Strange Faces in Random Places



Scavenger Hunt

In class this week I think the scavenger hunt was probably the most interesting thing we did/discussed. It's not that I don't think people in wheelchairs are interesting, I just had a better experience with the scavenger hunt. Going to a school with 50,000 people, it is to just wander around. Through the scavenger hunt, I learned more about our campus and our classmates. I walk past by buildings on campus everyday and know nothing about them, except which ones have the good bathrooms. To actually learn something about these giant stacks of bricks was pretty cool. Now when I'm in a mood to sit in a really cool chair, I know where to go, Knowlton. I also appreciated getting to know my partner. In a lecture with eighty kids, it is also easy to just sit there in silence and not know anyone. Through this scavenger hunt I got to know a couple of people in class. Now maybe the beginning of class won't be so awkward when everyone just sits there in silence staring at the walls. Go Bucks!

Identities and Systems

For the reading this week, chapter eight wasn't that exciting to me but I did think chapter seven was interesting. I think everyone can relate when it comes to creating an identity whether it be for yourself or a business. When Heskestt spent a lot of time talking about corporate logos and their identities, that's what really stuck with me. I understand that businesses spend a lot of time and money to create the perfect indentity for themselves to give them that edge. However, I wonder how much that even matters and how much they even hit the nail on the head. I think it would be interesting to create a survey with a list of the top one hundred business's and their logos. The people taking the survey would reflect on what they think about the logo. For example, what kind of tone does this logo send off, is the identity clear, does it make you more or less likely to use their services or products. Designers design these identities and the public doesn't really have a say in what the finished product looks like. So I'm curious what the results would be if this survey was ever produced.

El Mac

Miles MacGregor, or as he goes by, El Mac, is a fairly young artist. There wasn't a lof of information on him since he is young and upcoming. But I do know that, he was born in 1980 to an engineer and an artist in Los Angeles. El Mac started creating and studying art independently since he was a little kid. During his teenaged years he started to graffiti. However, he is most well know for his huge murals that he paints on buildings and walls throughout cities. In 1998 he began painting technicolor aerosol interpretations of classic paintings by old European masters. Because of this, in 2003 he was paid by the Groeninge Museum in Brugge, Belgium to paint interpretations of classic Flemish Primitive paintings in the museum's collection. A few years later in 2007 he designed the poster for the Broadway production of Xanadu. He has also been paid to paint his muruals across the U.S., Mexico, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, South Korea, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Spain, France, Singapore, Germany, Ireland and Vietnam. He usually collaborates with another artist by the name of "Retna." His inspiration comes from Mexican and Chicano culture of Phoenix and the American Southwest. El Mac mainly focuses on human faces, figures and the public. His intent is to upflit and inspire through renderings of the sublime and humble. Some of his murals have been used in music videos. El Mac is a member of the Seventh Letter artist collective. He currently lives and works in downtown Phoenix in an old house filled with records, books, and art.

MacGregor, Miles. "Miles 'Mac' MacGregor." ELMAC. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. http://elmac.net/bio/
"Artist Bio: Miles 'Mac' Macgregor." Escape into Life. 7 May 2010. Web. 21 Jan. 2011. http://www.escapeintolife.com/artist-watch/el-mac/#

Piet Zwart

Piet Zwart was a Dutch photographer, typographer and industrial designer. However, he started his career off as an architect. Throughout Zwart's work he used basic principles of constructivism, primary colors, geometric shapes and repeated word patterns. He used repetition to strengthen his message. He despised every notion of "individualism, self-adulation, vanity and the picturesque" in his designs (people.ku.edu). He was also ahead of his time with his use of photo montages (he was born in 1885). While working for NKF (cable company), he created 275 designs in ten years and most of those designs were typographical works. At about age 48 he resigned to become and interior, industrial and furniture designer. He lived till he was 92 and currently has an academy named after him, The Piet Zwart Institute of the WIllem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam. Zwart happened to be a professor at this school too.

"Piet Zwart."  Wikipedia. 19 Nov. 2010. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Zwart
Kim, Allison. "Piet Zwart (Typographer)." Web. 21 Jan. 2011. http://people.ku.edu/~askim/pietzwart.html

Tom Muller

Tom Muller is from London and received his MA in Graphic and Advertising Design from the Royal Academy for Fine Arts in Antwerp. He has a modernist style infused with a contemporary design. He started his career in interactive design but specializes in typography, identity design, illustration, moving image and publication art direction for print and screen media. He was recently feature in this past November's issue of WIRED. He has designed websites for music artists Lily Allen, ACDC, Dido and The Script. He worked in the comic industry for awhile and also even did a little bit of animation work. When asked about working in the comic industry full time he said, "...too much of one thing, no matter how much you love it is ultimately going to become a drag" (comicblog).

Muller, Tom. "Information." Designed by Muller. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. http://www.hellomuller.com

Defina, Phillip. "The Work of Graphic Designer Tom Muller." Septagon Studios Comic Blog. 20 Aug. 2010. Web. 21 Jan. 2011. http://comicblog.septagonstudios.com

Objects, Communications and Environments

A lot of material was covered throughout these three chapters but when Heskett discussed objects in chapter five, that's what really interested me. He mentioned how objects are usually used for more than what they were designed for. I agree with this because I use my desk chair to stand on, store my book bag, coat and hold up my mattress when I made a fort earlier this year. After realizing how true his statement was, I started to think about the various ways in which I use objects for more than what they are intended for. I would say the majority of my objects in my dorm room right now are being used for more than their original purpose. For example, right now my TV is being used as a pumpkin holder, my printer is supporting my Nerf gun and my juice cup is holding butter scotches. If designers know ahead of time that their products might be used for more than just one purpose, I wonder if they consider this while designing. Do chair designers make chairs sturdier at the base in case someone uses it as a step latter? Do they make objects flat so people like me can rest their pumpkins on them? Further more, if designers do this, I wonder if their products sell better than those of designers who don't take these things into consideration.

Shopping Cart

After our discussions in class and reading Heskett's book, I knew there was a lot of work that goes into just one design but after watching the shopping cart video I realized how much work was actually involved. I thought it was really interesting that a lot of their team members were not all design majors. I think that's what helps them function so well because they all think differently since they have different backgrounds. I didn't realize how much brainstorming goes into designing a new product. When they were talking about all of the things they had to consider for the new cart such as slowing them down so they don't blow away in the parking lot, that really opened my eyes. They covered every little detail and really thought things through. Seeing this in action helped me see how much thinking outside of the box is involved in designing something. Plus I admired their new shopping cart, too bad I haven't seen any at my local grocery stores. Go Bucks!

Survey

For my survey questions I decided to stick with a theme throughout the five questions. Ever since I was little I have had a sensitive stomach and bowel issues. Because of this, I am very open when it comes to talking about poop. Poop plays a big part in my daily life which is why I decided to ask some questions about it since I am so passionate about it. Here are a list of the questions I asked:
1. Do you poop daily? (11 do, 4 don't)
2. Would you poop in a public restroom or hold it? (9 would, 6 would hold it)
3. Would you use air freshener afterwards? (5 would, 10 wouldn't)
4. Does it take more or less than two minutes for you to poop? (5 take more than two minutes, 10 take less)
5. Do you think your poop smells? (8 said it doesn't, 7 said it does)

I surveyed fifteen people, five of which were boys and ten were girls. One of those girls was my mom and she was not happy with the questions at all. She got quite upset that out of all the things to ask people, I was asking these types of questions. She did answer the questions but was really disappointed in me. I only asked people that I knew, I didn't want to creep anyone out too much. Everyone but my mom was a college aged student. The only question that was a hot debate between people and had a pretty even result was if their poop smelled or not. If I were to redo this survey and ask the same about of boys as girls, I think the results would be similar except for question number four. The majority of the people who said they took more than two minutes to poop were all boys. I hope no one is too grossed out by this survey!

Introduction to Heskett

When I read, I have a tendency to think about EVERYTHING else but what I'm reading. This was kind of the case when I was reading these first few chapters. I can't recall a lot of the details but the general message I got from these chapters was that design affects everything and everyone. Design plays a major role in ours lives and it has come a long way. Like we talked about in class, we used to have huge machines during the Industrial Revolution and now everything is more compact and sleek looking. Design really is to design a design to produce a design. Go Bucks!

Patterns

This pattern came from my friend's scarf. It drew me in because I like the use of the black checkers with the different colors in the background.

I took this picture in the lobby of my dorm. I really like this pattern because my mom has played the piano ever since she was little and me being the softy that I am, it reminds me of her.

This is a picture of a picture. This Andy Warhol themed picture hangs in my bathroom. I love the ducks and the different colors combinations.

Me being the creepy person that I am, I took this picture of my roommate's pillow without her being there haha. I've always loved paisely prints and this is one of my favorite colors.

This is a picture of my buckeye necklace. Who doesn't love the classic scarlet, grey and buckeye pattern?

On my way to CVS I took this picture of textured bricks by the crosswalk. I thought the little bumps were interesting because they reminded me of legos. Plus the dirty salt adds a cool color wash to it.

This is one of my favorite trees, a London Planetree.I took this picture by my dorm. I really like how the bark peals off in different layers and how those different layers are various colors.

This is a picture of my laundry basket. I just like how it kind of looks like a honeycomb. Plus its efficient, it airs out dirty laundry and allows you to see what clothes are dirty.

Being creepy again, I took this picture of my roommates shoe. A lot of times, shoes are just plain colors, or if they do have colors, that's all they have. I like this pattern because for once it's not another pair of boring shoes.

These are some pretzels that I rearranged on my pretzel lid. I like the shape of pretzels and I think all food should be in the shape of pretzels. Who wouldn't want to eat a cheeseburger in this shape?

Chairs

During class this week, I thought one of the coolest things we talked about were the designer chairs. I never really knew that some of those chairs were designed by people who weren't even in the chair making company. I think it's pretty admirable to design a piece of art that is well known throughout the world and for that to not even be their strong suit. That's like LeBron James beating Rafeal Nadal in a tennis match. More in particular about the chairs, I thought the wooden chairs were pretty interesting. I obviously knew wood was bendable because I've seen it in different pieces of furniture. I was a little confused though on how the process works though, so I asked Gabe. He said they steam the wood at a really high temperature and then put it in the mold they want and then let it dry in the mold. My shower in my dorm gets pretty hot, so next time I shower I think I'm going to put some wood in there and try to make my own designer chair.

Consumerism Killing Creativity?

http://the99percent.com/articles/6775/Is-Consumerism-Killing-Our-Creativity#

This article talks about how consumerism has a possible threat on decreasing our creativity. It talks about how searching for things to buy gives us the same rush in the same part of our brain that creative thoughts do. The author also talks about how the more time we spend researching what computer or camera to buy, the less time we are spending on working something else. This articla caught my eye because I think consumerism is an increasing habit in our society and I think it's important for people to realize the effects it has on our creative side. I think this article had an impact on me because I know how I get when I start working on a project. I become consumed with it and I usually don't stop working on it until I have finished. It's interesting to know that we get the same way when it comes to consumerism because if I get the same with consumerism that I do with creative projects, then that's kind of scary. Someone else might find this article interesting so they don't spend their whole life shopping. Go Bucks!

About me......

My name is Hannah and I like long walks on the beach...haha just kidding. I am from northeast Ohio and I am a sophomore. I recently switched my major over break from engineering to visual communication design. I have gone through so many different majors over the past year and a half that I hope this is the one. Throughout high school all of my favorite classes were my art ones. I took drawing, painting, photography and ceramics.I love to take pictures on my own with my grandpa's old photography camera, especially black and white ones. I also love sports and played basketball all throughout high school.

I am taking this class because it is a prerequisite for visual communication design. I am interested in learning more about design in general. Already on the first day I learned more than I knew. I used to think design really was just about making things look better and artistic but now I know there's a lot more to it than just that. I am excited to learn more and read Cradle to Cradle. Go Bucks!