Website!

This was my first digital draft from my sketches. I tried to design the site so that it really reflected my personality and style and I feel this does both. I'm incredibly happy with the overall final site and am really excited to finish it by adding older work and other media. Dreamweaver was hard to learn at first, but after getting a basic knowledge base, I was able to play with it more and ended up liking it quite a bit! Check out my final site: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~jonso007

No Assembly Required

I am still having no luck uploading my album covers. Sorry, they should be up soon!

But on a better note, my final for the polymer plate assignment is up and finished! I decided to go with a "type as image" approach, creating my own letters. I became quite attached to the idea of defining my word, pre-made, as "No Assembly Required." I loved the idea of depicting this definition in an incredibly hard to read type, creating the paradox of it requiring mental assembly. In my mind, this will be the front cover of a greeting card, further pushing the pre-made nature. Along the sides runs "manufactured thoughtfulness," a little surprise found upon looking closely. I'm awfully excited to get off the computer and begin to print, as I know the it will be the best part!

Sparatic Responses to "Pre-Made"

Our new assignment, which I'm uber excited about, is a polymer plate print with the theme of "made." I drew the prefix of "pre" and have various ideas...
My first reaction was prepackaged, manufactured, artificial thoughtfulness. Like greeting cards. All you have to do is grab one off of a categorized shelf, sign your name, and hand it to the person. There's no thought involved. Another example was pre-made cakes that you buy and have them fill in the blank with someone's name. All you have to do is pick one (and spell their name right). This has got me a bit stuck on a food theme: the "Just add water" mixes, shake 'n bake, cut and bake cookies, microwave dinners, Lunchables... Then the idea of fast food: it's there waiting for you to pick it, barely personalizable. Dining halls or cafeterias with pre-made food sitting out, you have choices, but at the same time, you have no choices. All you have to do it pick something. I was feeling the "Just add water" for awhile, but then I realized it's not something that's entirely pre-made, you do still have to add that water! Something more in the right direction is "No assembly required." None. It's already made, you just have to choose one. I like the idea of those magnetic words that you create sentences with on the fridge. They are there, waiting for you, you just have to pick the order. Like pre-made page layouts in programs where all you have to do is drag in pictures, text, clip-art... Those last two might be more assembly than I would like to portray. I'm really intrigued with the idea of using greeting cards to display this "pre-made" concept... maybe tying it together with the fast food/cafeteria style walking-with-a-tray and "Just pick one!" Mostly concept craziness thus far... More to come.

It may not be the World Series...

but it's mine! (which I'd say is better anyways.)
So here's what I've been working on:
I'm continuing the Carpool Poster concept with a series of three that have become a semi-promotional/informative package for carpooling. I'll be using a modified iconic Bob Dylan cover as a CD case to contain other pieces, such as a concert ticket, backstage pass, button, sticker, keychain, etc. I'm using a music theme as a source of attention draw, hopefully to those of the Dylan era. Since only 8% of commuters carpool, and most of them being middle aged, I hope to appeal to that generation of polluters.
(due to technical difficulties, the Dylan cover will be posted asap)

Greenway Response

By using inspiration from their new website (www.midtowngreenway.org), we began to form what could soon become a cohesive identity of the Coalition. The back of the postcard is basically meant for display only and I'd prefer that it be left blank to save on resources and to make people feel comfortable taking it and holding on to it for their use, rather than feeling obligated to send it. A simple one-sided design leaves the door open to using it as a viable, inexpensive mailer, keeping it simple to update with more current information. The layout of the poster feels a bit sparse and I think with more time and information, we would have been able to solve that composition dilemma. Overall, I'm pretty excited about the final output. I believe we were able to promote the Midtown Greenway as something that community members can see the benefits of getting involved in.

Greenway

Gina, Liz, and I worked in a group to create a promotional and informative piece for The Midtown Greenway Coalition. Rather than creating a brochure, we decided it would be more to the Coaltion's interest to design a poster to advertise the Greenway to community members to encourage them to become involved, which was a main theme they wanted to come out in the final product. We promoted the idea that there is something for everyone, no matter their income level, amount of free time, etc. The final is a poster with an update-able postcard "handout" for people to take with them to remind them of upcoming events. Below is poster and both sides of the postcard.

Series Thoughts...

I'm thinking of incorporating my car into the background of these existing recognizable record covers by replacing the car that's in it with mine. I'm pretty happy with Abbey Road and the Free Wheelin' but I'm still unsure if I'm using Surfin' Safari. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Benefits to Carpooling

1. Less pollution

2. Reduces need for road construction

3. Lowers stress levels (driving and at work)

4. Less demand for parking

5. Save money from gas, parking, and vehicle repairs

6. Reduces traffic

According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, in 2006, approximately 2.5 million gallons of gas were saved due to carpooling. This averages to a savings of about $5.9 million dollars for Michigan residents. 

More Inspirations

Another great series from http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/posters-by-post/

Inspirations

Images from http://www.powellmay.net/. The last one has the grids displayed for the third one.

Take Seven

Final?

I am surprisingly happy with this final considering it began to take this form about 30 hours before I had to print. I was seeing how the first drafts weren't working but I finally understood how to change it to make it work. There are still some minor adjustments I feel need to be made– tilting the world, tweaking the letter forms and counters, possibly utilizing different grays... Overall, I'm excited to move on to the next phase of this series.

Take Four

Fourth Try

Take One

First Layout

First Sketches for Second Project

Initial thoughts..

A Quick Follow-Up

So, there it is- my final PowerPoint. I'm quite proud to say that I stuck it out and did the entire project in PowerPoint (with the exception of very minimal editing of the scans in Photoshop) rather than resorting to programs I am more comfortable with. And I am still happy with the final version. But I still strongly dislike PowerPoint.

Trek Power Point

This is the final layout of the PowerPoint:

Favorite Quotes from Trek

I think it beyond saying that one work of art is worth 20 introductions and 40 or 50 earnest essays that agonize about the nature of art of the relation of aesthetics and economics or the antipathies of art and science or the function of the arts in the perfect society. The word itself has now largely ceased to mean anything by its being applied to almost everything in sight, from the half-baked products of “creative” courses at the local high school to the sentimental slither peddled in every medium by those who pander to the gullible. 35

Yet it takes a good deal of talking to convince a layman that bad art is “immoral.” And that good art, however “immoral” it is, is wholly a thing of virtue. 35

Yesterday night

i went out to the backyard

to pick up one couple of lemons.

first time the plant give fruits.

the night was perfect.

it was raining all afternoon

when I took the first one,

water of rain falled over me,

suddenly, unexpected

retained by the tree,

water whit lemon fragance

i was not expected this

but it was just what I needed.

a brief but intense happy moment.

nobody can not hear me but i said

yes. 51

Sometimes you have to compromise legibility to achieve impact. –Herb Lubalin

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once. –Albert Einstein

So fill ‘er up and look around – the shards are where you step on them, and even the blood is digital. 71

Welcome to the nonexistent Now!

Only to depart again, following the mainstream down the crooked creek to Pau Hana, where joyful post-apocalyptic revisionist reveries rebrand past moments as the life we seemed to have lived – given what we thought we were taking, taken by what we were giving, and wondering what we can ever call ours, since all of it – from a moment ago to forever – is already gone and still vanishing in the present process despite all the graphic nails you drive into it to hold it down. Rust never sleeps and cancer curls between the sheets of opportunity. 84

The creation of indoor space – of walls and doors and rooms with 90-degree corners, square tiled and floored with boards by the linear foot and electrified with parallel circuits – it’s all a ruse of our own fashioning, to hide the stars outside. Self-delusion. We’ve boxed ourselves in. Let me out, don’t. 86

So don’t shoot the messenger, and don’t try so hard to understand just what you will say when you get home, Mr. Jones. No one else really knows either. That’s why Socrates was such hot shit in classic Athens. “The reason you people think I’m so smart is I’m the only guy here who really understands that he doesn’t know anything.” 87

Informative Book Review

Our first assignment!

So, we are critiquing a graphic design book. I chose to look at my Christmas present:Trek by David Carson. Paging through it with a more critical eye has been difficult since I am a big fan of Carson's but I'm beginning to see subtle choices he made that I disagree with. I'm becoming really struck by many fascinating and thoughtful quotations he includes and I'd really like to employ them in my powerpoint but I'm unsure how to do that just yet or if they will even work in at all...