Step One And A Half

I was disappointed yesterday and slightly down in a way because I had high expectations about this study and its arrangements and I feel that the responsible organisation hasn’t been clear about things at all. Yesterday some facts were revealed that -to me- made it all look less bright and wonderful and I ended up in deep thinkers mode. There are only four places available while they left the impression that there would be at least 10 to 15…

There were about 28 people in the room and about three decided not to go for it after we were given a presentation: do the maths… One fact was about wages which will be extremely low during the study which will be spread over three years. Once you’ve passed your exams your pay will be slightly higher. Another fact that surfaced was the level of education which is lower than I was told so I’d need to add three more years of study.

Ever since I came home yesterday I had been thinking about what I should do and I couldn’t make up my mind. I really needed to talk to someone close today and exchange thoughts, so I rang C. at the academy. I knew he would be able to answer some of my questions that were causing doubts. By the time we hung up -an hour plus later- I was feeling positive again because of his advice and enthusiasm and full of energy to start the process.

I’ll have to write a motivational letter and might have to retake the competence test. If I’ll go through to the second round I’ll have to have a chat with the employer and take a study assessment test. It all seems pretty strict so it’s gonna be interesting to see what will happen these next couple of weeks. I’m gonna be busy… Today I also received a request from a client to design an ad to send to wholesalers and to update the website for xMas.

While I was cleaning out one of my external hard discs I ran into a smaller version of the image below. I’d forgotten about it, about taking it but it put a smile on my face and because of that I’ve decided to post the bigger version. I miss my little friend…

I miss him…

The Letter

I’ve received a really cool letter from the Lowlands yesterday! Awesome! It came from my ex colleague [Gerrit Rietveld Academy] and friend Christiaan. I can’t explain what it means to me because some of you out there reading these lines probably won’t have a clue what I’m talking about but let me give it a try and let me explain my sentiment… If you still don’t understand then leave a comment for me to answer…
I’m a graphic designer [and multimedia designer] for 18 years already. When I started to learn how to produce camera ready artwork at some advertising agency 18 years ago, there was no such thing as a computer for design, print work or digital printing etc. I had to produce each and every brochure, leaflet, business card, poster, annual report-layout [etc.] manually: spending time in the darkroom producing raster images and at the drawing board, waxing and cutting text on paper output, placing all the elements on the layout, using registration and crop marks. Office automation had only just started and I was the first to learn at that advertising agency, on one of the first Apple Macs…
Typesetting [presentation of textual material in graphic form on paper or some other medium] was still a proper profession at print shops. This was all, way before desktop publishing became more popular for publishing than typesetting and the olden days things started to vanish… Anyway, the envelope that I got from Christiaan is one that he printed himself in 1976. 1976! I was still a girl drawing pictures and gazing out of windows catching a glimpse of some bug flying about. Living in my own little world not knowing what I would become later… [I actually wanted to become a nurse *I hear you think*]
So it has value to me because it’s old, it’s Christiaan’s and he designed and printed it himself, typesetting and not using some fancy CPU. Getting his fingers dirty with ink, the real deal! It’s only a vague memory to me since I found myself on the edge of transformation back then when I started my career. I have done the manual stuff but for two years or so before agencies slowly started to convert to computers. But the smell of ink and the sound of a Heidelberg is something you’ll never forget!
Thanks Christiaan for sending me something truly special!!! What a lovely surprise… emoticons/biggrin.gif