KU Tour No.2

We had another group of University of Kansas Design and Illustration students in to visit Hallmark last Friday. I'd like to welcome another group of talented KU creatives to cre.a.tiv.i.ty! My apologies for the delay in getting your invitations sent -- I spent all of Friday after your group left on our team's "special project" -- a fancy word for "cleaning out our offices and conference rooms from top to bottom! I left work pretty late, but felt good about getting everything in order in our studio conference rooms. Now, on to my office!

I had mentioned to one of the KU tour groups that I was going as a female action-hero for Halloween. For your viewing pleasure (or perhaps to your viewing dismay) and to show a creative attempt at making a cheap costume, here is my best Lara Croft look:


I made the belt and gun holster myself out of recycled black nylon straps and elastic bands that I found at a HUGE military surplus store in Kansas City, KS. I got the green backpack and the combat boots at the same store. I found the shorts and tank top in my roommate's closet, and to complete the look, I bought the guns at the Halloween store (the only part of my costume that cost more than $15).

Some of the other created-from-scratch costumes I saw at our party were Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss, a Rodeo Queen, a life-sized lego man (complete with removable black plastic hair-I have no idea how my friend Steve made that!), Joker, The Buger King and his arch-rival Wendy, and best of all, a Angelina Jolie-Brad-Jennifer Aniston trio (the called themselves Brajengelina).

Anyone else have or see a unique or created-from-scratch costume??

Tour de Hallmark

Here's a shout out to all of the KU Graphic Design students who toured Hallmark today, and welcome to cre.a.tiv.i.ty! We are so glad you were able to come and visit Hallmark. I know that time is tight when you are in the middle of a busy semester, but I'm so glad that you all made the time. Keep in touch!

After the student group left today, I was thinking ... Do Accounting majors tour accounting firms when they are in school to learn about what it's like to work in the accounting industry? Do Engineering majors? What about Ag Business majors? I would wager a guess: they probably don't. My sister was a Child Psychology major, and she did some visits to local schools, but it was for class credit. A friend of mine was an Entrepreneurial Studies major, and he interviewed various local entrepreneurs about their journeys to start their own businesses, but again, it was required for his class.

That being said, what is it that we creatives hope to learn by visiting studios? Why do we choose to plan these visits and take time (that could be spent working on our projects) to attend these extracurricular events?

As a design student at ISU, we went to Minneapolis, MN and toured firms like Orange Seed, Franke+Fiorella, and Baker Associates. At the time, I am not sure that I realized what we would learn that day. It was a blur: we rode on a bus in the rain from studio to studio, wiping our feet as we went in, walking through the halls, our shoes squeaking on the polished floors, designers turned toward computer screens, their faces aglow. We would stand with our mouths agape while the Creative Director or Art Director proudly showed us the latest work created by the amazing talent within, their latest AIGA or Addy awards displayed on shelves behind them. Our eyes danced about, catching glimpses of people celebrating a project completed, someone pitching an idea to a new client, the receptionist with a sweet smile and kind telephone voice.

As I look back on that experience, I am not able to pinpoint the major lessons that I learned that day, but I do take with me the experience. Maybe we learned that we had a long way to go as designers. Perhaps we realized that an agency wasn't the right fit for us or that we knew that upon graduation, we would apply to the firms we had visited. Or perhpas we realized that one day, we would be a part of it all. But did we realize how big of a part we would play or where we would end up? If nothing else, the studio visits inspired us to create, and to keep creating. Inspired us to innovate and to grow. Inspired us to have the drive to get to where we are today.

That is my hope for you, KU, that you are inspired and ready to create whatever is next. The design world awaits...