Kerning

I just chanced upon this type kerning site:

it is a game in disguise as learning.

go here>> http://type.method.ac/?again

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prepare to get thrown into the deep blue sea.

had an internship briefing today in preparation for the time application period rolls round in sem 2.

all this talk about pushing us into the real world of design does scare me a bit. the lady kept talking about how it is a chance for us to secure a job even before graduation. she repeated this a few times. i wonder if we are just a number to the school, just to get good statistics that would look good on paper? just wondering. it also reminded me of the Hindi movie i watched recently “3 idiots” which i highly recommend btw. hmm.

we also had a guest speaker from a design firm to speak to us from the employer’s perspective. it is all very inspiring really and he ended with “one day you will be a mentor too. be generous.”

 

after the talk, there were refreshments (aka free food.) and we were standing there eating… when it suddenly occurred to me how much i miss foundation year. this is on seeing my 2D teacher (2 sems) and both my 3D teachers (sem 1 and sem 2 repectively), how far year 1 seems to have been now. i m still grappling with the fact that i am in year 3 already and meant to be that much more skilled and experienced with design and here we are talking about the real world.

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“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”

I turned on my laptop at 7.30am today to find Steve Jobs staring back at me with the caption “1955-2011”. that just said it all didn’t it? (i would go on and on about how amazing the simple design of the apple front page is but that’s not the focus really.)

yes. so i was shocked. even though i knew that he has stepped down as CEO due to health issues, even though i knew he was battling pancreatic cancer… still, it was a shock.

I saved a speech by the man in my computer for the longest time…

This is an excerpt of a speech by Steve Jobs delivered to graduates of Stanford University on June 12, 2005. he ended his speech with a story on death:

” When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. “

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