The art of the business card

That’s right – I put ‘art’ and ‘business card’ in the same sentence. A week ago, you probably couldn’t have convinced me that they could work together so harmoniously. After all, the cards I’d been exposed to until then were nothing more exciting than black Times font on a white card – maybe with an outdated photo of a real estate agent.

But when Tracey assigned us a business card and personal profile as our last layout & design project of the year, my world was transformed. I spent the first hour of class glued to the computer screen as I admired the first 16 pages of beauty on the Flickr group pool “the art of the business card”.

It’s amazing how much creativity you can cram into such a tiny space and the effects you can achieve simply with a few cute graphics or a unique font. Not to say it isn’t hard to do – that’s where the art comes in. In fact, it took me more time to conceptualize and design this little 3.5 x 2 scrap of paper than an 8.5 x 11 sheet, but I loved every minute of it, and can’t wait to make more – the possibilities are endless!

Simple font and colour choice, but the alignment and variation in font size shows it was done by someone who understands design. Elizabeth Maybury.

Love this font; otherwise very simple, but it works. Paper pastries.

Squares instead of rectangles – very cute. Nathaniel Cooper.

I like hedgehogs, but I also like the Twitter/new media vibe this one gives off. Perhaps not as professional as the others, but I like the modern feel of them and the bright, playful colours. Ivan Ricci.

These cards are really creative at first glance, but once you know they were produced for a 3D visualization studio, it’s even more ingenious and effective as it captures the essence of the business in design as well as in print. kpucu.com

Apparently a card for “writers/English professors”. Not sure what wood has to do with writing or English professors, but it’s a neat concept. Duck Arrow Types.

Another neat (and expensive) medium to use: steel, cut with lasers. Pinkograf.com

Pop up cards! Quirky, probably labour intensive and therefore expensive to produce, but nonetheless eyecatching. I’d definitely remember anyone who gave me a business card like this. Emerson Taymor.

Mine!

Yup, it’s official – I’m addicted to business cards.

Video montage: Celle que les hommes pleurent (Mata Hari)

When our TV instructor Dean Cooper first introduced the video montage assignment and told us we’d spend 20+ hours editing it, I, along with the rest of the class, laughed and thought “Sure, Dean.”

A month later, I was spending my third Friday night in a row holed up for 5 hours straight in the overheated edit suite R, and Dean’s words were starting to sound less like exaggeration and more like reality.

20+ hours later, I considered chalking up my time on the wall, but then remembered I wasn’t a criminal – I was here on my own accord.

You see, I’m one of those people who sometimes makes up music videos in their head when they hear a song. I cut between frames, soft and sharp focus, and imagine well costumed actors moving to the beat. When I got the assignment to produce a 2-4 minute montage set to music, I knew exactly which song I wanted to use and what footage I wanted to shoot.

The only problem was finding a way to translate what had been in my head all this time into something real that I could film. All I can say is thank god for networking.

Luckily, one of my friends from high school is a 3rd year piano performance major in music at the University of Manitoba and one of the people I interviewed for a journalism assignment happened to be part of GaiaPente, a tribal fusion belly dance troupe from Winnipeg.

Using the lyrics and story of the song Celle que les hommes pleurent (Mata Hari) by Caracol, my montage tells la petite histoire de Mata Hari, a Dutch exotic dancer from the early 1900s who was executed by the French on suspicion of espionage during WW1.

Not exactly light subject matter to work with, and it made editing a challenge as I tried to explain the above paragraph visually. Now, looking at the final edit, I’m really happy with how it turned out. But while I enjoyed filming and editing (with the exception of those irritating Final Cut Pro error messages), I’m glad I chose not to major in media production next year.

Too much of this project involved me, in a dimly lit room, fiddling with (and occasionally talking to) electronic equipment. Nope, I’m looking forward to a brand new year of persuasive writing, campaigns, and communicating with humans as a public relations major – maybe with some video doc on the side!



Edit: Yet another social media tool I've become a part of due to CreComm: YouTube. Thanks Blogger and TwitVid for spending hours processing my montage yesterday, only to clunk out in the end.

“Bonjour!” et...er, c’est tout.

When I’m asked what my IPP is about and I answer: I’m going to learn to speak French in 4 months using entirely new media and produce an audio documentary about my experience, I get one of two reactions:

Either a look of surprise and a comment on what an interesting and unique idea it is; or an awkward moment of silence before the other person hesitantly inquires: “So... you’ve never spoken French before this?”

Since I pitched my project to the IPP panel (which felt less like Dragon’s Den and more like a job interview) and got the official stamp of approval, I’ve been hit with the realisation that ‘hey, I actually have to do this project now’.

And I admit, lately I’ve been having the same reactions to my project as I think ahead to starting it come September.

I get flutters of excitement when I think about the positive experiences I’m going to have, the people I’ll meet, the events I’ll attend, and ultimately (hopefully) being able to have a basic conversation in French with another francophone at the end of it all.

But – because I like to worry – I also get moments when I wonder if I’ll actually be able to pull it off. Square one to speaking French in 4 months? I’ve got to be kidding myself.

Well, not really.

I don’t expect to become fluent in French. Learning a second language takes time, and is difficult, especially when going to college full time. I’m aiming to be able to make small talk, or light conversation with other French speakers by the end of it, and examine whether new media is an effective way to learn.

This is a project I’ve always wanted to do. I took French language classes for eight consecutive years through elementary, junior, and high school, but stopped because I got discouraged by the strong focus (at least for teaching anglophones, as opposed to moderately francophone students) on writing and reading, as opposed to speaking, French.

Sure, I can speak typical catch phrases and understand French if you talk r-e-a-l-l-y slowly and e-nun-ci-ate clearly.

But when it comes to asking things beyond “How are you?”, “Can I please go to the bathroom?” (ah, junior high) or even understanding what others are telling me when they’re talking at the usual break-neck speed, I’m useless.

After high school, I still wanted to learn French, but going into university, then college, full time, meant it never got to the top of my priority list.

Then came January 2010: the pressure of IPPs, and the magazine project.

For two weeks of that month, I got to interview members of the Fire Pyxies – a local fire dancing group – for our alternative art magazine and two of them were Franco-Manitobans.

Hearing their accent when I interviewed them and how beautiful the language sounds when they spoke to other francophones triggered my memory and I knew I wanted to ‘retry’ learning to speak French.

From L'arbre aux parfums - the first French music CD I bought, and it is amazing, even if you don't understand the language (and even if the music vid is a bit... bizarre.)

With the help of the ever-inspiring Steve Vogelsang, who pointed me in the right direction towards new media, I’ve come up with a three part plan:

1. to learn French: independently, through new media. Podcasts, language CDs, online tutorials, YouTube, Twitter, online communities and games.

2. to test my French: by interacting with other francophones online and in person. Skype language groups, Kijiji, and restaurants, stores, heritage sites in St. Boniface.

3. to make an audio documentary. (self explanatory)


Somedays it feels like I’ll be doing two projects at once, but I’m convinced that if I stay dedicated and passionate about my IPP, it’ll be worth the effort. Learning another language is hard, but I’m hoping this project (and the pressure of “do this right and you’ll graduate”) will provide the motivation to keep going. In fact, after years of waiting, CreComm and the IPPs might be just what I’ve needed all along.

If you can speak French, and would be willing to let me practice mine with you, let me know (coffee/tea/croissants are on me). I can put you in my doc and you’ll become rich and famous!

CreComm Magazine Fair 2010: a photo essay

All photos by me.

This Thursday afternoon was the annual CreComm magazine fair, the big finale of the magazine project which saw students in groups of 3-4 write, design, and produce an original magazine over the course of three months.

Honestly, I had more fun walking around exploring everyone’s booths and taking pictures than hanging around at my own (alt. magazine) table. That’s because although I know we’re all a talented bunch of people in first year, it’s not often that we get the chance to see our skill and creativity all together, all in one place. The effect was overwhelming, and I’m all incredibly proud of our year. Well done everyone: all that hard work definitely showed and definitely paid off!

Edit: Why do photos posted on Blogger look washed out from the originals? Anyone know how to fix this?