Program for working people, my ass

[ShadowBall]

Sorry for serial posting. After people in here calmed down, I decided to look over the shit I have to do for class. Between now and the beginning of July, this is what I have to have done:

- Entire ad campaign, promotional mailer and working prototype for a product I invented (got the idea and the sketches, don't know how to make the dummy)

- Storyboards for a children's book

- Some kind of printed booklet or brochure that is an auto-biography

- Three posters

- Final versions of two reports

And the best part of this shit is this particular program is specifically meant to be for "working people" - meaning you're apparently able to do all this bullshit while working eight hours a day. We only got two damn weeks for each report - I spend probably 10-12 hours each day of those two weeks making the report (has to be visual and written) and I still got a measly fucking B on the first one.

Meanwhile, my mother is bitching at me that I need to help her mow the lawn (huge, huge yard) and get a job. Not that any job's going to keep me around when they hear I need to take off for 2-3 weeks every few months. I just can't do all this. It's fucking overload.

I'm someone who needs a lot of down time. And of course I can't not work, nor can I drop out (long story, don't ask). I just don't know how I'm going to be able to do all this. Not to mention the cost of getting all this printed out when I have no money. I can claim it on my taxes, but that doesn't help me now. Not to mention I get not one cent in student loans, so I somehow also have to have $4700 to even be in class in July with no job. Apparently I'm not financially needy enough or something.

I just wish I could say 'fuck it' to either work or school.

[Food Lady]

I'm completely frustrated jut reading about it. That workload is appropriate for accelerated classes, not for what you're doing.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Augggh! That's giving me a headache just looking at it! I'm so sorry you have to put up with this bull shit.

[AccountingDrone]

Hm, the product doesn't have to be real, so wing it. Make an external HDD cozy, all it needs to be is like a toaster cover, you can make it out of craft felt from a fabric store. Doesn't matter, make something off the wall silly - cross country ski boots cozy. Anything you can whipstitch together out of craft felt works. Good thing about cozys is they are usually basic squares or circles in form. Easy to make, easy to draw up.

You can buy single glossy paper at Staples, usually. Good for making 3 fold brocheures. You can find the software for printing up the package online and it usually slots right into Word. Actually you can buy entire 'packages' that are the trifold brocheur, punched to hold a business card and floppy/cd/now probably an SD chip, all that fit into a folder. You can also pay staples to comb bind a project.

[sorry, I did desktop publishing as a hobby for a while, and used to get great stationary catalogs, so I go at things a bit oddly =)]

Looks like you need to breakdown the project a bit. Let me unpack.

You need to simplify - not everything has to be this intricate huge project.

1 - come up with a product to market, you need to make it so it has to be simple, and some craft that is cheap and easy - I suggest a random item cozy. Cozys are usually loose fitting inexpensive fabric. Craft felt is great for mockups. I suggested an external HDD cozy. Basically 2 squares with a band making them pillow shaped.

2 - Marketing materials. Go to staples, look at there exemplars of brocheure stationary. Decide what look you want. I am specifically thinking of paper direct products. Pick out a folder. Pick a brocheure. Pick a business card. Mailing Labels.

Now, you have your item, write your add copy, print it onto the brocheure, add artistic renderings, sample fabric swatches and a sample, shove it all in the folder, package it up and slap the mailing label on the envelope holding the folder.

Storyboards - you need to find your story, and start drawing. Paper Direct or Staples will have report covers that you can bind your art pages inside with comb binding. I have seen plastic sleeves comb bound inside report covers used successfully for art projects. Advantage is you can bind in printed pages between the plastic sleeves.

Autobiography project .. paper direct. let the pros take a lot of worry out of the presentation.

You do not have to use a professional product, and they probably want to see your artistic ability, but you can go ahead and get ideas on how to format from pros.

Personally? If I was teaching some sort of class to get someone to be a pro in something, I would want to see how they can work the available products, you don't always have to reinvent the damned wheel.

[ShadowBall]

I have ideas for most of these things...like for the autobiography, I'm going to make a CD with an insert...like the insert is about me and the CD contains music I like or that inspires me since this has to be a visual project. And I have my product idea already approved (believe it or not, it is a cozy of some kind). For the storyboards, I was actually given a story and I've got my characters mostly designed, so I just have to do the storyboards themselves.

And sadly, these assholes DO want a professional, finished product most of the time. As in those reports have to be professionally bound (I did mine as comic books, so I don't need to waste money on hardcover binding like many other people do).

I mostly need an idea for one of the posters - I had to do images of three different famous people,but I decided use the same person in three different styles. I was told by the program director that this was fine to do (and he seemed to like that I thought of this), but the morons who reviewed my sketches said I "couldn't" do that and that they didn't like it. Way to promote creativity there. I was already graded on the sketches, so it won't matter what I do for the final presentation. I guess just having all this shit due at once feels overwhelming to me.

In any case, I want to get all the print work done and maybe do those storyboards last since they won't require printing.

[AccountingDrone]

I have ideas for most of these things...like for the autobiography, I'm going to make a CD with an insert...like the insert is about me and the CD contains music I like or that inspires me since this has to be a visual project. And I have my product idea already approved (believe it or not, it is a cozy of some kind). For the storyboards, I was actually given a story and I've got my characters mostly designed, so I just have to do the storyboards themselves.

And sadly, these assholes DO want a professional, finished product most of the time. As in those reports have to be professionally bound (I did mine as comic books, so I don't need to waste money on hardcover binding like many other people do).

I mostly need an idea for one of the posters - I had to do images of three different famous people,but I decided use the same person in three different styles. I was told by the program director that this was fine to do (and he seemed to like that I thought of this), but the morons who reviewed my sketches said I "couldn't" do that and that they didn't like it. Way to promote creativity there. I was already graded on the sketches, so it won't matter what I do for the final presentation. I guess just having all this shit due at once feels overwhelming to me.

In any case, I want to get all the print work done and maybe do those storyboards last since they won't require printing.

The paper products that I suggested can all be done in a home printer, and where I own my own comb binder, staples does it fairly cheaply =)

What kind of cozy?

[42_42_42]

Do the children's book storyboards have to be for an original story? If so, I don't mind writing something for you to use. Just let me know how long it needs to be and when you need it.

[ShadowBall]

Unfortunately I don't have a printer, and the one for the desktop computer is a piece of shit (600 dpi, my foot). But I leave my printing needs to the UPS store since they will not only arrange the pages for any booklets I make, but also bind them. And their prices are pretty good.

As far as the cozy, it's a remote control cozy on a string...inspired by how many times my relatives would be asked to search the house for the TV remote when my grandma was sitting on it the whole time. I also realized I need to do the damn packaging for this fucker too.

And thanks so much for the offer, 42_42_42, but I was actually given the story to use in November and the characters are mostly designed. I just need to put them into a page layout. Gack, but I fucking loathe drawing scenery...hate it and I'm bad at it, so thankfully I never will be required to make final versions of this book.

Like I said, most of the brainstorming has already been done - it's just a matter of sitting down and doing all this shit. Can I do it all before June 30th? Probably. Does it feel like I can? No way. I don't know how they expect people to do this all while also having jobs - I can hardly do it all and I'm unemployed. Some of the folks in my class are retired and probably getting a master's degree because they have nothing better to do, so they've got the time.

But hell, I think one of the many reasons I was fired from my scamming job was because I said I'd have to take a few weeks off at a time several times a year for class and homework. I don't know of too many employers who will keep people on the payroll who need this much time off each year, and that's not including time for other shit like vacations, illness, and so on. I'm half-tempted to write to the dean and ask why they claim this program is for working people when they overload you with so much shit that you cannot possibly do it all along with a job, house work, paying attention to one's spouse or children, any other kind of work, and maintaining some kind of social life.

I don't know how people could go to class all day long and then go out to eat or drink immediately afterward. I went right back to my hotel/dorm room and passed out because I was so mentally and physically exhausted (usually one or the other).

[BlaqueKatt]

would a temp agency work? they usually have short term stuff, like someone on maternity leave or something. Or something else that only works in stints-like say an insurance company during open enrollment. or a "float" in a medical office or bank-you cover vacations and call outs. anything listed as LTE, or cleaning companies(my SIL works a whopping 3 days a week, cleaning college dorms) Just trying to think outside the box here.

[ShadowBall]

Hmm, good point. I'll see if there's any such thing around here. Granted, I'd like to just quit school altogether, but that's not an option I have, so my next best choice is to find someone who will understand I can't be there full-time and not lay me off when I say I need three weeks off work to do school shit.

But I'm happy about two things: I got an A on my most recent report (professor said he loved my comments and artwork) and for the invention assignment, I have to make a prototype and/OR a package dummy. I'll do the product model and make a box if I have time.

And since one of my posters is going to look like a retro sci-fi poster, I bought an awesome book of the graphic history of sci-fi art and I intend to claim it as a grad school expense. I've been wanting that book for a while and I need it now for visual reference. Heee.