Lily daMota

Wild planet

2011-06-05T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hey, did you know I am going to work at wild planet? this is an adventure. Is your co-op going to be arduous? intimidating? boring even? Well after you read this e-mail correspondence I had with my soon-to-be boss I think it will eradicate any apprehension you may have about YOUR internship:

Lily,

To prepare, you might watch some episodes of Fringe, a couple zombie movies, and visit your local Kid Robot/boutique toy store. And look at Makita power tools. That’s about as vague as I can get before you sign an NDA.

Cheers,
Chip

OMG I SO LIED. IT IS GOING TO BE AMAZING, LOSERS!!!!!

But in all seriousness, I have only been out west once, and it was los angeles for a week. so literally, this is adventure city, population me. I've always thought of myself as a new englander down to my bones, but everyone says san francisco rocks, so, i guess it is time for lily damota to find out for herself EXACTLY WHAT IS GOING ON IN SAN FRANCISCO.

mono e mono, lily v. san fran.

I'll let you know.

people drawing

2011-06-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I've been doing it. Overall I'm trying to make more of an effort to integrate my more-illustrative hand into my design projects. I think it is definitely a strength for me, and I need to showcase it as much as possible. Also, duh, I love illustration and it very well may be what I end up doing, or atleast hopefully be integrate with it, and uh, and no matter what, it never hurts to get better at things, NOW DOES IT???

So, I've been people-ing more. Here are some recent guys. One girl is a 3d-glasses wearer, the other two girls are target users for my shoe design, the fourth is a random-doodle guy :).

Image Boards

2011-06-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

At first I didn't like the style of the image-boards in the way they were taught. They seemed very aerospostale-graphic t-shirt to me, which sure, is fine for some people. but just isn't really my style. so it was hard for me to get excited about them at first. I enjoy working in collagey-2d type ways.

In the end I found peace with the imageboards. Here, I can show you as they get go from being mediocre to progressively better. (I should maybe tell you I cheated on the dutch design one... which i re-did today... but, trust me, it was formerly mediocre. just go ahead and imagine it 1/8 as interesting and flat as hell ad you are there.) The last one I spent way to much time on and it almost became a frigging digital painting. I'm not sure if that is good or just crazy. Here they are:

Looking back at old work

2011-06-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, isn't it funny how things look so terrible just months after you thought they were cool? What is that. I guess people are all just narcissists and we like to think we are doing this amazing job, but in reality most of the time we are still pretty sub-par and just too blinded by our own self-love to see it.

Anyway I don't like that shoe I posted up here a few months ago, like. I find it embarrassing almost. I think that is kind of why I never got into blogging. I can be pretty self-critical and if i dont think something is really great i really down just want to spew it out into inter-space, ya know?

But maybe it is my destiny to be blog-famous. I used to get pretty into live-journal when I was like 16, but... I don't know, I told fun stories.

I definitely have gotten a lot more comfortable this year in sharing my work, both drawing wise and presentation. This is a good thing. I will prove this in the following eighteen posts.

shoe class submission

2011-02-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

this was my effort to get into the shoe studio, somewhat wack, but worked it out pretty fast. starting to get the first years style down more. i passed the 'overlay test' per patrick thailkill and now i will redo one of my projects for my portfolio, more to come!

recent sketches

2011-02-23T07:36:00.001-08:00

where lily damota is at

2010-11-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

well.. goals here. i feel like i really got 'behind the 8-ball' this quarter by investing so much time into my portfolio... several weeks into the quarter even.. STORY OF MY LIFE. but a job was achieved. First-years. Boston. Stoked.

i've been doing a decent amount of illustration work in illustrator, too. which is somewhat unrelated to developing ID skills directly, but fulfilling and a skill i am happy to improve on none-the-less.... seems important to continue to build the professional relationship with the woman who has been giving me the work, even if causes some slack in school now and then.

Still getting things done, anyhow. other goals included improving sketching and rendering... pretty happy with the new techniques learned in roller's class and can definitely see myself using them in the future.. as for the sketching i am now trying to work in pen and marker which has been kind of a difficult adjustment since ive always just worked in pencil... i see progress, however.

Always wish i was investing more time into all my work, I might be getting a little better at this.

New Goals:

Win housewares contest
Change world with innovative beehive
in spare time redo info graphic and then a new concept for your lame pen.

what makes design not terrible, why i am not terrible, etc.

2010-11-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

Good design can be an aesthetic piece, or be a tool that really enhances a persons' quality of life. Engaging a user with an exciting and fulfilling experience is of particular importance to me..... Also of equal validity is how materials and labor are sourced... as well as the environmental externalities that that are caused as a result of production, use and disposal of a product.

What makes Lily daMota good as a designer.. in particular? Well. I think I possess many qualities that typically aren't congruous in one person..... I can make cartoons, illustrate and create fun graphics and patterns... and i can learn just about anything (urban ecology, japanese, beekeeping... whatever....) I love exploring and trying new things. Roll all this together and combine it with the fact that I am capable of making a broad spectrum of design products that are completely aesthetic and rockin'?? I am literally unstoppable. Mostly because of the learning stuff, too many people are afraid of failure and don't take risks, i am the opposite... and become bored very easily. i am always looking to 'greener pastures' in just about every aspect of my life, this means i am never satisfied, which from a design stand-point can be pretttty good.

Also it is a literal fact that i am exciting, fun.... and.... people, people just tend to really like me.

The thing i value most in my product designs has definitely come to be integrity.. integrity in purpose and in material specifications and longevity... bam.

Thanks now, more later!

earrings

2010-11-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

i did some sketch-renderings of earring concepts, i was happier with how these came out then the more 'finalized' versions. anyway...always more work!

mixed media

2010-11-10T15:57:00.000-08:00

I've always very much enjoyed collages and am excited to take a stab at mixed media with this next project.... here is some cool stuff i have grabbed up off of print and pattern, etc.... here and there over time! all cool stuff.

Infrographics

2010-11-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

Infographics are neat, I feel like a fool for not using them up until this point... Down-right foolish, honestly. Here are some cool and interesting infographics I stumbled across in my travels.

Groovy Cat

2010-10-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

We recently got a new cat named Groovy Cat. As of late I have found myself wishing that our cat was somehow endowed with the voice and persona of Tim Gunn, a host on Project Runway. If this were so, he would be able to approach me and my roommate in the morning and say 'Good Morning Designers.' Also, he would be able to offer words of encouragement in times of hardship, such as, 'Make it Work.' Unfortunately this is not the case, and I must persevere with no talking cat... which at times is quite difficult. More later.

Hello, let me tell you about a designer I like.

2010-10-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

A designer I have really enjoyed as of late is a metalsmith named Monique Rancourt, (moniquerancourt.com.) I saw her work at a craft show in Boston, bought some earrings and have been watching her since. When I spoke to her at her booth she said that she was always experimenting with new techniques for her jewelry.. some of her chain bracelets are all dipped in molten plastic which give a really interesting affect.. All in all her work is just really unique unto itself and really well done. I can also honestly say I had never seen anything like some of her pieces, and I give her kudos for establishing a line of beautiful handmade jewelry that is distinctly her own. Even though all her pieces are really different, there is a cohesive undertone that makes them collectively identifiable as 'monique rancourt'... it is definitely an admirable thing to have such a strong, identifiable sense of design perspective.

brand!

2010-10-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

'David and Scotti' is a handmade, eco-friendly Italian brand that is sold in Department stores internationally. Even though they are a big company, David and Scotti still value handwork over mass production because the appreciate the quality and aesthetic it imbues their products with. It is good to know that there are companies out there willing to invest in the labor that gives craft and diy such strong appeal. The bags are also made exclusively from materials made in nature, nothing plasticized.

I think the bags in general have a good visual diversity to them, and you can really sense that a human worked in the details of the bag, in this bag ^ it is the hand-knotting, braiding and rouching.

I like that the company is willing to invest in people vs. machines and is conscious about their material choices. Most companies don't care that there are externalized environmental costs for their material slections and just take shortcuts to get the best mass-produced aesthetic for the least amount of money. David and Scotti took a risk by going handmade and choosing natural materials (and not being completely exclusive in their price range.) I would like to work for a company that is willing to innovate, and take risks and not just do what is most cheap and convenient to be just a 'neck ahead' in the short term... and rather is forward looking in the impact of their designs. All in all I guess my future plans operate more around a set of values then around a particular product range or brand I would like to design for :/!

Hey, portfolios man.

2010-09-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Lily daMota here!

What should a portfolio have to be totally great? Well, I think there are a few qualities that are literally necessary for a portfolio to be attractive to potential employers.

*Dynamic, and to the point: No one likes to be bored. Avoid redundancy, keep it short and strong. Don't draw out projects.... even if your project is really cool, it is unlikely I want to look at it for 20 pages. Page layouts should follow some sort of logical grid, but not to the point where the viewer loses interest and the projects start to blend together. Color, graphics and high quality photographs are good attention grabbers and are particularly impactful when successfully integrated with sketches and other work.

*Organized and Progresses Logically: No one likes being confused, don't confuse your potential employer. People become angry and frustrated when they are confused, this will make you more likely to be thrown in the 'do not hire' pile.

*Personal: What does your portfolio say about you? Can I tell what kind of person you are? Am I going to remember something about you after I have gone through 20 other portfolios? Moreover is what is memorable what you want to memorable.

http://designdroplets.com/articles/portfolio-advice-back-basics/

^ Good point here, your portfolio should tell the viewer EXACTLY who you are. If in doubt, take it out.

http://www.designsojourn.com/designer-portfolio-shootout/

^Be aware of your own design capabilities and be able to tell a potential employer what it is YOU are good at!

http://www.allartschools.com/art-careers/graphic-design/graphic-design-portfolio
^Variety, simplify, catchy not kitschy.

Midterm Critique

2010-04-29T04:06:00.000-07:00

Target Consumer and Retail Space

2010-04-14T21:33:00.001-07:00

Target Consumer and Retail Space

2010-04-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

Product Assessment

2010-04-12T18:42:00.001-07:00

Brand Investigation

2010-04-05T21:00:00.000-07:00