Wednesday, March 7, 2007

NY here we come! (Pre-trip questions)

I went to New York exactly 2 years ago for spring break with some of my friends from high school. During that trip we tried to cover as much "touristy" attractions as possible and did a LOT of shopping. We didn't have too much time to enjoy the museums (mostly because my friends weren't very interested in art or design). So unfortunately I was short-changed in my visits to the MOCA and the Met. I'm very excited about visiting the MOCA again and actually getting to explore the whole museum and the Cooper-Hewitt. I expect to eat lots of good food too! It's so nice to know that you can take the subway and walk a bit to a dessert place later at night. Here in LA it's hard to find an open dessert bar that you can go to just hang out and catch up with your friends.

I love books! So I'm VERY excited about visiting the Strand. Hopefully I won't spend too much money.... There's also Kate's Paperie (known for their paper and stationery) but I have decided that I am not allowed to buy any more paper because I have too much at the moment from all the paper I collected from my travels in Italy.

West coast vs. East coast?
I feel like west coast design is much more relaxed and free in comparison to the east coast. Then there is design on the west coast (in California) where there is a difference between San Francisco and Los Angeles. San Francisco feels more like New York to me. This is probably because San Francisco and New York are older cities and have been established longer than Los Angeles. I feel like LA is the place for hip and budding design where there is more experimentation. West coast design is also especially focused on the entertainment industry. On the east coast I can see that it is a "place of reference" since it is like the capital of news broadcasting networks so there is a more serious and professionalism. It is also very business driven with the large financial headquarters.

The company I am most excited to visit other than the big names like Pentagram and Paper Magazine is Siegel+Gale. When I heard that we were visiting Siegel + Gale I almost jumped out of my seat. Earlier last semester I came across an article written by the Patricia Deneroff, the group director of brand strategy at Siegel + Gale. The article was called "Challenging Convention: Branding a Non-Profit." This is when I was on my quest to find places I could possibly interested in working and knowing that there is a strategic branding company that also focuses in the non-profit sector in design is very exciting for me. Siegel + Gale is a fairly large company and I was excited to find that there are actually several branches, one in New York, London, LA and Washington! I've been too nervous to contact them because I always feel nervous about contacting the company you REALLY care and dream of working in because of the fear of failure and rejection. I don't know if anyone else gets this feeling but it's so satisfying and exciting to find what you're looking for, you're SO excited that your heart beats faster but then you get this dreadful feeling that something bad will happen. I don't know...So now with this trip to NY I should get over this fear I have and take advantage of this great opportunity to learn more about Siegel + Gale.

By the way I'm also not a fan of the cold... so I am NOT looking forward to this:


However, if I could walk through Central Park with the snow and not have it storming it would be picture perfect like this:


Now it's time to pack... =)

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