Ever had one of those weeks where your list just keeps piling up? That's my week right now. I had a grand scheme to make blog posts every night, but I keep getting back after 11 realizing I have to start over again in 8 hours. Ah well, at least I am being productive!

I may be doing a lot of thesis research, but I am also doing a lot of making lately. I'm either in the metalsmithing studio for class or working in the design shop. The cool part about having a job in the shop is that my boss has been giving me projects to do. So I get to learn to use the shop machines and make usable stuff. Below (and above) are two quick projects I've done during separate 5-hour shifts.

Now this is what ID is all about

My first real 3D rendering, after a semester's worth of tutorials and hours of frustration. I am actually very surprised at how much I truly learned. Hopefully I'll be able to retain it over break.

This is a redesign of the Zem noise canceling ear plugs, developed in Syracuse.

I'll be working on the money shot tonight.

The Weather

I only have one more class tomorrow, then a few finals and projects standing between me and the summer. Speaking of which, it felt like summer today. 90 degrees in april? That's just as strange as a blizzard at this time. The magnolia's are blooming, the tulips are budding, my fan is out of its box.

I generally don't discuss the weather, as I find it to be the most bothersome small talk, but I have been working a lot with it lately. Here is part what I've made so far:



A few cards that are part of a weather game. Collect all the different categories (the different color stripes) and make a certain kind of weather. The one above is a sunny day, much like today's (with the exception of the temperature).

More of this project as the week progresses.

Bookmaking

This is manifestation #1 of this project. I think it may be drastically changing this weekend. As a group, four of us chose a piece and music and divided it into sections. This is 2:00-3:00. The song is Steve Reich's "Groove Machine." Just sort of the landscape I imagined from listening. I wish the song was on Youtube. I shall have to do some digging.

Have a lovely weekend!

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!

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.

How To Make a Tuna Salad Sandwich

The second simple exercise in Symbology. I'm a vegetarian, so it was a bit awkward as I haven't really looked at tuna fish in a long time. I never liked it when I ate meat, anyway. I'm more of a fluffernutter girl, with raspberry preserves. Or grilled cheese, with some mustard on it. Yum!

I'm watching Billy Elliot while working on making some rough books for my book binding class. Hopefully I'll have some schnazzy three dimensional stuff to show off soon. This semester is a lovely combination of theory (Symbology), computer skill (Alias), process (Plastic Production), intellectual pursuits (Jewish-American Lit and 20th Century American Art), and hands-on skills (Book Binding). I love having such a variety, my brain gets to work in so many different ways. I think in words, images, sounds, and emotions.

I leave you with my favorite scene from Billy Elliot, the "angry" dance:

Quick exercise

Assignment: Take "institutionalized" symbols and make them into a uniform system. This probably isn't the "best" solution, but I wanted to be both playful and as different from the established signs. It's hard to fix symbols that have been so ingrained in our psyche. The class is "symbology and semiotics." We spent the first class learning the difference between icon, symbol, and index. Very interesting, but very theory-based and conceptual.

The charrette from the first week was eye opening. I have a manifesto to post soon, the result of my group's weeklong struggle with solving humans' energy problems. That will need a whole post to itself. More to come in the next week!

Starting out with a Bang

We've hit the ground running in the ID department, starting the year off with a 5-day charrette. It's all based around the Next Generation contest held by Metropolis. We're working with Interior Design majors. The past two days have consisted of a multitude of environmental lectures, from sustainability to better building processes. Hopefully something great will come of this.

I will have some amazing update when this madness is done. For now, I have to get some sleep and recharge for tomorrow's activities.

Intaglio Number Two

My first time mixing color to get a sort of sepia-gray (I used renaissance black, which has a lot of brown in it). I didn't realize how hard it would be. There should be a chemistry class dedicated to mixing inks.

Field trip to Ansun Graphics tomorrow. I'm really excited to see a real printing press after hanging out in the print studio all semester. Hopefully it'll smell like the print place where my mom got her business cards made back in the day.

Type Poster

From the TS Eliot poem "The Hollow Men." Larger version here.

Poem lines:
"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a wimper."

The finished typeface:


Sorry it's so small, but it took ages to even get blogger to post this. Apparently it doesn't like JPEGS saved from Adobe. Larger version here.

What Happens When I Forget an Eraser and Am Too Lazy To Find One...

Just sketching out my idea for Intaglio, sans eraser, which is a must in my world. I ended up tracing the good parts on the light table. I really like her legs. Will scan the finished product next week, and hopefully my other two, once my prof returns them.


Doodling during class tonight. I'm really liking the two-tone mix. I'll need to buy some more staedtler triplus markers soon.
Type is coming along slowly. I'm really digging these three letters, but the rest need a lot of work. We're making posters from them, printed off the department's new plotter. Of course, hanging in the print studio has made me think in printing press terms, which might not turn out as well via a plotter.

Type is life

Current project for my typography class: make a minimally legible, undecorative (ie-"cutesy") typeface. I always feel the need to make everything three-dimensional first. My best letters so far:



I didn't realize it until later, but the A kind of looks like the Adobe reader logo:

Ah well, paying subconscious homage to the company that designers owe so much to (though, apparently CS4 doesn't have a release date? and some of their commands are counter-intuitive.)

More when the font is completely digital and tweaked to (near) perfection. Very excited about this project, as we get to make a 30'x40' foot poster on the school's new plotter.