My cousin, Hilda, is the head of the graphic design department of Buckle (as mentioned in my opening editorial). I had never been to her office before and what I saw, would have shocked and amazed even the most hardened souls, or not really at all.
When I dreamed of her office, I saw a huge top floor of an old building, with high ceilings, tonnes of light and the glow of a thousand LCD monitors burning my skin. I saw fantastic new methods and design ideas, the latest tricks and tips and even an umpa-loompa or two. Her office was only half what I dreamed of, but was way cooler!
The offices are in the old market area of Kansas City. There are actually tonnes of corporate headquarters and advertising firms in and around Kansas City. Buckle’s design team is on the second floor in a rather old building and when you climb the stairs, you see a lot of light, high ceilings and exposed brick walls. The floor is original hard wood and there are very few actual walls. But wait… there are only a few computers. I could only see one from the entrance and upon further inspection, there were only six in the whole office and two of those were my cousins. A line of book shelves lined one wall with a number of magazines, design books and colour swatches. I could have spent a few days going through this bounty of knowledge. So far, the office was pretty amazing, yet not daunting or intimidating as I thought it would be.
We had to work on a bulletin for a service we were attending in a couple days. We also had to put together a photo album and a few other pieces and with the help of my dad, sister and a few cousins, we got everything done! Their were some dreamy computers in the office. A brand new iMac, a few G5′s and 2 Titanium iBooks. Pretty nice. As well, a super-fast Xerox copier/printer and the best small format scanner I’ve ever used, an Epson 10000. Both were fast and reliable and would help to get any job done very quickly.
I knew the budget for their shop was huge, so the fancy equipment didn’t really impress me, although it was great to work on and I am jealous. What I was looking forward to was her methods and techniques. As we started on the project, I realized that we were working together really well. I was speaking her language. My slang was appropriate and my technical jargon was bang-on. My dad and sister looked on impressed… they, like myself, assumed I was just a hack, getting by on some art skills.
Then came a fantastic moment. We needed a flourish, you know those little squiggles that are in corners etc. My cousin, created a text box, selected the flourish font and started going down the QWERTY keyboard and deleting the ones she didn’t like. I DO THAT TO! I always assumed there was a better way, but apparently, there isn’t. She saw her old boss and a professor do the same thing! Even for choosing fonts! I was floored. As the night progressed (did i mention we did all of this from 9:00pm to 1:30am) more tricks and tips were revealed but most I knew. I was vindicated.
The idea that the large studios or huge corporations have all the answers was one that I had for a while. I always assumed that I was missing something, or that there was an easy method which I was missing. I was wrong! If anything, my cousin was impressed I’ve done so well with a small budget. She knew she was lucky. However, that being said… she does some outstanding work and is a true design genius.
I just hope I can afford some of those toys sometime soon…
