A day-to-day blog/vent of my transition to city-living in Chicago, relationships, and the perils of graduate school in Biomedical Visualization (aka Medical Illustration) and life after grad school. Be prepared for irony and things to not go the way they should!
Finally, the last part of the branding process, at least in this case, is the creation of a website to promote individuals to get on the web to check out the brand and/or the product for more information. With the Internet playing a big part in society today, individuals would look at you like you were crazy if you did not have a website that they could check out. Since most individuals would identify with the print advertising, I wanted the website to work with the approachable and friendly-looking characters as well. Though this is just the design of the entrance and a supplementary page, I would want this website to be dynamic and have Flash or Java functionality. This would easier to explain the front page. My idea is that the friendly cells would pop up on the screen and when you hover over them, they would enlarge and the voice bubble would pop up displaying which main page the cell would navigate you to. In this example, you could click on the one being hovered over and the next loaded page would be the "About Promeaga" page. The branding standards that I have created are followed with the website as well and is easily identifiable as a brand. What do you think?
Promeaga website design index and about page. 2009. Lindsey Pionek. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop CS4.
When it comes to explaining what I do in grad school, the most common response other than "Oh, so you draw guts!" is "Like Netter, right?" Instead of getting the blank stare when I elaborate (We can do A LOT more than just illustration if you haven't figured that out yet.), I usually just say yes and go on my way. This past Friday, the UIC Biomedical Visualization graduate program welcomed Frank Netter's daughter, Francine, to have a talk about her famous father. She explained to the crowd Frank's childhood and how he was interested in art, and naturally good at it, at a young age. He started out with humble beginnings and a strong influence from his mother to become a doctor, though he preferred art. They came to an agreement that he could study art at the National Academy of Design if he promised to go to medical school in the future.
After Frank's mother passed away, he gave up art to follow his mother's dream for him and went into medicine. When studying, he realized that subjects were learned much faster when drawings were made, as did his peers and professors. When he was done with school and working at Mt. Sinai hospital, the Depression came forth and health care was unfortunately too expensive for most, so few patients came in for care. To keep him from being bored, and to make money to survive, he went back to his art by creating illustrations for medicine. Like many individuals starting out in the art field, he began with low wages, but when he was able to increase his charges (even more than he was expecting as well because of a miscommunication of a series of illustrations he was going to do for a total of $1500, but client responded and agreed to $1500 for each illustration), devoted himself to create images of science.
At the beginning of his formal medical illustration career war shook the world. Instead of being drafted, Frank volunteered for the Army and was set up in a studio by the Army Medical Museum. Though bored at first, he was later contacted to redesign the Army's First Aid Manual to make user-friendly as Francine mentioned that it was a huge clunky book that did not do much help when in the field. He make the book a small size and filled it primarily with his illustrations (which by the way were painted by students at the Society of Illustrators in New York, because Frank was unable to do because that was considered manual labor which an officer of the army was unable to do). With the much-needed benefit of a hand-held reference, Frank was assigned to create more on other subjects such as survival in the arctics and tropics.
When the war was over and was done with his service, CIBA contacted Frank t0 create medical illustrations for medical pamphlets which were later comprised in a book and sold out completely for two printing sessions. With the demand from this project, Frank was asked to illustrate the entire human body in a series of atlases of the systems of the body. Though Frank estimated it would take him 10 years to complete, it ended up taking up the rest of his life. As I have realized myself, creating art always takes longer than expected.
Hearing Frank's story from his daughter was very inspiring to hear and see. His life, her life growing up being around his work, his process of work, and seeing his sketches was helpful and educational. I am very happy that I allowed time in my day to experience this talk about one of the well-known medical illustrators.
Photo courtesy of mesotheliomacg.com. Anterior view of lungs in situ. 1995. Frank Netter.
Above is the logo chosen with the color and text choices that made the cut. I have a few reasons why I chose this logo above the others:
- The modern design reflects the characteristic of Promeaga be a "new" and revolutionary drug. - The center ovals of the logo symbolize a cell with a nucleus which is the level that the drug performs at. - The outer loop of the logo has a whimsical look. This was added to create an approachable and "take action" feel. It was made to look like someone took a marker and circled the cell; the way that Promeaga works. The negative space that interrupts this loop heightens this take action aura and creates interest. - The logo looks like an abstract target, one of the key words and ways that Promeaga works in the body.
Adding the brand name to the logo was the next step. As you can see from the examples, I wanted to use a san-serif font to mimic the clean and modern feel of the logo. I ended up with a thin, rounded san-serif named VAG Rounded in title case which worked well with the roundness of the logo and the way the letters created even more circles in the brand name.
Lastly, color is added to the logo. Color is very important in the branding process. Colors aren't just chosen to make the logo pretty, there is a large amount of psychology and symbolism behind each and every color. I have always been interested in color psychology, so choosing colors was an enjoyable task. The orange-red gradient and the vibrant light blue were chosen with aesthetic and psychological purposes. The blue signifies a state of disease, yet the shade of blue does not look dangerous or grotesque. The orange is a very vibrant and active color, but after some more research, I found that the color orange stimulates the immune system. This works for this logo since Promeaga doesn't compromise the immune system, yet is able to rid the body of cancerous cells. In the end, the final logo is modern, optimistic and approachable; exactly what I wanted this pharmaceutical drug is to represent.
Logo color and typography concepts and final Promeaga logo design. 2009. Lindsey Pionek. Adobe Illustrator CS4.
In the process of (finally) presenting all of my work from the past semester, here is the first part of my branding assignments from my Advanced Graphic Design class with Donna Hughes. The first part of the branding process was logo development. A logo should embody an organization or product, therefore a designer should dedicate an ample amount of time in research. Donna taught us this by requiring us to complete a few forms, which included a product identity, as well as filling out a concepting matrix, which included word, image, and color association list. I decided to create a logo for an imaginary pharmaceutical drug, Promeaga. Why? I didn't want to mimic anything on the market, recreate present branding, and most importantly, I wanted to put myself in a real-life situation with creating a new logo. Let's take a look at the process with the Promeaga logo.
Product Identity Name of product: Promeaga (Echinomycin doxorubictin)
What exactly does the product do? Promeaga is a cancer suppressant pharmaceutical that successfully repairs the human p53 gene, the transcription factor that prevent genome mutation by initiating apoptosis (premeditated cell death). In most cancers this transcription factor is mutated, therefore Promeaga would be able to restore the function of apoptosis in cancer patients, providing a better chance of restoring normal function in cancer patients.
Describe the industry of which the product is a part. Promeaga is part of the new findings and experimentation of Merck & Co. Merck & Co is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients first. Established in 1891, Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs. The Company devotes extensive e fforts to increase access to medicines through far-reaching programs that not only donate Merck medicines, but help deliver them to the people who need them.
How does the product fit in this industry? What is unique about it that sets it apart from others in the market? What is similar that keeps it competitive within the market?) Promeaga is the first product to benefit cancer patients of all kinds without the negative e ffects of chemotherapy. This drug provides a step ahead towards the actual cure for cancer. Though this drug is not the cure-all, Promeaga targets the transcription factor that initiates apoptosis, which stops the mutated cells from multiplying and make the cancer deadly. With the death of cancer-causing cells, there is a better chance of survival normal functioning cells and the patient. This drug, as beneficial as it is, is one step closer to the cure for cancer, though it does not fully provide society with the cure for cancer. Therefore, there is a sufficient amount of research yet to be done by pharmaceutical companies to find the cure.
Audience Profile Who is the audience (end user) for the product? Describe their personality as a group. The audience in for patients with all types of cancer that would like to see an alternative to treatment other than chemotherapy. They are likely very sick and exhausted from dealing with their cancer. The patients will most likely be happy to know that there is a better treatment option than chemotherapy, and one that could potentially cure many of numerous types of cancers. Cancer patients tend to be hopeful through their treatment and are more willing to try new procedures. They want to rid themselves of the cancer with as little pain and su ffering as possible.
What is the accepted/preferred visual language of the audience? Research example of what they are used to seeing and what is successful in communicating with them. The visual language for cancer patients follows a positive outlook for curing cancer. Though the drugs and therapies are not highly advertised, organizations for all types of cancer show images of hope, love, family, strength, life. All imagery is active and positive. Though the audience is faced with the possibility of a shortened life, the advertising takes them away from this to keep them positive during their treatment and not willing to give up on their battle.
What is the primary message you want the audience to receive about the product?(This should be a simple, clear answer—one concise sentence.) Promeaga provides cancer patients with more hope and promise than any other cancer treatment.
What is the secondary message you want the audience to receive about the product? Promeaga gives cancer patients their lives back by providing a more comfortable treatment.
After product identity was in place, I was able to go to the concepting matrix. Though this matrix did not have to be followed, it is a fantastic tool for experimentation and spurring thought and creativity. Afterwards, I worked on thumbnails of possible logo ideas in black and white. Below are images of these worksheets as well as a my top choices for the final logo. Which one do you think I chose to finish?
Halloween, one of my favorite holidays, was fantastic this year in Chicago once again. Though there weren't as many crazy costumes in Wicker Park at there was in Boystown last year, it was still pretty entertaining. We had a quite the plethora of characters at our BVIS party though! Some characters from Law & Order SVU, My Little Pony, Rick James, a jockey, the wolf from Little Red Riding hood, a lobster, Dr. House, a knight, bumblebee, a pimp, Lady Gaga, a Black-Eyed Pea, Adam Lambert and some groupies is just an overview of everyone that attended. Of course, there was me of course as Lady Flash. I liked the costume because of all the red and it was one of the most covered costumes at the costume shop. I know Halloween is a time to skank it out, but newsflash: IT'S COLD IN CHICAGO! Plus, I just didn't want to do that since all of them are short.... don't quite have the thighs for that.... but I compensated with the costume by using hair extensions and hot rollers. Anyway, it was still a hit. I don't know what it is; I wasn't going for sexy at all, but it worked out that way. I'm not complaining at all, but still kinda unexpected for me that night. I have curves and I guess people like it.... I could probably make a potato sack hot. :D
I have to say my fave costume that night was Glambert as shown with me above. That took some effort and research and I think it turned out fantastic. I'm surprised that I didn't see any other Adam Lamberts that night, which makes it even more great. Great job dear! Gaga was pretty amazing too. Almost all of the costumes I saw were pretty much easily recognizable. It was great to hang out with almost everyone in my class since most of the time we just go to class and don't have time to hang out as much as we did last year. It must have been a good night though since I lost my phone... and accidentally left my camera at the party.
Yes, it was a good night, and I tend to have a little bit too much fun since I am not able to as much as I did before. Plus, it doesn't help when your tolerance is down at the same time. I didn't get sick and I didn't feel that bad the next day though, so that was nice. But now I'm on the quest for another phone, since that was a whole story in itself (someone found it in the leaves in front of my apartment and was supposed to drop it off with a friend of mine, but never did), but I have a Blackberry Tour in the mail right now and I can't wait to play with it! I wanted an iPhone, but being a very happy US Cellular customer, I did not want to cancel and go to AT&T which I heard has the worst calling, 3G, and customer service. We will see if I like it!
Photo courtesy from Jessica on Facebook.com. Adam Lambert, groupie and Lady Flash. October 2009.
Well today was the day - the beginning of the 2009 Frank Armitage Lecture that our Biomedical Visualization graduate program. It seems like just yesterday I was building the website for the event. I swear, this semester has to slow down! Anyway, I wanted to be prepared for the morning and be on-time and put-together for the event so I picked out my outfit the night before and everything else was ready to go for the smoothest morning possible.... of course that didn't happen. When my alarm went off in the morning, I realized it went off too early so I set it for a later time.... too bad I turned it off and ended up waking up at 8 instead of 7. Well, I guess I will just have to take a cab again. Annoying, but still on time. I hop in the shower and get ready to look presentable-professional and I'm out the door with coffee-in-hand on-time. To my surprise, even with living right off of Clark Street in the heart of Lincoln Park, there are no cabs to be seen... and it is raining. No, not today, just not today. After hoping to see a vacant cab for 10 minutes, I decided to call for one. The operator said it would be less than 5 minutes. Okay, I can handle that. Well after another 10 minutes, I said screw it and I finally was able to hail a cab. The cab I called for called me 10 minutes later... not quite the time they gave me. Oh well, I got another one. Later, when I was about to be dropped off they cabbie figured out I was in school and stated that I was too beautiful to be in the medical field... whatever that means, but I took it as a compliment. Public compliments seem to be my thing; I can't go anywhere without someone noticing me even though I don't feel like I stand out. Oh well; there are much worse things that could happen.
Needless to say, I was late again by 10 minutes. Even though I attempt to be as prepared as possible, there is always some unexpected variable that destroys the plan. I just can't seem to catch a break. I walked into the lecture to Noah Lowenthal, Vice President of Abelson-Taylor. He discussed working in pharmaceutical advertising, more specifically working with the client, different animators and companies to create the product, as well as the working team. The drug, Kapidex, was the example the he discussed. Abelson-Taylor needed to build a booth for a convention that was promoting the drug. The A-T team decided that interactivity was key to captivate the audience, in which they decided to utilize Microsoft Surface. The work that A-T did was very impressive, especially as this was the first time that the company was working with this software.
Greg Blew was next, in which he discussed Emmi Solutions and patient education. More specifically, he started with the beginnings of the company, the significance of patient education for the patient as well as the hospitals, planning, budgeting, and survey scores from patients. Since Greg is also a professor for our program, he has discussed some insider info with us prior, but nothing like this. It was great to see even more of such a beneficial business.
After lunch, we had our last, and main, lecturer, David Bolinsky. Starting out with prehistoric art and man's ability to create artwork and evoke movement. Bolinsky went on to bring this idea into his own life and his progress to where he is today. Starting out in med school and doing pen and ink illustrations on the side, he was always interested in animation. Taking a leap of faith, he decided to drop everything and follow his dream. Can you believe this man started his company XVIVO, a 3D medical animating company, without ever owning a computer? They started off small and not well-known, but after submitting a short on the process visualizing the process of extravasation at a Siggraph conference and getting rave (yet unexpected, or so XVIVO thought) reviews, the company was jet-set to stardom in an instant. It was amazing to see the success that he had through his hard work and following his dream, which were his words of wisdom for the audience as well.
I couldn't believe what a success the first day of the lecture was this year. Usually, the talks, other than the main lecturer, are attended mainly by Biomedical Visualization students and faculty. This year, all the seats were full for every talk. It is fantastic to see how more people are becoming aware of what we do. All of the speakers were captivating, interesting, and the work they showed was just incredible. I don't think our program could have asked for a better day. We'll see how tomorrow goes!
Video courtesy of youtube.com. Inner Life of a Cell.
Above are my icon designs for my Advanced Graphic Design class. Now many of you are probably thinking "What is the difference between an icon and a logo?" Here it is: A logo is a graphical element that, together with its logotype (a uniquely set and arranged typeface) form a trademark or commercial brand. Typically, a logo's design is for immediate recognition. An icon, on the other hand, is defined as an image, picture, or representation. A sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy; in simpler terms, a symbol. (Thanks for the definitions wikipedia!) Pssh, a symbol? How difficult could this be? Why were we given weeks to do something that is supposed to be so simple? Though we had to choose three different medical fields (which if you didn't notice, chose optometry, orthopedics and neurology), seriously, how bad could it be?
Again, surprised. You have to take every aspect, shape, line, weight, color, etc into consideration. I have to say, the hardest part was breaking down a complex medical field (let alone three) and make them cohesive with each other. I wanted them to be bold to evoke confidence of each field and use the more basic elements of anatomy that each field chosen works with every day: optometry with the eye, orthopedics with a broken bone, and neurology with the neuron. The colors are chosen for a reason too. Yellow is known to be the most visible color in the spectrum, red was used to evoke the blood from marrow, and blue is used as it is known as a calming color. I could go on with all the little aspects, but if you want to know, ask. Again, I liked how they turned out and I liked the project. This assignment made me think even more about the meanings behind an artist's actions. Meaning in art makes it all the better. Medical field icons. 2009. Lindsey Pionek. Adobe Illustrator.
Above is my final design for creating awareness to the public about the H1N1 virus (aka Swine Flu) for my Advanced Graphic Design class with Donna Hughes. Like usual, we were required to create three different concepts and choose one to refine. I didn't want to do the typical (dealing with pigs) so I played with the ways to prevent it. After a bit more research, I found out that the H1N1 flu virus symptoms are very much like the normal flu. This made the project a little more difficult to work with since I didn't want to do anything with porkers. I decided to work with a play on hand prints and the potential transfer and uptake of the virus through normal tasks with the poster fitting in the larger bus/El car advertising locations. This would give the viewer the potential to look and read the poster, so it could have more content on it than say a billboard.
My concept was pretty different from the final (the text wasn't fit into the hand), but the recommendations were exactly what I initially wanted to do with it (ran out of time for the concept crit). I was happy with the suggestions geared toward what I wanted to do in the first place and came up with the finished product. My favorite part of doing this was when I used the "envelope distort" tool with the grunge text to fit the content in the tell tale lines of the hand. The hand behind the skewed text in a flat light color indicating a clean hand with the dirty text as everything that one picks up (with the potential of picking up H1N1) during a day. The most disturbing dirty place that I found was using the remote (home and hotel). It makes sense, but it is one thing that I haven't thought about. Ewww. I disinfected my remote as soon as I found that little fact.
I'm happy with the end product. What do you think of it?
H1N1 Public Service Announcement - Dirty Hands. Lindsey Pionek. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. 2009.
Sorry, I have been a busy girl, so here's what I have been doing since the beginning of Labor Day weekend.
Saw the Harry Potter Exhibit (nerdy, but cool. I was selected to try on the Sorting Hat and I'm a Hufflepuff!)
Went to a White Sox game against the Red Sox (White Sox won, and they were in the best seats I have ever been in. Right behind home base only 15 or so rows up!)
Hung out with my cousins downtown and in Oak Park
went to my first drag show
Grilled out at my cousin's place
Took a walk by the lake with my cousin's pup (look at photo below. Lucky after the walk.)
Did some homework
Finished my first assignment of the semester
Worked my 20 hrs
Spent two days working on a hard-copy of my portfolio
Went to my cousin's house again to do laundry (5 weeks worth!)
Went to Lincoln Park Art Festival with cousin to see one of her friend's band play
Went out to eat with my cuz and her friend at Charlie's Ale House in Andersonville and saw an old man pass out and spew at the bar and taken out by an ambulance. (Ew. Plus it was only 8 pm)
It is so unfortunate that I have to take my little "vacations" from blogging when the end of the semester is near. Instead, I work on assignments until the wee hours of the night non-stop and then wake up in the wee hours of the morning. Let me tell you, like always it was intense. I blame myself for some of it, but you know, that happens when I want to have a bit of a social life. Well, it is all done and over for now, for a week now (Sorry, I needed to get some R&R too!). In the next week you will be seeing what I did over the past summer session of 10 credits in 8 weeks. Again, it was well worth it. I received my grades yesterday and did another stellar job and I am very happy about it.
This last week was pretty good as well. I hung out with my cousin in Madison last Friday and Saturday as well as drunkenly calling a college friend to come out at bar close; she did, (I had a great time and I couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if I went to Madison instead of St. Norbert College for undergrad (no regrets at all though).) , went home for a couple days, went boating (My brother bought a pontoon. Yes, he is only almost 19!), did a ton of reading (I finally succumbed to the Twilight series.... addicting! Plus, it is a lot more fun when you can read for pleasure.), and visited a hometown friend. Plus, our final assignments weren't due until this past Monday, so I saved just a little bit to work on for the past weekend as well. Needless to say, I kept myself busy. And just like that, I'm back in Chicago and back to work. Though I still have another week of no classes, I will be updating a website, as well as working some more of my project research (I didn't quite do what I was supposed to and now I'm making up for my negligence.... ugh Lindsey!)
Now to reminiscing a few weeks back. The images that I have here are for my Surgical Orientation class. We had plenty of lectures in the class, mostly with speakers and surgical protocol; we even had a lecture/demo on surgical instruments by Autosuture working with foam intestines and stomachs that was really fun and interesting. The assignments that we had to do was research a surgical procedure and do a few sketches as well as illustrating 3 surgical instruments in different categories in pen and ink: I chose cutting, grasping, and clamping categories and used a digital pen and ink process. The surgical procedure is not finished or course, but it works for what we were asked. Initially, I wanted to do the Whipple procedure, but yeah... way too many steps. Therefore, I decided to do laser varicose vein removal instead since my I have family that are having issues with theirs. Take a look yourself!
Surgical Instruments. Lindsey Pionek. Adobe Illustrator. 2009.Surgical Procedure on Laser Varicose Vein Removal. Lindsey Pionek. Graphite and Adobe Photoshop. 2009.
The first week of our 8 week summer session is over and though I am trying to keep up with things the summer keeps on tempting me to relax, hang out, and to put it bluntly, just chill. I haven't quite stepped back into the class mode yet. It is nice in a way that our course load isn't that intense, so I still feel like I am in the clear.... I just don't want it to get out of hand, you know, since all of my weekends are already books for the entire duration. That will happen.
Though I say I have been a bum, I have:
Checked out artists that I admire for my advanced imaging techniques as well as choosing my scientific subjects to illustrate.
Taken my first Flash class and rewrote my crazy-messy notes (I swear, in the past month I forgot how to write.)
Gutted my room of unnecessary things that I don't want to move in less than a month.
Worked 16 hours and did my first tech help email and phone call. :D
Caught up with friends.
Watched Horton Hears a Who. (The animation is great and the humor is not just for kids.)
Worked on my online class, which thankfully has only one more week.
Talked with my thesis project committee chair and advisor about where I am going and what I have to do.
Went grocery shopping at my favorite cheap (but good) ghetto grocery store
Made a large amount of black bean salsa and chicken fajitas. (I missed having fresh produce.)
Sat and took in a wonderful summer storm.
So there, I can say I have done something with my life. One thing I'm glad I didn't do is what these little characters are up to. This anatomical imagery is from Tom Giesler, an illustrator and entrepreneur in the San Fransisco Bay area. His ties with the graphic design and medical devices industry, as well as his humor, can both be seen in these clean and simple illustrations, made to look anatomical charts. Take a look at his website as there are more anatomically-based images there!
Photo courtesy oftomgiesler.com. The spirit of sharing andBrimming with enthusiasm. Tom Giesler. 17 x 22", acrylic & digital, 2007.
My summer is now officially temporarily over. Today was the first day of classes of the 8 week schedule that our Biomedical Visualization program requires. We started off with Surgical Orientation which will prepare us for Surgical Illustration in the fall. Mostly, it is about not using mechanical pencils since the lead can easily break and could possibly fly into a body cavity of an individual having surgery. Okay, that was only one part of today's intro lecture and there will be more to learn! After that, we talked about the expectations in the next class, Advanced Imaging Techniques. Three high-quality works, eight mere weeks. No big deal when there are other classes to worry about as well. :D What I will like about it is that we can choose exactly what we want to do, in any media we choose, and in any style. Now I just have to think about what I want to do....that can be a feat in itself. We finished early like usual on the first day and went home.
While on the walk to class this morning, I received a pleasant phone call to start the day off right. My application for my new apartment went through! I am so excited to be moving to Lincoln Park since I will be by the lake and a block away from the park. I will be smack-dab in the middle of an awesome community and I can't wait to explore it more. The only thing is that everyone works out like crazy there, hopefully that will kick me in the butt to get myself back in shape. Sitting in front of a computer working on projects doesn't maintain the greatest figure even though I wish it would.
Now back from my tangent. I couldn't wait to sign the lease so I went after a little bit of lunch. Thank goodness I brought an umbrella since on the way back it was downpouring. My intention was to go to the grocery store, but now that wasn't going to happen. Nope, not without a car in the city and waiting for public transportation with bags full of groceries trying to hold up an umbrella when it is windy enough for it to turn inside out. That's just a bad omen and I have enough of them the way it is. ;) Also, I already had to walk a little bit from the bus and the gladiator sandals that I was wearing get slippery on the sole when wet so I could barely walk since my foot was slipping forward in the sandal but it's strapped to my foot and it is a thong design. OUCH! I had to walk differently so they wouldn't hurt me but then it took me even longer to get home in the pouring, windy rain. Once again, learned my lesson. Oh the joys of life at times!
Yes, I am back in the workforce... well kinda. I have just started working as a graduate assistant at the UICITL (Instructional Technology Lab). I'm very happy to be there, but getting started is going to be the hardest part of the job. After finishing all the paperwork and what not, I didn't know exactly when I was going to start so I was just waiting and keeping myself occupied with other activities which did not include checking my email religiously when I wake up in the morning like I do when I'm in school-mode. One day, a fantastic, sunny Tuesday, I didn't check my email until 1 pm. I received an email from my employer (from that same morning sent at 8:17 am) apologizing for not responding for awhile and asked for me to come in at 1 pm that day. #$^&! Needless to say, I jumped up, changed my clothes, cleaned up a bit and was out the door. Thank goodness I only live a 15 minute walk away and I don't have to dress up too much for the job. I was so upset at myself when I was power walking to my first day of work already late. Great first impression Lindsey. Needless to say, the person that was training me wasn't really informed either so it was okay. He just laughed at the my explanation and we went on. Phew, I learned from that lesson, even though it wasn't all my fault. What if I was gone or had an appointment that day, you know?
Anyway, we started right then and there and needless to say, there was a lot of information thrown at me at once. The job requires being a tech help person to help faculty with Blackboard, a Web-based course-management system designed to allow students and faculty to participate in classes delivered online or use online materials and activities to complement face-to-face teaching. Therefore, I need to know it backwards and forwards, inside and out. Okay, I can do that. But wait, there's more! We are there to help with technology, which means other forms of software as well. This includes video-editing, knowing everything about all the Adobe products, VCR to DVD transfers, html language, and on and on and on. I dabbled in some of these programs but not to the extent to teach someone else at the moment. @$#^! Needless to say, I went home satisfied that I started working before classes, but now I have all this to learn as well! It will be fine though, I mean I didn't expect to not learn or do anything for the benefits that come with being selected for an assistantship. Still very happy, plus I have been having a great time enjoying my freedom to explore the city and hanging out with friends. Unfortunately, my social life will be coming back to graduate school level in a mere four days.
I'm in between renders and assignments, so I thought that this would be a good break. I know I will get everything done and I should be looking at the good side since I only have 3 more days of class but I still have so much to do! I can't believe how fast this semester went, it is just crazy to me. Maybe my mom is right about life going by faster when you get older. Graduating from high school seems like it was yesterday and I'm already halfway through my grad school years.
Anyway, above is a video that one of my professors from undergrad posted of a discussion about God and science at UC Berkeley. In this part of the discussion, Richard Dawkins talks about design in living beings. Quite an interesting talk, take a listen! Thank you Dr. Choudhury!
Another aspect for my graphic design assignment which was due last week. This time, we needed to create an ad and billboard pertaining to the subject chosen and make them cohesive. I wanted to play with typography in my ad and create a bold and eye-catching look. I really liked how that turned out, but then I had to figure out how to create a billboard since it is not advisable to have a lot of text on them.... for some reason. Ha ha. Therefore, I worked with a small part of the ad in tandem with a bold and interesting knot image. To make even more eye-catching, I chose to make the knot spill over the black typical billboard area. I like how it turned out and I think the class did too!
I am now in the process for the next assignment: package design. I like to choose things that are recognizable to everyone, so I chose a generic brand of clear bandages. It has been going well so far, but the bandages are transparent so I wanted to focus on that and make the package see-through and create an appealing design on that. However, there can be issues ahead when getting this printed at Kinko's for a comp instead of a high-quality printing company. I may be biting off more than I can chew, but I really like this problem-solving... I learn much better going through that process.
Ad and billboard design dealing with Crohn's Disease, Lindsey Pionek, InDesign and Photoshop, Spring 2009.
Hello, hello, hello. I know I have said this before, but I have just been busy, busy, busy and need to keep up with this mostly because I want to. :D Maybe I just have write smaller blogs than just HUGE ones once a week. Well, my best friend from undergrad came this weekend. It was good, we didn't do much, but I don't mind relaxation. We did go to an AWESOME breakfast place and it's close. It's called Sweet Maple Cafe. It's this little hole-in-the-wall place on Taylor Street and it has the best breakfast food that I have had in a long time..... I can't even explain it.
I have been working a lot with 3D Studio Max and texturing and everything..... to be coming soon. My internship has been brutal as usual.... so many deadlines, but I survived. Unfortunately, I was late getting out of there and my friend had to wait a half hour for me to get out of there and then when we were out to eat and work was calling me because one of my important emails didn't send.... rar. I should just be full-time. No, no, no, no, I love what I am doing in grad school, there would be no way that I would leave this program.
Anyway, here is my anatomy for the day. One of my roomates showed me this one t-shirt site (www.shirt.woot.com) in which they sell one shirt a day with a different design on it and a couple days ago the one above popped up. I think it is really neat how there are little quirky details like the cartoon guy drinking in the liver. Plus, you have to read the descriptions of the shirt designs...classic!
So here is my February resolution, to write more often using little blurbs, you know, how blogs usually are!
Day 2 of my second semester at UIC for my masters in Biomedical Visualization. Another full day, but great. In the morning we had John Daugherty's Illustration Techniques and he showed us all his portfolio through his career as a medical illustrator. His work and style is quite impressive! He even talked about some good approaches pertaining to rights of your artwork that you create. It was a very nice first day with him and it was entertaining hearing about his experiences throughout his years as an artist.
Next was Donna Hughes with our Graphic Design class. She is another successful and career-driven professor that we have. Not one just does teaching; it is incredible how they can balance all that they do. Donna has her own graphic design company and through tooling around on her site, I was quite impressed. She also designed Daugherty's portfolio site!
Though our professors ask quite a bit from us, I know it will benefit us all if we put the time and effort into it. I will have to keep telling myself that throughout my time here, though I love being here and learning the most that I can. I will come back to the specialties of my professors later!
Photo courtesy of Highlight Studios. Daugherty, John. Head and Neck Arteries
Well first day back and I am already overwhelmed! My theory didn't work in the manner that classes wouldn't be that involved today, we jumped right in! My first class of second semester was 3D Model Design with Rosie Seelaus, an anaplastologist that works here at the UIC Medical Center. Her work is very impressive as it helps people that have facial defects have more normal lives. Though the whole 3D art isn't my specialty, I think her job is special in the way that she creates functional art for people that are so appreciative of what she does for them... most of them at least. It must be so rewarding.
Anyway, we have to create an ear, yes an ear, and make it match our partner's other ear. She showed us the process already and we have to do it ourselves sometime this week. Should be interesting. We will see how it goes.
I was just googling ear art to see if there were any interesting images of anaplastology of the ear, but instead, I found some awesome body art. A skull on the antehelix of the ear! I wonder if she would like if I added a tattoo like this one! (courtesy of http://www.foundshit.com/skull-ear-tattoo/)
Later today we had our first class of computer visualization as well. I just found out that we have class on Friday for that.... oh no, I have an obligation to my internship on Fridays....crap. We worked it out though. I will talk more about this class on Friday!
Well okay, here's the story. My Mom wanted me to paint a few places in our house including the ceiling of a few rooms during the break since I didn't quite have a job. You know, no big deal, I can paint a flat color no problem. Needless to say, I started with the ceiling since we didn't have to discuss colors. Too bad I didn't think about the trouble I would encounter with my mere 5' 2" frame.
I was in the process of cleaning the ceiling.... no problem, and then I started taping. I started and I couldn't get right up to corner so I had to use the tallest chair that we had.... too bad it was a swivel chair. I was fine for sometime, but the thing is with taping you have to continue with a long piece of tape; it will look better that way. So in the process of trying to hop to another chair, I crashed. Yup, just crashed. Crashed on my parents little snowman Christmas tree that I thought I moved far enough away. At least it was fake so I just messed up the branches of the tree. However, there were some glass ornaments which of course I broke and of course fell on and of course cut myself with. It's not even the problem I cut myself, it's the place. RIGHT ACROSS MY WRIST! Seriously, not only am I sore, bloody, broke some ornaments, and ticked off at myself, but now I look like a cutter. Awesome. I just hope it heals with no scars, seriously, who is going to believe this story?
Well after a bit, I went to taping again, but I left the hard-to-reach parts to my taller family members. So I was done for the day, with painting to do tomorrow. I received my brother's gift in the mail from my online shopping, just to open in and find out it has a tear in it, AWESOME. I also check out my loan account and there is STILL money in there. I. HATE. LOANS!!!!!!!
Tomorrow should be a better day, we will see with the painting.....
Also, I found this little illustration on Flickr, don't know who did it, but I thought it was appropriate.
Well everyone in our program must be at the epitome of tiredness. I know I am. All of my projects are done except for a few nit-picky things on my website, and the Powerpoint for presentations on Thursday.....phew! We made it! But you know what stinks?! Well, I did not to do well with my anatomical visualization assignment that was due today. When I went up to present, I immediately noticed several flaws..... AWESOME, way to finish the semester on a great note, Lindsey. At least they are easy fixes. As soon as I get them fixed, I will post it. I don't want to look like a complete idiot by puttin up something terrible.... you never know who will see your blog, as I have already found out.....
Our class also received our final anatomy grades back.... I hope everyone did ok! I did well, but my last exam was my worst and it really sucked because I seriously must have been just below the line of getting an A.... oh well, can't complain. I don't have to take the class again.
Another good thing though, I have a second interview for an internship for next semester! It's on Friday, so I hope it works out! It seems like they are very interested, at least.
Well, the rest of my stuff will be up in a matter of a few days, so keep your eyes peeled!
ps: I think I have successfully quit smoking! I don't have cravings anymore! Woo hoo!
