Lovely introductory page to start off a new journal isn’t it? I was recently in a Barnes & Noble, to take a peak at some of the new graphic arts books- I decided on a book entitled Print & Finish, a resource I figure will become handy when I go into printing. It explains a lot about the printing process and the many many different ways that it can be done. I thought it’d be a good purchase, however as I was coming down I found a trademark-less design-less simple and very functional blank not lined paper journal and fell in love with it.

And with that said, the introductory page to my new journal is “GET the fuck OUT!” And there’s already 12 pages filled. Scary…isn’t it? Shows the craziness that is my mind =x

I cannot “blog” online. Isn’t that something? I cannot blog because there are people I don’t want to worry, and if it isn’t to worry them, it’s just people I don’t want knowing this shit.

That’s the reason for my purchase. I find myself yearning to write my thoughts but I couldn’t because I only had faraway to turn to and with more publicity of it, and the fact that there’s a chance that the people I’m surrounded by visit daily…I don’t want to state things that might cause me hell. I’ve had a debate about this. It’s my blog, my online journal, so why the fuck should I care what I post? Well there’s many, and it was enough to convince me.

I was recently chewed out for my ‘harsh’ remarks about the students of Parsons, and how “[we] are all learning” and that “[we] shouldn’t be criticized since [we] are students still.” I was also told that “just because computerARTS says that [we] need to learn coding doesn’t mean that [we] have to since [we] are American[s].”

My response to this? Are you fucking kidding me?

I think an important question to ask is whether are not we ARE learning. Maybe YOU are learning, but have you considered ME? The kid that sits in class and spends his time talking to people on AIM, doodling in illustrator or working out bugs in a web page…while the rest of the class is learning how to use a SCANNER. Please, tell me, am I learning anything?

And on another note, Parsons likes to follow the “studio” type of class in which students create, present, and then are critiqued. So to say that we aren’t to be critiqued because we’re students is contradictory to what Parsons is putting forward. No. We SHOULD be critiqued, perhaps I shouldn’t be as harsh as I was but someone needs to say it. I might not have impressive work but I know more than the majority of my class does when it comes to the adobe programs, the web languages and print/layout. Most of the direct-entry CDT kids have done traditional artwork all their life and can barely construct a website.

Lastly, I think you’re completely wrong. It’s true that computerARTS might be a UK-based magazine, but it’s had enough influence on designers in America to be brought to America. NOT ONLY THAT but it speaks to designers as a whole, I mean there are articles focusing on UK and European designers but that’s because it’s a UK-magazine. The articles they have about reinventing yourself, avoiding the cliche trends, expanding your limitations, etc…are all pieces of advice geared towards designers internationally. So to say that because we’re Americans we don’t need to listen to non-Americans is ignorant and chances are, you as a designer, will be nothing.