I decided to share my experience of going back to Lithuania. I've learned a while ago not to compare any cultures but as I am a Lithuanian and don't want to forget my heritage maybe adapt some of the cultural things that got from my homeland. I was talking with another Graphic Designer that is from Lithuania as well (Elena Jarmosh, Norwich university) and we discussed that CULTURE has a huge impact on the way you think and see the world.
Some times on the course I forget that I AM LITHUANIAN. It might be because I am always surrounded by British people, which is not bad at all, I am very glad to get to know this culture (way more than in London I did). Anyways, when I recently went back to Lithuania again after 6 months of not being there - It was an eye opener. I don't think I have ever had such an emotional and lightening journey.
(Translation. 'Shut up - Work more) This is the attitude I came back with. Don't like it - change it. Work hard for the things that matter and have your own mind NEVER become a sheep and never let people crush who you really are. At the end it's going to be worth it and You'll have good stories to tell.
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I also realized that recently I stopped having fun and was always trying to run away from Graphics rather than finding a way to enjoy it and I think that might have been because of the way we had to work on a professional level without THE BIG IDEA which makes everything pointless. It doesn't have to be a publication, if it is it doesn't have to be boring. Making things exiting! I found this quote on The Kenedys project blog 'WHY DO SOMETHING BORING WHEN YOU CAN DO SOMETHING AMAZING' The guys who said that do a lot of flyers, but their flyers look AMAZING! AND I realized that it doesn't matter in what media or how but if the idea is good it can communicate. This image shows just a series of words on sheets of smth and it's outside the ART university in Lithuania, you can see it from the balcony (in which U CAN SMOKE) and it says 'COME BACK TO BED' I found it hilarious and it made me realize another thing, that it is about COMMUNICATION and the less it is limited the better it is, you shouldn't be afraid to put your ideas out there. If you play it safe and ONLY THINK AND RESEARCH and do a publication, well, You're not going to get FAR with that...Taking chances and making it happen! That's what get's the attention. NOT RULES.
http://www.ourmachine.com/page/designed-by-machine/ <--- visit this link to see OURMACHINE for NOT boring publications!
They also have this cool thing on the website where you can play music
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On every corner I could fin interesting things and they are all about the idea! In this one beer the toilet sign was like this! And I do know Lithuania is full of bad design but there has been a change in these three years that I'm here. It seems people started putting ideas in front of everything and the nature of ASTONISHING with any design piece. It's clever enough it says WelCome in the WC sign but THEY HAVE AN ALIEN!!!!! Now I understand where my roots lie. My ideas are not crazy they are just Lithuanian! Aliens welcome, man I still find it funny every time I look at it
And You go inside the toilet thinking 'Well they can't astonish me more....' and here you go. THE SIGN OF FEMALE AND MALE. awesome! Brought me back to Fred's session in first year about semiotics and meaning and visual language.
I went to see my mom in the Hotel that she lived in while visiting the capital Vilnius and even the hotel was amazing. We drank some coffee from these cups! 'BABY' How cheesy is that but it WORKS! It captures attention and flatters you BABY.
PRETTY DAMN GOOD HOTEL. What a slogan. CHA! I was really surprised cuz the hotel was very luxurious still youth driven so i was thinking it's a 5 start hotel apparently it's only 3! Here you go - Lithuanian third world country - don't think so...
Than in our version of 'Starbucks' called 'COFFEE INN' one of the most popular cafe's in Lithuania I found this poster and only later I found out that this design studio that work I liked in the past as well just didn't know it - is going to be come one of the most inspiring things in my life and bringing back the hope that design in Lithuania is NOT DYING OR IS DEAD.
NOT PERFECT - a design studio in Lithuania, check it out - absolutely astonishing WORK!
As I said before You can find good ideas FLOATING in the air. I can't tell you the exact translation of this writing but basically. The word high or higher can mean kind of outrageous in Lithuanian and this is basically it. So the text says it couldn't be more outrageous or HIGH... And it's on top of this old cinema building, on the VERY top! BAZINGA!
A wine place in Lithuania, thouth this is a very good idea how to create your environment piece by piece. Big jars that they put bottle tops in. And they have A LOT OF WINE, we probably drank most of it that night ;DDD
When I visited the ART university 'VDA' we managed to sneak into the Visual Design sector and I wasn't very pleased with the distribution, but on their walls they had loads of students recent work, which were posters (and again not pleased) BUT the ideas! The visual language and the detail of images they used, not as worried about type but. The first image. Look at it! See that yellow poster don't panic! HOW WELL DID THEY CHOSE THE CONCEPT, very simple - very communicative. After looking trough the posters I realized that probably this was a task to create a poster choosing any social problem. WELL DONE Lithuanian Graphics students! When You have a good idea than you can adapt it to any media that WORKS.
TO FINISH OFF. 20 minutes before jumping into a car that would bring me back to my hometown I visited the gallery of the ART university and I WAS ASTONISHED. First of all THE SPACE! It's huge and only THE BEST STUDENTS ARE DISPLAYED from each course so it's around 15 students work in the gallery apparently the students need to apply for this space and it's dedicated to STUDENT work. Just putting it out there. They all can CHOOSE the way their work is displayed and I was surprised that everything is done VERY unprofessionally. The graphics again had posters (sadly) but IDEAS! I was blown away. Not being afraid to say direct messages. Like this picture on the left. CHA! David would appreciate it. The fashion student displays were AMAZING. I am hoping one of my friends will get in to the university! Furniture as well, very modern - interesting. There was also architecture students - WOW! The detail, the analysis and the visuals themselves were just astonishing. You could see all of the sketchbooks.
Just to record this - it took me an hour and 20 minutes to do this post. I was actually analyzing and thinking what I'm putting on, so just to break the thought - 'leave 20 minutes to do your blog posts each day' - 20 MINUTES! ARE YOU JOKING. YOU can get some crappy images in 20 minutes - if that's what this course requires with no analyzes. Not even gong to do that. I rather spend an hour and blog the important stuff that i actually find motivating and mind-opening than just putting out anything for the sake of blogging.
ONE MORE THING I LEARNED: I like contextual studies. (I went to few sessions in the Art university, they gladly let me stay and listen and even got me involved in the discussions we had)
AND: Knowledge is not about how much information you can consume into your brain it's about thinking and being bright, curious and open-minded AND not sitting in front of the computer for hours. You want to know your audience so be around your audience - meet your audience cuz the 'AUDIENCE' ARE PEOPLE!
AND: You can only spend so much time working if You enjoy it - than no time is wasted.
P.S: If you want good time management LET people manage their times as grown ups.
