Journal 7

Spring break was full of recovering from sickness and working on homework. I was able to get out of the house for one day and go to downtown St. Charles and walk around Main St. I love going down there because it is right next to the river and full of little family owned shops. The roads are cobble stoned and the atmosphere has a small town feel.
Here are a couple of the pictures that I took. Most of the signs had an old feeling to them and the last picture is of a poster I saw. I thought it was hideous and decided to take a picture for a bad example.

Journal 6

Sean Adams - I thought it was interesting what he thinks about design and I continue to think more about design as solving problems as well. The most influential piece of design for him was the Declaration of Independence, which I was not expecting. He said that he thought it was the biggest accomplishment to design a government and after he put it this way I began to understand it more.

Paula Scher startled me when she said that she did not have a single example of design that would be the most inspiring. She is interested in many different types of design and likes thinking of the relationship of time vs. designer and how problems are solved differently according to time. Her ideas conflicted with Sean Adams in the fact that one of her main points was that design doesn't solve problems. Instead, think of ways to do things better.

Steven Heller made me laugh when he said that the Michelin Man is the most inspiring because it is a hugely successful logo/spokesperson. I definitely do not see the Michelin Man being the most succesful logo so am surprised he said this. There are many other logos such as Apple, McDonalds, NBC, and others that are able to be recognized around the nation and some world wide.

For Erik Spiekermann the alphabet is most inspiring. Gutenberg invented the printing press and created the first typeface that was not just handwriting. It was the beginning of typefaces. -- like Meta. The alphabet is art.

Chipp Kidd said the most inspiring example of design is identity. He said that in order for a designer to not lose their passion they must take credit for their work and when we are recognized we get paid more. He also mentioned that designers need to take themselves seriously and you should be inspired by all of their surroundings.

Final process

From these, I minimized the layering and added pictures of sand and the ocean to the background. I changed around the color scheme to be more beach like and complement the color of the dates.


















For the final version I got rid of the diagonal title and made all of the text black except for the dates.

Process for Timeline

Sketches to begin with...























































Originally I had planned to do a rotating pie chart to display both the image and type in an interactive way. After some experiementing with how it would rotate, I did not think it would be as strong as I had hoped. It would have been mostly image based with little type and that was not a good direction to go in.

I changed to a long composition that displayed the dates in a 3d manor. They are color coordinated to fit one of the 9 categories. The date is much larger and creates a sense of hierarchy with the contrast of small and large typefaces and the eye is moved down by the arrangement of dates.

Below are the first compositions that I came up with and one seemed to empty without a background which is why i added a texture in the other. The problem with the second is there is too much going on. I like the effect of layering and really wanted to play around with it but it begins to get difficult to read.

Journal 5

The videos from TED that I watched were really inspirational and heart warming. The one that I really enjoyed was A warm embrace that saves lives. People in third world countries are not able to afford incubators to save premature infant lives. They invented a sleeping bag like form that has a pocket in the back that holds hot wax packets that can be heated by warm water. Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an incubator they are able to purchase the sleeping bag for $25 and reuse it. I can only hope that when I go out into the real world that I am able to help others with my designs and not just make things look pretty.

How Good is Good?

Some of the points that stood out most are how his views have changed from the beginning to; Help others, don't hurt anybody, and strive for happiness. I wonder what all happened to make him change his priorities around though.
I enjoyed all of the bold points that he made and how underneath each one was defined. Design can simplify our lifes, it can make the world a safer place, and design can make us raise money were the ones I related to most. Like I mentioned above, after watching the video and reading this article, I hope that my designs will make a difference.

Final Product!

Professional-anxiety

Professional: of or for a professional person or his or her place of business or work:

Synonyms: able, acknowledged, adept, competent, efficient, experienced, expert, known, learned, licensed, polished, practiced, proficient, qualified, sharp, skillful, well-qualified

Anxiety: distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune: earnest but tense desire.

Synonyms: fear, foreboding; worry, disquiet, eagerness

To suggest a sense of suspension

To suggest a sense of professionalism and jurisdiction

To suggest a sense of fear

To suggest a sense of mystery

To suggest a sense of high class

To suggest a sense of Ivy league class

To suggest a sense of unknown and turning on people

Journal 4

Who is Bruce Mao? He is a well-known as a graphic designer and his innovative communication design. He is Chief Creative Officer of Bruce Mau Design, and was most noticed when he worked an award winning book with Rem Koolhass.

On his website bruce Mao outlines several mantras in which he believes contribute to the bettering of design. I choose #1.

1. Allow events to change you.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

I picked number one because i feel that i do not step out of my comfort zone and experiment. I instead will stay around people and places that I am comfortable with and therefore not change. Last year I was afraid to change who I was and that I would lose sight of who I am. I realized that branching out and trying new things, within reason, can only help me grow as a person. I am going to continue to do so and hope for the best and that I will be inspired.