The Design Blog

:: homework THREE :: cousin it

Cousinitweb

So I was home looking at the image that I posted of this project earlier and realized that I posted the wrong one!! How embarassing! So I reopened the file and saved the correct one, and am now uploading it. This was totally a fun project! Each student had pictures taken of their head from all angles and had to create a collage of themselves, based off of art projects by artist Kiki Smith. Since most of my pictures were of my hair, this is what I chose to concentrate on. 

Kind of looks like a squashed Cousin It, hence the name. :) 

:: extra CREDIT :: kaleidoscope

This was an extra credit exercise that I did for my own exercise, as opposed to turning in for class since technically I'm turning it in late. So the credit I am getting from it is the experience of the exercise. This was fun. My images are of a free newspaper stand in Hollywood, a PeeWee Herman doll, and a cat that came into the Apple store I used to work at, during the Snow Leopard release. This cat was adorable and totally looked like the snow leopard on the package! Plus, he was fairly well trained, walking on a leash with his owner. And he was HUGE!!! So, I thought I'd commemorate him in this kaleidoscope.  

Anyhow, I'm very tempted to print this out and use it as wrapping paper for the rest of this year! 

Kalediscope

::classwork:: animated gif

Click on the actual animation to see the full piece. The preview in this blog is poop. 

Zztop

no class today

I had an excellent adventurous weekend and was looking forward to class today. Had fun with the collages for class and was very curious to see what everyone else put together. But I should have seen it coming. Traffic lights were out the entire way to school. I saw Tommy's Hamburgers lose power completely. Somewhere along the line, the power in nearly three cities went out around dusk tonight. So by the time I got to school and saw that the only light in the place was coming from the partially lit parking garage, I had a feeling....

And yep, class in our basement lab was cancelled. Ah well.... Gives me time to read ahead and work on the face-morph project. 

As for my crazy weekend, I received a new nephew on Thursday (not quite the weekend but close enough!), went to International Sword Swallower Day at the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in Hollywood   and the Museum of Death. Went to a beautiful baby shower for my friends Todd and Amy. I had a ton of fun making their gift since Todd is a professional knife thrower and it's not every day you can give someone a baby onesie that says "Don't make me MAD... my dad throws KNIVES!" and have it be relevant!!  It was truly one of the best baby showers I've been to! What can I say? I'm not a huge fan of the silly games. :p And the sweetest part of the baby shower was hearing Baby Jack's grandpa sing a song he wrote to his grandson. A true treat! 

Anyhow kiddos, for my classmates, see you Wednesday! Hopefully we have power!! 

love, 

me. 

Links: 

International Sword Swallower Day -  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35644890#35644890

Knife Thrower "Jack Dagger - The King of Fling" -  http://www.jackdagger.com/

Museum of Death (not for the queasy) -  http://www.museumofdeath.net/

:: chapter TWO :: rhythm + balance

Okay, attempt three at posting this blog. :: flabbergasted :: I seriously was almost done and would accidentally click the photo and BAM! I'd be looking at my blog in the blog entry place and my text would be gone. ::insert Homer Simpson "DOH!" here:: 

Anyhow.... Chapter two was on rhythm and balance. Rhythm and balance are two elements that as a designer you definitely need to have a firm grip on. When I think of balance, I see design that directs my attention to the appropriate message without causing me to ignore the entire composition. When I think of rhythm in design, I think of visually "hearing" the pattern in the design. My favorite examples of rhythm and balance in design are by the legendary Saul Bass. His work has a gritty, jazzy feel to the illustration and the typography. His work can be seen in movie posters, opening movie credits, and logos. Chances are, you've seen Saul Bass work without even realizing it. Remember the classic opening credits to the original James Bond movies? How about Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo movie poster? Ever seen Frank Sinatra in The Man with the Golden Arm?  

the man with the golden arm

The graphics seem fairly simple with bold colors, and the movie poster looks like it stepped out of the opening credits. You can feel the motion in the illustrations. The graphics feel like they are constructed of lopsided Jenga blocks and at any moment they will slide and collapse. Like the Jenga blocks, they are the perfect asymmetrical balance that draws the viewers eye in. The rhythm is what keeps the energy up in the piece. 

If you want to learn more about Saul Bass (and I definitely recommend that you do!) check out this link and video: 

http://designmuseum.org/design/saul-bass

:: homework TWO :: plane name

Name

Name in planes. Well, not my whole name. More like select letters in my name. First letter, middle letter, and last letter of my first name. First letter, third letter, and last letter of my last name. Fun stuff! T-Lap-Co. Or maybe Cross Lap Co? Hmmmm.....

:: homework ONE :: nantucket take two - a homer simpson kind of day

So I found out today that I was the first one in class to turn in the Nantucket project. Not bragging since Jocelyn said I didn't do the project right since parts of the bridge were still used in the composition. No problem! Just exercise, right? So in class, I joined everyone in working on this project and created a second one! While in the last composition I was influenced by snakes, apparently in this one I was influenced by Homer Simpson. Mmmmmm.... forbidden donuts.....  

Nantucket beware! If I were a god, I would rain massive donuts on you!!!  Just because I could. Be happy I'm not a god.  Now you might think that gods are not that mischievous as to rain donuts on Nantucket or anywhere else for that matter! If you think this, you should really read American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I love that story. And it's an interesting look at what happened to all the gods when God became the main ideal. 

Makes me smile.

Nantucket2

:: homework ONE :: nantucket

This week's exercise is to take the provided image of a bridge in Nantucket and remove it. Replace the bridge with another image. 

This was a fun one. When I saw this image, I wanted the bridge to become something else. And since I've been in a snake-y mood lately, that's what I chose to replace the bridge. I used a mask to remove the bridge but kept the hand rail on the left hands side because it can't be easy to walk on a snake bridge! Took some time to create reflections in the water and had fun with this one! 

I wonder how this would interpret (a bridge becoming a snake) in a dream... Any guesses? 

Pacheco1_nan

:: chapter ONE :: line, point and plane

This week's exercise was to give examples of Lines, Points, and Planes. I looked around myself and used sewing pins, a faux pearl necklace, and a rubber Speedball block to create visual examples.

POINT 

IMG_0555

A point is a position in space. Each of these pins is a position in space. None can occupy the space that one is currently holding. Think of the Robin Hood archery competition example. One contestant in the archery competition hits the target directly in the bullseye. Robin Hood comes over and splits his arrow down the center by hitting exactly the same spot. Since both arrows tried to occupy the same position, one ultimately won out, destroying the other. 

LINE

100_5200

A line is an infinite series of points. If you look at this image to the right, you see the "pearls" in the necklace. Each pearl represents a point. When enough are strung together, they become a line. Generally a line is at least two points on up. Remember geometry class? The shortest distance between two points is a...

LINE! 

PLANE

IMG_0559

This Speedball rubber block is flat, but it has height and width, which makes it a plane. Think of a plane as the movement of a line. And what is a line? An infinite series of.... POINTS!