Design Inspiration

The idea of the design inspiration section is to share stories. Stories can be insightful or make you laugh, they can let you know you’re not the only one with doubt, but most importantly they allow you to understand. Post your story below or share something that inspired you today design related or not. Keep it to 500 words or less!

At Portfolio Center it’s always interesting to see how people found their way here, since after all it is not your every day design school. So my inspiration is how I found my way to Portfolio Center.

To be quite honest the portfolio is just a conversation starter if you think about it.

My story starts in Denver, CO and actually has nothing to do with me having the best design portfolio after graduation or the best job – in fact I had neither - for me it has been all about relationships.

“Rick, you’ve taught me more in the last 5 minutes about design and typography than I’ve learned while I was in undergrad. Could I get your contact info and talk with you more about “design,” maybe show you a couple projects?” I asked. “No. I am sorry dude, I’m way too busy to take on another student. I am a teacher, a father, and I run a design studio,” replied Rick. “Man I won’t send you 20 emails, I’ll be respectful of your time. Just the way you talk about things is very insightful,” I said jokingly. Staring at me and then at my black book that I called a portfolio. He answered, “Alright, I’ll reply with one word. Here is my business card.” I took it from his hand and quickly scanned the text: Rick Griffith – Matter Studio. I then asked,” Rick, what does your studio specialize in?” “You don’t know what I do? Before you email me, look me up dude.”

A few months later I found myself at Rick’s studio helping him with his web project. Like the guys at Dress Code say, “Fake it till you make it.” I had no idea how to build an ecommerce website for Rick but I figured I could do it knowing just basic HTML. Little did I know I was in over my head but I worked day and night figuring out how PHP works and how to integrate it into HTML. Eventually I built a working site and made a few new friends along the way!

What I learned from Rick working at his studio, because of that one chance to talk about my work, taught me a lot about myself. That ultimately affected my design, knowledge, and ultimate goal of pursuing a career in design, starting at P.C. Without this relationship I would not be where I am today.

Design for me has been like learning a second language. Not just a language that you speak and write, but one that you draw, color, and erase. The work load here at P.C. is heavy but well rewarding. It has its ups and downs for sure, but it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. I don’t know where I’ll be after P.C. but I’m looking forward to the unknown potential.


Rick's first email reply to me was:

Pretty. Incoherent. Two words.
-Rick

Art & Copy

I checked this movie out last night at the Plaza Theater in Midtown Atlanta last night, and was pretty impressed. It gives a great understanding to what the advertising field is all about, what its become, and where its going. Interviews with some of the most creative thinkers of industry made the film quite interesting. Learn where the great campaigns such as Got Milk? and Nike's Just Do It. came from. Check out the trailer below.



- Eric Dewyngaert, President of Atlanta Student Board

Daft Punk Dance

I came across these 2 music videos on YouTube that I find particularly interesting when it comes to design, typography and motion. The main idea I took away from these is that sometimes function can dictate a design. The “great” design in these video is that it’s so organic and can be used in so many different ways, yet the concept and final outcome are the same! So the same idea with different words and a different song could produce the same type of effect but a completely different dance!

In each video the dancers have painted words on specific parts of their body which are the lyrics from the song. Each word, in order to make it legible the person moves that body part into position – when you combine multiple words you start to create a set of specific movements. Speed up the music and the robotic movements become rhythmic and fluid. This idea interested me because there are many possibilities on what a costume for professional dancers might look like. Another idea I had was the words could be moved to different areas on the body and create a different dance to the same song. The same ideas apply to the hands video – what if he had gloves with type on them or if the type was glow in the dark? Be kind of cool to see that guy in a club or in a music video.

Oh and if you want one of those robot helmets of theirs check this link out.

Girls Dancing

Hands Dancing

House Cleaning

Went through all the spam followers and blocked them. If you got blocked unintentionally send me a P.M. and I will add you back on the list!

Flash Basic WebSite using AS3 + source files

Super Simple As3
Driven Website:

Recently it has come to my attention that students at Portfolio Center are wanting to get their hands wet in flash to help promote themselves early on in their career before they graduate. Great idea! The only problem is you have to take a class in flash to learn the program and if you don't have time in your schedule it can be difficult to know where to even begin. I thought I would start posting different tutorials on this blog that I know are easy to read/ have all the correct action script 3 code/ and are relevant to what students want to get done. So this first link goes to making a very basic website using mostly As3(trust me learn it now, it will make your life a whole lot easier in the end)

Gallery Link

I have also included a 2nd link to the Adobe Layers Flash tutorial site if you want to start exploring on your own.

Do not hesitate to ask questions. I will be posting more tutorials and progress to harder things down the road. Tutorials to look forward to are xml, jquery, papervision, etc.. that all integrate with flash and are currently being used by many interactive studios. I will also be posting a few polls to see what everyone would like to get from the tutorials.

New BLog

A new blog has been established for the AIGA Atlanta Student board to publish design related articles.