Oh look, pretty dresses!

Originally posted on GUISE:

Two days ago Amanda and I had the chance to watch Mass Exodus, the annual runway show featuring collections from Ryerson’s fourth-year fashion design students.

This being my first year in attendance, I didn’t expect to see such a great breadth of designs, all with varying cuts, fabrics, and styles, within a span of just one hour. It was overwhelming, in a good way.

Still, I couldn’t help but wish the show went on for a few more hours. Sixty minutes was simply not enough to give all 58 collections the appreciation and attention they deserved. The construction of many of the pieces were so good it was hard to keep my constant exclamations of I’d so wear that! to myself (sorry Amanda).

Aside from those in the photos, other notable designers whose work stood out to me include Kendra Pegg with her androgynous ensembles, Alexandra Boultzi’s troupe of Japanese warrior women, Lia Valdez’s highly provocative fetish pieces, Monica Saraguro’s lace-fur-and-leather collection, Kelli Kikcio’s menswear, and Alexandria Julian’s cast of Little Mermaid ballet dancers, complete with a tights-clad prince!

Thanks to the Mass Exodus crew, you can watch a live stream of the whole show right here and see photos on Flare.com.

Here is the graphic design activity book I was talking about earlier.

I had the privilege of collaborating with a handful of other very talented classmates to design and build this 20-page book for our final project and it ended up looking incredible! It was so enjoyable to do, mostly because my group worked extremely well together and were all pumped about the project.

The idea was to create an activity book for those just getting into graphic design. As you go through the book, you get to learn about the elements of design through the different activities we created.

We invented a mascot named Steve (he’s the dude with the glasses) who is also learning to become a designer and is present in every page.

There are lots of fun aspects of the book, including a pair of glasses you can wear and design yourself, a fully-functional colour wheel created by Raina, as well as a certificate done by Brandon congratulating you on finishing the book.

There’s even a “Graphic Design Pledge” you have to recite once you’re done, which goes like this:

I am a graphic designer, see me kern! I will only use legible fonts. I will know the right time to use serif and sans-serif fonts. I will respect the difference between a font and a typeface. I will understand that there are many colours in the world, and with that understanding, I promise to pantone each and every one of them to my best ability. I will use negative space and never fear white space.

Good design is a privilege, not a right, therefore I will never under charge and I will stand by my compositions proudly. For as long as I design, I will never forget my mission and goal as a graphic designer to improve the world visually for the benefit of mankind. Finally, I shall never stop trying. If I can think it, I can do it!

Muchos gracias to my teammates Ali, Erin, Zachary, Brandon, Raina, Caleb, and Jimmy. it was a blast working with you guys!

Welcome to another edition of What Did Design School Make Me Do This Time?! where we take a peek at some of the shenanigans Hazel gets up to inside that place that resembles a pixellated cow on stilts.

In this episode, we have a cynical hole puncher, a hand created to look like a lowercase N, a design about design, and a dissected computer.

Well, that’s it for today! See you in the next episode of What Did Design School Make Me Do This Time?! Cue applause.