Field Guide to the Design Student

FIELD GUIDETO THEDESIGN STUDENTby Mel Woodard

PREFACE

GUIDE TO THE GUIDEDesign school is a curious time in the life of the designer. Learning new con-cepts, developing and changing styles, making constant mistakes, fighting post-pubescent identity crises. These all come with the territory of being a student. But how does the rest of the world come to understand such creatures and their ways? That’s what this handy guide was made for.

Aside from being a practical handbook for understanding and identifying this peculiar breed, the Field Guide to the Design Student also highlights the particu-lar atmosphere of the Design Department at Western Washington University. It serves to give a greater understanding of who we are, what we do, how we work and what we like. The goal of this book is to be informative, enlightening, and more than a little tongue-in-cheek, while eradicating the incorrect assumption that all design students are made the same.

THEPRODUCTIONVIXEN

OVERVIEW

VITAL STATS

The Production Vixen is your shining example for well-practiced design produc-tion techniques. Upon opening her 17” Macbook Pro (with careful color calibra-tion), you’ll find her folders and files meticulously named and organized, with her Time Machine set to backup every 24 hours. Her attention to detail reaches all areas of her life: a spotless desk, various sized cardboard tubes organized hierar-chically in her locker, houseplants on a strict watering schedule, and a full set of Uni-Ball Signo .07 pens. But don’t mistake the Production Vixen for being socially stunted; she can talk her way into anything, particularly excellent Comcast deals.

Vodka cran Dark chocolate M&M’s

m m

7 AM

to

2:30 AM

Waking hours Vices

Website

Craigslist

Other

School

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

4

TYPE LOVE

Cardboard tubes of various sizes.

Top 5 typefaces Transportation

Bus

Franklin Gothic Book Regular Helvetica Neue Ultra Light

Georgia Regular & Italic

Arno Pro Semibold Display Futura Condensed Medium

“Take a vacation, get cultured.”

WHAT’S ON YOUR DESK?

5

The Art Director is intelligent, sarcastic, outgoing and idealistic, all contained in one explosive person. He’s on top of the latest trends in social media, inform-ing everyone he knows that he is using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Wave, Google Buzz, Google Reader, Tumblr, Digg... even if he doesn’t really know what all of them are for. The Art Director waves proudly his quasi-geek flag with a constant stream of references to Star Wars and the latest posts on Gizmodo and Lifehacker. He’s excited about life and he’ll tell you what’s on his mind, and not surprisingly, his biggest aversion is people like him.

7 AM

to

1 AM

Waking hours

Other

Urban exploration & reclamation

Vices

Apple juice Dried mango

OVERVIEW

VITAL STATS

LEISURE ACTIVITIESWebsite

Digg.com

THE ARTDIRECTOR

6

Helvetica

Courier New

Top 5 typefaces

8 pairs of sunglasses.

Transportation

Yellow 80s Peugeot road bike

ODDS & ENDS


“It’s about breaking stuff and fixing stuff.”

7

DESIGNER MUSIC

Brothers THE BLACK KEYS

Classics RATATAT

Comort Eagle CAKE

Contra VAMPIRE WEEKEND

Crystal Castles CRYSTAL CASTLES

Every Direction is North EL TEN ELEVEN

Feels ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

Introducing THE SONICS

Junior ROYKSOPP

8

Kala M.I.A.

Manners PASSION PIT

Poses RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

Raw Power THE STOOGES

Seventh Tree GOLDFRAPP

Takk... SIGUR RÓS

The Reminder FEIST

Veckatimest GRIZZLY BEAR

Wonderful Rainbow LIGHTNING BOLT

9

THE PAPERPUSHA’

OVERVIEW

VITAL STATS

8 AM

to

2 AM

The Paper Pusha’ seems like your typical edgy, future snowboard designer, but he’s also zen to the core. His interest in electro-jazz and passion for cooking help to maintain his friendly personality. In fact, the Paper Pusha is one of the few designer types who regularly eats three square meals a day. He’s an easy go-ing guy, but don’t let that fool you into thinking he’s sloppy; his love for geom-etry and secret fascination with Magic the Gathering are borderline obsessive.

Waking hours Vices

Lagunitas IPA Late night fast food

commercials

Website

Facebook

Other

Publicly: cooking, frequenting bars Privately: Dungeons & Dragons

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

10

Wood burning tool for making my own wax seal.


White Peugeot road bike

ODDS & ENDS

Univers Condensed

Alte Haas Grotesk

Franklin Gothic Courier

Helvetica Condensed Bold

“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.” - Jimi Hendrix


11

CS CHIC

OVERVIEW

VITAL STATS

9 AM

to

12 AM

Who says the computer savvy can’t also have a sense of style? CS Chic (pro-nounced the French way) has come to save the future of computer science by fi-nally marrying form with function. Her substantial knowledge of asp.net, MySQL and more is on par with her excellent design style and fashion sense. Her smart, Upper East Side boy cut perfectly matches her well organized, methodical, and accessible approach to design.

Waking hours Vices

Midori sour Chocolate milk

Website

Youtube

Other

Reading abnormal psychology case studies

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

12

3 packages of Fimo clay.

Top 5 typefaces (web safe, of course)

Transportation

‘93 Geo Prizm

ODDS & ENDS

Verdana Tahoma Georgia

Arial Palatino Linotype


“Let love be your energy.”

13

SO, UM...Making conversation with a design student can be difficult. Their complete obsession with all things aesthetic can make them less than the life of the party when it comes to broader subject matter. If you’re having trouble connecting, here’s a few helpful conversation starters to get the word flow going.

“Did you see the TED talk about the OK Go music video?”

“Can you believe Avatar used Papyrus?”

“I got featured on LATFH yesterday!”

“Check out this stop animation video I saw on my Google reader today.”

“Pantone 122 C” DESIGNER

TALK

14

“Have you used Photoshop CS5’s content-aware filter yet?”

“Did you BitTorrent the new Ratatat album? It’s sick.”

“Have you seen my Pantone swatch book anywhere?”

“Can I borrow your bone folder?”

“I found some old manila parent sheets today. Sweet.”

“My Cargo just got 3 more followers!”

15

THE OLD GUY

OVERVIEW

VITAL STATS

11 AM

to

4 AM

He may not look it, but behind those thick plastic frames lies an old soul ap-proaching thirty. The Old Guy prides himself on having “real life experience.” He constantly brags about seeing Death Cab for Cutie at house shows BEFORE they were famous (and when his classmates were mere infants). He uses his age to an ironic advantage, feigning ignorance of the Internet and occasionally mentioning his graying hair. The Old Guy bodes well with the DIYer, making crap at its finest.

Waking hours Vices

Whiskey & Ginger

Karaoke

Website

Websites? What?

Other

Making dioramas that light up

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

16

A bumper sticker signed by Andrew W.K. Love that man.


Race bike

ODDS & ENDS

Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed

Pablo Skinny

Caslon Alte Haas Grotesk


“Make crap. It’s fun. And make friends with people who make even awesomer crap. Make

make make. Yeah I’m being repetitive.”

HEY MAN

17

THE GREASER

OVERVIEW

VITAL STATS

8 AM

to

1 AM

The Greaser has never been able to give up the nostalgia of the “good old days,” even though he never lived them, and never thought they were that great in the first place. Nevertheless, the pomp and bandana persist, along with the alluring mystique of being a “musician.” Besides appearances, you may be able to identify The Greaser by his frequent and mostly lost references to “The Outsiders.” He believes that most things look better with thick rimmed glasses and pompa-dours, and that the only tools you really need are ink and a screen.

Waking hours Vices

Olympia beer

Cigarillos

Website

I can’t talk about that publicly

Other

Playing blues guitar Drawing pin-ups and/or monsters

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

18

A tiny monster who collects food donations.


Vans New Eras

ODDS & ENDS

American Typewriter Bodini Poster

Bodoni Poster Italic


“I will never grow a goddamn dirty mustache, shut up you fucking hipster.”

19

DESIGNER CINEMA

FILM IS TRUTH

20

Despite popular belief, design students do occasionally have time to watch a good flick or two. After all, a little cinematic exercise is good for the designer brain. Film is a great way to escape the constant exposure to a MacBook screen, and gives a rest to those tired fingers sore from executing endless key com-mands and scrolling through design blogs.

21

Star Wars

Japanese Horror

Rom-Com

Kung-Fu

Comedy

Bad Action Movies

Cult Musicals Wes Anderson Tarantino

VIRAL MEDIA MAVEN

OVERVIEW

VITAL STATS

9 AM

to

3 AM

She may seem a little rough around the edges, but don’t be fooled by the Viral Media Maven’s external features. Although her design style is wickedly abrasive, the Maven possesses an undying love for all things cute and/or bizarre. Her ver-satility in illustration ranges from anime to smiling stars to zombies to tugboats. Her ironic fascination with adorable things even stretches to flowers, chocolate milk, and even baking. But don’t be too disarmed by all this cute talk; the Maven still packs a punch, so be on your guard.

(nap from 12-2 AM)

Website

FFFFOUND!

Other

Baking

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

Waking hours Vices

1000 ml Asahi super dry

Coffee (6+ cups/day)

22

A hair tie. Weird.


Fuji Royale road bike

ODDS & ENDS

Futura Rockwell Extra Bold

League Gothic Alte Haas Grotesk (my handwriting)


“Make more art.”

23

THE INTELLECTUAL GAMER

OVERVIEW

VITAL STATS

Not to be confused with the regular gamer, The Intellectual Gamer prides himself in being cultured in a number of arenas. His unusually large vocabulary and expansive database of trivial knowledge makes him a commodity at house par-ties, and a sizable distraction to classmates. Speaking of sizable, The Intellectual Gamer’s towering stature over other designers is a constant reminder of his ironic ineptitude at sports, unless of course they are played in the arena of the PS3. Typical activities include watching kung-fu, browsing Wikipedia to expand on useless knowledge, and inputting random text into a QR code generator.

Waking hours Vices

Sailor Jerry’s & Coke

Little Caesar’s $5 pizzas

Website

Wikipedia

Other

Playing tiny instruments

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

8 AM

to

1 AM

24

Inflatable Japanese pastry mascot punching bag.


Huge road bike

ODDS & ENDS

Helvetica Franklin Gothic

Caslon (my handwriting)

Arial (for web)


function worldStatement ( ){document.write (“<h1>Hello World!</h1>”);}

25

DESIGNER OPINION

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

IN THE POLLS

26

Computer Model Browser

Mac

PC

Custom

Pencil

Firefox

Safari

Chrome

All

The college years are a great time for forming individual opinions. For better or worse, many students come out of school with a pretty solid set of beliefs, pref-erences, and favoritisms. But for the design student, it isn't just about choosing political affiliations, religious preferences, or television shows. There are critical matters of taste at stake directly relating to what makes up a designer, and these are undoubtedly just as important as the rest of the world's "big issues."

27

The iPad

Workspace

The 90s

Critique

Awesome

Irrelevant

Clean

Messy

Are back

Aren't back

Dull

Educational

Annoying

Strategic Mess

Prefer not to answer

An outlet for pent-up

aggression

THE DIY-ER

OVERVIEW

VITAL STATS

The DIY-er, a close relative of The Old Guy, has a love for all things cute. Although she fully embraces her MacBook Pro (slightly outdated so as not to seem too tech-obsessed), her real love is the handdone. A lover of the ironic, the DIY-er balances her androgynous dress code with her daily tumblr updates of cute animal vector illustrations. And if you touch her 250 mesh screen, she’ll kill you.

Waking hours Vices

Coffee An old fashioned

Website

My tumblr

Other

Scouting free piles in my Honda

LEISURE ACTIVITIES

10:30 AM

to

2 AM

28

A car jack.


My feet

ODDS & ENDS

(my handwriting) DIN

Trade Gothic

Fette Fraktur


“I don’t do crafts, I make shit.”

29

THE END

OR THE BEGINNING?As students, we've learned a lot, but once we have our diplomas in hand, we'll re-alize the daunting truth. We'll realize that the past four years of late nights, early mornings, failures, successes, emotional breakdowns and triumphant break-throughs are merely a taste of what we have coming. We'll realize how much we have yet to learn, but hopefully that motivates and excites us, instead of discour-aging us. So when the appetizer is finished, we need to choose whether or not we want to commit to the meal, and it's our task to prepare ourselves as best we can.

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Field Guide to the Design Student

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