by default that is going to be their first impression of us. 
       Ironically, the more social media expands the more guarded I become. In the Myspace days I posted some personal information without taking into account that someone might be judging me on the content of that page. It wasn't like I would just put anything on there, and much of what was personal between my friends and I stayed personal. Facebook; however, has changed much of that. I have always like remain at least slightly enigmatic-online and otherwise. Now it seems like literally everyone is on Facebook: schools, nonprofits, band pages, remembrance pages, fan pages and the list goes on. Taking all this into account, I make it a point to not only not to post anything that would hurt me professionally, but also not to post things that will hurt me personally. That's not to say that through my interactions with my contacts a lot of my personality doesn't shine through, but no longer do I go toward the risque. Especially with Faceook's questionable privacy laws. 
        Technology often times can move faster than our ability to adapt to it. That why we need to remember that yes, things have changed and it is now our responsibility to maintain control over our online persona. It also our obligation to keep real-time contact a part of our lives as this recent New York Times Op-Ed points out.  As far as social media has brought us, do we really want all our friends and co-workers to be a collection of Facebook pages?  
      The overall theme here is be aware that people are watching and that our online presence has a big-time impact on our real-time lives. This video is by a gentleman who claims to be social media samurai. He says a lot of important things about the social footprint that online lives make. Why he is talking about these things while driving a car I don't know


Social Media and the Impact of Your Online Profile from Michael Gannotti on Vimeo.

The Creative Self

I have always been a person that was interested in all things creative; my first real deep creative interest was music, but that quickly evolved into a fascination with all things aesthetic. There are two things that I have grown to realize about the world and this pertains to everything from book covers to album covers to architecture to food products: in order for anything to be truly legitimate it has to have an aesthetic identity, and in order for anything to be special for an individual it has to have a unique aesthetic identity. You could never sell a can of soup in just a tin can, and you could never identify your favorite soup without any packaging.

When I was young, one of the first images I remember having a real effect on me was was the cover of Radiohead's OK Computer. You'll see it is a simple, hazy sort of image, abstract, technological, industrial and human, but in a "simply put" kind of way.

The Internet, of course has given us access to all sorts of aesthetic mediums, but it has also spawned a medium within itself, website design. Website design interests me for a variety of reasons. First of all a simple Google search can yield page after page of results. Whether you are searching for Commerce, research or just enjoyment reasons the design of the landing page that you choose is essential to whether or not you stay on that page or return to Google. Website design I believe puts a lot of power in the Designer's hands, and gives design a level of functionality that other mediums lack. I was recently read a great article in Killer Sites magazine, it gave me a good idea of the must-know elements to be a successful web designer. After I finish school I would like to be working either independently or in with firm (or possibly both) and focused on web design. That is not to say that that is sole interest and aspiration. I am very much interested in Print design and my passion for music may very well take me in the direction of album design which is a medium that is in resurgence for two reason, first, ipods have included Album covers for years now, but since ipods (and iPhones and a few other MP3 players) are being introduced at higher resolutions, they make album art all the more desirable. Also, they are not only coming with album covers, but additional art, liner notes and lyrics. Secondly, the MP3 revolution has sacrificed sound quality due to its compression. While many of us will not notice the difference, this has been noticed by many people and consequently vinyl sales increased over 35% last year-this should open up opportunities for album cover production in the future.

Using the Internet and TCI Library: Connecting the Dots (Blog#2)

I had the opportunity today to explore some of the resources and services available through TCI's eLibrary catalog. As I explored the various resources and sub-resources available, I began to see how I can use the eLibrary to continue learning in all of my classes. I also began to do some thinking about how I can utilize websites as learning tools. 

Here is what I came up with as it pertains to each of my classes this semester.

Maj102 Intro to the Major:  The TCI eLibray has a listing of different web resources that can be found under the DMA major section called "Web Resources for Graphic Design Basics." This provides a link to a word document that has a list of websites that deal with all facets of graphic design which I think would be very useful of acquainting one's self with the field. I also discovered a website called Think Design at http://thinkdesignblog.com/.  This provides a wide range of topics from typography sources to notable tweets to free texture downloads.

DMA 102 Color and Graphic Design:  Also found in the DMA major section in TCI's elibrary is a selection titled "Arcade." This is a catalog that unites the Frick Art Collection Library, the Museum of Modern Arts Library and the Brooklyn Museum's library. A search of  'Adobe Photoshop' and 'color theory' revealed over ten combined books or articles that can be helpful in this course. I also found a website called http://www.photoshoproadmap.com. This site has tutorials, text effects and brushes available, and a large gallery of examples of  Photoshop work. 

DMA 103 Digital Design Fundamentals: The Articles section of the eLibrary has a Find Articles link, a quick 'digital design' search on the site yields literally hundreds of articles concerning the principles of design along with industry related articles. I found a comprehensive page detailing various angles of the principles of design on the about.com website.

DMA 107 Computer Drawing: The DMA section of the eLibrary has a link to the Internet Art Database. This will be very useful for freehand drawing which is a substantial portion of the class. It has pictures of many different kinds of visual art which can come in handy when you are looking for applied examples of different techniques. The Adobe Illustrator section of the Desktop Publisher website is a great resource for tips and techniques

Taking all these Internet sources into account, I wanted to share a video I found of Google's Chairman  and CEO, Eric Schmidt talking about the myth that technology is making us dumber, though voicing concerns that there may be-although unknown at this point-cognitive effects due to the fact that we are "skimming " information as opposed to "deep reading" it. I do think that without question, having access to a vast amount of information can only increase our capacity for learning.



Eng 101 English Composition: I have been using the site: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ as a guide to help me with grammar and sentence structure for some time and I anticipate that it will be very helpful with my English Composition class too. The eLibrary has an English Composition link that has two very useful tools. One is a link to: www.authenticwriting.com which offers writing workshop information. The other one is poets.org from the Academy of American Poets; it's a comprehensive resource for poetry, from finding poems or poets to tips on Poetry writing.

CMP 101 Introduction to Computers: The TCI eLibrary has a 'Handouts' section and under that is a 'TCI Periodicals' listing where you will find links to over 30 computer magazines that are relevant to this class. Also, since a good portion of Introduction to Computers deals with hardware, Hardware Central is a great site for anything and everything that has to do with hardware.

College; Thoughts On

I just finished reading Chapter 1 and 2 of College Rules. I found a lot-though not all-of the topics covered in both chapters pretty relevant. Taking college classes is definitely a big adjustment. We all obviously had our responsibilities prior to starting classes, but one of my biggest challenges has been integrating my preexisting responsibilities with my new obligations at TCI. Now I don't want to show my age here, but let's just say that is has been a few years since I have attended school, and even before I started actually attending classes I had to go through the bureaucracy of the financial aid process; taking entrance exams, standing in lines for book, etc. Like it says in the first chapter of the book, these are things that all students must go through in order to graduate. For me, the two most important topics covered in the first chapter were starting off  on the right foot and the 'clean slate' idea, that college students irregardless of the their previous academic history are given a new opportunity to excel. I like the idea of the latter a lot, and since we are being given a clean slate, I think it is important to start strong so that we show ourselves and others that college is going to be a positive experience and we are willing to do the required work. The Internet is full of resources for individuals entering or returning from a long absence to the college environment; Free College Resources is just one example, and you'll notice that one of the first topics covered on their homepage is asking for assistance. 

Chapter 2 of the text book, talks about just that, Where to Find the Help You Need. Since I am only in the third week of the semester, I haven't been in a position where I've had to ask for a lot of academic help, (although I am sure I will be) but since the very beginning of the whole process I've had to make sure that I asked a lot of questions in order to assure that I know what is required of me, I understood the process, and where I need to turn in case I have any problems or questions. 

I know the experience will be challenging but it is an experience I expect to enjoy and have fun with. I'll leave with a little humor, this is a pilot for a sitcom that talks about the comic side of going to college.

Losers Series Promo from Dave Conte on Vimeo.