The goodies are still here if you’re looking for something old- but If you want to see what’s happening THIS year- head over to the new site to check it out!

Brainbuffet.net- Birthplace of Awesome

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people. -Randy Pausch

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. -Robert F. Kennedy

If something is easy, it’s lame. Think about it…

Imagine paying $50 to go to a golf course where they just have all the holes lined up, and give you a ball, and then you go and just drop the ball into 18 different holes. You’d be done and “win” every time with no challenge. And you’d never come back. What makes it a game is that you have to put the ball really far away from the hole and hit it with a stick. That’s what makes it a game. You made it harder.

Basketball wouldn’t be any fun with the basket on the ground, and you can just walk up and drop the ball in, and nobody can touch you if you have the ball. Easier? Yes. Fun? No.

Imagine a videogame that you bought for $50 and you load it in the console and there’s a button that says “click here to Win.” You win, maybe even get a super cool end sequence. You still feel ripped off. You wanted to work for it. You wanted it to be hard.

You wanted a challenge.

But why do we give it all to a game, instead of to ourselves? I’m NOT saying games are bad. I’m saying games are good. Games are what gives us more joy in our lives. I’m just saying that we should be playing our lives. We should approach our lives with the positive optimism, the desire to succeed, the initiative to “level up” ourselves even more than our characters.

When you level up your character and turn the console off, you’re still stuck with you. The feeling is still there for a while, but you have to get back into the game after it fades. What about if you leveled up YOU? Then laying in bed, riding the bus, working in class… no matter where you go, there you are. Your leveled up character.

Where are we failing? How is it that we’ve quit on our own lives? We take shortcuts and look for the “easy way” and then all our “accomplishments” are simply depressing! We’ve done a Click to Win on our own lives and made our own lives a ripoff.

Yikes. I’m guilty in some areas, too.

Let’s endeavor to win. Let’s endeavor to realize that the purpose of life is not to win… it’s to enjoy the challenge! Winning is not a goal to be obtained, but like a videogame, it’s a lifestyle to live. It’s a process. Would you rather play a game that lets you win in 5 minutes or that makes you fight through 500 hours of TOUGH challenges (and boring tedious work of traveling and gathering artifacts and all that stuff as well) before you win? And let’s face it… There’s a great sense of accomplishment when you win and get to see that ending cinematic… but there’s also a bit of a depression. The game is over. No more challenges. No more fights. No more hard won rewards. It’s just over. I think almost all of us would trade an ending cinematic for another level of incredibly challenging gamplay, right???

Have you ever realized this? That we play games not because they are easy, but because they’re hard? We don’t want to win, we actually just want to keep playing?

In one sense, winning is losing. You lose the ability to level up, you lose the ability to use all the skills you’ve gained anymore, you lose the chance to fail splendidly again.

Life is a game… play it.

Quest tracker:

So far, you should have encountered and completed the following quests:

• 1.01-E&P1- Elements and Principles Research
• 1.02-E&P2-Element of Line

• 1.03-E&P3-Element of Shape
• 1.04-E&P4-Application of Line and Shape- LOGO1
• 1.05-E&P5-Element of Typography-Typographic Logo
• 1.06-E&P6-Element of Color- Logo2
• 1.07-E&P7- PSA for the World

Go at your own pace. There is no race. There is only playing the game. Keep yourself challenged, and keep yourself busy leveling up your illustrator skills!

BONUS ACTIVITY!!!! 

A chance to win a free ipad (and up to 300XP) for entering this competition from Adobe. NOT TO BE DONE IN CLASS… but at home. Just register and enter for at least 50XP, and up to 300 if I’m impressed with the design and animation you develop! I’ll also offer up to 60 minutes!

AICE CLASSES:

Check it out…here’s the challenge:

Record, analyze, and develop your idea from DIRECT OBSERVATION and PERSONAL EXPERIENCE using one of the following topics:

• Mirror Image
• In Safe Hands
• Flowing
• Concentration
• Underneath
• Gathering

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
Winston Churchill

As I mentioned last week, in this class we will focus on The Design Process, discovering who you are, what you want to say, and how to best communicate what’s happening in your noggin.

Most us us don’t know who we really are. I don’t just mean students, I mean people. Many adults are still just ignorant as to what actually motivates them and controls their feelings. What would happen if you just took the time to actually look inside yourself and figure out what makes you tick? Try expanding. Try not giving up so fast. Try focusing on something long enough to make yourself excellent. Try finding your own inner muse. Maybe read something that makes you think once a day (heck, start with just one a week).  Look for daily inspiration in your own creativity.

And as we mentioned in class , we’re going to find our passion- the thing that is most valuable to us as a person in this life. By the end of the week, you need to find a character trait (extra sources: 1,  2 )and an organization you believe in (extra sources: 1). A lot of your projects for the rest of the year will be focused on these two issues. I want to integrate what’s important to YOU in theis class. Remember, it’s not just about design, and it’s certainly not about me in here… it’s all about YOU. What makes you special? Why are you here? What are you gonna do to make the world better because you’re in it- both for yourself and for the world in general. Why should anyone care about what you have to say?? Why should you get respect and be heard?

Next couple classes we’ll look into a little more about finding out who you really are. Sometimes it’s hard to see. Let’s take a look at who you are and what makes you tick. Explore your strengths and and weaknesses. As it’s been said by the greatest minds, we must know ourselves to be wise, that the unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates).

Everyone wants to be treated with respect and dignity, but many of us don’t even give ourselves that same respect and dignity we want from others. Get to know yourself. Find out who you are, what you stand for, and what motivates you. It’s time to meet the real you. Not the one you pretend to be. Not the one you want everyone to THINK you are, but the real you.

It’s going to be a good year for those of you that want to be better people- but this class is no place for the lazy, the quitters, and the losers!! And it’s just a choice to NOT be a slug, quitter, or loser- so everyone can play the be a real person game!  Choose today to be a winner, or find another class- In here, you only lose when you quit!!

Here’s what I want you to knock down this week:

1. Grab a sheet of paper (until the new AMAZING feature of the site is revealed… I’m working TIRELESSLY on it!!!)
2. Find a character trait (extra sources: 1,  2 )and an organization you believe in (extra sources: 1). Write them both down on your paper.
3. Take this test (3 results to research) and  here (1 result, but not always accurate) to get your personality type number (1-9).
4. Verify your number on the Enneagram Easy Summary (if it’s wrong, read the others until you find which one is the best description of you). If your description sounds like you, write down the number on your paper. 
5. Then read the full description of your personality type on  THIS PAGE (click on your number).  If you got it right, it should be a little creepy how well it describes you!  You’ll also learn how to work better with people of other types and famous people that were your personality type! (for the curious, I’m a two). Write a short response to how this exercise made you feel. Did it help you see yourself more clearly?
6. Then take THIS TEST! This is another personality profile called the Meyers Briggs Personality Test. It’s hugely popular. After you answer the questions, Look at the “Self awareness and personal Growth” section and the “Career Choices” Links on the results page. (it’s in the middle section, two boxes on the left of the screen) Write down your Personality type (4 letters) and the careers that were revealed on your Career Choices Page. Were these careers you’ve thought about before? Does it seem to fit who you are? Anything interesting in your Self awareness and personal growth page?

9/6 Update:

So, we’re going to jump ahead of my normal order of things to get into some fun design stuff today. CLICK HERE to get going on designing a logo for yourself!!!

Check out this cool article if you want! Hidden gems in logos you’ve seen before, but you’ll never see them the same way again!

Check out this AMAZING site with excellent logos using negative space. Nothing sexier than negative space. That’s fo’ real. Thanks MR!

It’s our last week!!!! Here are the projects that you should have to show me:

1. Tutorial Project (original post)
2. Brush Magic (original post)
3. Contradiction/Paradox (original post)
4. Emotional Release (original post)
5. Broken (original post)
6. Appreciation (original post)
7. Art As Therapy (original post)
8. Final Project- Do whatever you want!!! Impress me!

Have these all by final exam day, and I can grade earlier if you’d like. Please just number them so it’s easy to keep track of!

This week’s project is simple- create a token of appreciation for someone in your life who has invested in you. You again have total freedom to do what you want… Write a song, create an image, write a poem… If you choose a written form, please just attend to the visual layout and create a final piece that contains the words, but is more than just the words.

Specs:

• Work must be inspired by someone in your life that has influenced you.
• The person must be living, and someone you can physically contact/give it to (no poems for your fave dead poet, for example)
• Work can be in any medium, poem, photo, song, etc
• The final presentation must have attention to visual display.