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.