“Always be a first rate version of yourself
instead of a second rate version of somebody else.”
– Judy Garland
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I used to think office ergonomics was for wimps — as long as I had a desk, phone and chair I would get right to work.
Worrying about the distance between your laptop screen and your eyes or what angle your back is when leaning over your portable device seemed trivial. I held this belief until one day the Human Resources department at my previous job insisted I use an ergonomically friendly chair. I honestly didn’t understand how a new chair would help me do better at my job, but I was given no choice. So I opened the box and pulled out all the parts. While bending over to tighten screws with an Allen Key I pulled a muscle in my ribcage and missed a day of work, but I digress…
My new chair did make a difference — and so did the tips on how to work on my laptop in an ergonomically-friendly way. Whether at the office or at home, your comfort is important — being unproductive because you’re neck and back aches from hours of bad posture is no help to anyone. Here’s some inexpensive and easy tips for working on your laptop:
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.
Make big plans; aim high in hope and work.
– Daniel Hudson Burnham
Thousands of Grade 12 students are probably standing in front of a mirror practicing how they will deliver the traditional prom invitation.
Gone are the days when a guy would nervous
ly go up to a girl, when her friends aren’t around, and meekly ask her out. We’ve even (thankfully) moved on from popping the question via text message. That doesn’t mean there’s any less pressure though. In fact grads are upping the ante — or maybe it’s the antics — when it comes to delivering the invite.
Teens are now taking their cue from elaborate wedding proposals and as a result a new word is being introduced to our language: Prom-prosal.
There’s YouTube prom-proposals, serenading young ladies and even planes that fly over schools towing a banner with a message on it for a particular student. One student even got down on a bended knee and pulled out a box with a ring in it at the end of the school play. The audience gasped, thinking they were witnessing a marriage proposal.
How many sheets of paper towels do you use daily? You use paper towels almost every day to dry your hands off but does it ever cross your mind how much paper you’re wasting? Joe Smith demonstrates the perfect technique of drying your hands with only one sheet. We can conserve 571 million pounds of paper each year if we all just kept to one sheet. Two simple words. “Shake” and “Fold”.
Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.
Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.
- Gloria Steinem
Whenever my daughter brings a piece of “artwork” home she pushes it in front of my face and wants an instant critique. Of course the drawing or painting always receives a glowing review from me and it immediately goes up on the fridge door.
It doesn’t have to look like a sailboat or a horse or resemble anything that she describes as being in the picture. Even if I have to squint my eyes and tilt my head to make out a shape, I’m still a proud poppa because my little girl did the artwork.
I feel a similar sense of pride when it comes to the eventIQ corporate website. I’m just so happy with the re-design that I feel the need to share.
Maybe you don’t build websites for a living and you may not notice a big difference. Every car has windows and doors, right? This website has words and pictures…so what’s the difference?
The Design Studies Program at MacEwan University allows students to learn about design: Digital Media, Motion Image, Photography, Illustration and Exhibit Presentation. Every year, we have had the opportunity to work with one student from the program as an intern for three weeks to help the student with hands-on experience in the industry and how to deal with real-world problems.
Name
Kaitlyn Moore
Major
Illustration
College/University
Grant MacEwan
Internship Position
Graphic Designer
Tell us a little bit about your College/University experience
I started my first year of university at Grant MacEwan in the Design Foundations program and finished my diploma in design there with a major in illustration there. I loved going to the arts campus, it has such a different vibe than city centre. I also lived in the Grant MacEwan dorms for the first 2 years, which was fun for the first year, but wasn’t my favourite the second year. It’s been a good change coming from a small town to a big city, but it was nice to have my 2 best friends make the change with me.
What inspires you?
I’m inspired by other great designers, I love looking through books and different sites and finding different illustration or design that is well done. But, bad design also inspires me. There is too much awful design in the world so it’s really great to create something usable that is also interesting to look at.
What made you decide to intern with EventIQ?
When it came to picking an internship I wasn’t really sure where I wanted to go so I talked to our program coordinator Dianne, and she suggested I go for an interview at EventIQ because it would be somewhere that I could work independently and have a lot of control over the projects I received.
What did you like most about EventIQ?
Honestly, not having homework when I got home. It’s really great to get up in the morning and go and do something you love, but then come home and be able to do something else you enjoy
What did you learn or gain from your internship?
I learned more about illustrator and creating type and expanding images in illustrator and about more about branding.
What did you consider as your biggest accomplishment during the internship?
Being able to choose what time I come to work and making it every day before 9 am. It was very tempting to sleep in more some days. I’m also pretty happy with some of the graphics I made or redid in Illustrator.
What is your future career aspiration?
I’d like to do corporate identity work, it’s exciting to create a logo and be able to carry that aesthetic throughout so many different pieces. I’d also like to try exploring a lot more types of design, like silk screening or stain glass making. There is always too much to do and too little time!
It’s been a pleasure to work with you Kaitlyn and everyone here at EventIQ wishes you good luck in your future career!
Check out Kaitlyn Moore and other design students during the MacEwan University Design Student Exhibition on Tuesday April 24, 2012. Click here to learn more about the exhibition.
In the movie Animal House, one of the most memorable scenes involves John Belushi sliding his food tray along the lunch buffet in the school cafeteria and piling layers of food on top of it.
Belushi packs his tray until it’s overflowing with every item he can get his grubby hands on including bananas, donuts and burgers. Then once his tray is overflowing, he stuffs his pockets with more food and finally, after a quick glance over his shoulder, slurps Jello right off the plate. No matter how many times I watch this scene, I still think it’s funny.
How things have changed — we are in a different era now where students are more health conscious and schools ban unhealthy food options. And now there’s a growing movement where cafeterias are going tray-less. Why are schools dropping their trays?
- Ditching diner trays means ditching the tons of plastic used in making them
- Eliminates the needs to waste gallons of water to wash them clean!
- Less food is wasted when you can’t just grab-and-go. Say goodbye to the “my eyes are bigger than my stomach” excuse.
Seems like going tray-less has a lot of upside to schools. The downside? Without trays, the scene from Animal House can’t be reenacted — I mean can you imagine a high school student willing to carry a surplus of dishes? And it’s likely you will never hear the words “food fiiight!” again.
