Excuse me...

Dear design firms, organizations, non-profits, churches, and any other manifestation of businesses,

I would like a design internship before May.

Just in case you forgot.

Love,

Megan

Drum Roll Please...

Yesterday was the opening of Auburn's Graphic Design Juried Student Exhibition in Biggin. The show was awesome and full of tons of talented student work. I'll let it explain itself:

"Each Spring Semester the Graphic Design Students put their best school work from the past academic year on display. This year we are hosting Auburn’s own Chad Bottcher as our guest juror and lecturer. Chad is the principal of MindVolt, the absolute finest, full-service design and advertising agency in North Alabama. Work from sophomore, junior and senior level students will be shown in Biggin Hall Gallery for the week."

The reception and opening was yesterday at 4:30 in the Biggin Gallery. The show will be up until Friday. Jessica Sabo, Daniel McCoy and Katie Rhea all had pieces in the show. I had a total of 4 get in as well.

After looking through all of the work each category was given an award (usually a sweet and expensive design book) as well as merit awards basically the runner up. The judge went through each category and in my head I though "Eh, not me." Then he got to the last category and talked about how he couldn't help but love this particular project and how practical it was in a business sense. He looked down at the book and said "Life Straw by Megan Forrester".

I was like "Whaaat?"

I won Best in Show for the Exhibition! How insane is that? I got to talk to the juror, Chad Bottcher after wards and he was extremely complimentary of the piece. To be honest I didn't even consider that to be one of my best pieces. I remember having a complete emotional break down the night before it was due! Just goes to show that God can turn even the smallest bad things into something good.

The project itself was re-designing the identity of a German product called LifeStraw. Basically it is a personal water filtration system in the shape of, you guessed it, a straw. We were assigned to create a complete identity and ad campaign then assemble it into a book aka an ID manual.

I will have pictures of the work up on my Flickr site soon!

In other news, the internship hunt is still ongoing. I have no heard a word from Relevant in 2 weeks. I have decided that if I don't hear a yay or nay after Spring Break then a follow up e-mail will be in order. I did hear from Erika and AIM and within the month, hopefully, we will get to meet and have coffee to discuss the possible internship opportunity.

In the meanwhile, I am doing some non-profit projects with Collaboration Reverberation (CR) in San Diego. It's been pretty sweet so far and I'm working on a logo identity for Elhelo which is an umbrella organization based in California that supports mission efforts. I'm also doing a T-shirt and banner design for Jireh Mission.

On top of that I'm finishing up a logo for Harding in Memphis as well as a new T-shirt design for our drama group Speak and more sign-age for my grandparent's auto shop in Opelika.

Busy busy busy!

Spring Break also begins this Friday. I'm headed to the lake with a group of my closest friends. We'll be back on Monday afternoon then I'm going to Birmingham on Tuesday to hang out with some people I haven't seen in ages. On Thursday I shall return then head off to Destin, Florida with my family until Saturday.

Well I better get back to work. I have a super hard lab practical in a few hours that I need to stuff as much information into my head as possible! As always, thanks for stopping by!

Auburn's Loss of Lauren Burk

Hey everyone.

Well I'm coming to you with some very sad news as of late. I will let the University explain the situation from the following message we students received earlier this week:

"On Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at approximately 9:08 p.m., Auburn Police responded to a call of an injured female on Alabama Highway 147 (North College Street). Upon arrival, officers found a female, later identified as 18 year old Lauren A. Burk, an Auburn University student, suffering from a single gunshot wound. Ms. Burk was transported by EMS to the East Alabama Medical Center where she succumbed to her injuries.

At approximately 9:27 p.m., Auburn Police received a call of a vehicle on fire in the Hinton Field parking lot located on Lem Morrison Drive on the Auburn University campus. The vehicle, a 2001 Black Honda Civic, was registered to the victim and was fully involved. Personnel from the Auburn Fire Division responded and extinguished the fire.

The case is under investigation by the Auburn Police Division with assistance from the Department of Forensic Sciences, the Lee County Sheriff's Office, and the Lee County District Attorney's Office. Law Enforcement officials are continuing to follow-up on all leads."

There will be a campus wide Memorial Service for Lauren on Samford Lawn this Monday at 3pm.

Please pray for her family and those on campus who were close to her. It turns out that Lauren was a pre-graphic design student and in one of my favorite professor's classes this semester. She also had a heart for Invisible Children and attended a screening we had a few weeks ago, but I was not fortunate enough to meet her.

The campus has been on edge in the past few days so pray for peace, healing, and God to work through such a tragedy.

As for me, it's just been shocking. I've lived here for so long that I have always felt very secure and safe in Auburn. It just reminds me that life is fragile everywhere, even at home.

I have a few updates as well. I submitted 5 pieces to the Auburn Student Juried Design Show and got 4 of them in! The gallery opening is Monday at 4:30 in Biggin Hall if you would like to come. The work should be up until Friday.

The internship hunting still continues. Right now I have two options in the works. I should meet with Erika to discuss details about interning with Adventures in Missions. That's exciting and I can't wait to meet her! Secondly, I applied for the Relevant internship and I'm just awaiting a response. Another guy from Auburn (not design) applied and was accepted for a position. He was notified 5 days ago, so I'm getting anxious. I'll be sure to keep you posted on all of that as the month goes on.

Spring Break is coming up and I think it's going to be a great one seeing how it is my last "Spring Break" as a student!? Crazy! I'm going to the lake with my friends for the first weekend, up to Birmingham for a few days to see some more friends, then down to Destin with my family for the weekend. I love traveling through our grand state! Ah, good stuff.

In the meanwhile I am swamped beyond recognition with design work. I have just accepted a TON of freelance work with CR Design firm in San Diego. I'm slightly intimidated by how "official" this is, seeing how I will be working with real clients and real printers and a real firm. I think it will be a good learning experience and hopefully more knowledge about how design works in the real world, not just the student simulation.

I will keep you updated on life in Auburn, but for the meanwhile I must dive into the pit of design for the final push before Spring Break.

Keep Auburn in your prayers and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Update

Hey there everyone.

I have no idea why I titled this post "Update" because that would imply that something has actually happened therefore presenting a reason to inform you of said event. Well there is a little something that you might be interested to know:

I was offered an internship in San Diego but I can't financially make it work to move out to California for the summer. Unless I wanted to live in a box...which I decided after sleeping in one for a night would be a bad idea for my health. I really liked the firm and where their hearts were anchored. Even so, it has a possibility of employment for the future which is super exciting. Another firm in Philadelphia e-mailed me back and said they already had interns. I applied for another one in Washington DC but that was about 2 weeks ago.

I would like to say that to date I have contact/applied for at least 40+ internships.

I should hear from Relevant within the month so at least that's something to hope for.

Basically I'm playing the waiting game.

In the meanwhile I've just been doing school work and relaxing. I've had a lot time on my hands most of which I've been sleeping or working on some freelance projects. I know that sounds like a waste (the sleeping part that is) but I have been exhausted over the past 2 weeks. Perhaps my body just needs to catch up.

I started reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it. The only fall back is that I wish I had someone to talk to about it because it gets pretty deep into some serious issues of spiritual warfare. Bible study anyone?

I did get an e-mail about registering for graduation! I got really excited because it just makes that a reality. I'm graduating. In 291 days. And I have no idea what I'm doing. Or where I'm going. Or, well anything.

To be honest I would love to do ministry and design. Together. Everyone keeps telling me it's possible but right now I just need a door to open somewhere. Or just like...a crack in the door. Regardless of my doubts, God is faithful for sure.

Well I'm headed to lunch with Jess. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Like They Said

So I stumbled across this article about graphic design and its relationship to a Christian heart. I have to say it pretty much expresses a struggle that every designer deals with. Even though I'm still a graphic design student I can relate to what is being said here. Take a few minutes and check it out:

"I can't tell you how many designers I've spoken to over the last year who have expressed to me a deep discontent with their work. Not that it wasn't good enough or that it didn't win awards, but because they felt empty and passionless doing it. I saw this expressed in several ways:

I called a fellow graphic designer the other day, and he told me that he just didn't think he could possibly design another corporate newsletter for a client.

I walked into a well respected, up and coming ad agency and found very bright and creative designers dragging themselves through the motions with another less than inspiring project.

I myself have recently tried to establish some client accounts that I new I'd be miserable doing.

What do all these things have in common? Fear. Most of the things we do, our bosses do and our coworkers do are driven by fear. Primarily fear that we _______. You can fill in the blank…fear that won't be able to pay the bills; will get fired if we say no; won't be able to maintain our lifestyle; will close the door on other opportunities, etc.

So what do we do? We toil the ground as Adam was cursed to do after the Fall. We take on clients and projects we don't have any interest in or flat out dislike. We compromise our creative convictions for fear of losing a client. We rush ourselves to produce for fear of missing a deadline and produce unsatisfactory work. We take jobs at big agencies when we want to start our own studio. Think about how many times today you did something where fear was an underlying motive.

Fear is the Enemy's number one weapon for getting us to do what we don't want to do when our hearts are calling us to do otherwise.

There is good news though for folks like us. Jesus is broke the curse of toiling the ground (or computer) so we no longer need to design from fear. He is calling us to risk it all to create and design with passion for His Kingdom. Remember the story of Jesus and the fishermen. These professionals had been out all day working hard. They were toiling the water, so to speak. They caught nothing. They were empty. Then Jesus tells them to go into deep water and try it again. You know the rest of the story. They caught so many fish their boats almost sunk, and they even called for help. They were stunned.

Check out Jesus words to one of the fisherman, "There is nothing to fear. From now on you'll be fishing for men and women." In one act Jesus ignited their true call (still related to their profession but on a new level) and showed them that there would be more than enough to supply their needs. Their response: pulled their boats up, left all their professional equipment behind and followed Him.

I know this is what God is calling me to do. Could it be we only need to listen for the call in design work and follow Him. Can't He handle the bills? Does the world really need one more cool product to sell or snappy ad produced? What's one more logo going to identify? Is there something deeper He is calling you to design? What's the passion He's designed in your heart? Are you willing to leave it all behind?"

False Alarm

So, yeah.

I'm not going to Washington. Somethings have fallen through and apparently I'm just not going to make it.

It's been a long day friends, but for those of you who are going have fun and lobby a little for me.

In the mean while, I shall defend my parking spot from my drunken neighbors while trying to finish 5 prints, a CD cover design, and a presentation by Friday.

Graduation come quickly.

Lobby for Peace

I literally just got off the phone with some extremely exciting news that I want to share with all of you.

There is a organization that I'm a big fan of called Invisible Children. One of their recent focuses is on becoming more political with their organization to push for peace in Uganda, Africa from another AMAZING organization called Resolve Uganda. Here's an update on the situation there:

"The Ugandan military issued the strongest reiteration yet of its threat to renew military hostilities against the LRA if a peace deal is not reached by the end of month. Despite recent progress in Juba, UPDF spokesman Chris Magezi said, "The February 29 deadline is still on and I can tell you in no uncertain terms that [the] government has no plans of renewing or announcing other deadlines. After the expiry of the deadline, the government will have an array of options, including the military option."

Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu, a highly respected advocate for a peaceful solution to the conflict, spoke out strongly against the ultimatum, saying, "They should not be impatient…Both parties should know that the people of northern Uganda would not want a bloodbath again after both the government and the LRA took the decision to go to peace talks. Those who propagate war should be ready to answer for the lives that would be lost and be ready to face the consequences of the resumption of war."

Since the peace talks have been very shaky in the last few weeks, the Lobby Days have come into existence. Basically, Invisible Children is rounding up all of its supporters to come to Washington DC and meet with their congressmen to put pressure on the US government to support peace in Uganda.

Well....

I'M GOING! That's right! Dean Green our Dean of Students is sponsoring me and two other girls to fly to Washington this Sunday to represent Auburn University! We'll leave Sunday and return on Wednesday and yes, our classes will be excused so have no fear!

I couldn't be more pumped! I've never "lobbied" for anything or met a congressman, or even really been in Washington. I went once when I was in the University band but I didn't see anything besides being stranded somewhere in Virgina and walking through the snow for a day. I'm so excited to actually be able to SEE D.C. and have the flight paid for is just...wow.

So, if you see me on MTV freezing my bum off for Uganda please TiVo it! (Hey it's better than sleeping in a box for a night like last time) Haha anyway, I just wanted to share and I'll let you know how everything goes.

As always, thanks for stopping by!