Friday, February 26, 2010

INFO ARCH: REWORK ESSAYS

Alright, so based on some feedback from last class I think there was just a lot going on within the space. Also, the colors weren't really representing much of anything. So based on that and a couple other things, I wanted to simplify everything and make the McCoy side have embellishments and things expressive.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

INFO ARCH: ESSAYS PUSH 2

Directions from first crit. The direction suggested to pursue was Direction 1.


Direction 1

Direction 2

Direction 3

With all of the above directions, it lacked concept and depth. Concept and depth within a design is something I constantly struggle with. For some odd reason, I begin a design with one idea based off the content...and somehow just go on a design tangent and just start making stuff. The end result, if anything, just looks visually pleasing; however, there's no depth or reasoning on why I made the decisions I made. Below is my push on Direction 1.








Alright, so I struggled with this design also. I struggled with making decisions, color choices the reflect modern and postmodernism, and type treatments. Once again, one of the main points I need to keep working out is the concept. There is no reflection or influence from their works within the design...depth and reasoning!! Darker colors and differentiation within the palette needs to happen. I need to keep one main containment for the essay and work with type and scale changes. LOOK AT MORE WEBSITES!!!!!!!!!

Monday, February 22, 2010

TYPE EXPERIMENTATION UPDATE

First off, this weekend I saw the movie Shutter Island and the most amazing thing happened! THEY SPEAK ABOUT AMBIGRAMS IN THE MOVIE AND USE IT IN THE PLOT!!!!!!!! I don't want to blow the movie anyone interested in seeing it, but there are two characters created within the movie with the same 13 letters and oddly enough, they are the same person. Edward Daniels and Andrew Laeddis. So I thought that was pretty cool...there is also another set they use with a female character, but I cannot remember it haha (the scene was short)


So here we have my continued exploration with "hi". One of my comments from crit last time spoke of "what uses ambigrams have" and I'm honestly still not sure. I mean there are websites dedicated to an ambigram tattoo business and there are a couple logos that are ambigrams, but I'm still not sure if there is one specific use for ambigrams. I think they are just one design solution to many problems. Here, I placed one by the door in the studio this weekend. Students can see it when they leave and when the come in. When they walk in it says "hi" and ...it says "hi" on the way out. One must ask then...why doesn't it say "bye". It would be interesting if this took form of a welcome mat or something such as that.






Alright, so the above photo might be a little of a stretch, but it was a simple enough ambigram in my opinion that I wanted to see what surrounding environment objects I could use to create it.


I dug this above piece of work in some piles from Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado. We had to work with "Type is Art". In a way I guess one can say I have had further interest ever since this exercise...the outcomes are always never known and some forms are more ambiguous than others, but they are fun when you discover the message!


Above is me working with a palindrome. "no melon...no lemon". To help differentiate them a little more I placed them in context to some corresponding colors. In this example I simplified the "n" and had no extended arm at the top; therefore, the "n" would become more versatile when flipped. The "e" was the only letter that was not completely versatile as far as it reading normal front and backwards; however, I think with it placed in context to the other, it
works well.








I took what I made last class with the words "flip" and "flop" and worked with different directional lighting. When the light source was directly level with it, the text became illegible. When I placed the light slightly higher, the readability of the word improved, but when the light source is directly above the artifact, the read is not as successful.

"Bob" was a small little excercise I used with reading the negative form and positive form. With the word "Bob" one can read the black forms as "Bob" or the inner white forms as "Bob". This was a small exploration dealing the the "James Joyce" example I posted in a previous post.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Project Brief



Scenario

natural order wellness (now), a long-time oem and supplier of ingredients for natural wellness, health and beauty products is entering a cooperative venture with several investors to develop and market products of its own. potential products include fortified water, soda/cola, vitamins, diet supplements, household cleaners,
beauty or other personal care items marketed under the brand name acme.

this new product line will leverage now’s competency in producing products of unparalleled quality and effectiveness while containing natural ingredients. the new acme products will also continue their interest earth-friendly production.

although now’s ultimate goal is to offer its products through a worldwide network of company-owned stores, initially, the products will be sold through select retailers, specialty shops, and the internet via a company web store and will require a printbased
advertising campaign.

Initial Observations
Hair styles have been different throughout the years, and there seems to be trends that speak to different eras. Nowadays, I think hair can definitely reflects a persons personality and people seem to be making it a point to "fix it up" or "get it did". Men's hair styles I think have been specifically changing throughout the years. (from mohawks to fohawks to crew cuts and gweedo spikes [forgive the spelling]) However, there still are those that just wake up out of bed and head to their destination.


Target User
My target user is going to be men ages (20-40) who not only already take care of their hair, but also new prospective users who might want to make themselves more presentable starting with their hair. (maybe newly single or just a new start/look) Primarily these users will have a small amount of extra spending monthly.


Proposed Strategies
I would like to provide this product to many small shops and barbers. I think that there is both a possible market for both the regular joe who goes to a barber for a regular haircut to interest future users, but also men who go to a small shop that is more personable. As far as packaging goes, I would like to possibly incorporate humor within it somehow. Through a tiny bit of research, I found that a key thing within natural hair care is that one must make sure they find something for their hair type, and I think possibilities are within that area to pursue humor or just other interesting, different tactics.


Product Line
My product line consists of hair care products for men, primarily a maintaining type product such as gel, hairspray, mousse, putty, etc.) Products in store currently are not 100% natural and they are very difficult to come by (in relation to being 100% natural). Such products still contain certain synthetic ingredients to help in areas such as preservation and better foaming. However, the product line will contain many organic, earth friendly ingredients. The ingredients are basic, simple, and not complex with chemicals.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

TIRE EGNAHC!


The final artifact! Anyone who has this accordion fold out landscape booklet will be able to change a tire!

This was definitely a great project! After seeing the massive text heavy instructions on how to put together a barbecue grill...we as a group appealed to design with minimal text. To aid the user, we used small simple directions (unfold completely, begin here) and color to help distinguish the steps from each other. Another element that is different from the last critique is the fusion of photography and illustrative images. we decided to bring that element in because not only were some images awkwardly arm chopped, but also to add to this rugged, dirty hands on type of action.

I found that designing directions CAN be tough at times, and not everything is simple to explain. For example, one of the tough areas to explain was placing half of the tire back onto the rim after they have replaced the tube. Showing that wasn't as clear either, but I think our final results are more clear than the first round of users. We also included a diagram to help the user understand some of the parts they were going to be working with. I think that part was successful with our format. The user is able to pull it out and have is side by side throughout the process for quick reference. Below are some highlights of the book.




Sunday, February 14, 2010

TYPE 4: MORE WORK WITH AMBIGRAMS!

Legible Ambigram from Lance Flores on Vimeo.


Alright, so first I attempted to try and work with the digital file a little more. I wanted to show a couple of the ambigram forms within a flash movie. You will see rotational and space filling I would like to see how many I can get within a mini movie, but flash takes time...and lots of it! ambigram types within this flash.

Below was a different story. I began working with tangible things. I first began with some extra chain...but didn't have enough, so I instead thought I would try and capture bits of the ambigram and piece them together, but even that (with the cursive nature) was a little difficult. Next I jumped to brown board. I started with an initial traced sketch and thought to myself...ok, how can I make this more interesting. Well, who says you can't "feel" an ambigram. haha. Well, I created this "fur-like" texture on the board and this one was really fun to work with...in a way it was very sculpture-like to me...shaping and carving the letters out. From there, I jumped to a little bit of rope. I'm not too happy with the success of this one. The letter forms were very difficult to create with one continuous string, so some letter are outlined, while others are just single lined. Last on the list is my cutout version. It is still in the making and I would like to do a larger version, and try some of the other students methods...such as light and shadow!