Final Post for 224

So after rereading all 4 articles I got a better understanding about them. Such as the article about Bruce's Manifesto this is a list of To Dos and Do Nots in design. It says a phrase then gives a small caption describing it in more detail. I think this article is easy to understand and every designer should read it once or twice before they go out and create something. The article is pretty much 43 different ways on how to change your look at designing. Its all about growth such as its better to make a process such as this blog then it is to hand in a project with no explanation. Because you can learn from your mistakes and be able to go back and see what you did wrong or right.

Then in the Meredith Davis article it talks about how design hasn't changed as much over the years as it should. Such as new technology come out everyday like an Ipod. But it doesn't matter how many designs of an Ipod there are it needs something else to make it work. That's Itunes. So if it wasn't for that program the Ipod wouldn't be a big success. So therefore if more design would happen the world would be in a much faster growing process then it is now and it is but its just happening at a really slow rate. A better way to say that is when technology expands we design the new people. Then Meredith talks about a bunch of studies done with college students and one of them was to do a documentary of someones average day of life in college and the idea was to learn about different strategies and information. Not "oh here's our project a map and a poster." He also gos on about how we need to learn how to use the computer and don't let it control us and also we need to learn good design in the community we live in and be able to adapt to new environments. Such as do research to the area your going to work in before hand to find out what that culture is like because it will help your designs. I think after rereading this article it was still a little hard to follow at times but it was a lot easier to read. it made a lot more since and it was similar to Bruce's Manifesto in the since that its an article about telling you how to become a better designer and its giving u a guide line of rules to look for before you go out and do your thing. Although this one was more focused on certain strategies it still had that do this don't do that theme.

Andrews Towards Relational Design article was really easy to follow. It was a modern history timeline. He pretty much went off on three steps of how design changed:
1. Search for language such as isms, futurism, separatism, costrutiuism and look for visually abstractness.

2. functional designs such as the comic strip, and cultural symbolism

3. Rhetorical impact, social interactions like the digital technology's.

I thought this article was a bit different from the other two just because it was a history of what has already happened till now. It still tells you in what to look for but you get to see the overall outcome of how design changes rather then a guy telling you what to do to change it. This is exotically true after taking art history.
Then for the last article it was more of a big project going on. The IDEO project. There were a series of books to look at and each one went off on a different method to design with a team.
1. Info book-states what the IDEO project is all about
2. Fieldwork guide- designing for the future
3. Tools guide- what you need to make this happen
4. abstract thinking guide- Taking your ideas and simplifying them and then putting them back together in a more complex form.
5. Teamwork guide- similar to 4 but more about how to work with others
6. Cost/planning guide
This seemed like a good project all these guides really went in depth on how to make it better for the designer. I still need to reread some of them again. Just because there was a lot of info in them. But I think this project was by far the most complex out of all the articles. It went in depth not just telling u what to look out for or what to do but here's how u do it. Step by step. It was like going to school or reading a map.

Now for the article I found its called prepare to get laid off.
http://www.graphicpush.com/prepare-to-get-laid-off
This article is about getting a graphic design job and how to cope with yourself when you loose it. It also go's into money management issues and ways to avoid all this. I really liked this article too because all the others ones were about ok this is what it takes to be good and get in but it none of them really talk about the outcomes the what ifs. Such as if it doesn't work then what do I do. At least this article explains some little strategies on how to get through tough situations like that.

So in my recap project I redesigned my Homeless War Veterans Project. When Jared and I first made the 3d model we originally thought about making a poster with it and that's where I got this idea from. But I wanted it to be super realistic looking. So I did the entire thing in Photoshop. I went with the same idea but added multipal planes dropping bombs and they are bursting in the air with facts falling out of them. I chose to only put the main words with lots of branches attached in the explosions because of crowded issues. Then I used a dark red and a light red to break it up a little. That was a lot easier to read the facts. Then I wanted to add a cityscape down below with actual war vets in the streets. So I found the perfact picture of a destroyed building and I worked with that adding fire and smoke to it. Then I put some of the facts in that too. At the last mininute I decided I didn't want to make the homeless talk to each other I figured that there was already enough type to get the point accross but if I had a little more time I might figure out a way to make it work. After I lost my project the first time I had a back up file that was alot older but it had the plane and the city in it and I was able to work with that It was just annoying to recreate since there was over 150 layers in it to work with. But over all I think this project was fun to make. I really like working in photoshop and this project gave me more practice in useing my new skills from my 210 class. I also thought for a presentation of some sort this photoshop version would look good next to the 3d modle. Oh yeah its also Tabloid size. So if I had a ton of money to recreate this project I would use this mind map and the 3d model and just make a video game out of it. That way its a better learning experence for everyone. It could be like the Oregon Trail in the since its an educational game. Such as u play a guy who goes to war then comes home and looses his job and life and gets addicted to drugs and your gole is to surivive in a harsh liveing enviroment called the city.

Readings

I haven't had much time to update my blog with the reading assignments from last class I will do this tonight after work or tomarrow morning early. I hope this isn't to late. But it will be there.

War Vets Project

Jered and I did our project on homeless war veterans. After we found a lot of sascistics and quotes for the brainstorm process we both decided drew out our ideas on how to make this project work. Such as do we want to draw the entire thing up in Illustrator or make a 3D design project and combine Illustrator with that. So we both settled for the 3D idea just because it would be fun to make. So the idea was to make a bomber which would simbilize war and this air plane would be droping bombs on homes and and inside of each bomb would be a fact about homeless vets. Then there is a city below being destroyed with homeless vets shouting out quotes about how homelessness affected their lives. When we built this both of us sat down in illustrator and I typed out all the text while Jared was designing how the explosions were going to look. Then we both placed them in it and cut them all out. We also went out and bought a model airplane and plastic army men and used that for our peice. Then built the rest of it out of wire, foamcore, and cardboard, and paint. If we had $30k I would want to rebuild a fullsize model of a specific city and include a lot more stats and quotes and also have lights, sounds, and moveing objects. Then I would place this in a museum at OMSI or another area like it so it could be on display forever. The model would be designed to inform people and show them that the army isn't as great as america thinks it is.

Response: Twards Relational Design

This artical was a little confuseing to read. The guy went in depth talking about how design has changed over the years and and how people take one idea and branch it off in a bunch of different ways and claim it as there own. But I really liked what the first responder to this story had to say. They were talking about how Graphic Designers are attened to just make things better and how lableing is useless. But overall the author did point out some intresting facts. Like a little example would be the pc was intended to teach people how to design like a book. But now people use the pc to design like a tool. But overall I am not a big fan of reading articals like this I would rather learn about Graphic Design longer before I start to write an indepth response to someone who has studied it for some time.

Blog Update

So in this project I started out looking at websites trying to get ideas for logos. Then as a group we all got togeather and decided wee wanted a retro looking theme and to try to keep it contempary. So by the next class we all brought in different website pictures we found so we could find a good theme approch to take. After we all found stuff we liked we posted it on or blogs then Jered and I were going to come up with some logo designs by next class. So after class I went into the lab with Jered and we started to work and had some of the same thoughts. In class as a group we decided we wanted a logo with a shoe and a plant, leafs with needles, and maybe a manikin with roots for legs.
When the next class rolled around I had some ideas but it didnt compare to what Jered brought to the table. So thats when he became responisable for the future logos in the project. Then the other members worked on background ideas painting branches out and what not. So then after another class went by I was to go home and create lables and find good website layouts. I searched as many brand name things as I could like Burton, Gucci, Quicksilver, Levis, New York Fashion Shows, Dior, ect. (I had over 60 sites and nerrowed the main ones down and posted it on my blog.) Then in one of the class periods we had a little simple website idea but it wasnt good enough so thats when I became responsible for the new website. So I took our main design and layed it in the background and knew I wanted to make some sort of scrolling tabs for products and models. My main infulances for this was looking at this site http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/ and listening to over 30 cds in the Brodway lab while working long hours back to back.
I think some of the stuff that didnt work well was the timeing I had to work on this project most people sleep around 1am and thats when I am in the lab designing my stuff. I wanted more communication perhaps in IM form other than e-mail. But in a result the stuff I have to show for came out. So I think that worked out ok. Also my comute to PSU in general was annoying. I had to come back on the weekends and work on my stuff then drive back to Canby and work. But thats all fixed now.
So for a summery I made:
-rough sketches
-Logo designs
-Typed out all the lables and name tags
-Designed our webpage with our tree branch background
-Helped tape it all down on the black board

Incomplete Manifesto Thoughts

Well that was intreasting. A lot of it was mixed stuff I have heard over the years or thought was common since by now. Its good to read though for the eyes of an artist. After reading this I kind of want to travle some where lolz.

Look down

My pics are at the bottom.