THE Question

I found a neat little firm that does every sort of graphic design under the sun, and they do a lot of book design, inside and out. I love looking at the websites of graphic designers because not only do they showcase their work, they give visitors an idea of how they work and who they are. That and they give impeccable attention to detail. FWIS does this simply by how they organize their projects. Not only can you view them by type, but you can check out projects that they didn't get paid for, projects that they argued over, and projects that "scored [them] babes." You can just tell that they are doing what they were meant to do.

Speaking of which, yesterday I got the question that every full-time, paid-by-the-hour, time-and-a-half-overtime employee LOVES to hear.

Can you work extra hours?

It took me about 1/16th of a second for my brain to process this equation:

Working overtime now
=
Less working during the school year
=
More time for studio and shop
=
LOTS OF DESIGNING AND BUILDING COOL FURNITURE

And really, when it comes down to it, that's how most of my equations end. Needless to say, I agreed.

Also on the job front, although not mine, I found the absolute best interview/presentation idea over at Swissmiss:



Video paired with art/design has been around a while (check out Stefan G. Bucher's Daily Monster and witness your jaw dropping to the floor), and I LOVE LOVE LOVE to be able to see artists and designers in action. Everything from methods to tools to the way they position their paper or the music they listen to while working or the space they work in; it's all in a video. I had always thought a wonderful way to publicize the College of Architecture at K-State would be to produce a time-lapse video showing a hand-drafted finish sheet from the first pen line to the last. Or initial sketch to final design. Set to a good song like:

Of Montreal's "Disconnect the Dots" or
Phoenix's "North".

Maybe with my oodles of non-Planet-Subbing next semester, I can borrow a nice camcorder from the library and take that on. It would be pretty awesome, and I imagine useful, to see how I sketch or brainstorm in super-fast mode.