The lanterns are coming a long quite nicely. I have my main design for what I want to do. Today i started playing with how i was going to put my pieces together and came up with about five ways. I happened to like the sowing connection better than anything. It seemed to hold the pieces together better. I feel good about this project. I definitely feel like this project and the letter project were my favorite ones this semester by far. I have really started to enjoy this class!! Its awesome.

I still am not sure if i am going to hang my lamp or if i want it as a floor lamp. It is definitely going to be for decoration only. And majoring in interior design helps me a little with this project I feel because I know where this lamp will go. I am so curious to find out about what the final product is going to look like!!

The end of the semester is coming :( I'm going to miss this class so much. I just got my process book spiral binded and i'm still waiting on a couple things for my accordion book to finish it. This project hasn't stressed me out nearly as much as the other projects have...maybe it's because i really enjoyed this project and i'm sad its almost over.

I'm going to miss my team a lot :(

The project is almost over. Wow that went fast. So far this has been my favorite project. I have my process book done and my photo essay book is coming along quite well. I think it is going to turn out well. I'm using different pictures in my photo essay book than what i used in my process book to give variety. I'm looking forward to the end of this project. We'll see how it all turns out. I am sad from this one to end though :(.

Learned how to make a book today and fold some paper...wasn't to bad. We learned a lot of ways to make an accordion book. Getting pretty excited to start building the big letter! We'll have to see how it goes. :)

Response to Photography Essay:

Photography is one of the many beautiful things in life. It allows anyone to capture a moment, any moment in time and to document it forever. With this project we are supposed to document our finding of how to convey our word’s meaning. By reading Photo Ops, I was able to understand a little bit of the knowledge that goes into photography. I had always thought that in order to get an unbelievably good picture you had to be an expert on photography, but the truth is you only need a camera and something to shoot. Experimenting with the light, shadows, and angles can get you a good picture. There’s also ways of movement, continuity, close-ups, symmetrical and asymmetrical images, and framing that will help give a photographer experience and make them get a better shot that they might’ve not been able to do before. It gives you a variety to choose from. The only way to get better as a photographer is to practice. I once took a job shadowing class about photography. We went to this lady’s studio and she taught us about angles, lighting, and how to morph a picture into something amazing. Reading this reminded me of that time. I hope to further my experience in photography while I’m here at school and during this new project.

            By using photos to document it is the neutral, style less, and objective way of documenting. By using pictures as documents, the viewers receive a great deal about our worlds from the images; it allows people to see certain things that they were not present at. This is why documentation through images started way back when artists painted and sketched. Those were the first forms of image documentation. It was said by Talbot that the “image emerges without and conscious involvement from the photographer.” Documentary also provides the viewers with direct access to truth. In the reading it was really cool to see how documentary had transformed through generations. Also to see how it was being used was really cool. Documentary can help reconnect us to the past, the images tell a story within themselves. This is how we are supposed to use our own images in this project, to show how our words relate to everyday life.

Response to Parts of a letter:

“Typography evolved from handwriting, which is created by making a series of marks by hand; therefore, the fundamental element constructing a letterform is the linear stroke (stem).” I had no idea that the actual start of typography started over 500 years ago. By realizing the vocabulary will help a person develop a better understanding of it as a whole. Type is about harmonizing letters to create a word as a whole. There is a lot of vocabulary that goes into typography, more than I knew of actually. I first thought that typographers just designed letters. It all seemed so simple, but there’s more work that goes into it, more than I would have ever realized unless I read this. This document about typography has taught me so much about parts of a letter that make up its form. I feel so educated now that I know what makes up a certain type of letter. “Immaculate typography is certainly the most brittle of all the arts. To create a whole from many petrified, disconnected and given parts, to make this whole appear alive and of a piece – only sculpture in stone approaches the unyielding stiffness of perfect typography.” Each font is different and has different multiple parts to it parts. I would like to know how typographers create their own fonts and how long it takes them. With as many fonts as there is now it amazes me that some haven’t been replicated yet. I have gained a whole new understanding of typography after reading this. I still cannot just recognize just any font like many other people can, such as our TAs, but hopefully after this project I will be able to.

My group's word is Condense:

The definitions found are:

• To make or become more compact or dense: concentrate; to change from vapor to liquid.
• Synonyms: Contract, shrink, compress, constrict
• To reduce the volume or compass of
• To make more concise; abridge or shorten
• Physics 
• To cause (a gas or vapor) to change to a liquid
• To remove water from (milk)
• To become more compact
• To undergo condensation
• Smooshed in between two things

Notes:

• Letters stand for sounds
• Sounds link together to make words that have meaning
• Language flows 
• It changes
• Words may sound the same, but have completely different meanings and are spelt differently.

Ideas so far for the pictures:

• Put in between two cars
• Between two buildings
• in a cave
• In between bookcases
• angle the letters in a "v" and have two people look like they are pushing them together.

A little worried about Thursday. We got a lot done today in class, but yet there is still so much to do. Our poster isn't yet finished, and it should have been last week. It bugs me when people procrastinate...anyways i'm looking forward to how our commercial turns out. I feel bad for putting it all on Adams shoulders, but I guess each of us all had separate assignments for the project and that was his. Plus he's amazing at drawing and he likes to do it. So i'm happy that he's happy to do that all for us.

Lets see what Thursday brings...

Today has been a productive day.

We found that everyone had gotten at least some kind of cosmetic thing done over the break. Ben, Andre, and Adam all got hair cuts, and I got my eye brows waxed. Harrison wasn't here today.

Besides all the fun stuff we got a lot done today. We finally got our final prototype decided on and done. I feel like it took forever, but we decided on our final story board too. It's all animated so I think it will be really fun to do and watch. We decided on our final poster so we'l get that printed out next Tuesday.

I am a little worried that some things won't be done on time. A little nervous :/ but i have faith in my teammates so hopefully the end of the project will go well. I do believe in horoscopes and mine reads that if i put faith in people it will all work out, so hopefully it's right. Anyways my process book is almost done so that's helpful too. It has 26 pages so far so it's going to be a long one. Hopefully its cheap to print :)

Response to Understanding Comics Chapter 2:

At first I had no idea what the guy in the comic was talking about win he kept turning down the people' depiction of what the object was. I was like "Okay where are you going with this?" But then They went into a segment on how the drawings weren't what they really were. Like how a picture of a cow wasn't a cow. Then the big word of Icon popped up and then I started to understand. It made me think back to when Jeremy Shellhorn came to talk to us in our BDS lecture about the types of signs that were used in design or on a poster. He said the meaning of signs went from denotation to connotation and from seeing to interpreting. As the viewers we construct our own meaning of the pictures or signs. The signs can be either an icon, index, or a symbol to represent one thing. The non-pictoral meaning is fixed and absolute, where the appearance doesn't affect their meaning. They represent visual ideas. A picture's meaning is fluid and variable. Words are abstract. In pictures the level of abstraction varies. In cartooning the focus is on specific details. It's stripping down and image to its essential meaning. While looking at icons or symbols, we assign identities and emotions where none exist. When the figure talked about how our face is like a mask that everyone else but ourselves can see, I'v always wondered what my face looks like through someone else's eyes. I thought that was cool. I know that we can look at mirrors and what not, but we only have a certain way of looking at ourselves. Do people see me the same way I do? Throughout this chapter I felt like I was learning how to write a comic book and where to place things. Hierarchy and where words should be placed and in which a=order to put the pictures. I learned how the different styles have consequences far beyond the mere "look" of a story. They are a form of visual communication. There is "no life here except to which you give it to." It made me think that we as people give life to what we want to through our thoughts and imagination. I'm not much of a comic book reader, but I really enjoyed reading this in comic book for instead of a text book. It was very informational. And it was a comic about what goes on in comics...how ironic. Now I feel like I know why comics are made the way they are. People like to envision themselves in them and to bring fantasy into reality. It made me think of Marvel's The Avengers and all those other superhero comics. Also I think for out group commercial we're doing part comic/cartooning. So I feel like in reading this it will help us in illustrating our commercial to its full potential.

Response to Understanding Comics Chapter 5:

This chapter stated how emotions and senses can be conveyed through certain backgrounds, lines, words, and pictures. It's so that it can evoke an emotional or sensual response from the audience. Impressionism and expressionism are being used to their full potential. It stated that a line can go from passive and timeless to proud and strong to dynamic and changing to unwelcoming and severe to warm and gentle to rational and conservative to savage and deadly to weak and unstable to honest and direct. Many emotions can be conveyed through the simplest forms of art. This brings me back to what we are learning in our drawing classes from Tom. We're learning very technical ways of drawing and getting proportions right but we are also working on the darkness of the lines and confidence in the lines. If a person sees a dark line it could stand for anger or confidence, but if a person sees a light line it could mean softness or unconfident. It really depends on what the authors perspective is on it and how they want the audience to convey their message while looking at it. This chapter really helps us understand the importance of emotion and senses that are depicted from certain pieces of artwork. Even in the littlest things, some kind of emotion is being expressed. This is going to help us today by helping us as designers or artist become aware of how we want our audience to feel or to respond to our artwork.

This commercial was straight to the point. It uses only just a few words and the action of the product to get it's point across. I thought it was pretty cool, especially since I haven't seen a shower head like this. I would totally buy it.

I  really liked this commercial. It kept me entertained and it uses the dog to show that after a while of working things out, there is a new look to the product. That if you give it time and work towards making yourself look better, you get a better outcome. I liked the music in it too. The only thing was that the car wasn't really mentioned until the end..I'm not sure if thats a good or bad thing. I like it when commercials use music instead of people talking too. It gives the viewer something to think about and analyze themselves.

Today was a good day. The group began creating prototypes. We went a little crazy with them, but hey how else are we supposed to generate ideas and make better prototypes if we don't have something crazy to start off with to bring it back to reality a little bit more? I do like how things are going so far. I know we only have like 3 weeks until all of our final things are due, but I think we have a good pace. Our prototypes are a little harder to make because we can't just make a handle out of cardboard, but I think we'll get there. 

 This is a picture of our word list and then after that we generated ideas of how to make it better:

 These were a couple of the sponge and handle prototypes that we made so far. I think its a good start:

And there's a picture of the guys working. It was a good day!!!

Response to Writer's Toolbox:

"Maps are points of departure for deeper investigations". Concept maps, brainstorming, brain writing, free writing, and word lists are used to help get ideas out on paper. They help to reveal the concept of the objects design, and what it is used for. While creating these maps we start with one main word in the center, the word of our object, and then branch off similar words of relation or functions of that object. Soon a person has a whole spider web full of words to play with and concepts to go off of. I remember doing this type of thing in elementary school as a way to get our minds flowing about a certain topic that we had to write about. Since I've been doing this for so long, it all seems too easy now. By using these word maps it helps to generate ideas a lot quicker than a person would think. The words that are written down also help to create ideas of what we might want an object to look like or how we want it to function. Using these maps helps a lot. "Free writing helps bring hidden ideas into the visible world". Writing also helps to generate ideas and helps lead to more ideas. I never knew or realized how much all these exercises really worked and how they made it so easy to come up with ideas and to transform them into new ones. I like that we use these techniques in our design process because they really do work. not only as and individual, but it helps others generate ideas and helps the group as a whole create one or even more amazing ideas for design.

Interview

First person:
Has to clean dishes all the time
uses sponges
loves handle sponges- doesn't have to touch the sponge
soap gets trapped in there
normally uses a dishwasher
Mostly hand washes her dishes
Doesn't think the handle brush to be a bad design
Make it better by:
more appealing- color
easier to change the sponge
not having to buy a new brush
clip on sponge
Thicker, larger handle
changeable heads- for different uses
Interchangeable handles
Doesn't like that it leaks.

Second person:
Uses a dishwasher normally
She prefers sponges over wash cloths
she likes the handle so your hands don't get dirty
She likes that there is already soap-one less thing to do before washing the dish
Not too much or too little soap
Make it better by:
longer handle
the soap tab should be easier to use
uses the handle-has to grip further down to really scrub
Thinks maybe plastic or wood would work for handle

Third Person:
Uses a hand sponge or dishwasher to wash dishes
rinses the dish before she puts them in the washer
Make it better by:
fitting it to the human hand
needs better grip
washable or replaceable sponge

Fourth person:
Uses dishwasher normally
likes that the sponge head moves
its comparable with angles
likes the soap applier
it's a nifty device
She has to grip closer to get good pressure
Make it better by:
interchangeable sponges
make soap entry hole bigger
bigger handle

Fifth Person:
Uses dishwasher mostly
likes not having to touch the sponge
She likes using a brush with bristles more
Make it better by:
curve the handle
move handle to a little on top of sponge
the color needs to be more appealing

Sixth person:
Uses a wash cloth normally
Would use the device if she had it
like how it has a handle and that soap comes out of it
Make it better by:
curving the handle-hand friendly-thicker
make so it would be better on the wrists
hook it on the side of the sink
prefers plastic
wants washable sponges-eco friendly
better color

Seventh person:
Washes by hand-wash cloth
likes the device because its easy to hold
dish friendly
doesn't think it could put dishwashers out of service
Make it better by:
rotating head

Eighth person:
Uses a wash cloth-becasue it's faster
would use it if he had it
Likes the color
likes the soap dispenser and handle
Make it better by:
reversible-soft and hard sides of sponge
needs to resimilate more easier-needs to be able to be put back together more easier


Ninth Person:
Uses a wash cloth
makes it so you won't have to get your hands wet
likes the rough part of sponge
thinks it's user friendly
didn't have much to say about changing it to make it better.

Tenth person:
Uses a dish washer
thinks you could wash your back with it-if wanting to
Likes that it holds the soap
was mostly satisfied with the handle
Make it better by:
color-appealing
needs to fit to hand
really hard to replug
a pain to put soap in
curve handle

After interviewing people I realized I really only got a few people who really gave some good ideas of how to improve the object. Most people that aren't in design wouldn't understand and I felt that most of them didn't. I interviewed four guys and six girls. Most of the girls cared about the color and half of the guys said something about the color. Overall it needs to be more appealing.
most of them would like it to have a better grip with a thicker handle. Maybe even a curved handle. It needs to be better on the wrists, to help with people with arthritis. But most of all people thought it was mostly a good design that still needed a lot of work to become better

The Object Chosen to be remodeled:

sponges preferred over

Brainstorming ideas:
We came up with a lot of ideas, which produced a lot of sticky notes. We not only came up with an idea of how to make the object better, but also what we would out it in and how it would function all together. We had a very productive day.
Some of the highlighted ideas were:

• Better handle to allow more pressure
• more spherical
• soft and hard sponges (use of bristles)
• maybe a curved handle to help with the pressure
• the soap inserts
• a hole in sponge to help with the soap 
• unscrew the bottom to insert soap
• thicken the handle
• click off button to remove sponge
• clip it to faucet for holding
• make the whole handle hold the soap
• advance grips on the handle
• add a scrapper on the end for food that isn't easily removed
• glove connected to handle- lead to a glove sponge
• pop off sponge so we won't have to keep buying a new product
• interchangeable sponges
• sponge holster to hang on wall- or something to rest over the middle part of the sink
• little balls for sponges instead of one big piece
• curve the sponge the be able to get hard to reach spots on dishes
• have two different sponges

We wanted something that wasn't going to break, was user friendly, could provide any kind of cleaning, would be reusable, wouldn't leak, had an easier way to release the soap. We want to make a person want to hand wash dishes and to say that dishwashers are a thing in the past.
One possible title we came up with was Click N Clean.

Response to the IDEO video:
This video was about how the IDEO company took a shopping cart and redesigned it in five days. First of all that seems like a lot of work within just five days. I thought it was insane, but I guess with as many people as they had it could be possible. The video said the chaos was discouraged in companies and they needed to climb the corporate latter. A companies status was based on who designed better. One thing that was pointed out was that everything but nature has been deigned by a human being. Design is the nature between form and function. There is also a distinguished difference between design and invention, which I thought was really cool to hear. In the video IDEO said they created 90 new products a year that really amazed me. That's a lot for one year. In there process of designing the wheel chair I thought it was really cool how the group was made up of a variety of people with a wide range or majors. Like they had anyone from a psychologist to an industrial designer. They said in the video that doing research helps. You have to know your product. Social network works better than sitting at a desk. I totally agree with them. You have to find every situation possible in order to make sure you are designing the very best and putting it to its most potential. They also made a comment about how in the design world you cannot have a hierarchy in the group. Everyone has to be equal. I thought this was really cool, and I agree with it a hundred percent. People have to be able to share ideas. Everyone's idea is as good as the next persons. People in the group have to bounce ideas off each other to really get a good end result. Their rules were to "Build ideas off of other's, One idea at a time, and to stay on topic." We're now using these same rules in our class for this new project. Another form of advice I thought was cool was to encourage wild ideas. They said "Sane points wouldn't provide as good of ideas as there would be with wild ones." This is so typical designer talk and  I really liked the sea of it! I really liked the environment of their office too. A playful environment is more likely to give someone a fresh idea faster than just a boring work space. I really liked his quote "try something and ask for forgiveness instead of asking for permission first." It just shows that in design, some rules are meant to be broken. At the end of the video they showed the prototypes. I really like the one with the self scanner and the one with the radio to talk with the store people to ask them where things were. Their ideas were so creative. I really liked how with their final piece they took the best elements from each prototype and made a whole new one.
What design is is hard work, a lot of hours, teamwork, and creativity. Their Brainstorming techniques were cool. I think I will learn a lot from them. They were (1) understand market/client/technology and constraints, (2) observe real people in real situations, (3) visualize concepts and ultimate customers, (4) evaluate and refine prototypes, and (5) implement new concept for commercialization. I think it's really cool that we are using this concept and using it in our project to get a feel of how things like these will work in real life.
I am very excited for this project now after the class today. I thought this project might be boring, but I think it's going to be really fun now. Some of the ideas that we brought in were a hand-held massager, a door stopper, tongue scuppers, a floor scrubber, and a hand held dish scrubber. We decided to go with the dish scrubber. We came up with a million ideas right away and just flowed on that. we got a little crazy with it, which was a lot of fun. Everyone participated and had their own ideas of what we could do and went off of each others thoughts. It was a very productive class.

Well, today.....not really much to say about today. I feel like I had the worst/harshest critique of them all. I really started to like my poster, but I guess not much of you did at all...But hey I guess it happens. And besides it was only the first project. Just wait, I'll show you all what I can do and I hope I will amaze you one day.
Anyways...I am glad that the first project is finally over!!!! That stress is now over. I'm looking forward for this next project and that we get to work in groups. I think it will be a good experience. So BRING IT ON!!!

Today we watched a movie called Objectified. It is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It's a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It's about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It's about persona expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. I thought it was really interesting to see how designers today come up with their ideas. Their thought process was very interesting to see how their thought process worked and how off track it got. When they were talking about the tooth brushes they went from how a tooth brush is really only using the brush part and that could be disposable. They drew pictures and little notes. By the end of their discussion the whole wall was covered in sticky notes. 
I liked how the designers made better ideas so that everyone could use them. One guy was even talking about how a single mom with three kids was having a hard time using hedge trimmers. The designer said that's great, but we don't care about her, we care about the people that are worse off than her, with arthritis or something worse. It gave me more respect for them because they look at the bigger picture. 
One of the designers comments was people need to make the designers better, people just settle for sitting on an uncomfortable seat. Designers make millions of seats everyday, so why are they made uncomfortable, and why do people settle for this? Design is about the form. Also the object needs to be able to represent its function. Being able to see how the industrial designers mapped out their thought process and went about making their prototypes was so interesting. Some of the things I saw in the video I had never known before or that I had never thought about. I keep hearing in all the videos we watch that design is in everything we use. I have taken that for granted. Subconsciously I look at things and not even recognize that they were once part of a design plan. It just keeps blowing my mind that someone came up with that design or this design. For some reason I cannot get my head rapped around that fact. 
Over all I really enjoyed the movie. It was interesting. I liked the fact that the directors brought in various designers from all over the world. Like Paris, China, America, and so on. It gave me a wide range of how design worked all over the world. The segment on Apple really got my attention too. I had just finished my project on the iPod being a good design and there it was Apple "taking design too seriously". Just being able to see all the objects come to life in the machines and computer programs and through prototypes. It was really amazing.
I also love looking at objects that industrial designers make. Because I want to be an Interior designer, thee objects really capture my attention and how they can be used in a space. 
In the video there was a part where it showed IKEA. I absolutely love that store. The showrooms displayed in it are incredible and so fascinating. I get a lot of inspiration from there on how to design a certain room.

Finally got my poster done, and I got a couple of good comments on it. Printing it was so nerve racking!!! Something did happen and it didn't print out in 18x24, but i did happen to put a boarder around it so it looks very nice. I am so happy with it. I was able to get good comments back on my process notebook!! :) yay so that was good. I'm starting to feel good about this whole design thing. I did happen to finish my process book last night. I got it to 21 pages! But it has a lot of information in it and I am happy with the layout. I think the process book was the easiest part of the assignment for me.

September 6, 2012

  Super frustrated with my poster. I feel like I have hit rock bottom and have no clue where to go from here. I felt confident with what I had, but it can always be improved and I am just not sure how to do that yet. 

  I finally got started on my process book, Thanks to Brena, sorry if I spelt your name wrong, for the great presentation on the process book grid. I'm excited about  designing that, but a little nervous. I guess we'll have to see what the class thinks when we bring in a couple pages to show. 

  I have looked over the posters that Daniel had posted links to on the FB page and I am even more confused on what I can do. I might just be over thinking it. We'll see how this next week goes. I already have about 11 preliminary posters and some how it's just going it for me. Please lord give me some idea!

September 4, 2012

Today went great. I learned more on InDesign, but yet I always seem to not fully understand. I have been trying to do a curve somewhere to show the changes between the instruments for listening, but still can't seem to get the hang of it. Like at all, even though i've been shown like five times. But I have done about five layouts of my poster. I have tried to design a couple of the thumb nails I drew last week and it seems to be going well. I have played around with it and have gotten frustrated. I just feel like I can do better, but I am not sure how. That is one question I will be asking my class on Thursday. So we'll have to see. Also I think we have to add color, and I'm not exactly sure where I want to add color yet. Or if I even should add color, and we have to have white space, and pay attention to that, so i'll be thinking about those ideas and where they will fit in with my poster.