Hitting the wall?
I got stuck! I’m struggle with some coding problems for almost three weeks and spinning in the same place. Sometimes I feel like did I put myself in the trouble? It’s a little bit lonely when doing your thesis and couldn’t make progress any more because of the some limitations. I didn’t realize I’m in the so-called “Hitting the wall” status until I have a chat with a professor. I tried very hard to find the resources or help when I found I couldn’t solve the problems by myself. It’s lonely and painful. Especially when the experts told me they don’t know the answer either. (Imagine if the doctor tells the patient, he couldn’t treat the disease.)
I got a serious flu in the beginning of April. It was a bad timing to be sick. I was forced to take a deep rest and I aslo started to think about the lesson I’ve learned. Maybe it’s a sign I need to stop and really think about the balance of my life and thesis. Hope I’ll overcome the difficulties and break the wall soon!
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I know it’s too serious to talk about this topic. Some people might think it’s not a big deal and I am too scrupulous. (Yeah, sometimes I myself really hate this personality) However I thought it is really important as a human being, no matter what kind of job you do, what kind of degree you get, how old are you or what race you are. And it is also one of the main things I learned in grad school - Public Spirit.
In our grad lab, it is not allowed to drink or eat food. You can only do it in the kitchen area. I think we make the rules clearly and everyone should know this rule. I realize some new students are forgetful and break the rules not on purpose. But what if you know the rules and there is no lab assistant on duty, will you break the rules? Sometimes I thought as grad students are supposed to be high-educated, people should be more aware of their behavior. But it is not what I saw in grad school. Another example is the computers in our lab are public, which means you can use any one you like. People have different habits when they are working. I have my own working habits too. I thought it is really basic to clean up after yourself. Well, I was wrong again. Sometimes you will see garbage, empty bottles on the table, or the cables, connectors are in a mess.
Public spirit not only means you devote to the public welfare I think it also means you care about the public feelings. It is such a small thing that sometimes people will ignore it and take everything for granted. I hope I won’t forget it and always remind myself.
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Tags: Life
[What I learned in grad school] will include a series of articles to talk about my thought in grad school. I’m not going to discuss skills, software or academic knowledge. On the contrary, I would like to write something that I’m not learning in the class!
Yesterday I attended a scholarship reception. This scholarship is for international students and the funding comes from people’s donation. It’s honored for me to be selected. And I appreciate the donator’s generosity and the committee’s confidence.
In grad school or say studying abroad, one thing I learned is “appreciation”. I met some people with goodness and always give me help without any hesitation. Some of them are my classmates, professors, friends, or even just someone I only met once. There is no denying that someone might be not so friendly, might be very rude or might be mean to you. But that’s so-called life, isn’t it? I always keep in mind that people’s kindness to me and appreciate it.
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Tags: Life
Friendship
My lovely friend Sue gave me this book as my birthday gift. I was so touched and feel appreciated. She’s also the first person to wish me a happy birthday in the USA. Being an international student, a warm hug, smile or conversations are my precious memories and priceless treasures. I don’t know will I miss this city when I leave? (I always can’t help to compare it with my home town city, how convenient my home town city is, how friendly my home town city is… ) But I know I’ll remember these people I met in this city.
To friendship!
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Brand vs. Branding
DEFINITION:
A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed. A brand name is the name of the distinctive product, service, or concept. Branding is the process of creating and disseminating the brand name. Branding can be applied to the entire corporate identity as well as to individual.
Brands are usually protected from use by others by securing a trademark or service mark from an authorized agency, usually a government agency. Before applying for a trademark or service mark, you need to establish that someone else hasn’t already obtained one for your name. Although you can do the searching yourself, it is common to hire a law firm that specializes in doing trademark searches and managing the application process, which, in the United States, takes about a year. Once you’ve learned that no one else is using it, you can begin to use your brand.
Source from: http://www.bitpipe.com/tlist/Branding.html
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Tags: Branding
The economic recession shadow is still overhead, most of the companies are trying to find the way to adjust their business models. Some companies published the redesigned CIS in 20008, including Ford, Pepsi, Xerox. I thought these companies are brave to make changes at this point. But a brand new logo can really bring the new benefits for a company? If the design is successful, it might be. What if the design becomes worst, it’s hard to imagine the effects will be.
This website – Brand New collects and comments corporation logo designs. It is a good resource to see what people think about identity design. I used to help my ex-company to redesign its identity and built the corporate identity system. Although I’m a designer, I still decided to invite a brand consulting company to join this project. It was a good experience to cooperate with this consulting company. Especially we understood how people looked at our company through our old logo. Through many interviews, we were getting to realize and adjust our company spirit and culture. And with a redesigned logo, it also consolidated the identification of our company from employees. I have to say a redesigned logo have much greater influences in company culture (interior and exterior sides) than the visual part. It is impossible to make your company make a lot of money by a redesigned logo. However a failure logo design in a multi-national corporation definitely will make things worst. Because that means you already lost the ability to judge what is good and what is bad. How terrible is for a company if the internal quality management is not working?
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Tags: Branding, Design
The Warmest Family I Met
Last year I was invited to my best friend-Sue’s family to have a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. It was a special and warm experience. And it was also my first Thanksgiving Day. This year I met a large and the warmest family- the Meier Family. I believe it will be a memorable experience for my life abroad.
Ginnie is a Spanish teacher. She’s really hospitable and thoughtful. She picked me up to Jean’s house and introduced me to her family members and told me the traditional American Thanksgiving culture. Her husband – Jesús (Pronounce: HAY-soos) is from Spain. He’s very nice and talkative. They have two lovely and beautiful daughters -Veronica and Andrea. Jean is my host. She is a lovely, lovely grandma. She’s so kind to me. I can tell everyone in this family loves her very much.
Its’ a huge family. I met a lot of people and couldn’t remember the names of everyone. There are school principal, hospital nurse, ballet dancer, sports player…different people/occupations in this big family. It’s a very interesting combination, isn’t? The same thing is everyone in this family is so hospitable and friendly.
I remember last Thanksgiving, my friend Sue taught me people will express their gratefulness on Thanksgiving Day. It’s not about religion but I like the idea to remind people should always appreciate for everything they have. This year I don’t have a chance to say it. I want to thank my family, without their support, I couldn’t make it to study abroad. I want to thank the Meier Family, I had a great time and a memorable memory in your family.
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Tags: Life
Economic Slump
I’m taking an interesting class now, it’s “Design Issues”. In the beginning, I assumed that it’s just about “Think Green” class. Yeah, I know “being green” is really important today. But to be honest, it’s too far away for me. No offense.
I’m surprised the Professor Alex talked a lot about the situation we’re going through now. The economy crisis. It’s a chance to think about as a designer also as an international student where should I go now. Think about the career path, think about the life, think about as a human being in today’s world what kind of attitude do I need to have or change to face this difficult situation. I don’t have any answers so far. But I’m glad in this school education system, you’re encouraged to pursue beautiful and cool design, you’re encouraged to design something to please people, finally there is a voice to remind you to think about this question.
I heard a news in the radio today. It is a news talked about some children in the remote districts of my hometown didn’t have money to pay the school lunch. I’m sad about this. I’m not a wealthy person, I also need to work very hard to make money, to raise a family, to pay my bill/loan, I’m struggling with life as well…etc. But I’m still so upset as a designer I couldn’t do anything for those people. They have more serious troubles than I have. In this economic slump, how many people will overcome/survive ?
I believe Darwin’s principles. One classmate in the class said he believes his government is good because the government will control this economy crisis in his country. I totally disagree his opinion. Human beings always want to control everything, including the nature. I rather believe sometimes “restart” might be one way to solve the problem or chaos. It’s painful. But maybe it works.
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Tags: Economic Slump
Proposal Defense
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Tags: Thesis
The value of a mfa thesis
My friend Sue and I had an interesting talk today. Though I only slept for 2 hrs and my brain was left to my bed. 
We were talking about our misery graduate school life: when thesis research and major studio classes need to be worked at the same time, you probably will wish you have 48 hrs, no, 72 hrs a day. My friend Sue told me her experimental thesis has a hardware issue needs to be considered and solved. Then she told me when she dealt with her business bill, a idea came to her mind- she’s not satisfied with the tool she is using for her bill now (practical problem), maybe she could design a tool for this usage. I told her that’s exactly what I want to do for my thesis. I want to create an application for people, they can use to improve or make their life more convenient. I know it sounds like a dream you probably will hear from a software genius or Google geek, but not from a computer graphic design student. I’m always thinking about what is the value of a MFA thesis. (My previous post also talks a little bit about what’s the responsibility as a visual designer) We all have the skills and instinct to create beautiful design, but when we get rid of the engaging appearance, what’s the value left? I saw some designers like to create so-called experimental or fancy skill stuff. It may catch people’s eyes but what about the value for the society and the public?
I remembered I heard a young guy told me when he graduated from the college and tried to find a job, he made up his mind immediately - he didn’t want to do a design job in an advertising company. Because he didn’t want to make a pretty design and sell something evil to people. I was impressed what he said at that time. Especially he just graduated from the school.
Well I don’t know yet what unknown direction my thesis will go to. But I wish I could create some value for my thesis and also for myself.
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Tags: Thesis
