fontburger.comthe blog of christina olivas //

I’m a fan of Stefan Sagmeister. If you have never heard of him, he has some good TED talks, check them out. I have not visited sagmeister.com in a while and when I visited the site today I was pleasantly surprised it was a new site. The old site was everything but the norm. A flash site with an “interesting” choice of seizures inducing colors.

On their new site people can watch, in real time, the agency team working at Sagmeister Inc.

Super innovative with menu buttons that were installed on the floor of the agency. Here is what he said about the new site, “People started to complain about our old flash based site and it was those complaints that prompted us to rethink. We wanted the new site to feature content in a fast and clean manner, and at the same time utilize a somewhat exciting interface. Our original plan was to paint the buttons on the building opposite our studio on 23rd street in Manhattan and than point a camera at it from our office, so a viewer going through the site would have the same view as we do. When we could not get the permits for painting the buttons on that building we painted them on our own floor. And we all wound up in the interface.”

The all now live in a giant website.

Check out this button installation video in true fast motion Sagmeister style.

Last month I started applying for jobs and I updated my portfolio and resume to share with potential employers. In the job-seeking process it’s essential that you have a good portfolio website. I am hoping to make a good impression with the site, but unfortunately I haven’t hear back from any of the companies that I applied to. For this reason, I would like to ask you all for some feedback on my portfolio and resume.

I wish I could speak with potential employers directly and ask what they thought of my site, but most companies just have forms you fill out and you never really know who is looking over your work. I think this is unfortunate because I really want the job and I want to know how I can make it to an interview. What did those, who got an interview, have that I didn’t and how can I improve?

Everyone, designer or not, can give some valuable feedback. I’m just looking for people who can look at it seriously and give me some honest advice.

http://christinaolivas.com

Thanks in advance.

Also, let me know if you come across any graphic design positions in the South Bay. :)

In most situations I would turn to the internet for advice on how to do something like photographing my work. However when it came time to do so I relied more on the problem solving method of trail and error. I knew I could take advantage of the wood floors in my apartment for a nice background texture. I also liked the idea of taking my time to photograph my work in my own place with my work scattered everywhere, instead of outside, which would have much better lighting, but where my neighbors could see me and think I was a bit of crazy person (they really already do). The other advantage of this is that I could wait for a good time of day and the right amount of light.

The difficult part was lighting. Luckily I have large windows in my place that would let in a good amount a light, but I would have to wait for the sun to come around to a good spot before I began shooting. I would also have to photograph on the weekends because the best light was in the early afternoon.

So with the background and lighting down, next is to determine how to place your work and camera and which angle you want to shoot at. Since I was shooting on my kitchen floor, my angles were a bit limited and all my shots were taken pointing down with the camera. This angle worked out just fine for my print work. It’s good to have a tripod for this.

When you photograph packaging you definitely need both a base and background. You can get a great shot with a large thick white piece of paper. You just place the packaging on the bottom half, gently fold up the top half up behind the packaging and prop up the top half of the sheet against a wall. Also, tape the sheet to the wall so it stays.

I don’t think there is one correct way to photograph your work. This is something you can get creative with and do your own thing. It’s just another creative skill you are showcasing. Check out my website to see how my print work with a wooden background turned out.

For my first blog I really want to take the time to thank the two people who made fontburger.com possible. Those two people are Kyle Steed and Chris Wallace.

This month I was beyond excited about winning the DesignFolio Plus giveaway and 6 months of free hosting from kylesteed.com. Kyle and Chris both offered to help me set up my site with Firehost and to get me started on using wordpress. Chris is also the designer of my beautiful new fontburger look. So big thanks to the both of you for all your help and patience.

I also want to thank the folks over at Firehost who have been very helpful and attentive.

Ever since I signed up for twitter I have had the opportunity to chat with some amazing designers, who share their ideas, sites, and blogs through their tweets. I feel very lucky to have discovered this online “design community” who I can always go to for advice.

I’m in the process of adding some info about me and uploading my work to the site. So check back in the future as I continue to add more content.

My goal for this blog is to share with others my experience being a design student and how I am planning for the future, post grad. I will also include a few post of fun randomness, which I’m sure you will all enjoy.

If you’re a design student let me know of any topics you would like to read about, I would love to help and offer suggestions. I get so much help and great advice from my superiors in the design community, it would be great to be able to do the same for others.

Lastly I want to give some serious props to the following people who have given me some great advice:

@aaroni268 @joshcagwin @joelbeukelman @kulorDS @SunfallDesigns @BCassidyDesign @openboxcreative @chatcreative

Find them on twitter.

Thanks again to Kyle and Chris for making it happen.

Much love, fontburger