Pixelgawker

The fall semester is now upon us. Class schedules are being finalized, supplies are being purchased, and the work load, no doubt, will soon be piling up. For those of you who may be new to Pixelgawker, welcome, and thanks for taking the time to peruse. And for all of you returning visitors, thanks for coming back! Created to foster a critical design discussion among students, Pixelgawker celebrates it’s one year anniversary this fall. Since its launch towards the end of 2007, the site has been tastefully redesigned, while the discussion continues to expand. A blog that started with one student’s timid first essay, has now morphed into a full blown student forum, receiving over 100,000 hits in the first 9 months. Just like last year, Chad and I are still seeking contributors who may be willing to write, or have already written on a topic suitable for discussion. Please contact Chad or myself if you’re interested in writing. Let your voice be heard! (Otherwise your stuck with me and my opinions for the next 15 weeks)

Okay, now that the shameless promotional work is out of the way, I’d simply like to encourage everyone to have a FUN and productive semester. As students, we know all to well the high level of commitment that is required from us if we are to learn and better our skills. That commitment to success, along with the pride we each take in our work, are both qualities that we should commend ourselves for possessing. This strange realm of higher education we dabble in, can be challenging, frustrating, exciting, or unbearable; but it can ultimately be fulfilling. It’s fulfilling when you have a useful crit, it’s fulfilling to connect and share with your peers, it’s fulfilling to have a great discussion with your favorite teacher, it’s fulfilling when you finally complete a daunting project and, in time, it’s fulfilling when you leave as a fresh college graduate. So please…as the semester gets underway, and the energy drinks are re-introduced to our clean, summer systems, and the work piles up, and the wireless refuses to work, and the security guards kick us out of labs, and Kinkos can’t print our files, and we feel like we’re being pulled in 97 different directions (and probably are)…please, PLEASE try to stay positive. We have all chosen to be here, and we are all in this together, and with each other we’re all working towards a similar goal. So with that, I say keep the designing on high and the moping turned low. Get ready. For today, it begins.

In recent months, my contribution of new material to Pixelgawker has slowly dwindled. “WRITE FOR BLOG” – over the course of last semester, these three words, though often written big and bold, then circled and highlighted, moved further and further down my “to-do” list, eventually landing somewhere between “change oil in car” and “vacuum apartment.” Other tasks and other classes always took precedence over the blog, even when I tried to intentionally pencil the time into my schedule. This absence of my voice from the blog, was not a sign that I lost my desire to write, nor did it indicate that I had run out of ideas. In fact, I had many ideas floating around my head, many of which I thought would serve as a nice foundation to a useful and engaging discourse. But no matter how many times I told myself to write for the blog, I just couldn’t seem to find the time or energy to compose some words into a thoughtful and meaningful essay. So I didn’t.

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pixelgawker started out last fall as an experiment. there was and continues to be a need for critical writing in the classroom as well as a forum to articulate observations, tendencies and sometimes frustrations about being a student and faculty. since then, this blog has slowly emerged as a focal point for conversation, rants and a good dose of perspective. Since August, traffic on this site has reached over 75,000 visits. In 2008 alone, our traffic was over 46,000. Numbers can be deceiving but what this traffic honestly depicts is a demand for content.

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I compulsively check my email countless times throughout the day. Logging onto instant messenger has become just as much a part of my daily routine as, say… brushing my teeth. The photo sharing world of Flickr has changed, dare I say ruined, my life forever. I’ve abandoned the coalition of desktop users and joined the laptop alliance. My computer follows me around, and to it, I remain perpetually “plugged-in” to the vast world that surrounds us. (more…)

As Programming Chair on the AIGA Detroit board, I am proud to announce the Celebrate Michigan Design Poster Competition. It is AIGA Detroit’s intent to become the prominent leader and voice in the design community. I believe that this competition will not only give us a mechanism to tell our stories but bring the community together to share those experiences with each other. This is a great opportunity for us to grow and create positive change. The following excerpt is an introduction to competition.

Michigan has had a long-standing and prominent reputation as the home to many great and influential designers and artisans, many of whom have defined past generations and continue to be influential in our state, national, and global economies. From art and design schools to furniture companies, from the big three to the many smaller firms, Michigan hosts a world-class collection of artists and designers residing and working within its bounds. (more…)

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…)