Ethan Fields

So far in this program I have not had much exposure to the graphic design world beyond our guest speakers. Through these speakers, though, I learned there are some overlapping qualities between the worlds of visual media and graphic design. Graphic design seems to be incredibly challenging. I have little to no exposure to web design and it seems very daunting. The character qualities that come into play are comparable to my own field of visual media from punctuality and dedication to application and repetition all of these qualities are key parts of both disciplines. In my brief glimpse into the design side of things I have learned that the career path is massively competitive and that you really must put in a lot of work just to make it to the bottom line when it comes to corporate careers. Moving forward, I think I would like to see more design jobs that are not centered around the corporate ladder and hold more personal and artistic significance. I have met some truly kind, funny, and interesting people in the design program and I am very much looking forward to seeing what they do in this program and beyond. Design is a great career choice for these individuals and something I could see myself doing in a different life.  

Visual media and graphic design obviously share core elements. However, visual media tends to focus more on storytelling and environment setting while in contrast graphic design focuses more on conveying information in a concise and succinct manner. Carrying over what I’ve learned about graphic design will help in the visual media program to more effectively express my artistic vision to a broader audience. Design also tends to be very much all about the tiny details which I personally have a tendancy to lose or glaze over in favor of the broader picture. I believe I could apply this to my own work to make more polished finished products. I think that design is also very representative of compromise. The product we as the consumer or viewer see is almost never what the designer had originally intended, much like what AJ discussed when she spoke to us. It goes through so many hands and so many changes that really only base elements of the designer’s vision are still present. This is also true in photo and video work as well, especially in the corporate realm where it has everything to do with what the client wants and very little to do with what you actually want to create. Personally, I do not believe the corporate rat race is for me, that is not to say I will not take a job that is presented to me and do my best at it, but more so that I cannot see myself truly finding happiness in that environment. What I do appreciate though, is learning more about the process in which designers go through, witnessing the creativity at play, and seeing those characteristics applied in real world scenarios.  

Of the leadership principles we heard about this week I’d say the top 3 I have personally displayed are “Have Backbone: Disagree and Commit”, “Customer Obsession”, and “Learn and Be Curious”.

Being in customer service for the last 10 years has taught me a lot about people and how to work with them while still retaining my dignity. There have been many businesses I have worked for with domineering or aggressive employers and catered to haughty, self-possessed customers. Most of the time if you approach a situation with maturity and grace while still holding your ground then usually the other party will at least meet you halfway. It is all about compromise. That, to me, is what “Have Backbone: Disagree and Commit” means.

“Customer Obsession” is my specialty, at least in terms of the service industry. When I am making customers their coffee, I take a lot of pride in the product I put out and the feedback I have gotten over the years has been overwhelmingly positive. I know what people want and I know how to give it to them.  

“Learn and Be Curious” is less something that is specific to my work life, and more something that I have as a principle in my life as a whole. I think learning and a good sense of curiosity will get you any place you could ever want to go. Learning is something that I will strive to do as long as I live, and I will never stop being curious and making discoveries about the world around me and translating that into my work and art. 

I would say the principle I would have the most difficult time adopting would be “Dive Deep” I tend to get lost in detail and am definitely more of a big picture thinker. Sometimes it can be hard for me to delve deeply into things unless I find them extraordinarily interesting. It is something I have been working on for a while and I am much better at being detail oriented now, but I think if we are talking corporate leadership, that would be my steepest learning curve. 

Throughout my life I have faced many opportunities to say yes to. Many I did say yes to and there are plenty when I did not. The biggest one that comes to mind for me is the opportunity to move to Seattle almost 10 years ago. I was barely 19 and had lived my entire life in East Tennessee. I resented the area I grew up in and resigned myself to being stuck there for most of my life. My best friend at the time presented me with the option of moving across the country away from my family, friends, and everything familiar to go to a place I knew next to nothing about. At first, I declined the offer, I was having a challenging time imagining myself existing anywhere else. My friend was not leaving until the end of that summer so I told them I would think it over, but for the time being the answer was no. It is strange to think that my reality could have been so vastly different than what it currently is. If I had been able to find a job that summer, or an apartment to rent for the following year then I would have stuck to that “no” and probably have lived out my days not doing anything I really wanted to. Luckily, I had a surprising heart to heart with my wonderful Appalachian Mamaw who had never lived outside of the city she was born in. She told me that I had better get my ass on that plane to Seattle and go live the life I deserved. That I could make a life there and then travel to all the places she was never able to go. Namely, Alaska, which I have not made it to just yet, but it will happen one day. After that sincere conversation I changed my mind and took a leap of faith. After touching down in Seattle, nothing at all went even remotely as I had envisioned. My friend and I had a falling out and I was left on my own in a completely new city where I did not know a single person. I am so grateful that it happened that way though because through those struggles, I have built a life for myself that I am incredibly proud of and have finally reached a point where I can start investing in my own future, which is exactly why I decided to enter the Visual Media program at Seattle Central. 

I found the lecture from Joe Hallock and company to be very insightful. While I do not see myself entering the design world in the future, much of what they said can be applied to film and photography too. When I look to the future and think about my career aspirations, I mostly see myself working in the television and film industry. I have increasingly found myself attracted to directing and cinematography and cannot wait to flex more of those creative muscles. Joe mentioned the spectrum displaying the types of work to expect in a corporate work environment. On that spectrum I would likely put myself in the “High Information Density”/” Broad Audience” quadrant. That seems to me the most likely place that film and television would fall. I am interested in creating media (films, especially) viewed by a broad audience. One of the examples he listed in that same quadrant was video games. That is another branch of media that I would be incredibly interested in learning more about. Not necessarily designing games, but I could easily see myself directing or editing one in the future. Especially these days where video games and film are aligned in a way that has never been possible before the current game engines that are utilized today. The downside for this quadrant though is that so much of the “success” that comes from these products is based on a general audience’s opinion. If nobody is interested in the game, show, or film you created then it would become a lot harder to convince people to let you make another. Throughout the rest of my time in this program and as I navigate my career moving forward, I am excited to try my hand at all these roles and hopefully find a place to be successful. At the end of the day though, I do not want to measure success in viewership, box office numbers, or public opinion. I want to feel successful by sticking with my integrity and creating media and art that has a voice that will speak to someone the same way it speaks to me when I create it. 

For my mashup I combined photo/video/and music. It was very challenging for me because I lack experience using photoshop and premiere so it isn’t as “professional” as I’d like it to be. I used a picture of my living room television because that’s where I liked to spend a lot of my down time watching films and tv prior to entering the program. I substituted the screen with a video of me getting frustrated at my laptop because so far that is my experience.

I had never worked with Macs before and after using the ones in the labs at school and seeing how well they work and how fast they are has made using my laptop at home nearly unbearable. It feels like now the majority of my time is just trying to get my assignments done on my at home laptop and dealing with the slow loading speeds and processing power. The music I added was just to add some good bass to the whole piece and to just provide a little ear candy. I’m very happy with my time in the visual media program so far and I can’t wait to hone my skills to make much more aesthetically pleasant and cohesive projects. I’m also in the process of getting a new laptop to work on, which should make things run much smoother.

Lastly, I tried a few ways to get the video to show up here on this blog and could not for the life of me figure it out. So I have embedded a link to it in my Google Drive. I hope this is sufficient!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X6TJrEeXz9WSUERkbrAuMGNEQ7DqFUtK/view?usp=sharing