Erin E. Sullivan's Blog

It has been over three months without an update. This blog is very overdue for one. I feel the need to explain myself for the lack of updates. So on that note, what has been happening with myself?

I graduated.

After being in college for five years, I have finally finished all of it a week ago. I am a free woman. After the years of stress, late nights and many fun memories of college life; all of it has come to an end. I finished my undergraduate career with a B.F.A. in Graphic Design, and graduated Cum Laude with a GPA of 3.60. Myself, my family and my partner have never been so proud.

I am unemployed.

Upon graduating, I had to say “Goodbye” to two jobs because they were student-based positions. Since I no longer have student status, I no longer have status as a student-employed graphic designer. As much as I appreciate the 50+ hours I have gained upon graduating, it is a little stressful to no longer have a constant income.

I am moving.

My partner of 1 1/2 years will be graduating this summer with a Masters in Geology and will be continuing her education to receive a PhD in southwestern Ohio. With myself done with school (until I decide to continue my education and get a Masters some years down the road from now) and how passionate I am to spend my life with my partner, I feel as if this has been a calling. With my partner continuing her education in southwestern Ohio and being passionate about spending her life with me as well, we have both decided to move in together in Ohio.

Moving hours away from where I grew up is frightening yet exciting to me. I will no longer be near family. I will be moving away from the majority of my friends.  I will be driving down numerous roads and highways I am unfamiliar with. Every morning I will be waking up to a scenery that is foreign to me, but… I will be experiencing all of this with my partner. Our bonds with our families will grow stronger as we realize how precious time is together. We will be making new friends that will be “our” friends and not originally “her” friends or “my” friends. We will be expanding our mental road maps that will make the foreign scenery no longer foreign. All-in-all, I love to experience new things, and I especially love to experience them with my partner. My partner is one of the most beautiful, passionate, loving, selfless, intelligent, people I have ever met. Everyday I feel very blessed to be with her, and everyday I am getting more and more excited to take the next step and live with her.

My entire life I have been living in Michigan, mostly in the southeastern area. With today’s economy, I continuously see my friends and family struggle to find career opportunities in this state. I have even watched my own parents struggle with employment for years. However, my parents have sacrificed their ability to be near their friends and family in order to be able to support myself, my brother and themselves. They moved out of state for employment. I have been convinced to do the same if I want to continue to be able to support myself, my partner, and one day my parents.

With being unemployed, I have been applying for graphic design positions in the Cincinnati, OH area. I have recently been accepted for an AIGA membership, and soon I will be transferring my status to the Cincinnati chapter. I am excited to start networking with other professionals, as a professional.

erinesullivan.com v2.0

Since I am applying for jobs, I felt the need to redesign my portfolio website to where I feel more confident about showing it to employers. The first version was done specifically for a class assignment. I am no longer a student and now consider myself to be a professional, so I need to represent myself as one. Hence, I give you erinesullivan.com v2.0.

The portfolio website is still no way near where I want it to be. I will eventually rebuild the entire website from scratch and fully integrate it into WordPress. Expect this for v3.0. There will also be a larger portfolio collection of my web design work, a “freebies” section of fonts and vectors I have designed, and the design of this blog will be integrated into the design of the website instead of no longer acting as two separate sites.

“Those 50+ hours of free time cannot entirely be taken up by applying for jobs!”

You are correct.

During the times I am not applying for jobs, I am doing freelance work to get some money in and to also build my portfolio. During other free time I have, I am spending it by teaching myself other things that could be of value since I no longer have professors to do this for me. I am teaching myself on how to customize WordPress layouts, JavaScript, PHP, Actionscript 3.0, HTML5, CSS3, etc. As a graphic designer, my strength is in print design. However, many of today’s jobs ask for web designers. Even though I do know valid web standards and bits and pieces of Flash and web development, I am not fully up-to-date with today’s new web design and development. I hope to incorporate all of this into v3.0 of my portfolio website.

Since I no longer have a boss or a professor to report to, I cannot allow myself to slack off in my skills. I am doing whatever I can to keep myself fresh and updated with today’s design, whether it is print or web. And on top of that, I hope to record my experiences through this blog and bring it back to a once-per-week update again!