So work at Red is over. It was a interesting experience! Not just because it was working in a land that is not America but because it gave me the opportunity to take what I have learned in Design from life and from the Art Center and put it in to action at least with real life clients. Now one thing that I have learned about Greece is that design thought it is quite good is really just the leaf overs from the rest of Europe. With a discussion from some coworkers this is the issue in Greece. Since it is the EU Greek students, the talented ones, go to England or Holland or Switzerland, or the US, to get their college educations and then if so inclined bring it back to Greece because family is super important here as children don’t stay away too long if at all, ie Ronda the creative director went to Art Center. Now in the Greek educational system Design especially graphic design is not even offered by the universities. The design education is then relegated to trade schools and institutes with in Greece which are, like in the US, shorter and less rounded educational wise, concentrating more on program application then design theory and implementation. I think this is a factor because the Greeks seem more engaged in trend then consistency of good design that is occurring in London & NYC or LA. A coworker express to me that Greece is Europe but a couple years behind. It seems like Greece is doing design work that was done in London 5 years ago, not that it is bad but just not at the same pace. Since design is not as understood the clients are then more apt to not knowing which caused some headaches at the end of my stay at Red. I was told I had a logo and packaging branding approved by the client to have the re-neg two days later. This could have been a client service problem but the client is having to be educated and convinced about a subject that is so far away from his understanding that it is laughable. Because of this the owner will not make decision and instead allows input from everyone at his place of business which then required me to do version after version and eventually re start on the project no one had the gumption to just say you asked for the answer and here it is. Take it or leave it! Clients here in Greece take too many liberties or at least at Red they do. It is hard to have a client make a decision when they have to be educated first!

So I have a week left at work! Now this is a good thing and a bad thing the good thing is that I have lasted 4 months in Athens Greece with out knowing any of the language and survived the bad thing is that well its over and I have to come back to the states. Now Athens has been a very interesting experience. And tomorrow is the boss’s last day she is going on vacation which all of Greece takes around the 8 of Aug for two weeks. Now this is a pretty nice thing that I believe the US should apply also we work hard in the U.S. and 2 weeks vacation each year just isn’t enough. Anyways I am curious what my boss will say to me tomorrow! I have busted my ass at work and it has been paying off with clients liking my work and accepting it. I do have a small worry. So about a month ago the very pretty secretary Vassia who is a student studying business in the UK came to me and ask if I wouldn’t mind filling out a questioneer about Red and about the design business and industry on a whole. Now I had been at Red for like 2 months and had gotten a pretty good idea of what the business operated like. Anyways she told me it was for her to write a paper for school and that Ronda, the boss lady and creative director wouldn’t read it. Now when she told me this I was relieved because I figured I could be more direct on honest in my answers. So I answered the questioneer it was like 3 pages of questions and I was bluntly honest and in some instances kind of harsh to my interpretation of how the office operated. I have learned today that the questioneer was indeed read by the art director. Doooough! Now this isn’t that big of a deal because it is information that I was not afraid to share the issue is the way I stated the critiques. My bluntness in the questioneer I believed wouldn’t be read by the boss was something like this. Q: what do you think is Red’s biggest challenge? I answered Red isbecoming a predictable firm that can only do corporate pack-ageing for the grocery store. It really should have been answered: Staying fresh in an every changing design world and clientele. Red does not want to be pigoned holed into only being good at one type of design.  Now I don’t think this will be that big of a deal but I am a little annoyed that I was lied too about the questioneer because if I would have known that the boss lady was going to read it I would have softened the edges of some of my more harsh critques. It is actually probably a good thing because it can be a good thing to get the truth let unfiltered I just hope I havn’t seemed ungrateful because i am. Greece and Red has allowed me to step out side of my comfort zone and there is very few thing better for you then making life interesting you seem to be so much more keen about your self things that go on and really is helpful in understanding communication.

Now work has been pretty hectic lately with projects all seemingly due at the same time. Now this wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the office were more organized and on top of things but it feel like to me that a majority of the time the only one who is really aware of deadlines is Ronda and this has caused some ridiculous hours. I knew this week was going to be frustrating so I am trying not to let the miss communication and waiting for decisions to get in my way. The hard part is staying on point when the given direction is vague. For example on Wednesday there is a identity proposal for a wine maker and bed and breakfast wine experience type place. Now last week i was asked to do some logos for this but didn’t know any of that information I was just told hey work on a wine logo there are 4 possible name 2 in Greek (Proposis) & ? , August and 39 degrees. Now identity design is a complicated process which requires understanding a clients needs and a defined problem. With out understanding a problem the answers can be infinite! Now this wine logo was being worked on by nearly the entire staff. I think 8 designers took a stab at 1 2 or all the names. I had some time so I did versions for 3 or the names. Now with out any defined problem a designer has to make one up in order to rationalize their design decisions. Conceptual thinking requires a problem and most problems can be solved through digging up the essence of a company. This was not done in this case nor was there any direction given. not even cost. This left an endless array of possibilities which showed up when we all put up our chosen direction and solutions. After looking at all the designs it was clear that each individual designer with out any direction thus falls back on what they intern feel most comfortable doing. Many of my solutions were one color with simple san serif typography and some slab serifs as they are making me happy at the moment. WIth all the different ideas on the wall the art director then chose some directions. She called me into her office it was Saturday by the way and asked which solutions were mine. I pointed out my work and very quickly she said nope you are not on the right track I looked at her a little puzzled and she then asked me if that was alright. I replied with ” you arn’t going to hurt my feeling but if you want us on the right direction it needs to be pointed out or at least hinted at!” she said “your probably right but some projects need fresh thinking! I replied with “as long as time permits” and she smiled and agreed fully. Now this doesn’t mean that my logos were bad it just is an example of what I like to call the closed eyes ball shot design. Each designer closed their eye and took a shot it is pretty easy to miss when your eyes are closed. This says nothing about solution or the exiting problem though. Now if i were given more info a greater understanding of research or background or possibilites I might have had a better shot. I think some of the decisions the creative director make are too hasty and some are too slow it feel like she needs to feel like the idea was some how hers even if it is not. I think that design is about solving a problem and when you try and to solve a problem you must first know what that problem is? It is chicken and egg thing.

So last weekend I went to a greek concert with the two guys at the office that have become my friends. We are all on the jr. design end and they have take me out a few time which has made working at Red alot better. If I were to have to go out by myself all the time it would definatly not be as fun. The thing is that i would probably never go to a greek concert but the invited me and it was a pretty fun time. We were a bit late because Red kept us there until 9pm what a uprise! The music is reasonable good some starts to sound repetitive but the music is quite sophiticated with flutes, a violin and authentic greek intruments a large mandalin bango thing along with the guitar. The venu was really pretty unique pushed up against some cliff to to the north of athens! It was a good experience!

Red Design Consultants has been a very interesting experience so far. Now there are some things that I thing could be help the office tremendouly first being adding another art director that can take on some of the direction the design work follows. The issue at the moment is there is a bottle neck at the creative directors door. Too many projects too little Ronda! This past week was a perfect example of it. She went on vacation for 3 days to Mykonos which is fine if someone else could make creative decisions but there isn’t so she gets back and then Stephanos and I have to bust our humps to finish things that would have had enough time to complete. On tue I was at the office until 1:30 am and the next day I was there until 10:30. Plus I had to come into work again on Saturday. Now this isn’t that big of a deal considering I am here to work but if I were to be staying at Red for an extended amount of time it would worry me tremendouly becuase the bottle necking on Ronda’s end equals long hours and waiting around for decisions among designers. This does not result in any amount of consistancy at work and it would suck to do this all the time especially if I had a family or a girlfriend or a life. Though a nice thing is that even though I am an intern I am being treated like a real designer which includes having my designs chosen and going to press. In school it would be nearly impossible to print gold on silver paper with gold foil stamps. But for this client Metaxa it isn’t out of the question which is nice. This mock up was put together to see if the printing would look nice the yellow in the final is going to go to a light shade of gold and the seal has been moved to the top section. This project has gone back and forth alot and this project I am pretty excited about getting it produced. Hopefully things are not so hectic this week but I dought it. I had to come in on saturday to play catch up on a project for cosmetics. Hopefully my stuff gets selected that would be nice

So Athens has a incredible number of really awesome scooters I have been attempting to gather a collection

of Athens scooters. A majority of the time I see them cruising on the street and can’t get a shot. My landlord

charges around on one and swears by its efficiency. My landlords name is Robert he is a very nice man. He is a 54 year old tourism coordinator originally from Austria. He was explaining to me that scooters in Athens are not just a quick way around they are really “A way of Life” now i love scooters just as much as the next guy and I usually have a good laugh when I hear the joke about scooters:Q: what do fat chicks and scooters have in common? A: They are fun to ride until your friends find out! Now I kind of chuckled when Robert said it was a way of life and then told him the joke. He didn’t think it was funny it must be the Austrian no sense of humor in him. Anyways he continued to give me some reasons that scooters are a way of life and not just a way of transportation. #1 you are on your own. #2 you can see the whole world nothing is blocking you vision. #3 they are not good for long amounts of time so breaks are welcome. #4 you can always find a spot to park, #5 good gas mileage, #6 when traffic is stop the scooter can always find a way through. He then expunged on a the philosophy of his life about staying alone and always keep moving and in reality brought up a decent argument or at least you could tell he had though about it. Now I don’t know if I will take up to the scooter philosophy but I am convinced it is a good way around!

So this weekend instead or going to a beautiful beach I was asked to come into the office on saturday. Now this isn’t that big of a deal but it got me thinking about the genius of Mike Judge and Office space.
Peter Gibbons: Lumbergh’s gonna have me work on Saturday. I can tell already. I’m gonna end up doin’ it, because, uh…
[nods]
Peter Gibbons: because I’m a big pussy… which is why I work at Initech to begin with.
Michael Bolton: Uh, yeah, well, I work at Initech and I don’t consider myself a pussy, OK?
Samir: Yes, I am also not a pussy.

Mike judge is really accurate in that scene about dealing with conflict with in a work space. Now I didn’t consider coming in on Saturday that big of a deal because I am here for work this time but if was a reoccurring thing it would turn into a reason to create a conflict. Me and three other designer came into work to finish up a logo and package presentation for Chipita chips. For me this has been a challenging design problem because I really don’t want to add to the already hideous food packages. But I keep being told to make it move and add a key line and put a drop shadow on it. These are all things that make logo work extremely disadvantaged. So I am struggling because the art director want it to say with in already limited food scope and we keep referencing to other in my opinion handy capped food products like lays, Doritos and pringles. I feel like sophisticated and modern solutions are just thrown to the wayside to ideas the are staying within the existing food chips paradigm. I get the feeling that the art director isn’t willing to try and convince the client that they could and should be something different then their competitors so instead we are really just making a different doritos, or lays. But in my opinion they are not any better or interesting. And I guess this is the second round of redesign for a logo and for the packaging. It sounds like the client is playing at the expence of a lot of work by designers. Hopefully it goes well. Well I think this next week will be a little less hectic and hopefully our art director stays on top of thing so we don’t have to do the catch up on another saturday.

Now a number of cities have a common phrase that represents that particular city. The one I can remember are “the city that never sleeps” (NYC) The windy city (Chitown) etc. Well I thing that Athens should get the application of “the city that lives between the hours or 2 am and 6 am” May be 4 am(thens). The city is busy all the time but I am always blown away by the number of shops, restaurants, and people up between those hours including me. Now the most interesting part in at places in the states when you are up that late / early it usually consists of a certain age group. Most people who are night owls in the states out at bars and such are not in there 50′s -80′s.  But not here in Athens. People of all ages are up that late.

One of the most annoying and frustrating things in this world is when a person watches your every move like a hawk. This can also be know in the business world as micromanaging. I don’t know anyone who likes when someone checks up on their progress and forces them to act or do a particular task their way. i am reading this book ” the design of everyday things” and it is quite interesting written from the point of view of a psychoanalyst. I read a section in the book that learning and doing a task needs variance for each user. This re furs to the fact that every person when given a task will approach the task differently then another. This difference is what makes each person that way they are. Now the reason it is vary annoying to have someone micromanaging is the fact that the personal applied variance or personal learning within a task can not be applied. The human brain and personality are individual for a reason and with in that individuality there must be freedom to live act and organize the best way each person finds fit. This is the reason that some can have completely dirty desk and other have overly organized desk. What I have learned but intrinsically already knew was that the messy desk is no less organized to the individual who keeps a messy desk than the desk that has been meticulously organized by its user. The reason for this is placed with in the cognitive process of memory. A person who keeps a messy desk will actually have some method to the madness that for that individual person works for them. Now micromanaging becomes annoying due to the fact that it can be like fitting a round peg in a square hole. The reason I am ranting about this information is I have a job at my flat. It is a fairly simple task of sweeping the street sidewalk and the garden of the apartment. A task that in reality has an endless array of possibilities in it’s completion.  Now this task takes me about 30 mins every day! not a big deal right. Well the biggest problem with the task is not the sweeping of leaves it is the elderly matriarch of the apartment. She is such a particular woman that for her the job can only be done one way and in a certain order. This is a problem for me because her procedure orders and process is much less efficient and time consuming then the way that I have processed in my head. Now we are not talking about rocket science here we are talking about the simple task of sweeping. The annoying part of my task nearly every week she will have a comment about how I should do the sweeping better (i mean her way) ? I have to bite my tongue and just tell her that I will do it her way. This make sweeping the walk each morning more of a task to the fact that I am being forced to fit a round peg in a square hole. Now the issue of micromanaging undoes the freedom of expression. Now I know that sweeping is a vary simple task but the book that I am reading has highlighted the fact the in reality the simplest of items or tasks are made complicated and this is due to thinking that everyone will approach a task or a item the same way! this is the illusion! The variance in learning and organization is a problem at the flat I am living because the woman wants to me live and work her way and the is a skew in approach. I don’t think it helps that she is Austrian either but it has become kind of annoying! I have not had a mother looking over my shoulder for some time and now I feel like I do again. I guess it is just Greece but if I was staying here for longer I would defiantly not stay because it is just too obnoxious. I just don’t need someone watching me like a hawk because I already know that I can’t be forced to do it their way it just doesn’t work for me! But I guess i will put up with it for another couple of months. Hopefully it gets better but it it doesn’t I will be a turtle without his shell and that would be unfun.

With Europe comes football (I mean soccer)! I wonder why Americans created a game and called it the same as a game that was already being played around the world? If you ask me I think that is the root of why Europeans hate Americans, we call there sport something else. At the moment the Euro cup is going on which is pretty great! Greece is playing at the moment and against Sweden. 29th min 0_0. Greece is pretty good if i could understand any of the news I think they are suppose to do pretty well! But what do I know. I’m going to root for Greece just because if they do well it will get pretty crazy around here. As for the earth quake that happened in Greece a couple days ago I didn’t feel anything and I am glad that I didn’t. Due to the fact that my flat is in the basement I hope that there isn’t any other quakes because that would be bad for me!