June 2008; A Month or More of Limbo

Lately my time has been divided, pretty much on a bi-weekly basis, between central Illinois and San Diego. I've been flying back and forth for one 'important' reason or another. If I rack up enough frequent flyer miles from this activity, I will no doubt use them for a long-dreamed-of trip to wander around the most peculiar and non-touristy areas of Alaska. Next on my list would be to spend a couple of weeks fully experiencing the Grand Canyon, including the North Rim if I can swing it. I've never been there, and actually, on one of my recent flights into Indianapolis, we flew directly over it. This was the first time ever, in all my flying, that the plane went direcdtly over the Grand Canyon where I could see it's full ginormousness... More from Personal Journal

 

New: Recent Road Trip I Call "Ombra Mai Fu"

The peculiar Salton Sea...We made it all the way around the entire 'Sea', stopping at several points on both the west and east sides. The majority of my photos were taken at Bombay Beach, which was our main objective. Watch my photo slideshow!  It was once called 'The Valley of the Ancient Lake'. The Salton Sea falls within both Riverside County and Imperial County. Bombay Beach is a rather surreal place, attracting many photographers and visitors. The town, as well as others on the shores of the Salton Sea, is one of the lowest settlements in altitude in North America. Watch the trailer for this great documentary on The Salton Sea & Bombay Beach, Plagues & Pleasures of the Salton Sea

It was bound to happen. Idle time wringing hands. Questioning every decision I've ever made. Inevitable. Here it is, a blog. Rhymes with frog. Frog. One of my favorite words. Say it slowly. Be the word.

First, let me introduce my boyfriend, Pheobus. I am not the official owner of this handsome boy. He technically belongs to my friends Heidi and Lewis Thorp. When I say technically, I mean they own him when it's time to pick up his doodie or drop $5,000 to save his limbs after being hit by a car in his 'yute'. Aside from that, he is really obsessively in love with ME. He has large talons, foamy drool, and the most insane play-drive of any Labrador retriever in the universe.

Now, here we go.
I am a creative, art-loving, design-loving, funky-wierd-loving professional with an unintentional amount of teaching experience in these areas. Currently, I am teaching 2 and 3-day Adobe professional training courses with probably the best company I have ever worked for as a contractor, Sterling Ledet & Associates.

 Ledet classes are fantastic, as the maximum enrollment is no more than 6 students! This means the student gets serious individual instruction, and it enables me to customize the course material just for them and their respective jobs. This also means that the pace of the instruction is customized as well. Best of all, we always have seriously FUN TIMES.

 I will admit that I am a bit of a technical nerd, at least on the software and aesthetic side of things. I have been using Adobe apps since the beginning of time. It's true, I was a Quark Dork back in the day as well, but I abandoned it entirely when I installed InDesign vII, years ago. I will say that I am an expert, but with that I will also say that I don't know every single thing in these programs there is to know. If you ask me a question I don't know the answer to, I WILL find the answer if it's the last pathetic thing I ever do!

 Knowing everything in the programs is not high on my priority list. I spend the majority of my energy exploring ways to teach it. I am far more motivated by someone's genuine desire to learn, grasp, and retain concepts, whether they are trying to learn the tools or expand their creative capabilities. I really enjoy being a part of someone's 'light turning on' in an educational setting. What's more fun than that!?

Before all of this professional training, I taught upper-level graphic design courses at The Art Institute of California–San Diego. I was there just short of 6 years. I learned A LOT from those years, not only about how to 'teach' (a lot of mistakes and trial and error for sure), but how to squeeze the absolute best out of the students that had so much potential. I really, truly loved being in the classroom (most of the time) and miss being with the students very much. View A Lecture/Course Sample!

Forgive them, Renner, for
they know NOT what they do.

In addition to software Nerdism, my formal design degree from the University of Illinois instilled some hard core methodologies with regard to design, especially Typography. First off, let me just link you RIGHT HERE AND NOW to one of my favorite articles:"They're Not Fonts!" by Allen Haley. How many times did I go on like this in the classroom? Many, that's how many.
In addition, let me also add an AMEN to THIS one:"Crimes Against Typography" by Steven Heller. He's talking mostly about Avant Garde abuse. But due to recent traumatic employment with a certain cable t.v. network, I must add to this issue the typeface FUTURA. Futura was one of my favorite faces...until I was forced to butcher it's beauty and originally perfect design under the order of a non-design company CEO.

Frutiger™ Com 55 Roman
   
I am also a fan of SPACE, on paper and on screen, as well as accurate reference to design history, from the preindustrial era to...well...last week. At the risk of coming off as some kind of nutty snob, I will say one last thing about design. In the grand scheme of things, there really aren't any rules (except when it comes to Typography ;-) ). Design is so subjective and constantly evolving, sometimes regressing, sometimes just out of control. That's why it's an occupation......