I know, I know.

I haven’t posted much this month. I am slapping myself as we speak. I have been rather occupied with this portfolio book, my internship at Hotbed Creative, AND my social life. I’m leaving August 2nd for San Francisco, California for a much needed two week vacation. I’ll be posting as much and as often with photo updates and stories. This might be my future home. Who knows?

Recently I’ve been busy prepping my portfolio book and beginning to organize my vacation in August, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been designing and creating. I recently designed a new logo, which unfortunately wasn’t used for Intelligent Weatherization, an Indiana Skills Verification Program aimed at maintaining a homes weathering process. However, the program ended up choosing a more conservative direction. The color choices were chosen to reflect the fight on different weather seasons within your home.

Also, I was updating my hard drives and noticed the early stages of The Freaky Afronaut’s latest album I designed. The cover originally started as a poster I had designed with TFA in mind.

I have attached Calvin Harris titled You Use To Hold Me off his debut album. It’s insanely full of energy and fresh. Enjoy a listen!

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My dream home is much more simple than the average American. I dream of a clean space with modern accents and color, very open to the outside world. I want it to inspire thought and social dynamic. I want it to retain a style of wealth but yet use little resources in my day to day life. This is my dream pad. Where my pad will rest is a complete mystery, but the city has to be full of diversity, arts, and of course with the open minded society.

Da Dream Pad: http://www.contemporist.com/2009/11/28/my-life-in-80m%C2%B2-by-poliform/

To think that we are entering the end of May seems crazy to me. So much has happened this year and it’s all a blur. The first week of May I said farewell to my Junior year at Herron School of Art & Design with a very proud 4.0. I was very pleased with my outcomes throughout the semester and acknowledge my academic achievements.

Throughout the last semester, the Junior VC department split our course into groups of four as each group would be assigned a private organization to spend the semester designing for. These groups were chosen by the professors evaluation on our personality and diversity of artistic skills. I was very fortunate to be assigned with three motivated designers which made the semester a much easier ride. As a group, we were assigned with Community Heights Neighborhood Association, a not-for-profit organization that works at attracting residents into their community on the Eastside of Indianapolis while grouping the neighborhood together for gardening, food drives and monthly meetings. Their branding and online sources were extremely lacking. Below is a comparison of what was there when we came in and what we had left them in the end.

The art direction behind the new site was something that could connect to what makes this community unique. Community Heights is a community born out of the late 40′s where a lot of ex-military settled with their families after war. These homes were mostly ranch styled, but some businesses shared the 40′s flare. It was very important that we took this concept and flew with it. Transferring the extreme amounts of content that Community Heights wanted to store online was a headache, but in the end very organized content and navigation was delivered.

On May 5th, I began my internship at Hotbed Creative where I work with four other designers to excel at creative design. I’m loving it there already and have already begun working specifically with Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) and Minnesota Orchestra. I believe this experience will certainly further enhance my strengths as a designer. On top of the internship, I’m also designing a new album cover for The Freaky Afronaut, a website and logo. Stay tuned as I will soon have a lot to share with the world.

This past week marked the end of my internship with Indianapolis Monthly. It has been an amazing experience that went by much too fast. I was lucky to do plenty of exciting things during my time there, ranging from working on large sections of the magazine, creating vector art for feature stories, to helping art direct cover photo shoots. A job with a magazine publication can sure seem glamorous in the rush of things, but the whole experience was to teach me more about my creative self and collaborating with a team. The experience taught me that when a group of talented people get together in an organized form, amazing things can happen. The staff is constantly being pushed harder and harder, which they have to be in order to beat their competition. Magazines are suffering right now, and it’s a battle ground out there but luckily Indianapolis Monthly is selling well. My time with the publication also taught me that my creative energy is no match for a magazine. I can definitely see myself doing magazine art direction through a firm someday, but working in a publication house is much too repetitive for my taste. So now as my Junior year ends, I’m about to start a new journey as an intern. Starting in May, I will be joining a team of designers at a downtown design firm, Hotbed Creative, where I’ll get my taste of what life at a firm is like, just in time for my last year as a student. I’m very excited to start this new journey!

Early this week I finally received my official AIGA membership card. I’m finally official. For those of you who aren’t familiar with AIGA, it is a national group for designers. They plan portfolio showcases, social functions, etc. all aimed at strengthening networking for designers.

The tune for this week is very relaxed to feed the stress that has been eating me lately. The semester is dwindling to its end and my near future is heavily on my mind. I’ve been considering which cities are best for me, hunting through firms and more firms. The search and decision process seems endless. In a time where the mind has hit overload, you need a clean simple tune. Coldplay fits this gap just right.

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In January I received my new LCD Television which I have fallen in love with. For the past 5 months I have been using my 15″ MacBook Pro as my television, streaming Hulu and watching DVDs. That got old fast and my 2006 Pro was getting tired of the routine most.

The year of 2009 has brought a lot of knowledge and amazing art to show for my hard work. I completed a summer research project at IUPUI designing a website that was implemented into the IUPUI.edu framework, completed 7 freelance jobs, and filled up my portfolio that landed me my first internship which I will begin Monday, January 11th of this year.

There’s no doubt that 2009 was a huge stepping stone in the formation of my career, but I must say I’m more excited to see where 2010 will take me. In a little over a year I will be graduating from the Herron School of Art & Design with a bachelors in Visual Communications and a minor in Art History. I have no idea just yet where my career will take me, but this blog will become my diary that will visually track my progress along the way. I’m excited to share my hard work with the public and involve everyone as much as possible.

My best pieces from 2009 have been posted here. Make sure to check them out. Hope everyone had an amazing introduction into 2010! Here is an epic song to bring in the new year. BQ

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1. Visual Communication?
I think this question needs more clarification than the others. I get several people who go blank when I tell them my major. It is just how it sounds, I am learning to communicate to the world with visuals. It not only teaches me graphic design but how to work in a demanding society where we are bombarded with messages. How does mine communicate? How does it stand out?

2. Designer to be or designer I am?
Designer I am. I spend a lot of my spare time designing and researching other artists. I find my inspiration in several Swiss and Dutch designers. My favorite task is putting together editorial pages and designing swiss inspired posters.

3. Print design or the world of design?
I enjoy the arts. I’ve been in the arts since 2005 from studying Film to Photography and now Visual Communications. I practice my talents with mainly print design but I want to learn motion graphics. I also have a strong love for modern interior design as well.

4. Major hobbies?
Spending time with positive people who help build my inspiration and energy, listening to music that inspires me to take another step, exploring foods, and enjoying cocktails with beautiful people. I also have strong interests in urban development and spend a lot of my time researching the topic.

5. Music for your soul?
If you love music, you already have caught my interests as I strongly enjoy discovering new artists. I am a huge pop/electronic fan but listen to a very broad range of tunes. I like energy in my music but usually in the late evening when I’m at home I will put on an indie/alternative artist and at times I’ll listen to something more classical.

6. Sweet or bitter?
Right down the middle. My personality is as sweet as could be if you are the right person and as bitter as you deserve. I typically am full of sarcasm.

7. Gay/Bi/Straight?
I’m Brandon Dean Quigley, that is the only category I belong in. I hate stereotypes and being placed into categories, but I will say that I love my girlfriends but I love to dress them, not undress them.

8. Style or a robot?
I can be a robot when I’m at my weakest, sometimes being placed on pilot is just the way to go. On my usual day I’m a modern geek who enjoys fashion, music, design, and culture. I have lived in the Midwest my whole life and although I respect its rustic value, I demand strong culture to surround me. I dress in simple colors and patterns according to mood. My music and design work influences my personality. I ignore the conservative and acknowledge the unique.

9. Unique?
I love how I can sound vain and know that what I’m saying is true. I am very unique and was born unique. I was born with one of the rarest conditions today, Brachial Plexus/Erb’s Palsy (nerve damage) on my right arm. This was just the start. Since I was born with such a condition, I’ve learned to live life my way, not like you or the guy across country. It’s my life. I was gay from the start as I was in dance classes (dressed in a ladybug outfit being the only male dancer in the group) at age 6. Throughout high school I struggled to find my true self and once I entered college I developed an independence from the world and started to brand myself separate from others. I’m creative, bold, and headstrong. I know who I am, love me or hate me.

10. Bumpy or smooth path?
I like to consider my path rather glossy and smooth with a Martini placed on every bump I might have. I am currently preparing myself for a spring internship with a local magazine. I’ll spend a few months working with the art director and building up my knowledge out of the classroom. Senior year I will begin searching for possible job outlets in some of my most desirable cities. I see myself running my own design studio towards the end of my career but working as an art director for most of my life.

A song that always has always lifted my spirits, even on the hardest of days. BQ

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