Designer #3

Dave Shea is a well known web designer, I picked him not only for his design work, but also for a project that he created that reminded me of the 1,000 journals project.  Dave Shea designs his websites with XHTML and CSS, it is a modern, standardized approach to creating websites, and is also the method I use.  When this method was still being introduced, specifically CSS, Dave Shea created a website called CSS Zen Garden, meant to showcase the beautiful and intricate designs that can be made using only these coding languages.  The site is made up of one page of content, but hundreds of different ways to stylize this content.  The rules are the page content has to remain the same, the only thing that can change is the CSS, which stylizes the pages.  Designers are encouraged to create, and submit their own designs to showcase their skills.  This reminded me of the 1,000 journals project because the public is encouraged to participate freely.  I like this project because you can see all of the designs that have been submitted, not just the ones that have been officially selected to represent the site.  I submitted a design several years ago, and while it did not make it as an official design, it can still be found on the site.  

http://www.csszengarden.com

http://csszengarden.com/?cssfile=http://www.dcconcretemasonry.com/zenGarden/sample.css (my design)

Designer #2

I first saw this graphic designer from watching the film “Helvetica.”  Michael Place is a graphic designer from London, and his style seems to me to be a cross between the older simpler designs, and the newer style that doesn’t follow the normal conventions.  When I see some of his work, I still see a very clean looking design, but there is more to it than just text in helvetica and some blocks of color.  He creates designs that are visually appealing, and grab the viewers attention so that they look closer at the item.  His work to me is more than just good design, but it is smart design.  Nothing in the finished piece seems like it is extra, every element feels important to the overall work.  His is a style that I would like my work to emulate.  Some of his work can be seen at  http://www.wearebuild.com/

Designer #1

One graphic designer that I am a fan of is Massimo Vignelli.  He helped to establish many of the conventions that are taught in graphic design today.  I like his designs because they are so clean and simple.  None of his designs overshadow what they are trying to sell.  When looking at his work, it is the exact opposite of work by David Carson.  I think both styles have their place, and combining elements of both can be successful as well.  Work by Vignelli can be a hot topic for many graphic designers, because they call his work very boring, because he almost always uses the font Helvetica; but many of his clients needs fit his type of design.  Some of his clients like American Airlines, probably wouldn’t have benefitted had they hired a designer from a grunge style.  So while I do like his style, and I think elements of it are very effective, I am not the type who will only design things in this type of style.

His design for the '76 olympics

Art Event #2

On April 16th, I went to see the schools production of the play “Big Love.”  I am in the design and production class,  so members of that class were responsible for many aspects of the play.  I am not really into theater, and after reading the play, I thought it was very unusual; but after seeing the play, I was very impressed with how it came out.  I had never seen a play at CSUSM before, and didn’t know what to expect, but after seeing the set, props, lights, and sound come together, the finished product was impressive.  I was particularly impressed by the amount of dialogue the actors had to learn.  I thought the play was entertaining and funny, and was happy that the amount of work our production class went through paid off in the end.

Art Event #1

On March 21st, I went to photograph the concert of a friend of mine at Hennessey’s Bar in Vista.  I don’t normally photograph people, so I thought this would be a good learning experience.  The bar was smaller then I had anticipated, and the band was playing on floor level, which made getting good angles more difficult.  The band’s name is Final Burn, they played about 8 or 9 songs in two halves.  I would say about 100 people showed up in a space that is not meant for that many.  The thing I found interesting about this was that I was not very happy with how my pictures came out, but when the band saw them they loved them; and when they saw some of them with the manipulations I made in Camera Raw and Photoshop, they loved them even more.  I thought this was a good learning experience.  Being able to market yourself in different areas can increase the amount of photography jobs you get.  I plan to photograph them some more in the future.  Below are some of the pictures I thought were better.

Book Progress 1

 

David Carson

I’ve been a fan of David Carson’s work since I first saw his work.  I like that he saw things in a different way and it ended up turning into a popular style among surf/skate culture.  I like his example of the Lyle Lovitt ad, where he chose to use the shot of his feet, because that spoke more to his personality than any other shot he saw.  Most designers would have insisted on using a shot where his face was visible, but it would have made a more generic piece, but David Carson’s design sticks with you.  I like to skate which I think is one of the reasons why I like his work, because I see a lot of work done in that style.

I think the best line that David Carson said is “don’t mistake legibility with communication,” because just because you can read something easily, doesn’t mean that it is communicating what it is supposed intended to the viewer.  I think a lot of people would look at his work and think they could do that because it is just messy text thrown on to the page, but when you actually try to make a piece in that style that still communicates, you can see how difficult it is.

Altered Book

I thought the lecture that Terrilynn Quick gave about altered books was interesting.  I was still having trouble thinking about how I could alter my book, but her lecture helped.  I liked seeing the examples she brought, for some reason I thought the book still had to remain a lot like a book, with text on the pages; the examples she brought showed that there doesn’t have to be words to tell a story.  The idea for my book came during her lecture, when she showed how she took a saw to the book to cut out her profile.  I started to think about the tools I had that I could use to make something interesting, and then I thought about houses.  The idea for my book is to turn it into a house, or at least the materials that go into a house.  I want to use wood, concrete, wires, nails and screws, and whatever else I can think of that is feasible.  It was unfortunate that my idea didn’t let me do anything to the book in class, but it was still fun to watch other people and how they chose to alter their books.  Hopefully it turns out like I am envisioning it.

1000 Journals

Watching this video gave me some ideas on what a journal could be.  I always had it in my head that a journal was for someone to write down what happened that day, like a diary; the movie showed how out of the box a journal can be.  Paintings, photography, collage, writing, and found items can all combine to create a more compelling journal.  I have to try and teach myself to think outside of the box, and learn that I can put a lot more things than just written thoughts into my journal, and hopefully incorporate that somehow into my final project.

I had fun just drawing in the journals that were passed around, usually when I am just drawing freely, it is in the margins of other schoolwork, or on paper that gets thrown away.  I can try to put these drawings into my journal directly, or cut and paste them in from other papers.

I don’t know how Someguy thought of this initial idea, but I think it is great how one persons idea can sweep across the world the way it has; with so many people excited and eager to get their hands on one of these so that they can add a piece of themselves.  I was just browsing the site to try and find a journal that might have passed by close to our area of San Diego, but it is kind of hard to find that out.  The scans of the pages that are on the site are interesting to look at.

First version of book

I made some pages for my book, I’m not set yet on the layout or the format, but I wanted to get something created so that I can work off of what I see.  I made a background in Photoshop and inserted it into the master page.  The book seems too structured so far, I want something that is different from what I would normally do.