My beloved big, heavy laptop

I’m not a very technological person. Sometimes I think life would be less complicated without technology. I mean, we could live in peace, like people did in old times in history. Not always, though. Living in small villages, harvesting our own food... Something like the Amish. BUT, there would be more risks in health, difficulties in commodities, etc.

OK. Who am I kidding. I admit my life would suck without technology.

I don’t have any of those new super cool devices, like iPhones, iPods, mp7 or whatever they invent. I’m not interested. I’m quite happy with my technologically-made stuff. I THANK GOD for having hot water, electric light, my TV, my guitar, my bed and clothes.

But my favorite technological device is my notebook. It’s an old, big, heavy Acer. I love it and hate it. Despite it has ‘good stuff’ like 3GB DDR2, 250 GB of memory and other things I can’t read in this informative sticker, it’s not as good as it should. Sometimes when I turn it on, the system starts without audio. And since last year it doesn’t recognize the DVD reader. I guess it’s disconnected. Oh, how not to mention the touchpad. I don’t use it because… it’s alive, like somebody else dragging their finger to move the cursor. When I knew this it was too late, the guarantee had expired, so I had to accept it.

Hahaha, it’s the worst laptop ever. But it has saved me so many times, that I forgive its neandethalism. It goes with me everywhere... I can listen to my music, play silly games, work, and be connected with my friends. What else could I ask for? It does the necessary things. Maybe I'll buy another one in a couple of years... or when it's definitely broken XD.

About graphic design

Hello everyone!

I just read the Teacher’s post, so I've thought how to relate the topic with my experience.

Considering my experience in this career and what it takes to be good in it, the first thing that came into my mind was the drawing skills. Yeah, that’s what everybody thinks about Graphic Design when they don’t know the career very well. Like me, when I got in.

I thought I would be a brilliant student because I have drawing skills. But that’s a mistake. It’s a very useful skill, but not completely necessary. I know a lot of people who has survived without being truly talented. It’s a tool, a very helpful one, because it’s the first thing you can do to translate an idea from your mind to the paper (or directly to the computer).

But the most important skill is creativity, knowing how to apply it to specific communication needs. A Graphic Designer is not an artist, but a visual communicator. That’s what I’ve learned.

It’s also important to be sociable. We designers work in groups almost all the time in many projects.

And of course there’re other things needed to be a good professional, just like all the other areas and careers. These are: organization, discipline, perfectionism, rigorousity, patience, etc.

I think these skills can perfectly be learned, and it may be difficult, but it’s possible. Even creativity. But this is a fact: there will always be people more talented than other.

In the University almost all of our professors try to develop our skills. But the greatest things I’ve done these last years in graphic design, have been by my own. And it bothers me sometimes not to have all the support from our professors. Well, they make us believe university is the most important thing in the world… but of course it’s not.

Despite all that, I’m quite happy with my career.

I believe that my professional development will be done thanks to my work outside, but supported by all the tools I’ve received here.

Logopond

Today I’ll present you my favorite design website: Logopond. I visit it very often, when I need to see examples of logotypes. They’re uploaded by the users, who are graphic designers. Some of them are awesome, but there are very bad logotypes too! The good thing is that this site is a community in which you can participate and get “identity inspiration”, like they say. You can register, make comments, participate of the forum, rate your favorite (or most hated) logos, and upload your own work if you want to.

The logotypes are organized in 4 rows of five thumbnails each (small sized images). You can find lots of results using the search engine or the different categories on the menu above. If you click on a logo, it’ll take you to another page with a larger size of the image and its description, like who’s the author, the date, the reason of the logotype, among other things. You can read the comments below too.

I sincerely recommend this website to all designers. Not to copy ideas, but to make your visual knowledge bigger.