Next Stop, Wonderland

“The Blue Line train to Wonderland is now arriving,” booms a voice that sounds remarkably similar to the announcers at Disneyland. With metallic screeching, the massive Blue Line subway pounds through the terminal. I get on, headed toward my Wonderland of sorts.

Moving to Boston still feels a bit unreal to me. I just graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a major in Communication Design and moved here for an internship with Image Conscious Studios. I originally discovered ICS when searching for inspiration for a responsive design school project, so I am really excited to be interning for a company I have admired for a while!

I have always loved drawing, and I decided to pursue a career in design as a way of merging my desire to make pretty, expressive things with my desire to not starve. Design is a combination of innate talent and a trained eye. I know this because when I began designing, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought everything looked better justified, and wasn’t bothered by the resulting inconsistent word-spacing. I see it now, but it’s something I have learned to see.

Since my interest in design stemmed from an interest in fine art, I enjoy finding ways to incorporate tactile materials into design when possible. With everything moving to screens now, I always enjoy seeing textures and materials that seem natural or handmade on digital platforms.

In addition to drawing, I enjoy running (sort of). I used to play soccer through the end of high school, but have lost all hand-foot-eye coordination since then. So I run now instead. Without fail, I fall at least once a season, but besides that, running has been working out pretty well for me. I don’t love running. Does anyone actually enjoy it? I love the feeling I get after I’m done running–the sense of accomplishment and the satisfaction of feeling healthy. I also love the type of people who run. Runners tend to be nice, quirky people, which are the type of people I enjoy being friends with. Now that I’m in Boston, I should probably run a marathon. It’s something I told myself I would do once I graduated. I may need to retract that statement now…

I’m hoping to explore a few places I haven’t gotten the chance to visit–NYC, DC, etc. I’m both excited and a bit scared to live in the real world–a world of paying off student loans, cooking for myself, and living in an apartment that I will be paying for. Like Alice, I’m sure I’ll be fumbling around for a while, lost in Wonderland, but I’m ready for the adventure.

Speaking of, I think I just missed my exit off the T…