A few of my favorite things...

Hello. I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Kelly Lester, a senior in the UCO graphic design department and fairly new Ink Tanker. As you may already know, Ink Tank is a student-driven organization within the UCO Department of Design. Our purpose is to raise funds and awareness. Conditions are bleak. Classroom space is limited. Supplies are sparse. And yet, the UCO Department of Design graduates some of the best designers in the state.

To give you an idea of how great our need is, I'll tell you a little story. Yesterday in package design we had presentations. Our classroom has no area to present (it's actually a conference room/computer lab/studio that we use as a classroom out of necessity.) So, we presented in class, placing our packages on a table. The classroom was so packed (no pun intended...) that many students had to stand... some even in the hallway!

So, I ask you to help out and give to worthy cause. If you can't donate cash (which is what we need in order to get a building of our own,) then buy a t-shirt (coming soon...) or buy some delicious Ink Tank cookies (available soon..) or come to our fundraiser this fall...

With all that said, I'd like to leave on a happy note...with a few of my favorite things... things that inspire me:

Kelly Wearstler.
Kelly is an interior designer with an amazing graphic sense. She comes from a graphic design background...she even interned with Milton Glaser. She has an innate sense of color, texture, and pattern. She mixes unexpected elements together to create a unified, complex interior.. her interiors are dichotomies. Often she explores masculine v. feminine, light v. dark, western v. eastern, and traditional v. modern... sometimes in the same room. Check her out at www.kwid.com

Wes Anderson.
I love Mr. Anderson's work. Especially my first love, The Royal Tenenbaums. Anderson's use of color, time, and place are breathtaking. His films have a sense of history about them, like you've known his characters for years. The graphic design work in his films is amazing... the books covers, labels, and typography make me swoon!

Hoefler & Frere-Jones.
I have long lusted over H&FJ's typographic masterpieces... I stare in wonderment at GQ... I swoon over Martha Stewart Living. I love their typefaces. If you haven't seen Helvetica on DVD... get it! The special features have interviews with these two dudes. Their type translates non-typographic ideas perfectly. Time, place, style, attitude. Their typeface Gotham is Americana lettering at its best. Martha Stewart just lost her exclusivity contract on Archer, a font they created especially for Living, and now its available to the public... and I just might buy it. Check out their website...www.typography.com