Andrea McNett

Graduation is nearing, which means it's almost time for my senior show. Our senior show is planned during a required portfolio class every graphic design student takes during their last semester. 

This post is a little out of date, but probably better late than never. Last month, I took a much needed break from the Minnesota cold and traveled to Roatán, Honduras for a week in the sun and heat. 

For many high school seniors, The Great College Hunt of 2013 is coming to a close. Acceptance letters are in hand and deposit checks are ready to be sent out. Their more youthful counterparts, the juniors, are just starting their own Hunt.

This fall was rough for me. I had an appendectomy that resulted in one complication after another, even though the initial surgery went well. As I've started to put my life back together and distance myself from the experience, I've realized I've learned a lot.

But first, some background.

tenKsolar originally hired me to be a graphic and web design intern. The basic job description listed updating web content, creating trade show materials, drawing technical diagrams and revising printed materials as responsibilities. I saw the position as a opportunity to try a lot of different things related to design and dip my toes into some marketing. Add that to steady hours and a short commute and I was sold.

Within the first week, my manager asked me if I was up to completely redesigning the website. It was a daunting task, but I was game. The old website (pictured below) was a mess. One of my coworkers lovingly described it as a "choose-your-own-adventure" website, as the code was broken, the organization was illogical and content was unstructured. I started from scratch.

I started with a lot of wireframes. So. Many. Wireframes. I was fresh out of art school and my brain needed something to bridge between art and design. Drawing was just the thing. As I mentioned in a previous post, I displayed my work so my coworkers would provide feedback.

About partway through the wireframe process, my manager asked me to explore the redesign of a new logo. The existing logo was okay at best and hard to work with. Marketing materials were described as "heavy" and "unfriendly." I believed that the success of the website hinged on the success of the brand as a whole. So a new indentity was created.

More sketching ensued. I presented 3 almost final concepts that were whittled down from 135 sketches. One was chosen to go through weeks of revisions until the final was solidified.

The new logo and new website made it easy to completely redo the entire identity. Printed materials, letterhead, PowerPoint templates (the hardest part) and a brand book were developed. The website remained my focus, though. I greatly improved my coding skills (thanks to Ben and a helluva lot of googling ) and became engrossed in the nuances of interactive design and development.

The new logo and website represent tenKsolar's innovative product and customer service, respectively. The new logo is bolder, more flexible and system oriented to reflect tenKsolar's innovations in solar technology. It also will allow the company to evolve and grow with minor modifications. During my internship, tenK Energy was established as subsidiary of the larger tenKsolar. Their logo is nearly the same, allowing for further brand equity development.

tenKsolar is a manufacturer that does not sell its products directly to customers, but they market to installers, end customers, investors and financiers, to name a few. This posed a challenge. There are a range of users--with varying solar expertise--that would be visiting this site. The content architecture and navigation reflects this. It's easy to scan with the use of headings, but contains more detailed information for experts. A variety of content--ranging from technical papers, illustrations, photographs and paragraphs--suits a variety of users with different learning types and knowledge of solar.

When I first started, a little over a month ago, the task was daunting. Many of the site's problems are organizational, so I decided early on in the process that it would be better to start with a clean slate. My supervisor agreed, but it was up to me to decide the process.

I spend a lot of time educating myself about design process, so I knew I had to begin with a site map, move on to wire framing, then make mock-ups and so on. But there was one important part of my process that was missing: collaboration. I used to be one of those people that hated teamwork, but as the lone web designer in the office, I suddenly missed the studio experience.

Then, I changed my outlook. I think the ability to design is inherent in all people. Design, after all, is nothing more than problem solving. I think my father is one of the better "non-designer designers." My parents take home-improvement to the extreme (I don't remember a time they haven't been working the house) and my dad has built a small wood-working shop in one end of our barn. I was home last weekend and he showed me his latest creation: two beautiful sliding closet doors crafted out of reclaimed cherry paneling. The project had taken a considerable amount of craft and problem solving. He had a limited amount of supplies, pre-determined dimensions and a specific visual aesthetic. That sounds a lot like what I do every day.

With this philosophy, I'm actually surrounded by designers, just like I was back in Glasgow. It'd be great if I could make an office wide announcement proclaiming every employee a designer and then go on to make a beautifully crafted website, but most people believe they're "not really a creative/visual/artistic person." Therefore, I had to be a bit more sneaky.

First, I plastered my cubicle with my work. Using masking tape (Scotch tape doesn't hold and there's an office-wide tack shortage), I hung every printed and hand drawn thing I made up on my wall. When I ran out of space, I replaced it with more. This was really helpful for me (I like looking at composition from a distance), but it did wonders for engagement. I was soon that "crazy new girl with all the drawings on the wall." My co-workers would often look, comment and even critique what I had done.

My co-workers could also be test subjects. Sometimes designers can be a pain to do user testing on. We're trained to look at certain things and often will spend too much time critiquing non-essential elements. Furthermore, the best user testing includes a range of abilities and designers tend to be pretty tech-savvy. Therefore, finding a good mix of people to do user testing with can be a struggle. I had no such trouble. I simply tested on my co-workers, all of whom had wonderful ideas and suggestions. They also knew the company better than me, and many offered valuable insight for content creation.

I also just asked a lot of questions. I'm a pretty quiet worker. I like to put my headphones in and just work away in my own little bubble. I still listen to a lot of Spotify at work, but I made a point in asking a lot of questions to a lot of people. This solidified my understanding of the company early on.

I sort of knew it was coming before I left Scotland. My Scottish friends would remark "you must be excited to be going home soon" to which I would give them a half-hearted "I guess so" as a response. While I really missed my friends and family, beautiful Minnesota summer weather and the coziness of my own apartment, I knew that it would be difficult for me to leave Scotland.

My months in Scotland were like a really long "vacation." I use the term "vacation" liberally because I've never been the sit-around-on-the-beach sort of vacationer. I'd rather be exploring and learning. In Scotland, I was always a train ride away from a place I had never been and the Art School (pictured above) had so much to teach me.

Of course, there is plenty to explore and discover back home, but I just feel a little out of sorts, like part of my mind is back in Scotland. Perhaps I didn't take enough time for the transition period. I landed in the U.S. on Saturday and by Tuesday I was sitting in a cubicle.

The first week back was rough. Everything that had been so familiar was suddenly new again. Things I hated about the U.S.--traffic, health insurance companies, and the WI recall election--were suddenly bearing down on me. Scotland seemed so far away--sort of like a dream that only I had experienced. I found it hard to explain my experience to inquiring friends and family. You can only get so far describing the weather. 5 months was a long time and a lot changed.

Slowly, but surely, things improved. I settled into a routine and started enjoying my home again. I started to remember certain things I really missed like the farmer's markets, Target (Tesco really isn't a good equivalent), weekend trips back to my family's farm, and the general atmosphere of Minneapolis in the summer. I also started incorporating "little pieces" of Scotland into my daily life: a well kept sketchbook, photos of my favorite landscapes above my desk, and occasional Scottish folk music.

I spent my last week in Scotland helping with the degree show at the GSA. I worked with a lovely illustrator named Victoria. I spent a lot of time standing on a chair hanging things, but it was an extremely valuable experience. I'm so glad I stayed in Scotland for it and I hope to blog about it some more soon!

My time was up in Scotland on Saturday, June 2nd, so I made the journey back to the U.S. I took the picture above on the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh. The trip went will and I even landed in O'hare 30 minutes early! I met my parents and they then drove me back to Wisconsin for a few days, where I took my things out of storage. On Monday, I drove back to Minneapolis in my new (well, used) car.

On Tuesday, I started a new job at tenKsolar, a small solar company in the Twin Cities. I'm tasked with revamping their website and I'm excited to see what I come with. My summer job hunt was long, but I'm glad it led me to where I am. I'm learning a lot and putting my full skill set to work. Of course, you can expects lots of blogging about this new career chapter.

Oban is about 100 miles northwest of Glasgow on the western shore of Scotland. It's a beautiful seaside village located on a bay.

Oban is known as Scotland's Seafood Capital, so there are a lot of chippies and other venders selling goodies.

This particular stand even had live crabs out front. They were still moving around!

We wandered around Oban and up to McCaig's Tower, which was built by a banker around the turn of the century. He had an elaborate plan, but only managed to build the outer ring. The location isn't bad--it overlooks the entire town and bay.

We ate a delicious pub (Sloan's) and watched the sunset on the pier.

The next morning, we took a ferry to the Island of Kerrera, which is situated right off the coast.

We spent a good part of the day hiking. It's unusually warm in Scotland, so we couldn't pick a more beautiful day. The island was about the most Scottish thing I've ever seen. There were plenty of sheep, including this little guy:

There were even sheep dogs...

...and Highland cows hanging out near a wrecked boat.

The weather really does suck. It's hard to believe that one of the reasons I wanted to come to Scotland was because I thought the weather would be better than in Minnesota. Yeah, well, I was wrong. Sure, the winter was marginally better (especially compared to the Minnesota's mild winter) but it's the middle of May and we feel lucky when the thermometer gets above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It really does rain all the time. 

The food really isn’t that great. My first night in Scotland, we were served pizza with chips (french fries). I initially thought this was an attempt to make us Americans feel at home, but the Scots eat chips with everything because they're probably the best part of the cuisine. That said, there are a few good restaurants in Glasgow, but coming from Minneapolis was a disappoint. I think going to a farmer's market will be one of the first things I do when I'm back home. (A food related side note: Haggis isn’t all the different from sausage, but I don’t really like sausage.) 

The accent is tough at first. Prior to coming to Scotland, I didn’t realize how diverse English is. Sure, I speak differently than someone from the south, but I can understand them. I said "huh?," "what?," and "can you repeat that?" a lot in the first few weeks I was here. Then, magically, I started to understand everyone (except for cab drivers).

They’re Scottish, not English. Confusing Scotland and England is like confusing Wisconsin and Illinois. It's never, ever to be done.

Minnesota nice is nothing compared to Scottish nice. I thought the midwest was full of the nicest people in the world, but the Scots make my home look rude. It’s the sort of place where strangers ask how your day is, say sorry for things that aren’t anybody’s fault, and give directions without a second thought.

You're not being lazy, you're relaxing. My parents and I went out for a big Sunday dinner when they visited last month. We spent a good 2-3 hours at the restaurant and we didn't even have dessert or tea after the main meal. Sundays are for leisure, not catching up on emails. It's considered more important to spend time with family and friends than to be productive. This has been an extremely healthy change for me and I'll really miss this when I return to the United States.

Pubs are an important part of British culture. I don't think you can really understand pub culture without experiencing it first hand. Sure, the US has bars with "regulars" but the pubs are so numerous, entertaining and safe here. One of my favorite's, Dram, host biweekly Scottish folk music jam sessions.

Be prepared to have a flexible schedule. For me, this was a luxury. Back home, I’m used to having every hour of everyday planned (that’s what you get for taking 18 credits and working 30 hours a week), but that all came to a screeching halt here. Sure, I’m expected to be in the studio (most of the time) and there are planned activities, but most of work is done when I /choose/ to do it. This can, however, be a problem for some people

Be prepared to work on your own and manage your own time. My type-A, to-do-list-keeping self didn’t have any trouble with this, but I have a number of friends who did. There’s only one deadline--and that’s at the end of the year when you turn in all your work at once. If you have a serious problem with procrastination, the Glasgow School of Art may not be for you. The teachers do little to make sure you’re keeping on track and in some departments attendance requirements are extremely relaxed.

Projects are much more open and requirements are vague. At the start of every project, we receive a brief. Usually these briefs contain guidelines, rather than rules. The medium, your work schedule, how you complete your research and the final outcome are all up to you. This requires a lot more creativity and can be challenging at times.

I only work on one project at a time. I've had two classes the entire semester: my FoCI course (see below) and my main studio class. This studio class only works on one project at a time, with a few inductions (where you learn how to use a specific piece of equipment or software), artist talks and life drawing sessions sprinkled in. I'm used to multitasking, so focusing on one project at a time takes some serious will power, but I think it's been really beneficial to me.

However, a project is never completed. Rather than having clear project deadlines (and even semesters), the Glasgow School of Art operates on a much more continuous model. There are “deadlines” for projects, but you’re expected to improve it on your own after the final critique. Furthermore, your projects aren’t assessed until one large portfolio review at the end of the year.

There is no liberal education requirement. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the liberal education model from my Scottish friends, as very few (if any) schools in the UK require students to take classes outside of their area of study. The slight exception, for the Glasgow School of Art, is the “Forum of Critical Inquiry” (FoCI). Every Tuesday, all students in my year of study attend 2-hour long lectures about a topic relating to art and design. A variety of topics are offered and I took a class about women and minorities in modern art and film. If you’re looking to satisfy your biology lab requirement, it isn’t going to happen at the GSA.

Don’t worry about critiques. I hardly got any sleep the night before my first critique. I was so eager to impress my instructors and peers and had no idea how the critique would be run. It actually was extremely similar to critiques back home at the University of Minnesota. You get in a small group of students, often with an instructor, and just talk about the work. People aren’t mean, but rather helpful.

Ideas are more important than execution. This doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about execution--your instructors will notice that bad mounting job, but ideas are so so so much more important. This drawing I completed (pictured below) during a life drawing session is a perfect example. I struggle with life drawing, as I'm often too focused on execution and making the model look realistic. My instructor encouraged me to let go of this and simply focus on composition.

We arrived at North Berwick, which is just south of Edinburgh, via train and walked a short distance the the centre. We spent a little time in the gift shop and eating lunch before boarding a boat.

The water was pretty chopping and I got pretty seasick (I'll save you the details), but I'm still glad I went. It was a photographer's dream and I'm really thankful for that telephoto lens.

First, we circled Craigleith.

Craigleith is home to a variety of sea life, including seals!

Next, we went to Bass Rock, which is famous for it's colony of gannets. Every little white dot in the photo bellow is a gannet. It's less of colony and more of a city.

Gannets have a single mate during their life and nest on this rock.

Before the gannets moved in, Bass Rock was home to a prison (I imagine it to be like Alcatraz).

College of Design Freshman participating in a Welcome Week activity.

Studying abroad should be easier. As a senior in high school, I met with an advisor to discuss the graphic design major. It was sort of a long time ago, but I remember my mom being impressed with how much they pushed study abroad. It sounded more of a mandate than an option. Fast forward a few years, I was really disappointed with the lack of options I had relative to other majors, as there were only 22 listed programs for graphic design. By comparison, accounting has 49 programs (according to the Learning Abroad Center).

73 percent of employers say study abroad is an important addition to a resume. We're a global society and students should easily be able to be part of that. University of Minnesota's graphic design program needs to expand their study abroad options and make it easier to meet requirements abroad by allowing greater flexibility in curriculum. Which brings me to my next point...

The curriculum needs to be more flexible. Study abroad students aren't the only ones who are frustrated with the rigidity of the program. There are a number of classes that only offered spring or fall semester and few "take this or that" courses. Instead of taking the two mandatory drawing courses, why couldn't we choose from a selection of courses that were offered in the both the design and art schools? Furthermore, why couldn't certain students test out of these early requirements by submitting portfolios for review? We're allowed to test out of calculus and freshman writing. Why isn't it the same for basic illustration courses?

Portfolio review should be in the first, not second year of study. I realize opinions vary wildly, but I think portfolio review (the process of each student going before faculty members for a oral presentation that determines whether or not they can continue in the program) is important to the program. Some students who don't pass make an appeal and continue in the program, but many others simply go down another path. Not everyone has what it takes to be a graphic designer and this process identifies those students and allows them to consider a different major. Currently, portfolio review for graphic design is held in midway through the 3rd semester. Interior and apparel design students are reviewed during their 2nd semester. I don't see why graphic design has to be different and it puts students at a disadvantage. Changing your major midway through your sophomore year is a lot different than doing so at the end of your freshman year.

Job skills should be taught from the onset. Very little of my freshman year was spent learning about what graphic designers actually did. Fortunately, I was inquisitive and found most of this information myself through the career office and the internet. I took a 4 credit basic graphic design course called "The Graphic Studio." I learned a lot of valuable stuff in that class, but it would've been a perfect platform to discuss career possibilities in graphic design.

Sure, a one credit class called "Career & Internship Preparation for Design" is offered, the career office is great and some professors make an effort to bring in real clients for projects. There is a lot of room for improvement, though. Why not introduce freshman to career possibilities? Have sophomores design (working!) portfolio sites? Require juniors to register in a career class? And make seniors attend informational interviews and studio tours?

The focus needs to be on digital. Starting next semester, there are new curriculum changes in response to this shift. Personally, I think it's too little, too late. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, computer systems design and related services is expected to grow 61 percent between 2010 and 2020. This statistic is simply too large to ignore. I understand that a complete curriculum overhall is unrealistic, but most students don't start interactive design until their junior or senior year. By then, it's too late. Freshman should be designing websites, mobile apps and other interactive interfaces. They should be taught how to code, too. Without Dreamweaver. We all complain about having to code, but I think most graphic design students are frustrated that they don't know how. This isn't our fault as we were simply never taught how.

We need better teachers. I've had some great teachers while at the University of Minnesota, a few of the best in my 17 years of schooling, but I've also had quite a few bad teachers too. I suppose this goes for every department, but there's always a mass of students avoiding certain teachers each semester. When I tell my parents, they roll their eyes and say "Oh, tenured faculty!" In reality, these aren't tenured professors. The really bad ones are simply "teaching specialists" or "teaching assistants." The College of Design needs to improve their hiring practices so that teacher who preforms poorly on the end-of-the-semester assessments (a survey that students are required to fill out) are weeded out. I can't be the only student filling them out honestly.

Registration should be less traumatic. Prior to just a few days ago, I was wait listed for all but one of my required classes. My status as a study abroad student had something to do with it, but Facebook was full of similar stories from my peers. Every semester it's the same story. A single 20-seat section for a class that 40 people need to take will be added. A bunch of us will show up at student services, distraught and demanding that something be done. A few weeks of waiting, and another section finally will be added. The registration process is digitized. It shouldn't be that hard to predict how many students need to take a class.

Ann-Kathrin arrived Thursday night and we boarded a Friday morning train to Arrochar. Once in Arrochar, we found my parents and started driving around. We stopped every so often to take photos or get out and hike. The weather was a lot better than it was at the beginning of March.

We hiked to the top of a hill near Inveraray Castle. The Firth of Clyde bellow was so calm.

We also spent some time walking the shores of Loch Lomond. I couldn't get over how calm the water was.

We returned to Arrochar to get some pub food and spend the night at a cute little B & B. I woke up to this view:

However, as a designer, I think it's important to be an early adapter. By the estimates of my friends and I, we were easily within the first million users for Google+, probably the first 500,000. But, I was a bit more reluctant with Pinterest. Honestly, it seemed like a giant waste of time. Then again, aren't all social networks? So I swallowed my pride and signed up for an invitation.

I've only had an account for a few weeks, but I've quickly come around. It's usefulness goes beyond finding the perfect cupcake frosting recipe and wedding invitation. Here's why:

Pinterest is a powerful bookmarking tool. Sure, bookmarks are built into your browser, but I remember websites based on images, not their names. It's a bit cliche, but it's great for bookmarking recipes. It's simply faster and easier to find what you're looking for when you're given pictures instead of words.

Mood boards are easier. Prior to Pinterest, I made mood boards by searching and bookmarking inspiration, saving images to my computer, and placing them into an InDesign document. Now, it's a onestep process. Granted, there is still a use for hard copy mood boards as I don't foresee presenting my Pinterest account to a client anytime soon--but I could be wrong. It's amazing how fast you can generate a mood board via Pinterest, which means you get more time to do other (more important) things related to design.

Finding random design inspiration is an everyday occurrence. I follow a number of graphic designers on Pinterest so every time I open my account, I'm bombarded with inspiration. With hashtags, exploring is effortless.

Last but not least, it's driving a lot of traffic to this website. Within hours of joining, I figured out something really important about Pinterest: if you're a designer or artist, it's extremely easy to "pin" your own work. Pinterest isn't like most social networks in that your stuff only gets seen by people who are "following" or have "friended" you. Pinterest is completely public so that if I post a photo of my cat with the caption "my cat" and someone searches for a cat, my photo may appear. Say this hypothetical cat lover really likes my photo and decides to click on it only to find that I've written a brilliant blog post about how great my cat is. This cat lover is now on my site, reading my material and (hopefully) looking at my other work.

I actually have the data to back this up. Thanks to the expertise of Ben Demaree, I've been using Google Analytics since the inception of my site. Thanks to handy traffic sources reporting, I now know that 15 percent of my total site traffic is now coming from Pinterest. It has now surpassed Twitter, even though I tweet every new blog post I write. 15 percent may not seem like a lot, but when you consider Pinterest's relatively small user base, it's pretty impressive.

Try to learn something. Sure, vacations are a time for fun and relaxation, but it can be just as rewarding to learn something. I'm glad we took a day to visit Dachau, a concentration camp outside of Munich. It was pretty depressing and not the way most college students would chose to spend their spring break, but I feel like I have a greater understanding of WWII because of it.

Photo credit: Molly Kruser

Even if you don't like beer, go to a beer hall in Munich. I've never been a big drinker and I don't particularly like beer (even though I'm a college student from Wisconsin), so I was a bit reluctant to spend a few hours in a beer hall. Turns out, beer halls are more about socialization than drinking. There was a polka band, dancing, good food and an adorable group of elderly Bavarians who showed us the ropes.

Try the local cuisine, even if it costs more. I took my culinary chances a few times while on this trip and tried to order traditional cuisine whenever I could, even if it wasn't what I was hungry for and cost a bit more. This meant beer, spargel, spätzle, weisswurst and pretzels for the first part of my trip and tapas, rose, sangria, chorizo, Iberian ham and lots of seafood for the second half. (I liked the food of second half better.)

Another food related tip: markets are great places to save money. I'm from Minnesota, the land of 10,000 farmers markets, so this should've dawned on me earlier. It turns out that markets aren't just for locals. They can be great places to get cheap, high quality food while traveling. In addition to beautiful produce, European markets often offer more hot food. Markets can also be great places to experience local culture. I visited Munich's Viktualienmarkt and Barcelona's La Boqueria just about every day I was there.

Let yourself get lost. Getting lost in Munich wasn't our intent, but we didn't worry about correcting ourselves and saw a side of the city that wasn't in the guide books. Sometimes, I think the best way to city is just to wander around. If we had paid attention to the tourist map, we wouldn't have found this this beautiful beach on the banks of the River Iser.

Don't let the weather ruin your vacation. I visited the Alps and never actually saw the them due to a particularly foggy string of weather. Sure, Molly and I couldn't live out our childhood fantasy of running through the meadows above Salzburg singing "The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music," but we tried to make the most of it by readjusting our plans. We still had some great hikes, even if we had to wear a lot of layers.

Pick-pocketers are sneaky. My wallet was stolen getting off the train from the airport in Barcelona. It happened so fast, I'll never know the details. Barcelona is a safe city and it's unlikely you'll run into any sort of violence, but it is full of tourists (as shown above in front of Gaudi's Casa Batlló) that are easy targets for unscrupulous thieves.

Unless you're walking around with a fanny pack and your face buried in a map, don't feel bad about being a tourist. In fact, embrace it. My family even took one of those hop-on-hop-off bus tours in Barcelona, complete with a commentary through headphones. We learned a lot about the city in a short amount of time.

Visit a cathedral, even if you're not religious. Visiting the Sagrada Familia was one of the highlights of my trip and I'm pretty far from Catholic. There is such a thing as Cathedral overload, but a seeing a few during each trip to Europe can be worth it. Even if you're not a design nerd like myself (I like to sit and analyze every architectural decision), they're good places to relax and reflect in the middle of your travels.