j. jacobson

Thanks, Mom!

2010-06-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

(yes, I know it's backwards. Blame Apple)

Right when I was at the dark, bleak precipice of study abroad depression, laying day-in and day-out on my bed, wondering why, oh why did I decide to throw away my most vital of semesters at KU, watching the endless dark rainclouds that plague the Mosel river valley roll over the hills outside my window, a shining beacon of hope buzzed it's way into my room. Literally, buzzed. I had no idea the mail carriers here had the ability to buzz my room from the front door of my building to announce their presence. I knew what it was at once though, and bolted to the front door, barely remembering to put on a shirt (because really, who wants to see that running down the hallway). There it was, the package that I had feared was taken hostage by customs officials because of the nature of it's contents, the package all the way from Wamego, Kansas: the package from my mom.

My dear, gracious mother finally had given in to my sessions on Skype, nagging her about Germany's lack of the simple things like Ibuprofen (for the hangovers), Tylenol PM (for the traffic that goes by my window nightly), Old Spice deodorant (because they don't have it here?), Crest toothpaste (when I told her I had to buy Colgate, she pronounced her allegiance to Proctor & Gamble by saying "yuck"), Abreva (yeah, I got a coldsore), not one, but TWO pairs of Old Navy flip-flops (which the Germans will hate), not one, but TWO awesome KU t-shirts to wear proudly, a note written in Target Lady speak reminding me of her maternal love, copious amounts of bubble wrap, and last but not least, my favorite Ralph Lauren t-shirt that my 16 year old brother stole out of my suitcase the night before I left (not pictured, as I immediately put it on after opening). Upon signing for my package, I may or may not have skipped back to my room.

Maybe now this last month and a half will be a little more bearable.

Lerve you too, Mom.

Time to buckle down.

2010-05-29T11:22:00.001-07:00

I'm starting to feel it!

Type design...

2010-05-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

...getting started!

Opinions appreciated!

I know, I know, I know

2010-05-10T04:01:00.000-07:00

...I'm a horrible, horrible person for my lack of blog updates.

I think I just need to do some re-organizing of my habits and surroundings. I need to do less thinking and more doing. It's frustrating, though, when you work best when you're away from your personal space, yet that's all you have.

Bottom line is, I'm missing the lab back at KU a lot these days. It was so easy for me to focus on the task at hand there, where I had everything and everyone I needed right there with me. I've never been one to work by myself in my room, yet that's what it's come to here. I'm getting work done, but it never seems like enough. I need deadlines, I need to know what exactly is due next week, I need to find some way to organize all of the thoughts and ideas into cohesiveness.

Maybe it's the fact that I ended last semester after what seemed like a marathon run, and didn't really do anything at the level of intensity I was at since then. Yes, I had an internship, but I feel like only about 25% of that was design, and what I did design really wasn't what I was used to doing, or even liked doing. Yes, I learned a great deal about thinking and concepting, but there was also a lot of sitting and staring. Maybe I just waited too long to get back to that design high I had last semester?

I also need to stop feeling like in coming here, I was taking a huge gamble scholastically. I mean, I feel like this is one of my most important semesters for creating solid portfolio-worthy work, and I'm now halfway across the world, basically flying by the seat of my pants design wise. There's a part of me that thinks maybe I should have stayed back in that security and routine that I enjoyed so much last semester, done my projects, and hopefully have success with them. I just have this annoying feeling that my work is going to stuffer here because I'm not as self sustained as others; that it's going to be sloppy and under par, reflecting the way I'm feeling right now. I don't know...maybe this is all part of the culture shock they're talking about.

I guess it's time to start getting real about being a serious design student. I just wish I would have realized that a semester or two earlier.

Anyways here are some photos I took while on a walk by the river the other evening. just some flowers.

Travel: Köln

2010-04-17T05:07:00.000-07:00

I took a weekend trip to Cologne (Köln in German, pronounced kinda like "kooln") with a group of five friends from the dorm. It was my first train expedition in Germany (apart from the trip from the airport, which was an experience in itself) and I don't think I fully realize that I was actually on a train in a foreign country until we got rolling. I honestly loved it. I feel like it it such a practical way of regional travel. I don't see why it is so hard to implement a system like this in the states, but I digress. On to Cologne.

The minute we stepped out of the train station, we were hit with the sight of the Cologne Dom. A towering double-spired gothic cathedral that has turned black with time. It was a shock to see it just right there, across a large square full of pigeons and groups of people taking photos. It was a relatively chilly day and the sky was a flat grey color, which gave the Dom a foreboding yet still awe-inspiring feeling. We went to go find our hostel, and then headed back to the Dom.

Once inside, I realized that I had seen this cathedral before in my art history 151 class. There's a special stained glass window there that basically looks like it is comprised of pixels. The sun shone through a brief break in the clouds and streamed directly in through the window, casting splotches of color across the altar and pulpit. I've been in a couple cathedrals before, but nothing as big as this one. It seemed absolutely cavernous. I guess the Cologne Cathedral is known for it's verticality. So many vertical lines drew your eyes to the ceiling, which, despite being rather plain still had an etherial quality. Even with a ton of other people in there (and I mean a ton) you still felt strangely isolated. Everything seemed to draw you upwards, almost to the point where you get this floaty feeling in your stomach.

I guess that's what Gothic architecture is supposed to do to you though, make you feel like somewhere up there at the top of all those enormous arches and pillars is heaven or something. In terms of the architecture, it definitely made me appreciate what I had learned in my art history classes. I can remember being so interested in Gothic architecture when we would discuss it in class, which initially really surprised me because it sometimes comes across as being over the top. However, seeing it for myself was a different story. Gothic architecture seems to have a sense of rhythm with such elements as repetition, symmetry, triangulation, etc. And it's all there for a reason, in one way or another. Stepping into that cathedral really made me get it and really help me to wrap my mind around the incredible fact that actual human beings built such an incredibly enormous and ornate monument without modern machinery (the cathedral took 600+ years to build from 1248 to 1880), essentially all to achieve a sacred etherial feeling.

Wow, tangent there. Anyways, our time at the Dom ended the next morning when we decided to make the 519 step climb up the southern bell tower. Doesn't seem that bad, right? Oh yeah, we were all horribly hungover. Once up top, I had more chances to get all flustered at the sight of huge ornate Gothic arches, see some really big bells, take in the 360º view of Cologne, play with some pigeons, and be disappointed at the fact that almost every inch of open stone was covered in tourist graffiti. We then went down the 519 stairs (again, while hungover), waited for our legs to stop shaking and our vertigo to subside, and then trekked to the EL-DE Museum, because really, what better way to spend your hangover than standing for two hours in an old Nazi prison?

The EL-DE House, as I'll call it, was Cologne's Gestapo (Nazi secret police) headquarters before and during WWII. In the basement was a semi-secret prison where anti-nazi prisoners were kept, interrogated, and executed. It's now a museum where you can look into each concrete prison cell behind a pane of glass. On the wall they have stories about some of the prisoners, most of which were young communists from France, Russia, Holland, and Germany. The walls were covered in the inmate's handwriting and drawings. There were notes of defiance against the Third Reich, love poems to girlfriends, boyfriends and families, and haunting last words from people who knew they were about to be executed. Upstairs was an extensive exhibit that basically followed a timeline of Nazi Germany from it's inception to it's downfall. Considering the fact that half of it was without english subtitles, I found that I more or less understood what it was all about. And, as I have a habit of obtaining as much useless knowledge as humanly possible (thanks, Dad, for that gene) I found that I was able to ignore my shaking legs, my feverish disposition, and my need to pee and enjoy the exhibit (I use "enjoy" here for lack of a better term, as it is a Nazi prison, after all).

After the EL-DE House, I wanted to go shopping, as I had spied an H&M Men's the previous day. However, I was overruled by a vote of five to one (humph) in favor of a cable car trip across the Rhine River. I reluctantly gave in and we made our way across the northern part of the city to the cable cars. On our way there, my attitude about the city of Cologne seemed to change. Once we crossed though the old medieval city gate, everything seemed much less touristy and a little more real. Long parkways lined with towering townhouses in Baroque style, tree-lined pathways in the middle of cobblestone avenues, little boutiques, little cafés, little cars, little kids. This was the Cologne where people lived their lives and it all just seemed kinda…..perfect.

We eventually found our way back to the rhine and to the cable car, which costs 6€ with student ID. Once we got up in the cars and over the river, the whole city of Cologne was laid out before us in a panorama. The grey cloudy sky had started to break up a little, and sunbeams shone through. Shipping barges went up and down the river, carrying things like coal or rock, something I'd imagine you really only see on the Mississippi in the states. It was all really a pretty spectacular sight.

As the cable car began it's descent, I was met with another pleasant view: an immense park with some of the greenest grass I had ever seen. Literally, this grass was almost like someone had dyed it. It contrasted so much with the grey clouds and the leafless trees that I didn't believe it was real at first. It just looked so lush and picturesque and it was honestly very unexpected as we had no way of telling what was on the other side of the Rhine. We were briefly distracted by some naked people directly below us at some swimming pool/sauna club thing (I guess the Germans are known for bein' down with the nudeness), but we soon landed and eagerly hopped out of the cars down to the park.

We took time to really admire the many fields of daffodils that were everywhere, and Cat stuck true to her animal-loving ways and followed a pair of ducks around for about 20 minutes. We crossed the huge expanse of lush green grass to go sit on the Rhine's pebbled beach, where the sun decided to come out in full force for a few minutes and we basked in it's warmth as well as the glittering views of the Rhine and Dom's double spires rising in the distance. We then decided to head back across the river to find someplace to eat and then take a much needed nap before going out for the night.

We did some other things while in Cologne, but this pretty much sums up the big important points. We did visit the Chocolate museum, that I forgot about when beginning this entry. The fact that I forgot about it should tell you all you need to know (Also, I have a sneaky suspicion that Oompa Loompas are based on an extremely and stereotypically racist character).

There was also a whole different side to Cologne that I dare not include here because my Mother will be reading this, and I would hate for her to get the impression that all her son is doing here is drinking and making friends with random German soldiers who bought him drinks the whole night because he's American and insisted that he go out with them after everyone else he came to Cologne with went back to the hostel 2 hours ago and then wouldn't let him pay for his own Taxi ride back home. Yeah. I mean, everything is documented on Facebook anyways, though, right? So if you must know, go there.

So, Cologne in four words: Catholics know what's what.

Next trip: Paris, France.

Tschüss!

Quot'd

2010-03-29T08:43:00.001-07:00

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. —Charles Mingus

Willkommen nach Deutschland

2010-03-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

My first three days here have been a blur, more or less. But a good blur! I've made fast friends with many people in my dorm and have been exploring the city of Trier for the past couple days of beautiful weather.

I've realized that I'm very bad at updating my blog, so I plan on making shorter posts more often. I just can't sit down and do the big long posts. Sorry Mom.

Anyways, here are two photos of Trains that I took on the way to Trier.

Tschüss!

Inspiration(s)

2010-03-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

While studying abroad in Germany, my classmates and I will have to design our own magazine. We'll be responsible for all content as well (words, pictures, etc.)

So, I've decided to compile some inspiration here. I figured it'd be good to have an at-a glance inspiration thing on here as opposed to the file of 1,500+ pictures I've pulled off of various sites and blogs.

More to come.

You know what I just bought?

2010-03-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

These:

yes, they are TOMS shoes.

You probably are aware of TOMS by now, but if you aren't I'll explain. Basically, when you buy one pair of shoes for yourself, TOMS gives a child in, say, Africa a pair of shoes who doesn't already have an adequate pair. Pretty nice of TOMS, I'd say...

Pretty trendy of me....but eh, who cares.

Ain't it the truth...

2010-03-09T10:58:00.001-08:00

found on FFFFOUND

Flashy

2009-11-11T20:05:00.000-08:00

So our new project in GD2 is a flash click through instructional...thing. We had to choose a topic from one of the "Worst-Case Scenario Survival" guides. I chose the cute/depressing "How to survive if you have no one to kiss on new year's eve."

Here's a moodboard and "splash" page:

We'll see how this turns out...

Project 2 - Graphic Imperative in Motion

2009-11-04T15:38:00.000-08:00

Graphic Design 2 - FGM/C from Jordan Jacobson on Vimeo.

Tell me about it...

2009-10-12T07:05:00.001-07:00

I feel like this is pretty applicable to my status as a poor design student...

via www.graphic-exchange.com

Shuck you.

2009-09-29T11:07:00.001-07:00

So, After a long month and a half, we are DONE with our first Graphics 2 project of the semester. The Maine Oyster Fest 2010 has been (hopefully) successfully rebranded!

It was a long process, involving many sleepless nights, but it was all 100% worth it. I have something physically produced that I am actually proud of. Kudos, me.

You can check out the website I made here! (compared to the original here)

I'd say I'm a pretty happy camper.

P.S. Photos courtesy Cat Coquillette's iPhone

Woops!

2009-08-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

I accidentally deleted my blog over the summer...time to start a new one!

More to come soon!