And the job search begins...

This week we started job searching in earnest. We've had only two portfolio prep classes, but we're already organizing and augmenting our portfolios, researching design firms and calling them up to scope out prospects. I've never job hunted like this before. I've done summer jobs, and I've done internships, but this is definitely more stressful. I get to find companies I want to work for in cities I want to live in, but then I have to put myself out there, call them up and maybe not get such a nice answer.

The nice thing about this is that we're doing this so early. This is the first week I've done this, and I'm a bit choppy, but I'm already learning some tricks, and I feel more confident every time I call someone up. Looks like there's a method to our professors' madness.

This week for my packaging design project I'm making preliminary designs in different graphic directions. This time around I'm packaging a line of Tibetan Yak Dairy products. If I do one design that is whimsical, I might want to focus on a more ethnic approach to another, and maybe another that is more upscale-foodie.

I'm slow-going this week, but I hope it packs up in time. I think it takes me a bit to get in the zone after I've been on vacation. Though I'll miss vacations when I get a real person job, I think it'll be nice in one way to be able to get into a steady groove in an office.

Last but not least, my only elective this semester is really starting to get fun. I'm taking an independent study with a professor I had last semester. He's letting me sit in on a web design class he teaches at Newhouse. It's exciting and interesting to see how web design is taught to this bunch of journalists and media-people. I'm used to being in creative classes with kids from the Art and Design program here. The Newhouse kids bring in whole different perspectives as to what to focus on in a design. This week we discussed successful navigation in a web site and are beginning our first forays into the world of HTML coding. We learned how to code different heading sizes, paragraph breaks and text alignment. Basic stuff, but we're taking baby steps. It's like learning a language. I can't wait to see where this goes!