Sean Hobson

I first heard of the 30 Days of Creativity project via @dotguy on Twitter. The premise is to create something, anything, for 30 days in a row. The project began June 1, 2010 the same day I read @dotguy’s tweet. With little time to prepare I decided to focus the project around photography and work. Photography because I’m already working on a 365 day photo project and work because that’s where I spend most of my time.  Fortunately, I work at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ which is ripe with atmosphere and creativity in it’s own right.  ASU is one of the largest metropolitan universities in the country with over 100 buildings on the main Tempe campus.  Like most university campuses, the architecture and landscaping is spectacular and ended up as the focal point for my project.  I decided to take a photo a day for 30 days and include the following 3 things.

1. A building on the ASU Tempe Campus.
2. A plant that can be identified with the building.
3. Text headings using ASU’s branding guidelines.

Click play below to see the final result. Click here to go to the Flickr set for details on each photo.

I also plotted each photo on a Flickr map so anyone who is interested can locate the exact spot on campus. Click the image below for a closer look.

This was a very fun project, and the community support on the 30 Days of Creativity Blog, Flickr and Twitter were great and helped keep me motivated. Here are a few things I learned.

1. The ASU Tempe campus is bigger than many small towns.  The architecture, people, plants, and general atmosphere are beautiful. I’ve worked on this campus for nearly 4 years, and this project forced me to explore all the cool little spots that I may have otherwise never found. My favorite plant discoveries were the Banana Tree in the secret garden, and the Pumpkin Patch near Hayden Hall. My favorite buildings were Danforth Chapel and the hidden area of the Bateman Science Center. My top 3 favorite photos in order are Biodesign, ISTB and Health Services.
2. I now know the names of 30 new arizona plants. Finding and matching these plants was one of the toughest parts of the project.  Google only got me so far, I’m still trying to find the names of a few (Thanks Sandy).
3. I was able to practice using ASU’s branding guidelines.  Part of my job is applying design principles to online course projects and associated visuals.  This project forced me to better learn these guidelines and put them into practice.

To create these photos I used the following tools.

1. Canon EOS 40D digital SLR camera with either the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 wide angle lens, or the Canon f1.4 50mm lens.
2. Adobe Lightroom 2 for organizing and editing photos.
3. Adobe CS5 to add text and make additional edits.
4. Flickr to host, organize and map the photos.

Finally, I really enjoyed the project and recommend it to anyone who is looking for an excuse to be creative, learn a new tool or subject matter.  Please leave any questions in the comments area, and have fun creating!