This is one of the reasons why I love McSweeney's so much:

A QUESTIONNAIRE REGARDING THE PHENOMENON OF THE SNUGGIE, THE BLANKET WITH SLEEVES, FOR TESTING YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF AMERICAN HOME ECONOMICS AND YOUR OWN PERSONAL DESIRES, WRITTEN IN THE STYLE OF WALKER PERCY'S LOST IN THE COSMOS

Have a good weekend!

4 Random Drawings from Sophomore Year

From my marker rendering class. I just dug them out while going through my stuff. Nothing special, but I really enjoyed the process of creating these. The tractor is fun, because I actually know how to drive it!

Cupcakes

Work in progress for my bookmaking class. Used Alton Brown's recipe from "Good Eats":


Unfortunately, we ate the cupcakes before I could get a shot. They were gooey and awesome cooked in mugs!

A Vote in Favor of Redesign

I guess there's been some sort of hoopla over Tropicana changing their packaging, to a point where they are changing it back to the original. First, if people are going to complain about a Pepsi Co. redesign, then why not look at the Pepsi soda redesign. Of the two, I'd say that's the more "generic" looking.

The funny thing is, I've come to realize even more so that I live in a design bubble. Everyone I've talked to likes the new packaging. At the same time, everyone I've talked to is a design student who also noted the change. Why do I like the packaging? It's clean, but still has playful touches, like the green leaf dotting the "i." I also love the glass on the front, which invokes the daily breakfast ritual better than an orange with a straw. I guess the original orange image was too realistic and straightforward for my taste. A package doesn't need to scream its message: a simple mix of color and words works fine. Especially for orange juice, which isn't trying to be "extreme!" or "bold!" or anything silly like that. Orange juice isn't loud, and the new packaging conveyed that.

Ah well, I'll just have to buy a carton or two and save it to enjoy on my own.

Save Some Words

I wish my vocabulary included some of these words. Trajectitious? Essomenic? Quaeritate?

I wish the FAQ section was updated. It's a really cool site, but the full purpose isn't entirely outlined. I'm assuming the words have been removed from the Oxford English Dictionary?

I made a logo of sorts this weekend:

I just wanted to do something quick that showed a little bit of personality. Why a bunny? Well, I spent a good deal of my life assuming that I was born in the Year of the Dragon, only to find out that my January birthday meant I was a rabbit. No offense to them, but dragons are far cooler than rabbits. So, I decided that if I was going to be a rabbit, I'd be a fire-breathing rabbit (with sharp pointy teeth)!

This guy was an honorable mention. A bunch of people said he looks too much like the Donnie Darko rabbit. I personally think he just looks pensive:

Not sure why they're so light. Saving JPEGs from illustrator is quite a pain.

Treehouses

A video of a group project I did last year of an installation we made. The assignment was to translate a written, abstract expression of a space into a full-scale model, entirely out of cardboard. We created these sort of treehouses, which, as you can see, were quite structurally sound.

Just posting this reminds me of the warm weather Syracuse was experiencing at the time. It was only April, yet we had 75 degree, sunny days. I think all the groups decided to make their pieces outside, just to have more time to soak up the rays.