Present Joys

Why didn’t anyone try ironing that curtain?

When the Ogilvy tour finished, it was already after 5pm and we were way up in Hell’s Kitchen; after a long walk and a long subway ride, we made it back to the hotel with just enough time to throw on our dinner clothes. We met back up with Mamo, who seemed to have had a very nice personal day in the city. He’d bought us milk and cupcakes, so we ate those in the hotel lobby then took Uber cars to the Young Ones ceremony in the Garment District. The awards show itself was pretty fun. The room seemed crowded, and we had to deal with a lot of people to get any hors d’oeuvres or drinks, but we had a nice time anyway, and shouted a whole lot when Karl, Graham, and Theresa went onstage to receive their awards. The best part of the awards show was probably a super-cool photo booth they had there, which printed keepsake photos on-the-spot as well as generating animated gifs of the shots. How fun! We went through again and again.

After the official afterparty ended unceremoniously at 9:30pm, the nine young ones kept things moving on our own. We took the subway back to our hotel to freshen up, then we walked over to Madison Square Park to have dinner at Shake Shack—the first time I’d had an actual meal all day (unless you count the morning bagel)! It was a really sweet time for all ten of us to sit together at a table in the middle of Madison Square Park, bathed in the glow of a bulb light canopy.

After dinner, Jen and I went to go have some nice drinks in the W Hotel while everybody else went to a more casual joint. We all met up a little later, around midnight, and took cabs to a seedy-looking karaoke bar where we got a private room. We sang, among other things, songs by the Spice Girls, Rick Astley, Hall & Oates, Dolly Parton, and Nelly. The only song I really sang into a microphone was Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” with Anna, but the entire experience was surreal and unbeatable. Though several people had expressed interest in karaoke, I don’t think we would have gone through with it if it hadn’t been for Mr. Mohr. I’m very thankful we ended up doing it! What a wonderful, weird experience…

After the karaoke fun, we headed back to the hotel, and kept the party going with a little pyjama party in Graham, Karl, and Theresa’s room. By the time I got to bed, it was 3:30am, and I was brimming with tired contentedness.

It’s hard to believe it’s been a week since I returned from Minneapolis. Here is a cute photo we took thursday night at the AIGA photo booth. (I forced everybody to jump.) Now that I’ve had a week to process my wonderful, super-fantastic time away, here are some things I want to say about it:

It was fantastic to break out of the school routine and to enjoy rest and leisure with so many friends. It was good to meet new people, too: mingling with professional designers, talking to them, and visiting their spaces gave me a sense of pride for the graphic design community. The people I met were kind, talented, and interesting. More importantly, they were creating meaningful things that people interact with every day. This is the creative community I am a part of!

The trip I also gave me a keen sense of pride for our school. Over the few days we were in Minneapolis, my classmates and I participated in a ton of portfolio reviews. During these times, I was really impressed with my peers’ professionalism and by the quality of their work. We are real designers! Our work holds up in the real world—and happily so! It’s nearly time for us to graduate and start making a living. After this lovely trip, I think we are all the more ready to get out there and start doing big things.

Okay, I promise to stop with the #14minnikids stuff now.

When I was in the Bookstore at T4G last month, some conference workers asked to take my photo as part of a “T4G photo booth” they were doing. They also took a photo of me with my mother and grandmother, which I think turned out pretty good! (Thanks, Sarah!)