Monday, March 5, 2007

Pre-trip questions

As my late father’s former home, New York City is quite dear to me. And next week I expect to revisit New York with a completely new perspective. I used to associate the city with a distant family, but until now I never thought of it as a prospective future home. I believe that living and working there would be exciting and fulfilling, although maybe a little crazy at times.

I know I’ll enjoy reliving the experience of being there and getting an inside look at what the East Coast art lifestyle is like.

I am most excited to visit Pentagram Designs, an internationally renowned firm providing a wide range of services including architecture, graphics, products and interactive media. Their work is multidisciplinary and partners from varying disciplines may work independently or collaboratively. This firm appeals to me because their approach is oriented around ideas, not just profits. I admire their philosophy of having a working partnership, one conducive to designers achieving their best, as opposed to a hierarchy of bosses and associates. In reviewing their website, Pentagram seems to have the right combination of creative ingenuity and successful business practices.

The West Coast design culture has been described as more optimistic than other parts of the country – namely in contrast to that of New York. While New York is heavily dominated by big-name designers, the West Coast scene is a little less constrained.

Interestingly, San Francisco, as well as the Bay Area in general, is considered the West Coast capital of design. While New York’s design focus is on print and multimedia platforms, San Francisco is big on industrial and interior design – homes here are comparable in value to those in Manhattan. In contrast to Southern California, Northern California seems more supportive of small, independent designers and takes an overall more laid back and collaborative approach. Further south in Los Angeles, though, the scene is more competitive and established.

3 comments:

CANDY said...

hello samantha. beautiful entry. now can you tell me---HOW DID YOU POST THIS?????????????????????

HLK said...

Candance - Go to blackboard and download the instruction, it's in the COURSE DOCUMENTS. Just ask!

CANDY said...

it was under communication :D thank you!!!