Pixelgawker

I’m a transplant. I was born and raised on the southside of Chicago. Until I moved to Michigan 3 years ago, I didn’t know a tremendous amount about the state. Sure, I spent time at the beaches on the “west coast,” I knew that a place like Frankenmuth scared me and Detroit was a place that I thought I would never want to visit. I now work in Detroit and call SE Michigan my home. I commute downtown every day and live in the shadow of a city struggling to rediscover itself. To outsiders, Detroit is defined by high crime, misery (see Forbes) and a sinking automotive industry. To those same outsiders, Michigan is characterized by foreclosures and the mass exodus of unemployed individuals. Unfortunately, I have learned that most of these are accurate assessments. What I have also learned is that many of these characterizations can be applied to other states throughout the country. The difference is Michigan has done a better job of mismanaging their economy and a poor job of diversification.

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PIXELGAWKER IS LOOKING FOR WRITERS

Pixelgawker was instigated in the fall of 2007 to foster the development of critical writing in the undergraduate classroom. Now, past its infancy, Pixelgawker has become a solid online platform for the ongoing discussion of graphic design issues, with a focus on topics surfacing in design education. It attempts to further the development of design students by encouraging users to seek problems and pose questions from a critical standpoint.

Pixelgawker now seeks to expand and diversify the voices heard by offering others the opportunity to contribute to the dialogue. If interested, please submit a .pdf containing a writing sample (min. 250 words), name of school and contact information to: pixelgawker@spirit3design.com. We begin reviewing submissions on February 25, 2008.

A few short weeks ago Julia and Brian were kind enough to ask if I would consider writing a short piece for this years Spine. We agreed that posting this essay on Pixelgawker might be a good way to generate some discussion from several different student perspectives. Their goal with this years issue, is to provide current undergraduate design students with an honest, helpful, and exciting look at what they can expect after leaving the classroom environment. (more…)

By: Megan Deal

Recently, I spent a solid half hour in the school cafeteria, chatting away with another student. We were table mates by default really, she approaching me and my unoccupied seats in a desperate attempt to find for herself a place to land and enjoy her lunch. I introduced myself, she did the same, and we proceeded to talk about a variety of topics ranging from Detroit to the over-priced sandwiches offered in the cafe. As we casually spoke to one another, I remember thinking to myself, “Wow…how nice; how exciting to be interacting with a student from another discipline.” Then, as we both described the structures of our respected curriculums, along with the type of classes that we each take, something happened. This girl, this seemingly pleasant girl, looked me dead in the eye and said: “You see, the thing I don’t get about graphic design is that you’ll do anything to make money…it’s like you sell yourselves out.”
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By: Megan Deal    This past week the CCS community was introduced to the premier issue of the student produced publication, Perspective. Perspective appears to be one student’s abortive attempt to unite the CCS student body, mixed with an amateur’s undertaking in DIY desktop publishing. If the “Top 10 Reasons Why its Sweet to be a CCS Student” hasn’t turned you away yet, the “Go Green” sex advice surely will. The eight page journal seeks to explore issues presumably relevant to CCS students, yet fails to move past the cliche. Where to eat in Detroit? How to make a salad? How to forward your email? This type of information, however pertinent it may be thought, is best left for the annual New Student Orientation, or at the very least on a flyer hung around the ACB. Lee DeVito’s insight surrounding controversial art shines the brightest, but is under served among the remaining inanity. If a student publication is to succeed, its creator must carefully assess the need of its audience, and consider the question of value. Perspective hasn’t concerned itself with either. (more…)