Intro and Goals

I have had this blog for a little while, and much to my delight, my DesComm teacher is having us create a design blog as a class assignment! Now this blog will be updated more often...

So a little about myself as a designer! I guess you could say that my first foray into product design happened waaaaay back when I was 12. As a child, I was always encouraged to enter contests, especially ones that involved creativity and drawing. One day, Mom shows me that Amazon.com is sponsoring a "Design a Toy" contest. Why the hey not? The Hula Hat was born. It consisted of a brightly colored stocking cap, surrounded by a clear plastic tube about an inch in diameter, with colored balls inside. The idea was to get the balls to spin around inside the tube by moving your head in a "hula" motion. I sketched up the concept and sent it in.

A couple of weeks later, I recieved an email that said "Congratulations! You are one of 30 finalists invited to show a prototype of your toy to a panel of judges in New York City!" Naturally I was estatic! It was a fantastic experience, and though I didn't win the grand prize, (Mr. Itchy Pants won, and he was manufactured and sold on Amazon.com) I can't help but think that maybe that experience influenced me to become the designer I am today.

So enough about the past! Who am I today? My classmates would really find it as no suprise that my passion lies in designing for children. My first internship at Fisher-Price really helped me realize this, as I had an amazing time there, and I really liked the work I did there. After my internships with Nottingham-Spirk, I truly realized that children's products is where I want to end up. I enjoyed my time at NS, don't get me wrong...I am very glad I worked there because I met a lot of great people and learned a lot...it just helped me really admit to myself that designing for kids is my niche. I just can't resist designing fun, cute, humorous things! It gets me excited about a project and keeps me interested.

My three goals for this quarter:

1) Get myself excited about this computer project, and get my personal style into the final design without going over the top. I didn't really love the last computer project, so naturally I am kind of dissappointed to be doing another one. I want my design style to resonate in the project somehow, maybe by inserting some sort of humor, metphor, or graphic element that evokes a little bit of fun and playfulness.

2) Relax! Try not to worry so much! Anyone who knows me very well will say that this is a lofty goal! I am the queen of worrying.

3)Get a job at a children's products company. Now that I have experienced a consultancy, I want to go to a company that does childrens products (whether that is toys, strollers, bottles, etc).

That's all for now, guess I should start researching a little for the computer!