“Designerly” Is Not A Word - beta

Pratt and Learning ‘Alot’..

2010-01-23T06:58:00.000-08:00

It’s the beginning of a new semester here, a new 5 months in the city for me too. It’s a whole new lot of things.

I’d like to think things’ll just get better each semester, and they are. Pratt has definitely put me on course with wanting to create an absolutely wonderful career in design by making that oasis vision more feasible in terms of the skills and know-how. It’s also given me the chance to be around some amazing professionals in New York City and

learn quite a bit just from the -not exaggerating- pearls that come across. Graduate school is a whole new studio culture too, even though I miss the familiarity of a cozy undergrad studio with the rest of my studio mates (aka husbands and wives), grad school snatches you out of the kiddie pool and throws you in the deep end of the solitary designer workspace, where you reconnect with your brand new studio mates on the occasion of presentation on the most part.

Of course, if you’re friends you’d tend to hang out anyway. However, the studio culture of endlessly working around each other is near non existent.

A hefty reading list comes with any grad design program. As I’ve been making my way through the reading lists, ironically the book I’d mostly recommend was under ‘suggested’ reading for my past semester’s Vis Comm class. I’m picking this suggested reading over the other required reading for the class simply because every designer planning to make the switch from student to professional should read this.

Also, the most eye opening statement that is true in designing for today’s market (quote by my current Vis Comm II professor Graham Hanson):

“I always thought the most creative good design would be what it takes. But it’s not like that with markets. It’s all about efficacy. Look at Tropicana for example, they had to switch back to their old packaging since they stopped selling orange juice.”

May I add to that that aside from the somewhat generic use of Arial rounded MT bold.. I liked the new Tropicana package. The problem I believe was gearing away from such a traditional looking orange juice box and moving away from the homey feel. Modernizing isn’t always for the better, and even a traditional look can be good design.

That’s it for today’s design ramble.

In the name of Honor, Dignity, and Grace...

2009-12-29T01:02:00.000-08:00

Not the most creative (or dignified) of entries. But i'm hoping some awesome day after 15 years of marriage to Mr.Perfect and living on our own private beach, i'll look back at this and laugh.

I know after my comeback proclamation you'd expected something half decent to follow, didn't you.... Ha. Fooled ya.

But no. Really. I'll be sane soon.

(Saner)

Comeback Desperado Style

2009-12-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

It’s really no hidden matter that this post is super overdue.. Yes, this is my stand against this turning into another blog with unfinished business haunting the blogosphere. So you and me, reader, deserve a catchup.

(If you’ve just stumbled here and we’ve had no previous acquaintance, I guess we’ve no beef then. Hi, by the way.)

A few things about me, where I’ve been, where I’d like to go.. maybe...:

My blog-abandonment days were in my last semester doing my undergrad, so it’s been an interesting ride since then. With the ups and downs of whatever a young 23 year old can pretend is ‘life’ - loves, losses, the whole deal (twice, if I may)- came through the fired up scholar/designer that graduated, took a flight across the Atlantic to her new life in New York City, and pretty much hasn’t looked back since then.

.. Or at least I can pretend I was that sure of myself. Moving to a new city and getting upgraded to “Graduate Student” status is no joke my friends, but definitely worth the tears and electric-chainsaw-grabbing-wannabe moments.

I came over here with this holier than thou mission to finish up here and return as this unspoken ambassador for green design and eco-preneurship back to Dubai. Coming here, sustainability and environmental practices are pretty much jeered at as pretentious and overdone as Thesis (plural usage intended) in the grad student planet of academia. Fortunately, I have the excuse of being a foreigner from a country that takes a capitalist piss on the environment in most cases that I’m kind of eligible as the exception.

I’m definitely more open to new frontiers in my mission to actually make something of myself, like I kind of owe it to my childhood self in some obnoxiously egoistic way. Mainly as I grew up with the confidence that i’ll be such a hotshot and save the world. Maybe I will.. word is you start with saving a cheerleader somewhere.

"Age Before Beauty - Not?" - Part Freakin' Two

2008-10-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

Once again, nullifying that little thing called ‘age’ (really, what’s the deal with it already?) is the fabulously talented painter Matt Godwin from Florida. This young and talented painter is definitely one to watch (seriously, check out what the world has to say about him, or make up your own mind), channeling subtle yet witty hidden social commentary through kook, and ending up with vibrant pieces unique with his own character styling and technique. Many artists look to their surroundings for inspiration, and there’s definitely a lot of that in Godwin’s work - he definitely has an interesting point of view in that ‘light surrealist’ kind of way - What do you think?

On a very weird side note, and this is very much my own opinion, I really see him kind of like a contemporary Lewis Caroll, but a painter instead of a writer. There’s actually a really long explanation for this seemingly strange notion ☺, but for now –and if you haven’t already- enjoy some of my favorite picks from his work (title are kind of a big deal here, so I've been a good blogger and actually paste/labeled the work for once):

"Meet the Meat: Introduction", 18" x 24", paint and ink on paper

"Would-be hero falls prey to distraction", 19" x 24", paint and ink on paper

"Hootenanny hipsters spread HPV like marmalade on a crumpet", 24 x 48", paint and ink on panel

"The Smokers Section 2", 23 x 35", paint and ink on panel

"The American Solution", 24 x 48", paint and ink on panel

"Uncle McNana's Rose-Tinted Monocle", 23 x 35", paint and ink on panel

"Wealthy breeder exacerbates human greed", 24 x 48", paint and ink on panel

**images via mattgodwin.net

On being an exhausted kettle..

2008-10-31T06:18:00.000-07:00

It’s come to my attention that I’m not doing this blog thing too well. ☺ I really, really want to have decent, dependable, editorial schedule; yet somehow I always manage to keep this at the low end of my priorities list. So I’m sharing recent work I’ve spurred up yesterday morning in hope of getting on track here with something (which also has its perk in that I won’t owe any time to read about before blogging.)

Recently, our professor from my image-making class left town and gave us a cutesy type of exercise for our next project, due on his return the following Sunday. Basically, we literally drew from a box 3 nouns and 3 adjectives, and had to illustrate one combination.

Funny thing is, doing the exercise (I lucked out with “Exhausted Kettle”), I realized I had a lot in common with my noun+adjective… By the end I realized I’d pretty much bordered a self-portrait. (kidding of course.. the bags under my eyes are well at bay with my favorite Lush eye cream ☺ note: vegan and eco-friendly too.)

On a more serious note, I was pretty pleased I had got to finally add something to my cartoon illustration portfolio which I’ve recently decided I want to expand.

This Blog's First Industrial Design Post Is An Anti-Theft Lunch Bag... What Are You Thinking?

2008-10-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

Sherwood Forlee is another scientist –turned-designer among apparently well camouflaged other closet-scientists out there (check this post on Ainley to see what I meant). He’s one of my favorite finds in industrial design, and has both his professional and independent work displayed at his website, skforlee.com

When I call out favorites it’s usually a combination of more than just talent and ‘good work’, there’s a dime a dozen of talented and hardworking designers out there, the ‘favorite’ factor also comes from character and being able to not compromise one’s true self creatively. On a an interesting topic, here’s a little on the designer quoted from his about part.

“Sherwood Forlee is a designer with no design or art education. Instead, he studied fluid dynamics and partial differential equations, and then barely managed to graduate. But graduate he did, and with a high-falutin' sounding title to boot: "Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer". Despite this, Sherwood calls himself a designer because it sounds hip and no one likes hanging around a nerd at a party.

Following graduation, Sherwood went to work as a product design engineer. After cutting his teeth at a few firms, Sherwood decided to see more of the world and set out on adventures that would lead him to Tokyo (where he was accosted by the yakuza for trying to sell homemade T-shirts on their territory), the Azores (where inclement weather stranded him for a few days without food in the wild), Zurich (where he was forced to climb a perilous mountain with two massive rental bikes atop his shoulders), and many other places. Today, Sherwood enjoys a more peaceful life in New York City working once again as a product designer.”

Also, this is the clever and humorous anti-theft lunchbag from his independent work. Forlee has a lot more impressive work you can check out, but this has gotten the most brownie points with peeps around me that I’ve shared his work with, so I’ve chosen it as the main pick from his work… Let’s just hope he never reads this. ☺

**photos via skforlee.com

It's been quite the week!

2008-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

So it's been quite a while since I've updated (or had that good of an update either), next week is the last 'toughie' week I'll be enduring for a while as I’ll have a 2 week project due and a midterm. I’m blogging to say that I’ll hope you’ll stick around for new posts starting next Thursday. **Sneak peek: a fantastic young artist from Florida, my first ‘green living’ post on a cool find in Dubai, and a first post on some wacky industrial design that you can actually buy. ☺

Stay tuned, and here’s a jump for some Cool Hunting.

P.S: Anything special you'd like me to blog about? That can even be your own blog (related content obviously.. and pretty darn cool), or personal work (impressive still necessary).

Don’t Stop Drawing!

2008-10-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

In my freshman year, my first drawing professor made it clear that although many talented individuals in that field are abound, drawing is a skill that anyone can learn. Some can be more naturally skilled than others, but it is nevertheless, a skill and not some magical feat as commonly perceived by people that are quick to state they “can’t draw”.

I also believe that drawing skills are one of the biggest assets to anyone in the creative field. Being a part illustrator myself, learning to draw got me far in a summer at fashion school, and now allow me to communicate visually effectively (in the conceptual stages especially) to clients, as well as being my usual next stop to visualizing my photo shoots frames as a photographer – especially if the effort involved is group work. It’s a cheap, easy, and fast form of effective visual communication.

Like most skills, consistently drawing is the only way to get better. I’ve come across some beautiful sketches by Wesley Burt which show beautiful realizations of some visuals he put together on paper – and all he needed was a graphite pencil, paper, obviously honed drawing skills and some vision. You can see where he’s taken from his surroundings and recreated people, locations, etc.. Some are more ‘set up’ than others, but the process is so clearly raw and inspirational; showing how the beginning steps in exploring a composition are dynamic and ever changing.

I’m putting some of my picks of Wesley’s work up in hope that it’ll inspire and remind everyone (including myself) to keep drawing. Enjoy, and you can view the rest by clicking here for more.

45 Rules for Creating a Great Logo Design

2008-10-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

-By freelance designer Tanner Christensen (you can check him out here); found it both funny and an informative reminder of some general tips.. Obviously, this isn’t a how-to on logo design, but some things to keep in mind and I personally find funny easier to remember. I’ll be bold enough to add that if you’re a good enough designer, you wouldn’t be breaking any of those rules anyway. Also, in the spirit of personalizing this post just a teeny bit more I've added my 2 cents (in red) to a few of the tips. Feel free to add what YOU have to say in the comments :)

1- Do not use more than three colors.

2- Get rid of everything that is not absolutely necessary.

3- Type must be easy enough for your grandma to read.

4- The logo must be recognizable.

5- Create a unique shape or layout for the logo.

6- Completely ignore what your parents and/or spouse think about the design.

7- Confirm that the logo looks appealing to more than just three (3) individuals.

8- Do not combine elements from popular logos and claim it as original work.

9- Do not use clip art under any circumstances.

10- The logo should look good in black and white.

11- Make sure that the logo is recognizable when inverted.

12- Make sure that the logo is recognizable when resized. A helpful 'rule' of thumb is to be able to have a functioning recognizable and legible logo even when scaled down to one inch in size.

13- If the logo contains an icon or symbol, as well as text, place each so that they complement one another.

14- Avoid recent logo design trends. Instead, make the logo look timeless.

15- Do not use special effects (including, but not limited to: gradients, drop shadows,
reflections, and light bursts).

16- Fit the logo into a square layout if possible, avoid obscure layouts.

17- Avoid intricate details.

18- Consider the different places and ways that the logo will be presented. Depending on the company, think of the various media presentations the logo will be displayed on or through. From print to web... to large scale banners in some cases.

19- Invoke feelings of being bold and confident, never dull and weak.

20- Realize that you will not create a perfect logo. Dali will be the first to tell you: do not fear perfection, for you will never reach it.

21- Use sharp lines for sharp businesses, smooth lines for smooth businesses.

22- The logo must have some connection to what it is representing.

23- A photo does not make a logo.

24- You must surprise customers with presentation.

25- Do not use more than two fonts.

26- Each element of the logo needs to be aligned. Left, center, right, top, or bottom.

27- The logo should look solid, with no trailing elements.

28- Know who is going to be looking at the logo before you think of ideas for it. As always, target audience/consumer is key. Your client's job depends on pleasing them, and pleasing them therefore pleases your client. It's done deal right there.

29- Always choose function over innovation. But don't compromise.. Just remember that the priority is always a strong mark.

30- If the brand name is memorable, the brand name should be the logo.

31- The logo should be recognizable when mirrored. Interestingly enough, I'd like to add that this is a good test to know if the logo is/will be memorable. Gotta love the human brain.

32- Even large companies need small logos.

33- Everyone should like the logo design, not just the business that will use it.

34- Create variations. The more variations, the more likely you are to get it right.

35- The logo must look consistent across multiple platforms.

36- The logo must be easy to describe.

37- Do not use taglines in the logo.

38- Sketch out ideas using paper and pencil before working on a computer. TRUST ME ON THIS TOO! I get an initial designer block roughly 80% percent of the time if I head to the computer first.

39- Keep the design simple.

40- Do not use any “swoosh” or “globe”symbols.

41- The logo should not be distracting.

42- It should be honest in its representation.

43- The logo should be balanced visually.

44- Avoid bright, neon colors and dark, dull colors.

45- The logo must not break any of the above rules. :)

And You Thought Hand Modeling Was Ridiculous…

2008-10-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well no, he’s not the model behind the hand but he’s certainly behind the artistic touch (pun intended) . Italian artist Guido Daniel, born in Soverato and now working in Milan, is a hyper realistic illustrator whose work you’re probably familiar with from billboards and various ads. He’s certainly found his niche, even with body painting being extremely regulated in many parts of the world, Guido has been able to establish a career with global brands as well as branching to fashion events and exhibits. Trompe L’Oeil techniques are nothing new, but his work has had both private and public patronage for buildings and other similar artwork.

In 2007, Animal Planet awarded Guido the Animal Planet Hero of the Year Award. You can check him out on his website, as always here are some picks:

**photos via yoke.cc

XDRTB.org - Photography Making A Difference

2008-10-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

I'm sharing these photos by James Nachtwey because there's nothing I believe in more than art that makes a difference. A grand slice of my entrance essay to Pratt had me going on about how my real goal in studying communication design is to be able to contribute to something bigger and more important than the mainstream heavily commercial world of design. Taking everything I can learn from that and taking action with the bigger picture. Who gives a crap if you can drink Coke and listen to MP3 downloads on the latest iPod when we're heading towards an environmental (and human) apocalypse anyway… When issues like the mandatory switch to renewable energy sources, solving the GWC through community values, and oh so much more are just pushed aside because the majority of people (1) don’t understand the urgency completely (2) are being guilted instead of educated first, (3) are not provided enough information on how easy it is to make a huge difference with tiny, easy, consistent and combined efforts (4) don’t completely understand that a lot of industries have lobbyists keeping them in the dark about their consumer actions/consequences (5) etc etc etc…

I could go on and sound (even more) like an angry granola chick, but I’ll leave that for another post. Only because this post is as important in it’s own aspect. In effort to tell the tale of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and TB, Nachtwey proclaimed his dream after being awarded the TED Prize and $100,000. "I'm working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”, and so came this photo series that is now a manifestation of his wish.

To learn more about the disease, James Nachtwey, and what you can do to help, visit http://xdrtb.org and help spread the story.

Another Poster For Peace

2008-10-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with the holidays here hanging out with family and playing Brady bunch with the lot, and especially not looking forward to going back to my student status as of tomorrow (in the form of conceptual work to kick start a new assignment).. So yeah, believe it or not, the blog wasn’t something I was planning to update.

However, I believe in the content of this post so much that it’s something I feel I have to blog about now, holidays or not. After all, it’s freakin’ peace. ☺ And it also happens to be strongly related to one of my major visual communication design genres - Print! (ta da!)

Anotherposterforpeace.org is "a group of citizens committed to elevating the level of public engagement in the peace movement through design. Our goal is to help create a grassroots "anti-campaign" to counter the brilliant marketing the U.S. administration is currently running to promote its war agenda.” (direct quote, click here for more). You can share posters for peace, or download them - all copyright free and really at no cost besides printing. There’s a lot of visual communication magic happening in those posters and I invite anyone interested in poster design to have a look at the different approaches. All very subtle yet powerful. As a designer, this was a great reminder that a campaign poster (and any good poster in general) has wit in terms of being very focused on the message (no extra doo dahs and studenty froo froo in an attempt at creativity) and saying so much with just the right type/amount of visual language. Every poster is so distinct that it’s quite a good study of poster design in general. (You can also download mini versions as postcards)

As usual here are some I’ve picked, very randomly as looking around it’s quite hard to judge a group as ‘the best’. There’s such a variety, I’d definitely say it’s worth the jump, so go have a look and spread the word if it means something to you too. :)

Physicist Turned.. Digital Artist?

2008-09-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Even I didn't see that coming, as I always assumed the right-brained (a.k.a physics challenged.. am I off base here?) would be the ones ending up in that category. But yeah, who knew!

I’ve been looking at UK based design/illustrator Nik Ainley’s work and there is really sooo much to look at. I’ve absolutely fallen in love with it and would shamelessly link to every single image on his portfolio (Shiny Binary v2.1, go dig in) because I just happen to like all of them, except that whoring off his work might not be such a great idea no?

Ainley taught himself Photoshop during his spare time studying for his degree in physics, and has since then shifted to designing full time after his major success. Goes to show that with determination you can do anything, After Effects here I come. ☺

Enjoy some of my picks… If you like what you see (and I’m sure you do), don’t deny yourself the opportunity to check his full portfolio at Shiny Binary v2.1.

We Been Featured, Yo..

2008-09-28T02:42:00.001-07:00

Yep, you heard right. And even if you probably don’t care as much as I do, you should know that this here blog has earned it’s first feature on the blogosphere in a recommendation☺ see, you’re not wasting your time over here at all.

Check it out on Angelopudus for party’s sake :)

Dirty White Trash

2008-09-27T00:56:00.000-07:00

I've always been iffy with installations, especially when they force a lot on the viewer that's open to interpretation. Maybe that's just the designer in me versus the 'artist' ... Which is why I really appreciated Tim Noble and Sue Webster fantastic shadow-play self portrait installations.

Noble and Webster use light in a creative way to put piles of rubbish into context fit with the title of each piece. Random fact- each pile of rubbish is really six months of the artists' rubbish. (not that means anything more than a possible aha moment.)

Dirty White Trash (With Gulls), 1998

HE/SHE, 2003

Real Life Is Rubbish, 2002

Some of their other work..

**photos via boredstop.com

…Versus ‘Doing’ Candy? (Well, not a chance)

2008-09-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

Ha, of course I’m not daring to pitch my work for battle against the previous work from the Paris Fall OXYGENE Exhibit, but yeah speaking of candy – The following is a photo shoot I did for my Creative Photography studio, titled “Doing Candy” (play off doing drugs or any high inducing drug… granted it’s a sugar high in this case ☺ ). It was a really fun shoot. Really.

Large Promotional banner (pre-exhibit)

Hard Candy (Not By Madonna)

2008-09-23T08:52:00.001-07:00

This fun find of the day is from Maison & Objet OXYGENE magazine, featuring a spectacular editorial piece by Vincent Poinas (stylist) and Arnaud Gouallec (photographer). Poinas and Gouallec took the conceptual task of turning regular and precious raw material into decor that's deliciously different for display in the magazine's Fall exhibition in Paris.

**photos via yatzer.com, sourced from Maison & Objet OXYGENE magazine

"Start at the beginning.." said the Mad Hatter to Alice...

2008-09-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

The following work could be considered very typical of me as a Dubai gal. Coming from a Bedouin Arab heritage, I’m one of the first people you’d expect to jump on the heavily ridden heritage art wagon here in the U.A.E (even though local artists are not the only ones on that ever beaten path).

So when does this stuff get old? Well it already is, literally… Joke. ☺

I’ve steered away almost completely my entire (short) design student life from doing what I had considered stereotypical of the region’s creative community, I even rebelled with a Swiss design phase (or what was close enough). But once upon a time in my sophomore year, I decided to get the local out of my system and the following photo series was born. This was a final in my Photography Basics course, labeled Heritage Stills; a recreation of typical traditional settings from dated life in the Emirates. The grainy quality of film helped with its past like quality (I’m hoping you wouldn’t know they’d been shot in the metropolis that is Dubai, 2005), and a special thanks to the Dubai Heritage Village for providing the actors and settings used.

Traditional Dagger Carved In Stone

Old Woman in typical yard setting

Blacksmith in his Workshop - anonymity in this photo and the previous one is intentional to keep the characters iconic heritage figures from the past; almost ghostly even.

Food covers hanging on a wall - both the wall and the covers are made fully from Palm Trees and their derivatives.

Inside a typical Storage RoomFirewood for cooking and making coffee, set close to camp. Typical setting of a wandering Bedouin nomad.

Portrait of an Old Man

Still shot of a man reaching for the ‘finyan’ or small coffee cup. The bowl close by is filled with water and used to dispense of used cups immediately, avoiding stains.

Composition 1

Composition 2

Wit Caught On Camera

2008-09-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

One of my current Professors once mentioned that the difference between graduate work and student work is that graduate work communicates clearly and narrows down to a single point; while students tend to prove their 'out of the box' thought process by tending to go all over the place - Sigh!

I don't know if Robert Gligorov was ever a student, in fact I don't really know much about him at all since most of what I've found on him is in a foreign language (probably Macedonian or some slavic dialect, -do you know?). All I do know is that he hails from Macedonia and was born in 1960.. And that his work pretty much rocks, and does an outstanding feat of being communicative and focused on the single idea behind each piece - Truly great stuff to look up to :)

Here are my picks, or you can click here for the rest

** photos via http://dar-jan.livejournal.com/267001.html

Age before beauty - Or not?

2008-09-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Being young and still-a-student in the design world, I always associated brilliant work with years of experience. That’s not to say that I don’t see a lot of great work from relatively up and coming designers and school work, but ever since being the freshman that I was, if we were to research designers we’d always go for the greats. Carson, Rand, Glaser, etc.. And they’re all pretty seasoned in what they do. Maybe it’s a school thing?
I think to an extent, I spent a long time thinking that the only way to be absolutely brilliant is to spend a lot of time doing whatever it is that you do.. There’s truth to that, but it can also be twisted into an easy scapegoat out of holding personal work to a higher standard-because guess what! I’m only and still a small fish compared to all those out there, etc…etc…etc.. You see my point.

So with all that being said, here’s to youth and inspirational work (and no I’m not going to obnoxiously put my own work with that claim, not yet anyhow ☺ ), and here’s to this post’s star – 20 year old Phillip Schilling from Plauen, Germany. His brilliant image making skills and mixed media approach definitely puts him as one to watch, I'm showing some of my favorites of his work in this post, but you can check out the rest of his work on his website colorbunch.com or click on the print thumbnail below

(his work's also been displayed in Advanced Photoshop magazine)

**all images in the post are courtesy of colorbunch.com and are Schilling's personal work. I'm in no way affiliated with the designer, but only paying tribute to great talent with inclusion of these images.

The comeback...

2008-09-20T02:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, I’ve fallen into the blogging pit again, this time perhaps with more focus on what I want out of my blog. Designerly is back, on its way to becoming ‘ferosh’ and fabulous as soon as I get down to giving it a visual makeover (hence the beta), dahling.

First things first, I’d like to thank my best friend – a fabulous non-designer- who used the word “designerly” ever so often that it helped me coin a title for a blog that, although I had an idea flow of content for, lacked a proper name.

Now that DINAW is born, I hope you’ll stay tuned to posts related to life in the scholarly lane as a design major, heads up on what’s out there in the design world (things I think are pretty effin' cool), and stuff from reviews to life in the city.