Adventures in Jobland

Design a Day #3

2010-02-17T11:02:00.000-08:00

"Chaos" by MuteMath

Design a Day #2

2010-02-16T16:29:00.001-08:00

"1901" - Phoenix

Design a Day #1

2010-02-16T16:27:00.000-08:00

Inspired by some friends to "design a day", I wanted to expand on this idea...using music and type. I have a playlist of about 190 songs that play when I work, dubbed "Design Mix." Each day, I'm going to pick a song, and design the title, using the mood and color that I picture from it, trying to use a different typeface for each day. If you know the song, hopefully you can see and interpret what I hear. Chime in!

Long December

2010-01-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting past couple weeks. Friends have come and gone, moved away and moved on.

Cheers to an amazing 5 years.

Reflection

2010-01-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

Amazing how fast time goes by when you're busy. I was strolling through the old hard drive and came across some gems. This stormtrooper logo was the first ever piece of clothing Casualties ever put out. For those of you who don't know me personally, Casualties Skate Snow & Surf gave me my first clothing line and opportunity to prove myself as a designer. Check them out at www.RidewithCasualties.com, amazing friends and family they are.

This second work is a collection of boards I made up for Rome Snowboards when I was 18. I had just met the midwest Rome rep (http://corduroymagazine.blogspot.com/) Peter Harv, and was so stoked on the company. I came up with these to show him, and would have never figured that in only a few years I'd do work for them. So hilarious to look back on this stuff. Pete and I run a magazine called Corduroy Lifestyles, so a special thanks as always to Pete for believing in me, as well as my brothers at Casualties. So blessed for good people in my life.

Website is Live!

2009-12-18T12:13:00.001-08:00

Thanks to everyone who has let me work with them along the way, and a special thanks to Ben Johnson for getting it up. Check him out at ElegantSeagulls.com

I present to you: www.MikeForesterDesign.com

14:59

2009-12-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

There was an old Sugar Ray album titled 14:59. This hit me pretty hard today. The meaning behind 14:59 is that your 15 minutes of fame is almost up. I've been struggling with the "safety net" concept that some of my work is acceptable because I was in college, and now that I'm considered professional, I want to keep getting better and better. Some good tracks off this album.

Special thanks to everyone who came over last night: Forester trio, Matty and Jess, Walrus, Jonesy and Liz, Jameson by default, Mcfoolz, Phil, Nat, Schlix, Tj & crew, thanks for coming and hangin, so great to see the crew together. Feels amazing to be done with classroom education, mind is comepletely spinning with opportunities and restlessness. Can't wait to start digging.

Things...that seem funny to me.

2009-12-01T09:23:00.000-08:00

Well, graduation mode is kicking in early, I've entered senioritis-coma, and it's starting to snow a little. Welcome to the December. I've been reflecting lots lately, came up with some of these funny and confusing thoughts:

This is a problem I see with college: You go to school to learn to be the best professional you can be, or at least attempt to. In my case, I'm a designer, so i want to be the best liddle designer I cans be, right? So, the state of Michigan tells undergrads the must take allllllllllll these other classes, because it makes you well rounded. However, in my case, I can't even remember my professors name, let alone what we've learned about in the clase. Studying to remember? Hardly, college students cram long enough to pass the test and move on, unless it's in the field they are going into. Don't believe me? Go to the MSU library the night before finals start. Adderall, Red Bull, 32oz coffees...yea, these aren't the habits of someone who's looking to gain information forever. Anyways, you take these other classes, and you really REALLY love what you're going into. You like it so much, you can't get enough of it. Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, it's all awesome, I want more! Well, despite the fact that you're going to do it for the rest of your life, you're tied up with learning about mythology when you could be sharpening your skills as a designer, because after all, you're only going to be professional once you graduate, right? Scary isn't it? People say, well, maybe you should make some more time to work as a designer, do your other school work and then do more design, to which I think, woa, what about us who work 20 to 30 hours a week on top of going to school? In this day and age, I seldom meet kids who have everything paid for, and envy those who do in a way. Not pumping my own tires, but I pay for a lot of stuff on my own that most kids overlook: gas, food, materials, blah blah. So, if you're working a job because you don't want to dry your struggling parents out, you just don't have extra time to just work on becoming better at what you're graduating with. Almost every entry level job hires with an ideal 3 years experience, so....what are we supposed to do for 3 years after graduation if no one will hire us? I suppose I could freelance, but then again....3 years of not getting paid on time if/and at all doesn't sound too delicious. The system is a little screwy, i'm amazed at how many people don't even question it. Whatever, I graduate in about 10 days, so I'll just keep you posted.

Artifact SK 2010

2009-11-25T11:43:00.000-08:00

As some of you may have known, I was lucky enough to win the Rome Snowboards Shop Kid contest for 2009. I put together what I felt was some of my best work to show the design team at Rome...and it paid off. Each year, they do a snowboard design contest that lets shop employees create art to go on a limited edition board. It usually is a play off the current in-line theme of boards, so this was a fun spin to put on what the public knows as the Rome Artifact. The in-line Artifact is a super fun board, and this year features street weapons with a "Street Justice" theme. Playing on that concept, we came up with Meat Justice. Hope you enjoy, if you are able to get your hands on one, they're super limited, think twice about riding it!

Naw, just kidding, go shred!

Kickin' it off right!

2009-11-25T09:35:00.000-08:00

Well, a good friend of mine told me to cave and create a blog. I figured with the launch of my new website as well as the upcoming graduation, it might be fun to be able to watch my progress as I sink into the confusion of post-grad'ing as well as fighting the beast that is our current job market. First to post is my Senior Exhibition, displayed now until December 12th. Go check it out if you're in the Marquette area, some seriously good stuff.

Enjoy! I'm so glad I have yet ANOTHER social networking site to check daily. Hahaha, really?

-Mike