Poster Design

Here is a poster I designed for class. The goal was to design a poster the "represents who you are." I will post my description below.



As I was brainstorming this project, a multitude of lofty ideas came and went. In the end, when I chose to move forward on this concept, I knew that I wanted the design portion of it to be simple. I have placed emphasis on line and geometric shape in my design.

Again, I incorporated an abstract eye into the design to represent my personal world view of design.
The line coming off of the bottom of the eye is my line of sight, which then connects with my simple circle to represent the earth, the way I see it. The consistency of hue between the eye, line of sight, and earth was not a coincidence, but is there to represent their connection and how closely they all relate to one another.

The black lines and hexagons represent future visions and design solutions. As you can see there are a multitude there, and the idea was to create the feeling that they were infinite. By placing them together in a way that creates an implied organic star field image, the viewer may understand that there is more beyond what they see on the surface, similar to how we perceive the stars in the night sky.

The yellow circle represents inspiration and is purposely designed to imply the shape of the sun with its rays coming off and crossing my line of sight. Through the use of line it draws the viewers eye from the top right of the image, to the bottom left, which is opposite of how most people naturally view a design. I did this because it pulls the viewers eye back in, instead of letting them fall off of the side of the design as they follow all of the other lines.

Lastly, the incorporation of the building image is a picture I had taken while on a trip to LA. For some reason the pictures speaks to me about the modern world and connects with my logical real world existence. For me it represents structure and a solid base in an otherwise chaotic world. This structure is provided by self and is something we all create in order to make sense of the world around us; the core of our ideas.

Now, I wanted this poster to be different and go beyond a solely graphic design. In an effort to represent as much of myself as possible, I included myself, books, and the TV that holds the design. The books are now at the base and are holding up everything else, the way our intelligence and education carries us through our professional lives. The TV that holds the design was my fun way to incorporate technology into the piece, which represents my interest in science and technology. And myself holding it all up was my sneaky way of getting my mug shot into the design and represent its creator. The shirt I am wearing actually inspired my use of color and line in the design, and me wearing it tied myself to this particular project.

I planned to key out the background from the initiation of this project without really knowing what I would place there. After some trial and error with solid hues, gradients, photographs, and more graphic design, I plugged in the design that is on the TV and the result made me quite happy. This repetition really tied the design together as a whole. After messing with scale a little, I was able to create the impression that the building extended from the background and into the TV. All of this was initially unplanned, but an exciting discovery.

Personal Logo

Fun assignment in Visual Communication Theory. Design a Personal Logo in black and white. Here is my creation:



Simple, yet functional. I was looking to create an abstract, implied eye. In the end, it was less abstract than I had hoped, but I was happy with the implied organic shape. Created in Adobe Illustrator.

Camera RAW

Well, I did it. I have made the plunge into RAW. It is definitely a whole new world and given that a week ago I knew nothing about it, I am feeling much better about the prospects. I picked up a great book that is teaching me the ins and outs of Adobe CS3 Camera Raw editing. I have a long way to go, but have burned about half way through the text already. The amount of control is staggering and when coupled with Photoshop, it really allows for an incredible amount of post production control.

That being said, I quickly found out that you still have to take great shots with the camera to get great outcomes. RAW does not provide you the ability to transform a bad picture into a good one. One part I really like about it is the ability to adjust the exposure during the post production. Again, shooting with a good low light lens is superior, but I have found that I can really brighten up some of my low light shots after the fact by adjusting the exposure in Camera Raw.

Anyway, I am very excited to get out and shoot some more. I have been playing around with F-stops and shutter speeds with mixed results. The ability of a good lens cannot be understated, and I have come to the conclusion that the stock lens that my camera arrived with will need to be replaced/substituted with a fancier one. Maybe before Hawaii. Below is a nugget from Ben's visit. I post-produced it in Camera Raw and was pretty happy with the color output.



I did a lot of color altering here. As a reference, the wall in the background is actually yellow. The photo is soft, but again I need a better lens for low light shooting.

Dirty Mouth

This little nugget popped up on the interweb overnight. Apparently Obama did the reading of his own audio book. Being that there is some colorful language included and this is a man who's rhetoric is usually well groomed, the hilarity ensues.

Disclaimer: I just think this is funny and in no way am I looking to tarnish his reputation or make fun of his politics. People are so touchy about him.

Audio 1
Audio 2
Audio 3
Audio 4
Audio 5

SoCal

Aaaaaah, a week in Laguna. Work life is sure presenting its hardships this year. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the resort where the event was hosted was pristine. Though, it gets to be a little too much for me at these swanky hotels, with the Mr. Spiess this, and Mr. Spiess that. Too fancy. I know, rough right?

I did get an afternoon to sneak away and check out Jim's new apartment. I took the Coast Highway most of the way up, which was beautiful, then had the pleasure of getting on the 405...



Jim is in a sweet neighborhood just east of Brentwood, and only a couple miles from the Santa Monica Pier. It's a cool location with lots of restaurants and activity. We went down to the 3rd Street Promenade for some sushi, but I had to head back shortly after to get back to work. LA seems like an experience, and creates an feeling of self-consciousness everywhere you go. Everybody is better looking, and surgically altered. I have never seen so many fake boobies as I did last week in Laguna!

Southern California is beautiful, with their multi-million dollar homes perched precariously on the edges of the hills. Everywhere you go has an ocean view and Catalina is only a short ferry ride away. I can see why, if you had an endless supply of capital, people live there.



Again, more shots on Flickr.

Whoa!

Death Drive Home

I ended up behind this guy on the way home:





Two dead deer tied to the bumper. Delightful.

Lesson learned: my phone takes terrible pics.

Microsoft Songsmith is funny

I caught this on pitchfork this morning. Apparently Microsoft has a new software that creates a musical track to accompany the singers voice. Hilarity ensues. Here is a nugget:



More here. I especially like Oasis - "Wonderwall." I am pretty sure it is better than the original.

Yule Blog

Well, the holiday season has come and gone extremely quickly once again. It was an especially long break this year, as New Years day fell on a Thursday and most places of employment extended the break through the weekend.

We had the first of many Christmas celebrations here in New Jersey with my dad, Nancy (step-mom), and Sean (bro). We decided this would be the year of the Lego because Sean is now 6 and has the patience and fine motor skills to handle it. He really liked the Lego's, especially the Star Wars themed kit. We also got him this awesome dinosaur set that turned out very cool. A picture of it is on my phone, I will be sure to post soon.



My dad and Nancy got us this awesome, and much needed set of luggage. It got a lot of use over the holiday and was extremely convenient.

On the 23rd we headed to MN for the start of our long break. We stayed with my mom and Ken (step-dad) in Somerset, WI, which is just across the border from Stillwater. It was quiet and peaceful and nice to spend a few days with family. We spent Christmas at my Grandma's house, which is literally just down the road from my mom's house. Erin and I decided to walk there, which tuned out to be much colder than anticipated. Apparently they have a pretty steady wind through the development, and we were pretty chilled on arrival. Grandma and Grandpa made a Christmas turkey with lots of fixin's.



After G & G's house we headed to my Aunt Sue's house (my dad's side) and had dinner and family time. It was nice to hang out for a few hours and catch up with cousins, aunts and uncles. Unfortunately at this point I was feeling ill and was not able to enjoy everyone like I had hoped, and banished myself to the couch so as to infect as few as possible. Over there, the Christmas was all about the kids, and they racked up a lot of fun gifts.


Taiylor and Connor patiently wait for presents

After that we headed to Connoy's for the annual Christmas party. It was great to spend time with friends, catching up and listening to music. Unfortunately I did not take a lot of shots and the ones I did take we not good. I need to work on my low light camera skills.

On the 28th we headed to Sheboygan to spend time with Erin's family. We left early (6:30 am) in order to get to the big Marx family get together. It was a wonderful family celebration with crock pots filled with midwestern delights. A good old fashioned midwestern pot luck definitely does have an unmatched charm. Again, the children enjoyed gifts and we all enjoyed their smiles and holiday enthusiasm.


Becca enjoys her gift (a baby)

We had a great week in Sheboygan that included taking Grandma Donna to bingo, an evening out with siblings, New Years Eve at City Streets, and lots of family time.





We headed home on the second, complete with flight delays and other miscellaneous travel mishaps. Anyway, so glad to be home. Hope all of your holidays were great!

More pictures on Flickr. I had some fun with notes on these, which I like and will do more often now.

Just Another Blogger

Well, post election, I have to say that blogging is not nearly as fun. Now I am just another douche bag that has absolutely nothing to say but chooses to write about it anyway. I need a topic, or a theme... I will think on this. But now it seems forced... the internal struggle continues.

Anyway, Carpoolers is fun to make, and I think we will try a few more episodes. Future episodes will be shorter (I will try to keep them in the 3 minute range), as that is what seems acceptable for the internet. Nobody wants to see a married couple chatting about their day for 10 minutes. That's why we moved out of our parents house, right...

I have some other video and graphics ideas in my head that I should really pursue. I really enjoy editing, as well as creating graphics and animations in Photoshop, AfterEffects, etc. I also mess around with Flash quite a bit, and do a lot of interactive stuff with it at work. I need to brush up on my ActionScript though, because if I knew it better I could do so much more. Anyway, I have some animation courses coming up later this winter and early spring that should be fun, and hopefully inspiring. I really enjoy design; I just hope it is a recession proof occupation.

I am looking forward to the holidays! Erin and I leave for MN 2 weeks from today...

Carpoolers Episode 1

Well, we did it. Carpoolers lives. It is a bit long but we will refine future episodes. This was a lot of fun to make!

If you follow the link to Youtube, you can watch it in higher quality.

Giving Thanks

What a great weekend. Not much to report, but it was great to relax and spend time with family and eat until I wanted to puke. Definitely have to hit the gym tomorrow. Back to the routine.

It was a pretty uneventful weekend (great for blogging right?) but it seemed really long, which is nice since these things typically go by too fast. My sister and nephew were in town for the holiday which was great, because they haven't been out east in 2 years.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. My step-mom, Nancy, is a fantastic cook and there was an unbelievable spread to feast upon. The stuffing was especially delicious and was the first dish to disappear. She really knows how to do Thanksgiving right! The table was beautifully set and the house was decorated tastefully in traditional fall garb. It definitely made it feel like fall had come, and winter was soon to follow. The day was mild but crisp... it was just a quintessential movie-like Thanksgiving day.



We had my Christina (sister), Connor (nephew), and Sean (little bro) over to our house on Wednesday night. The boys are a handful together and they probably felt a little trapped in our small house, but we made due and did some puzzles and watched The Incredibles, which was actually a cool movie. Sean made us a breakfast of pancakes (he's only 6) which were delicious, and then he helped me make an apple pie. He thought it was funny to eat the skins!



The one event that actually got us out of a house was Saturday. My Dad and Nancy treated the family to dinner and a show. We saw White Christmas at the Marquis Theater and it was quite a treat. I have never seen the movie, but I was told the live show is similar. The music was fun, and I am a sucker for the old time Christmas feel. All the men wore suits and said things like "golly" and "its a million dollar proposition!" Funny.

We spent today (Sunday) hanging out at the house, winding down. Erin has come down with a wicked cold and she was glad to have today to work through it. I had a little school work to do and pulled out the Christmas decor. Now, I am glad to sit down with one of my home brews and watch the Vikings winning (for now) at the dome.

Hope all of your holidays were happy and healthy. A few more pics on Flickr.

Financial Times Ahead

As I read in the paper about the bailout of yet another major financial institution, I start (progress) to get worried. The bailout of Citi is a signal, not that the other major bailouts were not. It makes me worried because I am not clear of the scope of this crisis. I do not know how deep the rabbit hole goes, and I do not know the consequences. But it is clear the government does. I am worried because I trust that the government would not bail out these institutions unless it was absolutely necessary.

Even Obama says it is going to get worse, and he is the ultimate political optimist. But I guess it is back to reality now that the election is over. It is my understanding, from the papers, that Obama and Bush are working on financial solutions together at this point, telling me that these bailouts and extreme government interventions are agreed upon by both parties. Scary.

The government keeps buying up the economy, and owning our futures. Is this the end of capitalism in America, or is that too dramatic? What do all of these extreme government interventions mean for the financial system? Will they help? Do you think the government will give back their stake once these institutions gain the appropriate liquidity, or is this for the long term?

I would like to know what you all think. I know my readers are a small group, but I respect your opinions. Where are we headed financially, and are these bailouts good or bad? Are we headed in the right direction financially?

I am worried...

School Help

Hey everybody! I am taking a course right now on research and design solutions and for the current assignment I need to create and distribute a survey about vacuum cleaners. If you have a couple of minutes, please fill it out. It is completely anonymous, and will help me get the data I need for this assignment.

If you wouldn’t mind passing it along to a few others as well, it would definitely help. The more results I get, the better I can analyze the data.

Thanks in advance for your help! The link is below:

Vacuum Cleaner Survey

About Beer

Larger image if you click the pic - and yes, I know how self aggrandizing my new background is. I like it anyway. I like me!

An open letter to old guys at the gym

Dear Old Men,

It is time for a change.  I would like to be able to come to the locker room without seeing one of you nude, sauntering around like a sharp dressed man.  I understand changing clothes, showering, etc. requires a certain level of nudity, but hanging out, chatting, taking cell phone calls, using the scale, and general loitering are activities that require clothing.  

If your wife calls, put on a pair of undies and call her back.

Want to weigh yourself?  Put on your favorite pair of boxers and I will gladly spot you the extra pound.  Helpful tip: If you weigh yourself with your clothes on every time, you can keep pretty good track of you fluctuations in weight.  No wrinkly coin purses please.

I appreciate your cooperation,

Locker Room User

PS: I am not a prude, but just a concerned citizen that has been exposed to more old wieners in the last month than any human should have to endure.  

Clarification

After recieving comments on my post from yesterday, I just want to clarify.  My impatience is with the media and the pudits, on either side.  I do not want to discount the gravity of an Obama presidency, and I realize the positive nature of the impact it has on black people in America.  Now they can literally tell their children, "You can be anything you want, even president" and mean it.  That is huge, and stands in sharp contrast to the negative messages that are displayed to and about black people daily.  That is definitely a positive thing.

The media is giving itself a collective pat on the back, and gloating all the way.  It is silly and worthless, and annoys me.  Piggy-backing all the way on Obama's victory in a blind grab at credit and power does not benefit anyone.  This media is an outlet of partisanship, and goes against every journalistic code.  

Joe, I agree that Obama has the ability to be great, but it will be a struggle not to let us down.  The bar has been set so high by his campaign staff, that it is going to take a masterful four years to get done what everyone hopes will get done.  Actually, yesterday in the NY Times was already published comments from his staffers saying they need to draw back some high expectations and set some more realistic ones.  Absolutely neccessary, but it will make some loyal voters angry.  A lot of promises were made... big ones.  My hope is he keeps them, no matter if they are against my political beliefs or not.  Americans need to believe politicians can be honest and trustworthy again, and in this he absolutely cannot let us down.

Bottom line, on January 20th he is my president.  Regardless of politcal beliefs I will support him and my country, but also speak out when I think he is wrong.  That is the beauty of this country.

Now what?

Well, first blog back after the election. Having had time to let it sink in a little I still really don't know what an Obama victory means for America.  It does seem the rest of the world is "proud" of us though.  I guess we got that going for us.  Maybe we can get the respect as a country that we deserve, no matter who leads.

The reality is, everything is still the same for now.  Same financial crisis, same war, same country.  The rhetoric will now end and maybe we will get a glimpse at what Obama's true policies are.  A lot will become clear with his presidential appointments, which I understand are already in the process of being made.  

All we hear in the media is how proud we should be for "growing" as a nation.  How proud to have a black president, and I cannot help but remember how all of the pundits did not want this race to be about race.  We shouldn't vote for him because he is black, or shouldn't not vote for him for the same reasons.  Considering only 4% of black people voted for McCain, I would say Obama got a lot of votes for being black.  That is based on the assumption that I believe more than 4% of black people hold views different from those on the far left.  Anyway, the race that wasn't supposed to be about race was going to be about race no matter who won.  Great if he wins, racist if he doesn't.  I don't know, maybe I am just bitter and fed up with the pundits and the media garbage... I just feel nothing about it.

maybe that is the nature of politics.  Two years of build up and, NOW WHAT? Wait and see?  I guess I shall...

Go Vote

I don't care who you vote for, just vote.  It is not just your right, but your duty as an American.

May whoever wins protect America and its people... retain our integrity and strength.

Halloween Weekend

Halloween weekend was especially fun this year because Erin's parents came for a short visit and it motivated us to go out and see the sights.  Fall foliage is a little past peek, and took a hit from the snow last week, but we decided to go up to the Delaware water gap and take a short walk.  

After slowly cruising a couple trails we came to a crossroads where we had to decide whether to head back or make the commitment to go all of the way to the top (1500 ft) of the gap and loop around on a different trail for the way back.  We stood around, no one wanting to be the one to make the decision, but came to the conclusion that we didn't have anything else planned, so what the heck.  This was bold because we did not bring any lunch... or water for that matter.

It was totally worth it.  When you get to the top it is like standing on the edge of the earth.  You can see for miles and miles.  Pictures do more justice than my writing skills.

There are more pictures on Flickr.  After a much steeper climb down (glad we didn't go up that way) we headed to my Dad's house for a more traditional Halloween celebration.  You could say he enjoys this holiday.  The house was just as decorated inside as it was out, and was scary enough to make kids cry and one peed their pants (not due to scariness actually, but waited until the last minute to tell her parents it was time to go).