A Well-Designed Life

As a graphic communications major I loved everything about art school... the white-walled studio classrooms with huge windows and sky lights...the smell of bad-for-me-to-breathe rubber cement and spray-fix.  Weirdly, I even loved the sleep deprevation.  Coming into my own and looking for a cause in my young adult years, I gladly sacrificed a little sleep for the noble cause of art!

Student Work from 1987 (Visual Mapping)

I realize I'm dating myself here, but desktop publishing was just on the horizon at the time of my graduation, so all of my student work was created by hand.  We spent a lot of time learning to paint clean lines and make exact cuts.  I could not believe my good fortune in getting to go to class every day and "play" with paint, paper and type.  I loved every minute of it!

More Student Work from 1987 (poster inspired by the designwork of Herbert Matter)

The student pieces I've posted here are exercises...projects designed to help train our eyes to see relationships and balance.  I sometimes shy away from talking about my training in graphics because I only worked a few years before leaving the marketplace to raise a family nearly twenty five years ago.  Great design is timeless, though, whether it is in a magazine, on a canvas, or in a beautifully arranged home, and I use what I learned in school every single day.  (And that graphics training is invaluable as I build my jewelry design business!)

In those classrooms with the huge windows and white walls I learned to really look...not just at the printed page, but at the world around me.  It was a privilege to have such an experience and I want to start sharing more of what I learned with you here.  Let's open our eyes to the rich visual world that surrounds us.  Let's look at ways to incorporate the basics of good design into our everyday lives. 

Stay tuned, my friends.  There's more to come!

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