Sleepy...

Week 2, Day 1

I only slept for 20 minutes, so I was pretty much brain dead this morning.  I had a super hard time trying to stay awake in class, but I'll try my best to reflect on what we did today.

Professor Moss shared with us his experience of not being able to "get into" a particular project back when he was in college just because he simply had no interest in it.  The day before that project was due, he was inspired to make a completely different project, one that he really enjoyed working on.  He brought his finished project to class the following day, and managed to overwhelm his professor.  Professor Moss told us that it's important to find a passion for something because we'll find it much easier to enjoy doing it.  After he said that, I started to think about how I used to be a Business Marketing major and how much I disliked it.  I absolutely dreaded learning about economics and working on accounting problems.  My heart just simply wasn't in it, so during my junior year, I changed my major to Graphic Design.  I couldn't have been happier with this decision because now I get to learn and study something that I really enjoy.  I've been in this major for about a year and a half now, and sure, I've pulled countless all-nighters trying to finish up art projects, but you know what?  I've enjoyed every single minute of it, whether it was drawing, painting, sculpting, or working on computer graphics.  Art is my passion, and it's what I love.  I honestly don't mind staying up all night working on art projects - it's so much funner than doing homework for accounting! :D

We spent a good chunk of class time ranking the comic strips that we did for homework over the weekend (we were supposed to draw out why we chose to attend college) and discussing our reasons for ranking them the way we did.  Class ended with a discussion of Seth Johnson's "I didn't know sh*t (until I started working)" lecture.  This guest speaker event was held in the student union last Friday, on April 1st.  The students who attended this event were asked to sit in front of the classroom and discuss what they had learned from Seth's lecture.  According to my classmates, Seth took only one design class at Cal State L.A.; everything else was self-taught.  Seth shared six points to design success, which are as follows:

1. Tell your clients what they need.
2. Make your own work.
3. Do a lot with a little.
4. Shut up and listen.
5. Make things better.
6. Be curious and never satisfied.

I wasn't able to attend Seth's lecture, but I did manage to pick up a few important tips from those who did.  I will try my best to utilize some of Seth's six points in order to become a better designer.