Part 1
Based on the notes you took during class, write a brief description and response to each of the Faculty presentations.
The first speaker spoke (I got the first name, Jimmy, but not his last name) about the risograph and how it is different from other printers because it can print metallic colors, which I thought was pretty neat. We have a risograph lab on campus and he brings in professionals to give lectures, a few examples being Lindsay Starr, who started a micro-press that deals with our conception of the South, and Molly Sherman, who thinks about how graphic design can be used to change the different parts of the world.
The second speaker was Bill Kennedy, who showed us a slide show of a body of work he started a few years ago. They started as pictures of ordinary objects that caught his attention somehow on the street. He’d manipulate the pictures to look like something completely new, thought you could still (sometimes) tell what the original object was. The pictures were very abstract and aesthetically pleasing–he got the most questions at the end.
The third speaker was none other than Tuan. He showed us examples of some posters that he had done in collaboration with students to give us an idea of what we could do if we put our minds to it. He does a lot of work for the department and is currently working on an Instagram project called “White Collar Criminals.”
The final speaker was Kim Garza, a graphic designer and experimental film maker. She described her method of thinking as “curiosity + passion + wonder” then explained each more in depth. She wanted to encourage us to find our own approach and find what works for us.
Part 2
Create a 5-year plan. What are your long-term goals beyond college? What do you need to do to accomplish these goals?
I don’t plan to attend college for more than 4 years, but if I ended up doing 5 I imagine it would be because I ended up wanting to study abroad, perhaps somewhere in Japan.
I’m not sure where exactly I’ll be starting in the video game industry, but my first big goal would be to work for Blizzard and eventually get up to a position where I could help storyboard and maybe even get the opportunity to manage the production of one of my own game ideas. To accomplish this though I need to first, of course, finish college. Since St. Edwards has a major for Interactive Games specifically, I think that will help me enter the field with a better grasp of what I want to do and how to be successful. Austin is quite the hub for video game companies right now, too, so I know they’re especially interested in St. Edwards graduates.