Oh Maymester, How I Loathe Thee... Until This Year!

Well, it's been that time of year again. It's been time to cram an entire semester's worth of work into just 10 days of 4.5 hour long classes. My previous "Maymester" experience was quite possibly the worst academic college experience of my entire college career. This year? Things have changed.

I am one morning away from completing Organizational Publications, a communication course at KSU. It should be called some funky graphic design name, but it's not. It could even be called Corporate Communication, but for what ever reason, it's not. (Basically, the title is just a little vague about the actual content of the class.) 

However, even with a strange title, one thing is not so vague to me - and that is my sudden awakening for the love of design.

As a kid, I was one those loud, outspoken, but shut up when it's time to watch Dad kind of kids. Let me explain... 

My dad is probably the most creative person I have ever known. He is beyond talented, and God has blessed him with His own heart for creativity. I truly believe that some people were put on this planet to give a glimpse of what God's imagination and artistic hand can impress upon people. Trust me, you'd have to check out my dad's work.

Growing up, I have been exposed to some really cool design "stuff." My basement has never been anything less than, well, a design studio. I grew up talking about things like drawing boards, oil pastels, Pantone Matching System, stock photography, and other things like that. All of these terms have just sort of been absorbed by my brain, and until last Monday, I hadn't really given it a second thought - nor had I truly appreciated my exposure to some of the most fun ways to spend time. 

Our class has been working on a series of several projects in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, etc. I have been given a crash course on the "skeletal systems" for these programs. Class ends tomorrow, but I want to learn more. 

I say I've had an "awakening," because I've always loved the smell of ink, paper, and glue. Let's be real - there's a lot of other fancy names, but that's what it is. So, what does that mean for me? Who knows. All I can say is, I've had a wonderfully challenging past nine days; so bring on number 10.