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    D30 - Exercises for Designers: Thirty Days of Creative Design Exercises & Career-Enhancing Ideas
    D30 - Exercises for Designers: Thirty Days of Creative Design Exercises & Career-Enhancing Ideas
    D30 - Exercises for Designers: Thirty Days of Creative Design Exercises & Career-Enhancing Ideas
    Ebook327 pages1 hour

    D30 - Exercises for Designers: Thirty Days of Creative Design Exercises & Career-Enhancing Ideas

    By Jim Krause

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    About this ebook

    Instructive and enlightening. Fun, too.

    D30 is a workout book. In addition to dozens of readily applicable tips, tricks and informational tidbits, D30 contains thirty exercises designed to develop and strengthen the creative powers of graphic designers, artists and photographers in a variety of intriguing and fun ways. What will you need to begin? Not much. Most of the book's step-by-step projects call for setting aside an hour or two, rolling up your sleeves and grabbing art supplies that are probably already stashed somewhere in your home or studio--things like pens, drawing and watercolor paper, India ink, paint, scissors and glue. Digital cameras and computers are also employed for several of the exercises but--and this should be welcome news to those readers who spend their days looking at computer monitors--the majority of the book's activities make use of traditional media to illuminate creative techniques and visual strategies that can be applied to media of all sorts. Thumb through the book (or look at the samples posted on JimKrauseDesign.com) and see for yourself!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateSep 19, 2013
    ISBN9781440324055
    D30 - Exercises for Designers: Thirty Days of Creative Design Exercises & Career-Enhancing Ideas
    Author

    Jim Krause

    An Adams Media author.

    Read more from Jim Krause

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      Book preview

      D30 - Exercises for Designers - Jim Krause

      Activity 1

      Category: Brainstorming

      Conversation with self, part I. Welcome to the first project in D30. This exercise will not only help clarify artistic goals that have been floating around in your head for months or years, it will also bring new creative intentions and ideals to mind. Another great thing about this pen-and-paper brainstorming activity is that it will send all this information to the fore of your brain where it will be ready to connect with the ideas and discoveries that come up as you work on this book’s activities. Got a pen? Paper? A timer of some kind? Excellent. You are ready to begin.

      IMG_7196.tifpage12.psdonehour.psd

      Time needed: About an hour

      Activity 1: Conversation with self, part 1. Leave your laptop alone for this exercise: Writing with pen and paper will help lend this brainstorming session the thoughtful and deliberate pace it deserves. What about doing this activity in a cozy living room chair, on the front porch, on a park bench or at a coffee shop? Bring a timer (smartphone app or otherwise) with you.

      First of all, congratulations on not skipping this exercise just because it doesn’t involve using colorful craft supplies or your digital camera. Just know that there will be plenty of that sort of thing ahead, and by doing this exercise, you will be doubly prepared to make the most of the upcoming art-producing projects.

      The goal of this activity is twofold. For starters, you’ll be asked to come up with an assessment of your skills—both in terms of what you are good at and what you want to be good at. After that, you’ll be building a written compilation of creativity-based goals and ideals you’d enjoy seeing in the future. And, as mentioned in this activity’s intro, giving thought to these things before you begin this book’s exercises will do you a real favor: It will pre-program your brain to look for ways of using what you learn and experience through the exercises to help you reach—and expand—your creative objectives.

      IMG_1020.tif

      Begin this project by deciding, firmly, that the next hour is reserved for this brainstorming project. No phone calls, no Internet, no texting, no nothing. Just you, a pen, a notebook, a timer and a brain that’s ready to storm.

      Next, make yourself comfortable and do whatever you need to do to set aside the day’s distractions, obligations, excitements, disappointments and worries. How about taking a few deep breaths and a well deserved pause before starting?

      Set your timer for fifteen minutes. This is how long you’ll be writing for the first part of the exercise. Using an audible timer—instead of a visual clock—will help you avoid the temptation of constantly looking at the clock as you work.

      Put pen to paper and write about what you are good at. Write down anything and everything that comes to mind. Don’t just write about things related to art and creativity: If you are good at fixing cars, write about it; and if you are also good with mathematics and can bake an incredible pecan pie, write down a thing or two about those talents as well. The main point here is to keep your pen moving as steadily as possible and to keep your train of thought flowing for the entire fifteen minutes. Add details to things you’ve already written if new ideas begin to run thin.

      IMG_1023.tif

      When you hear the timer sound, finish whatever thoughts (if any) you still need to put down, take a short pause and get ready for the next part of the project.

      Set your timer for twenty minutes and begin part two by writing about improvements you’d like to see in the talents you possess. Write about talents you would like to develop from scratch as well. Jot down thoughts related to— and apart from—artistic interests. Work diligently at this until you hear the timer go off (and, by all means, continue beyond this time if ideas are flowing).

      The final segment of this activity is relatively wide open, and the instructions are simple: Set your timer for twenty-five minutes and start writing about specific visions—both small and large—of what you would love to see happening in your creatively-oriented future. For example, you could write about a collection of your photographs or paintings you would like to see in a downtown gallery; you could pen some thoughts about a website or a book you would like to see posted or published; or you could record some specific ideas about what you would especially like to see yourself doing for a living.

      The first few things you write about may have been swimming around in your head for years. That’s great. Write a few sentences about these subjects. After that, reach hard for new material and keep in mind as you write that there are no bad ideas when brainstorming: Just keep your thoughts flowing and the pen moving.

      One powerful tactic to employ at this point is to look for opportunities forcreative cross-pollination between things you wrote about in this exercise’s earlier segments. For example, what if you were to blend your natural pie-making prowess with your photographic savvy to create a gorgeous blog filled with mouth-watering images and articles on the art of baking? Or what if you combined your ability to handle a welding torch with your eye for composition and created a series of stainless steel abstract sculptures? Brainstorm the possibilities deeply and thoughtfully: The most compelling art projects are often those that blend seemingly unrelated ideas and media.

      Keep at this until your timer tells you that time is up, and even then, don’t stop unless you feel fully ready to wrap things up.

      Finish this exercise by sealing your handwritten pages in an envelope. Put the envelope in a place where it will be out of sight but not lost: You’ll be asked to open this envelope after you’ve made your way through all (or most) of the book’s projects and have reached the final exercise at the end of the book.

      page17.psd

      Activity 2

      Category: Hand and eye

      Swirling swirls. Consider this project an introduction to a doodling habit you can undertake whenever you find yourself with pen, paper and a few minutes to spare. Not only will this habit develop hand skills, it will also improve your eyes’ ability to evaluate curves and compositions as you create decorative panels of swirls (filigree that could be enjoyed for what it is and/or saved for future professional projects). Unsure about your ability to gracefully render this activity’s designs? Don’t worry about it: Simply aim for a consistent look for each curve, line and dot you create—the beauty of your creations may surprise you.

      IMG_0727.tifpage20.psdonehour.psd

      Time needed: About an hour

      Activity 2: Swirling swirls. A letter-size sheet of ordinary paper will work for this exercise, but feel free to use better quality paper if you like. A fine or an extra-fine tipped rollerball pen would be ideal, but other kinds of pens will suffice as well—including whatever pen happens to be floating around in a nearby drawer, purse or shoulder bag.

      IMG_0600.tif

      STEP 1 Fold your letter-size sheet of paper into

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