

The use of visual aids in education has proven vital for classrooms since time immemorial, from preschool through senior year.
#Pieicon the noun project full
It’s funny to see how those buildings have influenced the work I do today and how it all comes full circle.Educators have always been faced with a daunting but heroic task: breaking down key concepts to make lesson plans both memorable and engaging enough to hold students’ attention. I remember staring up at the clean steel lines and glass panes. When I dived deeper into his work, I realized that I had unknowingly been inspired by his Chicago buildings since my earliest days, as I used to walk around the Loop with my family.
#Pieicon the noun project archive
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to work with the Mies van der Rohe Society and created a digital archive of the great architect’s work. It’s hard to pin-point where it all really clicked. Now I sketch ideas out on paper and translate them into code pretty quickly, just as a sculptor will rough out first and then roll up their sleeves and break out the chisel. The more I experimented, the more programing languages I wanted to learn. Again, understanding how a design becomes a physical product further contributed to my development as a designer.įrom there, I invested more time in designing and building things for the web. We would work on web and branding projects by day, and then use one of our restored letterpresses by night. A friend of mine opened a design studio and I had the job opportunity to work alongside him. In college, I fell deeply in love with typography and the creation of brand systems. I eventually worked my way up to the art department and began my first design job making funny 1–by ads for local garage sales and tow shops. Understanding the ‘how’ of design really played a big role in my development as a designer. I was able to learn how a newspaper worked from the press perspective.
#Pieicon the noun project how to
I worked pre-press there, and learned how to create negatives and plates for the giant press. You can design something very unconventional without the risk of your building collapsing.ĭuring my senior year in high school, I had the opportunity to work a graveyard shift at a local daily advertising newspaper. When you look at design problems, the rules are a lot less strict than those of architectural problems. Around the same time I was sketching buildings, I also began creating little publications for myself and found an equal passion for typesetting. As I learned more about modern architecture, I realized how much bureaucracy and training goes into becoming a well-seasoned architect. I was involved in the arts throughout high school, and able to recognize at an early age how important the process of creating is to me. I chased that feeling, read books about the Greats and collected objects that inspired me. There is a system for the objects we interact with, the spaces we occupy, and the services we use. I also spent a lot of time building things and working with raw materials like wood or granite, instilling in me an early appreciation for how everything fits together.

As a kid who grew up in the Midwest, I aspired to be an architect and would draw plans for homes or amusement parks.
