What striked me about Sagmeister’s article was the way it was set up. How each paragraph was introduced with a comment or question in a box. I also love his list of qualities he found in common to touch his heart.

The quote he admired by Brian Eno “Not to think of art work as objects, but as triggers for experiences. Basically saying anything that is an experience is art it isn’t a quality. It’s safe to say every experience is a different one for everyone else… which would mean art means different for everyone else… depending on your experiences.

I made a list of qualities i find in common that touch my heart.
1. Uniqueness - Something that is unlike anything I’ve seen or maybe a twist on something I’ve seen before but unexpected.
2. Attractiveness - Eye catching, juicy, something I would want to keep staring at for hours.
3. Power - Something that grabs my gut and holds me there. Where I literally say wow out loud in surprise.
4. New perspective ( I agree with Sagmeister)
5. Wholeness - It has to flow, have roundness, complexity, simpleness, whatever it needs to feel whole… even if it is missing something, it has to be obvious to me why to completely wrap my brain around it.
6. Nostalgia- In some way trigger flashes of an experience or a memory or maybe remind me of a feeling or image from my past. This is one of the strongest qualities.
7. Soul- It has to have an aura. It literally has to feel like it is alive with character.


We all have stories to tell. Some we burry deep in our pasts, they aren’t things we are proud of or happy about but because of those experiences good or bad, they design who we are today. This method of studying design is very unique and makes total sense. We design based on our own experiences. When we design for other people or brands/companies, we design based on an experience they want you to have. I posted a video below I found that I felt was similar in this idea.
Really cool video I found. It kind of goes with the direct storytelling article….
+Website and Blog
+Business Cards
A package for the client that includes:
+Thank you/Comment cards (To thank them for using my services and to have them email me with comments about their photos and my service so I can better myself)
+Thumb drives (4G) with my logo on them (This is usually what I put the clients photography on)
+Buttons/Stickers that have some kind of funny saying like “I’ve been flashed by Michelle Marie Photography” or “I was shot by Michelle Marie Photography” or something along those lines…. something cute and catchy

Inspiration....

more inspiration...
Look and feel of website…. brand/identity
http://www.squarespace.com/ <—- Probably going to use this to build my site
A. After getting tons of ideas for my Gluten Free survival kit. I refined it even more and thought of specifically making it just for Portland. Maybe this is something I can do in the future. What I really want to do, and want to spend my time doing is branding myself as a photographer and coming up with an identity for myself. This is actually a difficult thing to do. In a way I have to become my own client. It would also be very beneficial to me and help my business grow. This is turn would help my clients remember me and my identity, see that I am a well put together business and package.
B. My audience would be my clients (new and old). I was thinking for my research, I would interview a few photographer friends of mine and see how they came up with their identity and creative ways of branding themselves. I would also do a little research online and see how other photographers creatively came up with their ideas or ways of creating their identity.
C. I would come up with a Logo, a website and maybe a blog, business cards, brochures, and through my research come up with 2 to 3 more ways of branding myself. Through my old clients and other photographer friends, I would ask for their feed back to see if it works for me.
THURSDAY 10.22
-Mood board
-Photography Website examples
SATURDAY 10.24
-Send out emails to photographers with questions
-Research alternative branding
TUESDAY 10.27
-small groups
-Present my research
-3 ideas for my own branding and identity
WEDNESDAY 10.28
- Work on outline for my own website
-Beginnings of my logo
THURSDAY 10.29
-One on One
-Present ideas for my deliverables
SATURDAY 10.31
-Work on structure of my website
-Organize photos I wan in my portfolio
TUESDAY 11.3
-Show progress of website
-Business Cards
THURSDAY 11.5
-Show my alternative branding ideas from my research
SATURDAY 11.7
-Work on website and deliverables
TUESDAY 11.10
-Show deliverables/progress of website
THURSDAY 11.12
-Small groups
TUESDAY 11.17
-Small groups
-Bring all printed out material
-Go through website/other deliverables
THURSDAY 11.19
-Small groups
-Present ideas
I decided for my thesis, I want to do the Gluten-Free survival guide. I am bringing in some books in class on some inspirational style. Here is my latest poster design idea for my groups project “Meet my Fridge”

I had 3 Ideas for my term long. One would be a children’s photography workshop book. I know when I was young I was very curious about photography and always had a disposable at hand. Now as a photographer, I have children coming up to me at weddings wanting to look through the lens and take photos.
It would be a very simple step by step workbook starting out by learning basic design, how the lens works, ways to take a better photo, then 3 assignments with areas that they can slip in there photo corresponding to the photo . I would look at workbooks for children to get some structure. I think art is an important part of a child’s life and usually in school drawing and painting are the main forms of art. I think it’s interesting to see through the eye of a child, and this simple photography workshop will be a great new way to introduce art to a child.
My second idea would be to brand myself as a photographer, with my own logo, website, business card, and brochure. It’s something I really need to do and doing it as my assignment is a great excuse!
My Third idea is to do a Gluten-free survival guide. I recently am doing an experiment for 3 weeks eating gluten-free to see if I might be gluten intolerant. For me this is more personal but through my research I would also be helping myself learn. I am the perfect example of someone with no clue on where to began on my gluten-free journey. I have already found pdf lists from stores like Fred Meyer, Safeway, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and New Seasons-of companies they have in their stores and foods that are gluten-free. I would also include gluten-free recipes and some info and history on gluten. This is something I’m most interested in, because I think it would be helpful for me and other people who don’t know what the heck to do!