color.one.

Color is very complex to understand, because, color is something that is subject to thought, intention, surroundings, light, time…this list is endless. So we know that its effects are often time affected by a slew of various things. Interestingly enough color has the power to completely change the way we view a given image. The way that professional photographers choose to manipulate an image in post work can completely solidify the way it is received by the viewer. Shifts in color fields within the study of digital photography can take an original image and warp it in such a way that it becomes a composition, and an individual photograph, all its own. Often times there is a very fine line on where a photographs manipulation is successful and then where it becomes something that is formally disfunctional. However with our photo pair manipulation we see this rule being bent in such a way that harsh manipulations are made to see the functional qualities that they have to offer to each other in a series. This compositional comparison raises you eyebrow in a a similar way to what many Pop Art works would, the contrast with wild color combinations that are visually combative with the viewer, all the while creating a very interesting piece of “art”. Working with color in photoshop is a process and a practice that takes time and effort to tame and master…however letting yourself go slightly wild with manipulation is a good way to see what happens with things get a little out of hand…then pull yourself back in to understand how/when/why those tools are useful and when.

diggin’.around.

In the pursuit of knowledge expansion I usually prepare myself for a project with a little abstract research. Im never entirely sure of my direct position in relation to a new project so I tend to just sift through the internets endless matrices. I have to say the the word research often carries a daunting idea of task and time. However, research in fact can be a very important and enjoyable step within the processes one enters for problem solving. Gathering inspiration, motivation, knowledge, purpose, and information is quite possible the foundation you lay in order to construct a successful solution to any problem. I carry along with me a notebook that I collect visual and informative pieces in. Taking random notes of facts and resources you discover on the web can are often times invaluable to you at the time of collection however can be valuable inspiration for future projects, so I find it very helpful to be a collector of many things. Simply diggin’ around through websites can also be a helpful way to just round up some information regarding a question that is puzzling you or something that you need some reference for. For the work I am currently involved with, I find it helpful to just keep my laptop open and check out information about buying fresh and local, logo design for grocers and  other competitors, just to stay connected with my mindset towards a project.

I also cannot stress the importance of just grabbing magazines and books on or about design. The knowledge and visual information that a pile of magazines can offer you is so valuable. I find that many of my inspirational ideas for projects come from seeing what others are doing in the world with their aesthetic…this way it helps you recognize what others are doing and improve your own work, capitalizing on others new discoveries, making something new, advancing your skill set, releasing your identity into the world. Its all very relevant to research and design as a practice.

workshop.@.create.here.

Hit the Terminal for a beer and an app. with some of my designer friends the other day, which was the pre-game, for a PR workshop we attended. Create Here is a wonderful organization that is hosting an event for a chapter called spring board that they use to bring in local artists and buisness people, in order to gain knowledge about varied subject matter. This workshop by springboard was specifically dealing with PR, which is not marketing! The woman that lead the workshop was Janis Hashe, who is the editor of the Pulse, which is an amazing publication here in town….she used to run a privately ownded buisness dealing with the same subject matter. So it was nice to know that we were dealing with a professional that had been working within the realm of PR for a very long time and had much experience with the standards and expectations of media outlets. The knowledge that Janis shared, simply secured many things that I have learned from other professionals within ajoining feilds in professional practice regarding our current project with Crabtree and Leadership Chattanooga. She however further explained conventions within the actually release and the use of images. Janis also stressed that anyone can write a release for purposes of self promotion, which was a gist of the entire workshop. She also said that its literally just stringing words together to form a interest in your work.

Most important message of the evening for me: “Use Spellcheck on your release!” and… “Know that spell check only checks spelling of words not the placement of them.”

CreateHere supplied all the workshop guests with Pretzels from MellowMushroom, which made this experience delightful.

printing.processes.

Just read over the section on printing processes in my book for Proc/Mat. Obviously the section of reading covered the processes in which inks are applied to a given surface in order to create a piece of design work and/or an image. These main processes include offset litho, gravure, letterpress, and silk screen. Some of these I was slightly more familiar with than others. The process in which I have had the least amount of exposure with is the gravure or rotogravure. This process is a type of intaglio printing which involves engraved components on an image carrier. Super industrial it seems. Read on the inter-web that this process is capable of transferring more ink that any other presented process and thus so, can carrier heavy density within lights and shadows. Makes sense that this process would be ideal for images regarding neat and stark photography. Wiki says that the images are printed in such a way that the images’ composite is made by series’ of dots which are visible to the naked eye. How lovely. It also says that type and/or other solids are subject to this process as well. Mentions that it is a short-coming of this process which is understandable. This method is mostly used for long lines of printing. We’d see this being used in situations such as long run magazines, packing products, greeting cards…wallpaper (which is really amazing to me) These things are going for a million dollars online, by the way. Was surfing around checking out the price range for printing services and the cost of these machines…. This guy costs a damn fortune.

Posting link here for some resources.>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotogravure

and of course,

the Production Manual.

New.image.pair.concept.

My previous idea is no longer in my mind. Moving onto something less dense and keeping it simple. Simplicity is important to my existence right now. Synopsis:

The presented word pair light and dark, is something that is complex to capture in camera. These words are loaded up with the camera as it stands, taking in lights and darks which are received and make an image. So then as an artist, we move onto something more conceptual, that can be applicable on a level where light and dark no longer carries obvious visual cues from image making and transcend into something that lends itself to a narrative, a story, or meaning. I decided that it would be interesting to now construct images that both deal with light and that both deal with darks. Taking two portraits that present the idea that a receptor has to be present to receive these two things and thats why we acknowledge lights and darks. Each portrait will rely on both white and black, colors associated with these two words. Then one portrait will involve a blindfold to represent dark, which is only present here because something artificial is present which creates dark(ness), then in the adjoining image will have open eyes. The composition of both will also inform the difference that exists between these two words, through physical transitions in clothing and facial variants. My twin brother will sit for one half and I will sit with the other, which adds a duality to the shift of lights and darks, which are slightly separate from one another yet nothing alike in their contrast.

pitching.successfully.

So I will be pitching a logo solution to our class client on Tuesday. Many things combine to construct a successful pitch. I believe that first and foremost you have to believe that your solution coincides with the ideals that you have received for your client and know that it is the answer to what they have asked of you. If you falter here then Its doomed to be unsuccessful. Secondly I know that the aesthetics have to follow certain design sensibilities that also reflect what the client stands for…so we ask ourselves as designers? what matters? why does it matter? is it simple? is it complex? who is the audience? is it corporate? Independent? what are the saling points? how do we make it speak to the necessary clients beyond whom we are working with? Once we have acquired this information then we further convince the client that this solution is what they are looking for, that we have spent the necessary time to dive in with our design ideals and come out with many solutions, critique, find out its not right, go back, do it again, and again, to arrive at what has come to be a successful solution to their problem. I also think that is important to let you ideas be accessible and tangible to someone who isn’t a designer and may not understand all of your thought process b/c they may not be as right brained as you. So speaking to the representational and communicable qualities of what you have done is more approachable than speaking about the formal qualities that have driven the success of your work. Okay, wish me luck.

light.dark.

Beginning to experiment with some ideas for a new project for processes and materials. The basis of this assignment is to construct images based of an assigned word pair. The word pairs are assigned to each individual and you must then in return shoot photos that correspond and inform the variance that lies in between these two words. My assigned pair is light and dark which is an intriguing concept that is loaded with nice ideology in both social and physical constructs. I have decided to construct images based on a genetic split that reference that separation that exists between the variants of light and dark. I am mostly engaged with the idea that the degrees that exist between light and dark are cut across something that is almost unseen in its change yet acknowledgment of its existence is accepted due to the existence of both. So within my images a narrative is presented that informs both something that is obvious relatable in its formal representation of light and dark, however crosses over into further ideas of genetic splits between the male and the female. I am shooting these images of a male and female behind thin sheets of plastic in which there physical representation is evident through the surface and then an image of human skin cells are cast upon this surface with a projector…. more to come on this once I have some solid images shot and something worth posting up. Stay tuned. This should be quite the experimental procedure.

standing.alone.

As we continue our ongoing project with Leadership and Crabtree we continue to toss around logo designs for the new food guide. The more I see logos that my class present, I have begun to become more keen on what it is exactly that I feel builds the make up of a successful mark. First and foremost i feel it is important to identity that a given mark can represent something but it alone cannot exist without a type treatment to piggy back on until a brand is set up for a mark to be identifiable to the masses. I am usually less inclined to be really attracted to a mark alone or just a type treatment, at least not in the past few weeks. Its when interesting chemistry is conjured between a illustrative mark and typography that really gives an identity life and something real to say. When I see a simple type treatment, despite how well it is laid out, it says nothing to me about who or what something stands for. However when a mark is introduced that makes the typography something new and fresh, that something really comes into focus as a successful logotype. A given logo can be typographically set in Helvetica (which is beautiful) and then accompanied by an image or mark, and then become something much more, in such a way that we forget the the type is helvetica, because it has become something more original than that.

pushing.someones.buttons.

 

We launched our new project last week in which we were to make buttons and postcards for Netdiver.net who is having their 10 year anniversary and have called on designers all over to submit their designs for postcards and buttons. Everyone has been constructing ideas from the beautiful to the bizarro to submit for the competition. On the second which was the last day everyone began to submit last min. so that we could compete and also get the necessary grade for our process and materials class. Everyone had been frustratingly posted to base-camp throughout the night due to a struggle with uploading our designs to Netdiver.net. After many posts and much deliberation in what file types they were actually looking for. After overloading their system with participants from Chattanooga, everyone began to breathe easily. Until around 6 o’clock when we started to receive emails that consisted of comments about how our class breached the integrity of their competition, so all of our submissions to Netdiver.com that we had spent so much time and effort constructing and uploading were removed.  hmmm. I have to be honest in saying Im not sure I see the harm in everyone from a given school submitting their work for a competition. However, despite the complications, I feel that this made this project way more interesting than It had been from day one.

press.release.(?)

Last week I was assigned to a project for my class in which I have been asked to write a press release for an upcoming event connected to our current client in Professional Practices. Though slightly overwhelmed since I have literally no idea about writing a press release and planning an event for a client since I pay thousands of dollars a year to go to design school, I have compliled I list of resource for anyone who may need to quickly find out what the hell a press release is, what it consists of and what it is purposed for. From the interweb I have found that PR is important because self promo plays a very important part in any buisness indevor. Public attention due to writing a press release is something that is more extensive and valuable that any ad a designer or ad man could conjure up. I have posted below a list of  steps to follow from ehow that have helped me write my first press release. I know that writing a press release for a designer is something that can be intemidating…I have found that it is important to A: take not one…but a few deep breathes, B: get some rest and C: use the internet to learn everything that you do not know. 

Step1

Decide why you are writing a press release and determine your focus.

Step2

Keep it short and to the point. Usually, press releases are no more than one page.

Step3

Print the words “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” in the top left-hand margin in all caps. Follow this line with relevant contact information: name, title, address, phone number, email address.

Step4

Create a headline and center it in bold type just above the first line of the body of the press release. Headlines typically highlight the most important, significant or shocking fact in the release.

Step5

Create a dateline – the first line of the body of your press release – that includes the city where the release is generated and the date (i.e. LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – January 1, 2000).

Step6

Make certain the first paragraph includes all the vital information: the where, when, why, what and who.

Step7

Include some tantalizing peripheral details or facts to spark curiosity in following paragraphs. A good press release not only informs but also teases.

Step8

Wrap up the last paragraph with a “for additional information” line, a place to find more details. An annual report or a Web site can be great sources of information.

Step9

Center these marks, ” # # #” or “-30-”, at the bottom of the page to indicate the end of your release.

Step10

Print your release on high quality paper using a good laser or inkjet 

http://www.ehow.com/how_8793_write-proper-press-release.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

 

below are some other resources for the press release

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Press-Release

http://www.press-release-writing.com/10_essential_tips.htm

http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/action/action-tools/how-to-press-release.htm