Belated Blog Post

Parts of the Letter:

I’ve always liked typography. Even before I knew what typography was, I was attracted to simple words with a lot of space around them. The simplicity of letters and words being the most beautifully executed graphic design in itself interests me.

After reading “Parts of the Letter”, I realized that typography is essential in how we communicate. Typography isn’t just words shown in conceptual ways, typography is the creation of typefaces through differences in serif, stroke, apex, vertex, etc. The way the letters in a typeface are designed can give them very different meanings. 

This relates to my design project in that understanding how the typeface interacts with the space around it (both two dimensional and three dimensional space) is essential to conveying its meaning.

Photography Readings:

Not to sound like the typical over dramatic art student here but: photography has been my life the past few years. I’m always looking for inspiration and any advice working professionals have to offer.  

Before reading the article by Steve Edwards, I knew a little about the history of photography but not much. The criticism that photographers received in photography’s early history make me wonder how the art form gained any popularity early on. I was surprised at the huge differences between ‘art photography’ and ‘document photography’ in the mid 1800s. Photography had a bad reputation of just being a ‘copying tool’ and was not considered an art form. I was shocked to read that Ansel Adams once claimed that the photographers shooting for Farm Security Administration between 1935 and 1943 were ‘not photographers’ rather ‘a bunch of sociologists with cameras’. The documentary photos captured by such greats as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans are some of my favorite images in history. Those images convey much more emotion in me than Ansel Adams photos of national parks, but I thats just my taste and what I personally like to shoot as well.

Photography is crucial to the project because the three dimensional words can be viewed in many different ways, but the way the group documents the word in form of a photo will depict how the word is meant to be viewed and further show how the word interacts with the environment.

The Finished Product

Schoolwork: Here’s the finished product for my group’s word in its environment. We were assigned a word and we had to construct that word and put it in an environment that helps to convey it’s meaning. Got to borrow a tilt shift lens for this one!

Photos of Process

Possible 'Capture' Locations

As always check out my other blog for the exciting stuff! (not that this isn't exciting) I like the other  layout much better! Goodnight!

Disrupt

Disrupt

–verb (used with object)

1.

to cause disorder or turmoil in: The news disrupted theirconference.

2.

to destroy, usually temporarily, the normal continuance orunity of; interrupt: Telephone service was disrupted forhours.

3.

to break apart: to disrupt a connection.

The Reflections

Here are my reflections from the third project. Don't forget to check out my personal blog at maxmphoto.tumblr.com !

Overall Reflection

When I first heard the overview of this project I thought the design professors were joking. There was no way I could do over 300 sketches when I’m not confident in just one sketch. Breaking the project up into different categories and managing time on the different styles of drawing made the project much easier to handle (but I still had to pull an all-nighter to stay on schedule).

Before this project I didn’t know much about the graphic design process or the brain storming process in general. Even though you won’t be able to tell by my drawings, I consider myself somewhat of a perfectionist and it was very difficult to do quick sketches without revising or editing them immediately. After I learned to edit later, the process went much faster.

I’ve also never analyzed such a simple object in so many ways. Before this project I would of told you that you can draw a pair of pliers three different ways at most. I think through sketching my object in so many different styles has also made myself a little more confident in my sketching abilities. This being the first really time intensive project working alone, I’ve also learned to manage my time more efficiently and now I know what to expect in terms of workload outside of studio hours.

Comics Reflection

After reading Understanding Comics, I have realized the role as the graphic designer is not to just make things that look appealing (although that is a big part of the job), rather it is communication. This communication doesn’t have to be completely visual. Communication can be combined with text to portray a clearer message. Comics are a perfect example of this. Even ‘silent’ comics tell a story without the use of words. The viewer can understand the situation through various clues visually such as facial expression and stylized movement. When the artist adds words, the viewer can not only perfectly understand what the characters are trying to say or act, they can also imagine the action in that frame.

Color Reflection

I decided not to include color in my poster because the only original color in my grid from the pictures was the pale yellow of the phonebook used in my alternative surface category. In my final grid I turned this to black and white because I didn’t like the other colors in the pale yellow palette. Although the use of color plays a major role in directing the eye, I feel that keeping the poster monochromatic forces the viewer to analyze the form of the pliers in more detail noting the simplicity and function around the design.  

New Blog!

I made a tumblr. I'll still post to this blog too but I just thought you should know. Sorry blogger.

finally did another shoot

After being at school for over a month and not shooting any personal work along with going home on the weekends shooting senior portraits (not cliche, but the standard senior portrait. Just not my style of photography - just need the money) I was completely creatively drained. That was until my good friend and very talented photographer Christine wanted to do a little photoshoot with a few models we knew (Thank you Alex and Sally) Anyway it felt great to shoot some new work and here's some of my favorites from what I shot. Hit up that link above to see Christine's great work.

Max

Swissair Posters

Came across these very cool vintage travel posters from Swissair via this blog. I wish advertisements today would do something like this, these posters actually make me want to travel. Here are my favorites:

3 Hole Punch.

In thinking about how to redesign the classic three hole punch - I interviewed some people around the design building about how they felt about the design.

Here were my questions:
1. Would the 3 hole punch hurt your hand after 10 solid uses?
2. Is it difficult to use the puncher while holding in midair?
3. Would you leave it out on your desk?
4. Does it feel sturdy?
5. Does it punch neat holes?

This is what I got:

Maggie Russel said:
1. Yes
2. No, its only difficult to get the paper in the puncher
3. The red color is good but it looks plasticy and cheap
4. Not reliable
5. Somewhat (two out of 3 holes were punched)

Sarah Owens said:

1. Not a lot of cushion, it would hurt.
2. Harder to get paper in - especially with multiple sheets
3. No, needs more variety.
4. No, too plasticy
5. Acceptable.

Ian Tan said:

1. No
2. Yes, its awkward.
3. I would say so
4. Sure.
5. Normal neatness.

Gian Franco said:

1. No, soft/rounded edges.
2. Not precise
3. Yeah - Red/black contrast is nice
4. Yeah wouldn't break.
5. Yeah.

John (last name escapes me right now but he's in my design studio)

1. Perhaps but not really
2. It would benefit from more leverage
3. Its fun that its red but otherwise its kinda ugly
4. Sturdy enough
5. Yes.

So there you have it - this thing needs some redesigning. (this is a late blog post - my group already picked to redesign a push pin instead!)

Max

The IDEO Experience

In class we watched a circa 1999 Abc news program about IDEO and their 'Deep Dive' process. Let me just say this is a classic example that fun in the workspace is an outlet for creativity. When the IDEO team gets in their 'Deep Dive' brian-storming mode its very interesting what happens. I really liked their rules during the 'Deep Dive'. For instance they can only have one conversation at a time or go for quantity with no editing. Just these rules alone encourage so much creativity. I will apply the 'Deep Dive' process to my photography later to see what I come up with.

Max

My Design Object

So here's to the new blog. My design object: The Lacie Key Drive