I am very much looking forward to the endevour we are about to embark on as rising juniors. From what I have observed and witnessed, this coming semester acts as a catalyst for change, in us, and in our work. The products of which are not just students of graphic design, but blosoming graphic designers. My goals for this semester are to recognize my strengths and weaknesses, address them, learn new things, learn from others, and have fun. I hope to conclude this semester feeling more confident, accomplished, and successful than when started.

That's Andre, always hitting the nail on the head. I would have to second his thoughts stated above. I would also like to state a personal goal. I hope to gain confidence enough to venture out of my comfort zone. Whether resulting work is fabulous or frightening, hopefully it will have the depth that my previous work lacks.

Andre's in the wrong profession; he missed his call for orating. I'm all about finding a new skillset to devour! I want to start constructing pieces that are the embodiment of what I want in a portfolio. I want to find a niche but have a better perspective on where that niche exists in the cosmos of niches. I want to become a smarter designer.

-Josh... Orating??! I'll stick to GD thank you. I second the "[wanting] to start constructing pieces that are the embodiment of what I want in a portfolio."
-Colleen, I agree with your personal goal as well. I think that having the confidence to try something new is important. Infact, I witnessed you doing that last semester, and I think you were successful.
-Back to Joshua, and to all... is it time for niches yet? When do we figure out what we really want to do? Who here knows what type of work they want to do when the grow up? Also, can anyone tell me how to italicized and bolden text here?

As far as goals for this semester, I want to see my design grow into something more complex, both in form and concept than it has been in the past. This would include a greater attention to detail (like using more of it, for a start). I've always appreciated finely detailed things, but up to this point I havn't really created any. Also, and I'd like to think I've already started on these, I want to be less deliberate - kermit would call it loose - in my work and to be more aware of what's going on in the design world.
Beyond that, I have a couple of personal goals like "learn to work during studio time" and "get some sleep," but we'll see how that goes. Overall, I hope this semester can pick up where we left it a couple of months ago and run with it, and I hope I can keep up.

italics? maybe?

I think that it is time for me to force myself out of my comfort zone as well. I would like to learn new ways to work. To try focusing on different aspects of the design process.

Also, does anyone know how to teach speed? I'd be much obliged if you could give me a crash course in quick design. If not, I'm calling the studio couch.

One thing I hope to discover this year is roughly how many different ideas I should try for a single project in its early stages before choosing one to fully develop. In Kermit's class last year I felt that I "fell in love" with my first or second ideas too often; in Meredith's class I sometimes found myself starting all over when something went wrong when it might have been better to push my preliminary concepts a little bit farther. Hopefully I'll manage to strike a balance between those extremes with some of my work this year.

+ afraid of mediocrity - that sensation of floundering after my "one great idea" that may disappear if i think it through too much (????????????)

+ afraid of taking myself too seriously. stressing too hard.

+ i've got to play + experiment more, trust that i have begun to develop a process / ethic that affords me time to "iterate obsessively" (W. Temple).

+ i want to begin to really use my computer science skills in a way that makes sense. my folks paid a lot of money for those :0

+ i want to see the bigger picture beyond ncsu. i plan to spend time this year going after an internship that is life-changing for summer 2oo6, and it better be in a fantastic metropolitan area

!

i think that's it. i drone on when writing, so i'll probly be back when i think of more to say.

also - important - i am really excited to see all of you and see everything that we are going to do this semester!

I agree with everyone on the idea that I want to become a confident designer. I started to feel my confidence begin at the end of last semester but i would love to continue growing in that direction. I would also like to feel that i know what im doing with the software and technology. One last goal is that i dont blow up one of the plotters or printers because ive been waiting to print for 5 million hours....

glad to be back in the studio..

A Grocery List:

• I don't want graphic design to be my only stimulus. I am more than a graphic designer and I want more than just graphic designers to relate to my work.
• I love illustration, and though it seems I may be discouraged from it, I want to refine my skills and be better at illustration-based work. My swing studios will help me in this, but I want to start paving the road now.
• New media is where I want to be. I love learning new software. I love time-based media. I absolutely love web design. In this last year, I've decided I want to find a way of integrating illustration with new media and be tasteful about my typography too!! I'm comfortable (and excited) knowing that there is a new set of skills I could have to learn 20 years from now!
• I want to find more ways of working! I've been messing around with screenprinting most recently and want to find less conventional (and possibly oldschool) ways of designing and applying them to new media.
• I want to look beyond the confinement of studio and the college itself. I want to examine reaction of my peers as well as those outside of the college. I want my work to be smart yet still appeal to a broad audience.
• I want to have a better sense of "what's hot" in other countries. I want there to be more deliberate evidence of this in my process.
• I want to channel my negative energy into my work instead of running my mouth about it.
• I want to continue to expand my collection of bookmarks of outstanding graphic design websites.
• Ultimately, I want people to react. I'd rather have some fall in love with my work, and others to HATE it than be a standard rate graphic designer. I don't want people to go "that's nice."
• I want to change the world. I want to piss a lot of people off, and I want to help the rest.

my goals are simple...

first, and foremost, DON'T FREAK OUT
second, along the same thread, DON'T GET TOO OVERWHELMED
third, and probably the most challenging, FIND MY REAL TRUTH, MY PASSION

i agree with all above goals about strengthing my work, using time wisely, and opening my tiny bubble i sometimes live in (although comfortable and sparkly)...but most of all i'd really like to find the design that makes me want to jump up and down, design that makes me want to be like that...and what i've come to realize is that i may have already found that and i disgused it as a "hobby." maybe i don't want to cry for joy after seeing a typeface, but i do know what makes me happy. hopefully this semester and the last 2 years of my college career can help me solidify this fact that i think i already know.

I have been reading the thread for a while now unable to post. Truthfully, I have a different answer/question every day. But I guess today is the day. André's second post got my blood flowing. "When do we figure out what we really want to do? Who here knows what type of work they want to do when they grow up?" (sorry for the double prime) Well, I've been a part of this field for 5+ years and I have no idea. It is easy to say print/book work b/c I have obtained a majority of those skills and acquired a certain comfort level within it. Yet broadcasting and new media interest me too. The level of complexity tied up in an ever-evolving 'living' internet is quite awesome and scary to me. So I don't believe I will know what I want to do professionally until I'll spent time with all mediums/avenues and give them my full attention. I think it is not smart to stick to a method or medium in gd now b/c you might not tap into a deeper passion when it's presented in a three week project (aka me last year). Therefore, my biggest fear is overlooking any niché in gd!

+ goal + know what's out there, react to it, engulf it, change it

I think i'm afraid of unoriginality. I want to do something different no matter how much i have to go around the project at hand. But what is originality? Does it even exist? I don't know. I don't know what i'm working on half the time. I really want to take my thought process and put it in my work. It's like I think one way and design another way, but my thinking is ages beyond my design.

I'm excited about new media, and i feel like alot has not been done yet. I want to do something different and be a pioneer.

This year will be interesting.
just like this very confusing post.

when you say originality, its so vague. think about being a designer that solves problems, not one that creates the most unique idea. one thing i've found by being at IDEO, is that sometimes the most obvious answer is the one that is the most innovative. it may not be original, but its exactly what the client needs to be successful. being innovative is the way to be a pioneeer. creating images that have never been seen before? yeah, so, you're unique. but are you being a designer or an artist?

...........................................
Fall 2006 (below)

I want to learn to communicate. I think at this point I have a pretty firm grasp on what I like to make, what looks pleasing, and what looks unattractive. So now my focus is on understanding how to make a meaningful connection with an audience, and to be able to convey through my work all that I intend. Prior to this point audience has been considered, and discussed, but has remained secondary (in my opinion) to simply making visually appealing works. I hope to be able to match my thoughts and process with my final work and create pieces that convey and communicate appropriately to their context.

I am afraid. Everyone else seems to have done more over the summer. I am afraid of being left behind.

george dont you be left bedhin
goals and wishes what to say ive been dissatisfied with so much of my schoolwork up until about the last month of school last semester and in that last month i did a few things that i really liked but yes my wish is to turn more projects into ones i enjoy and make fun, if they arent already, which they very well may be. license plates! also at the same time i was motivated only by deadlines to do my schoolwork, i was so so so motivated to do self-initiated graphic design stuff but i had no time to but yes it feels really good to accomplish something for once, and i would like to accomplish a lot this semester and i am especially excited about the way the projects are structured it sounds almost like it was tailored to how i work and i really hope i take advantage of it and become super diaper with time management oh i do so hope lemme think yes time management is a goal good time management that is and also accomplishing things that i am pleased with making the good stuff we shall see! being productive and efficient mmhmm just like a hampster powered hampster food maker why are they running around in those wheels for nothing?
love,
critter
also to show more legs than kevin all semester

I think above all I want to be deliberate this semester. I want to be more aware of the seemingly small and "practical" decisions I'm making. I want to test my own limits and the range of what's possible. Hopefully it will result in work that is more sensitive. I'd also like to hone my visual making abilities. I feel like I get these compelling ideas but fail to excite others with them because my delivery falls flat. I'd like to gain more confidence in myself there; it's always good to feel like you know what you're doing.

I'm excited about this year. I think sophomore year has set me up well to make a lot of progress this semester. I hope me and my time management are up to the challenge.

I was always afraid of talking to people. There was always something that was holding me back from communicating with others…and that was the language barrier. Throughout high school, I was very quiet person (probably quieter than george’s cell phone) and that was the easiest way to run away from the fear I had.
…but then, I met graphic design.
Now, after spending two years in this college and spending long nights with studio friends, I can say I love what I’m doing right now. And that's why I cannot run away from my fear anymore. I know Graphic Design is more about communication than the art itself. If I cannot communicate through my language, there is no value in me as a designer. And that's not what I want to see in the future.
I think this semester is very important for me to accomplish those fear and find the joy in the value of communication.
love,
MaSa
also to grow more hair than critter all semester

to stop that rolling stress ball before it squashes me into a pancake?
to sleep at least 6 hours per night (or by some ingenius nap combo)?
to continue to be a well-oiled, anal-retentive organizing machine?
to grab technology by the balls and use it to help rather than hinder?
to get franked and schooled at the same time and not die?
to wash my mouth out with soap and find positivity in everything?
to have fun? to ask santa for good ideas for christmas?
to learn to control the volume of my voice?
to use the word 'unit' in every sentence?

... but all of those goals are so obv.

to know that my place in the world is as a graphic designer and to be ready to take the next steps in the journey. that is my goal for this semester.

let's go for the gold guys.

Critter, you can honestly never hope to beat my vaudeville show.

I want to:
-grow my technical knowledge( stock answer, right?)
-perhaps freelance a little (i dont necessarily know what i'm doing yet, but i think if i had time i'd like to try it. Client-designer relations are less scary after i dealt with them this summer)
-really work on my ability as a builder of solutions and systems rather than more design novelty pieces. (Although novelty certainly has it's place among those solutions.)
-Pursue my pet projecs and my schoolwork with equal rigour and vigour.
-Integrate my various knowledge and continuing education with my personal practices and trends in order to produce
-sleep more than last year
-just plain ol' get better at this life.

This semester I would like my projects to evoke more emotion and personality and effectively communicate visual information. I have discovered that research and planning are one of the most important aspects of design and I would like to improve my research approach in planning a solution and experiment with different ways of getting started. I hope to develop a clear structure in my graphic design process that works and allows me to be more efficient in creating.

The beginning of the semester is always the same for me. I vow to myself that I will: not procrastinate, cut down on junk food, immerse myself in design, do my best work that I can possibly do, exercise, read at least 2 books that are not school related, call my sister, take time to play, sleep at least 8 hrs a night,… etc. Of course I inevitably to slack off, I feel like I am letting people down, my parents, friends, teachers …etc. It causes a lot of stress.

This time around there will be no guilt.

What does this mean for me? Stress. Stress is bad. I become a shell of Becca, physically existing, but my mind shuts down.

Here I sit, my semester stripped clean of any expectation. I am content to let the design flow of its own accord without any expectation of when or where it MIGHT flow. The only goal is to be less stressed.

despite the rude lack of sleep of the past semesters, i find that i could adjust and stay motivated because i do enjoy these classes. but motivation and time management are also things that still need to be sorted out for me. i want to improve on those. feeling overwhelmed or lacking of confidence typically struck my motivation. i found spending far too many hours in studio was more damaging than productive in some cases. i like the idea of breaks. sitting in a park. and then coming back ready with a clear head and without previous frustrations. but also finding a balance. i agree with previous junior comments about working up to a level that could be presented in a portfolio. i want to enjoy this semester. not feel too overwhelmed. or tired. to keep up my motivation and my constantly changing interests. i want to be more confident not only presenting my own work but in critiques for others. i would like to be assured in my knowledge as a designer that i am offering helpful and appropriate comments or critique to others. i also want to get out of studio sometimes and try other ways to work. letterpress. screenprinting. everything in the shop that i've always been too afraid to try. i won't be in school forever and these resources won't always be around for me so i'd like to start taking advantage of these things. ummm i'll stop. this is long.

This semester, it would be nice if I could:

_gain more confidence in my abilities and be more active during critiques/class discussions (be able to speak intelligently about design)
_be less afraid of new software
_be more efficient with my time in order to stay happy and healthy (know when to stop and when to be more focused)
_try not to get too overwhelmed by the workload (stay optimistic)
_become more comfortable with my strengths and work on my weaknesses
_play more (draw, paint, glue, etc. and learn new techniques)
_relax and have more fun

i would say my main goal for this semester is to feel more confident in my work. i am no where near where i thought i would be as a graphic designer at this point, i want to improve. im still waiting for everything to "click" in my mind. im hoping this semester will help me to pull myself together. im excited about this semester and what it has to offer.

Sorry to be a bit late on this post... but always better than never... I'm really looking forward to this semester and I hope that everything works out for the best. From listening to Tony the past couple days in studio made me realize how I've been wanting this teaching style and approach to my design classes... Typically I'm not as motivated and I think it just takes the right process to get things moving for me.. I've had a few rough spots the past couple years in the school but all proved to be something positive to experience. This semester, I would like and hopefully beable to meet the demands of my peers and the expected standards of the studio. Be more devoted to my work and take my knowledge and experience to the next level. I'm glad that this is the last of the sequence of studio, type and img classes.. I am hoping that next semester my music career will take me to new places, hopefully take off a semester and travel the nation or possibly the world to express myself through my music for others enjoyment... I find that to be my true calling.. Hope to see everyone at the show on the 9th (Sept), we really need the support and the $10,000 recording deal will really help put us on the map... :)