As you can tell....

I have been pretty busy. My apologies for lack of posting recently. It's time to get back in the saddle and start again. As for today, here's a quick update with what I have been doing:

• Working on my project research so I can graduate this semester
• Freaking out a bit about graduation because I have a TON left to do
• Wishing that I didn't have a slump in the middle of the semester; I would be so much farther along
• Kicking butt in Illustrator and taking names
  
• Searching, applying, and researching jobs (Any advertising companies hiring creatives in Chicago?)
• Have a new portfolio domain name and built the website from scratch in 3 days (see screenshot at top)
  
• lindseypionekdesigns.com
• Became a Twitter freak (it's much faster than blog posts [though I do love blogging] and I have been learning much from individuals I am following (you can see a small feed on the right)
• Workin' it at my GA
• Found out for my 16 hours I work, I have to commute 8 additional hours (no wonder why I feel like I have no time. However, I love my apartment location)
• Started a running program
• Only to have it delayed by badly rolling my ankle 5 days after by missing a few steps (graceful, I know)
• Finally, after 2 weeks the bruising and swelling is almost gone
• Spent Easter with my cousin grilling out
• Bought my graduation dress, even though I haven't heard anything about buying robes
• Realized that tourists come out of the woodwork when its above 70F in Chicago
• Refusing to pay for heat anymore because it has been too expensive for my taste
• Sketched out a Dachshund (one of my dogs) and manually drew every bone in their little bodies for a project about canine Intervertebral Disk Disease

So there you go, a little update on what I have been up to. I have a few graphic design pieces that I completed that I will be posting in the next day or two.

Lindsey Pionek Designs home page. Lindsey Pionek. 2010. Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver.

The Branding Process Part 4: Website

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.

It is up!

The 2009 Frank Armitage Lecture website is finished! This little gem has been my pride and joy for the past two weeks and I am happy to say that it is now finished. It had its ups and downs, just like every website, but it worked in a way that it was a good review in CSS and html for me. I received some great images from all the lecturers except for one, so instead of making that one stick out like a sore thumb and underrepresented, I decided not to use them except for our main lecturer, David Bolinsky and the artwork from the individual in which the lecture is named after, Frank Armitage. However, I believe the use of these images create a cohesive and clean look to the website, which tends to be my aesthetic. I also enjoy that the images I chose work with each other well with the colors and of course the subject matters, contrast at the same time. The traditional style of Franks Armitage's artwork reflect on the history of medical illustration and the beginning of UIC's program, whereas David Bolinsky's style is future-forward, with bright contrasting colors in a 3d style. Take a look at the website here and let me know what you think!

Splash page portion of 2009 Frank Armitage website with artwork from David Bolinsky. 2009. Lindsey Pionek. Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

Website and Internship

Well, the semester is finally over! We had our presentations on Thursday; They went well and it was really nice to see all of the student's work once again. We worked hard for this, and you can tell. I'm really a fan of this program, however stressful it may be, but that's just how it goes. It feels so good to now have to do anything. So now you can take a look at my finished website.... I will more than likely put in a few more things during the break to make it even better, but I think it does the job at the moment! Here's my website, check it out and let me know what you think!

Also, as you can tell from the picture at the top, I did have my 2nd interview at the National MS Society, Greater Illinois Chapter for a web and graphics internship with them and I got it! I will be starting January 5th and I'm so excited! It all happened because I can proof-read text and that I showed the head of the marketing department my website! It helps to get yourself out there! It will be beneficial to gain experience and to work for such a great organization.

The building is awesome and it is right downtown..... I love this city and I feel like I'm going to love working here too!

There was one issue though. You know, of course. It is really convenient to get there; the bus on the corner of the street of my apartment stops right at the corner of the building I will be working at! However, it is on a one-way street, one thing I did not think about...... I was expecting to take that bus back, but I couldn't find where to take it the opposite way. At first, I began to panic because of course I forgot my map and got turned around with everything going on. It was right across the street from Union Station, so I knew the Blue Line was there, but I didn't know on what street.

Instead of looking stressed, I just started walking. You never want to look like you are confused when you are by yourself in the city....that's when bad things happen. When I was trying to cross the street in front of Union Station, this homeless man was trying to sell me the Onion newspaper (If you don't know this already, DON'T TAKE IT FROM THEM!) Usually you can just say "no thank you" and they will leave you alone, but this guy was persistent... thank God I tend to place myself around plenty of people so nothing would happen without a witness. Eventually he left and I found the Blue Line to go home. It was nice to see what's around the area from my walking though, so that was good. You just have to have a good head on your shoulders and look confident, even if you may not feel like you are!

Insomniac Art

It is 4:16 in the AM and I have not yet slept. I did finish my website for the most part, with a few things to fix up on it. I wanted to get it done today and after more or less 12 hours on it, it is completed. I will make sure to put it up on here when all of the tiffs are out of it. And now I'm overtired so I'm writing. This next week is going to be intense, so I better get used to lack of sleep and coffee.

I found some interesting anatomical art tonight through my insomnia. The art could give normal people the chills, but when you go through cadaver lab, you are never the same. The artist's name is Craig LaRotonda and he has a ton of surreal illustrations, with most of them dealing with something anatomical. Jennybird Alcantara has some interesting work too. (Yes, I typed that right!)

I have been checking UIC's Blackboard constantly to see if they grades are up....still nothing. You would think I would understand that and not check every hour..... I guess I will never learn. Oh well, off to bed for another day of school work!

The Night of the Exes

Well even though I don't think this about any of my exes, I do want this knife set and it was appropriate about my last night home and well, it's a body so it's anatomical too (shut up, it is, just agree!)

Anyway, after sleeping for 12 and a half hours straight, because of my last situation (read the blog before this if you don't know what I'm talking about) and then going out to dinner with the family that night.... (yummy food from the Silvercryst), I got talked into going out again. Imagine that.... lol. Well, ended up going to the bar in Almond again, and though it wasn't as entertaining as the last time, it still was a good time. I was the only girl there, like usual, but then 2 of my exes from high school stroll in at two separate times. I wasn't pissed off or felt sick that they were there, but at first I thought it would be a little awkward. However, it wasn't. They are both doing well for themselves, but then the whole "How is your love life?" came up....my response "non-existent and I'm ok with that for now." They could probably tell I was a still a little bummed, but oh well, I really don't have time for one right now. My exes have gotten more attractive though.....dammnit. Oh well, they are exes for a reason, whether it was theirs or my fault.

I ended up drinking more than usual, and staying there until bar close (my Bacardi and Diets are only $2.50 at home and I don't know how many I was given for free....can't go wrong with that!) and then it was afterbars at our fave high school hangout... one of my guy friends house, well the exes followed, but it was all good. For the end of the deer-hunting season they were having a pig roast..... the best! They started cooking it that night so we just hung out all night.... literally.... again. I got home at 9:30 in the morning (I felt bad because I didn't think I would be out that late) and didn't have any blip of sleep until my parents were driving me back to Chicago. So yeah, still up but only had 3 hours of sleep. One guy kept me up from home saying that I have been on his mind for some time..... why does this happen to me every single time I go home? I like this guy as a friend, but he's there and I'm here and starting something like that just won't happen..... just a little too late. I feel bad though because he is one of my amazing friends from home, but now I think that's as far as it will be able to go......

Well off to bed because I need it and it will be a long day with anatomy and website tomorrow! Yay for having my power cord finally!

Happy Thanksgiving Vacation!

Well ladies and gentlemen..... I have done exactly what people (other than people in Grad school) on vacation should do.... veg. I have really done just about nothing during my Thanksgiving vacation and it feels good. For example, I went to bed last night around 11:30 and woke up at 12:30 the next day. It felt sooooo gooooooood. :D I guess it made sense though since the night before thanksgiving I went out with some buds from high school to a bar in my hometown and it was just about a high school reunion. It was nice to see everyone though, so I stayed until bar close. However, there were 2 guys that were definetely interested in me there that I did not go to high school with that would not leave me alone.

One was a cousin of a friend, but so no interested since he was so drunk that he started talking about Girl Scout Cookies and farting, after that I was even more disinterested than I was at the beginning of the night.... I later found out that he wanted me to drive him home (which didn't happen) and he puked when someone else was. I'm back at home....

The other guy was a creepster. I mean Total old man creepster. No one knew who he was, but he just kept starting at me the whole night... I mean I was there for 4 hours and I'm not exaggerating... the whole damn night. I wasn't even wearing anything spectacular, I was dressed down from when I ususally go out. My guy friends said to me "Yeah, that's dressed down in Chicago, remember you are back home in Almond." Yeah, I guess, I sometimes forget about that. Plus, when he would walk past me he would let out a "woo-hoo". Yeah, that would get my attention in a good way, buddy, good job. You can tell that he didn't learn anything about treating girls in his 50 years of experience....gross.

At bar close, one of my fave guy-friends finally got home and wanted to hang out. He ended up coming over to my place, and with a bottle of Kesslers and Mountain Dew we talked the night away, literally. He left at 6:30 AM. We could already see the trucks filled with deer hunters on their way out to start the day and we were just about ready to end ours. It was a great get-together and I miss hanging out with him, as well as some of the other guys from my hometown.

ps: can you tell I'm from the middle of nowhere, WI? Wouldn't have thought that I was from this did you? :D

Another reason I'm being a bum is that I forgot my charger for my laptop in the living room in our apartment in Chicago. I forgot to pack it. Therefore, I can't work on my website like I wanted to.....awesome job, Lindsey. So we will see how much I will actually get done in the day before it needs to have at least 50% of it done.... When my fam is home, my Mom pours me a glass of wine and it tastes so good that I have to have more.... My last name doesn't mean "drunken" in Polish for nothing!

Oh well, everything will be fine next week. I'm not worried, though I should be. Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for what you have and what you have done, and I have many things to be thankful for. I could not have been where I am or the person I am today without the help of others. Thank you all and have a fabulous rest of the vacation!

Slowly Being Swallowed....

Well, I feel like I have been getting things accomplished. I mean, I do have my anatomical illustration done with its necessary references, my idea for Instructional Design, and the reading for our online class done. But the two very big things are looming over my tiny head: ANATOMY AND CREATING MY OWN WEBSITE. Those are my goals to tackle after class tomorrow. We will see.... I can always manage to find some sort of distraction for a good amount of time, plus it doesn't help that I am so far behind in anatomy that I could probably spend an entire weekend working on it and still be behind. Plus I need to get some food staples, and oh, my problem with loans are not completed yet.... UIC is taking their sweet time reimbursing my money.... damn state school.

My whole "living better" scheme is actually working out, literally. Heidi and I go and work out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after anatomy since we stink anyway. I have been without a cig for 3 weeks and only cheated when my friends were up for the weekend and I'm feeling better about it, even though I would still miss the excuse to relax for 10 minutes in my "Me" time. This too will soon pass though.

Now all I have to do is not eat as much.... I finished a whole thing of popcorn a couple of hours after a dinner and I want something else, but I'm going to bed. I may be small, but I can eat and I love my food. :D