New Blog

This is my new blog

Illustration in progress

I am not done yet but this is somewhat me in 100 years.

A description of Fear itself.

A vivid description of fear was provided by Charles Darwin in his book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals:

Fear is often preceded by astonishment, and is so far akin to it, that both lead to the senses of sight and hearing being instantly aroused. In both cases the eyes and mouth are widely opened, and the eyebrows raised. The frightened man at first stands like a statue motionless and breathless, or crouches down as if instinctively to escape observation. The heart beats quickly and violently, so that it palpitates or knocks against the ribs... That the skin is much affected under the sense of great fear, we see in the marvelous manner in which perspiration immediately exudes from it... The hairs also on the skin stand erect; and the superficial muscles shiver. In connection with the disturbed action of the heart, the breathing is hurried. The salivary glands act imperfectly; the mouth becomes dry, and is often opened and shut.

The facial expression of fear includes the widening of the eyes (out of anticipation for what will happen next); the pupils dilate (to take in more light); the upper lip rises, the brows draw together, and the lips stretch horizontally. The physiological effects of fear can be better understood from the perspective of the sympathetic nervous responses (fight-or-flight), as compared to the parasympathetic response, which is a more relaxed state. Muscles used for physical movement are tightened and primed with oxygen, in preparation for a physical fight-or-flight response. Perspiration occurs due to blood being shunted from body's viscera to the peripheral parts of the body. Blood that is shunted from the viscera to the rest of the body will transfer, along with oxygen and nutrients, heat, prompting perspiration to cool the body. When the stimulus is shocking or abrupt, a common reaction is to cover (or otherwise protect) vulnerable parts of the anatomy, particularly the face and head. When a fear stimulus occurs unexpectedly, the victim of the fear response could possibly jump or give a small start. The person's heart-rate and heartbeat may quicken.

by Jane Austen

MENTALLY TRAPPED


She cautiously stepped into the shadowy, rustic wooden elevator when out of the blue a prolonged creak was heard. A mystifying chill immediately traveled up her spine as she watched the light from outside gradually disappear as the sliding door slowly closed. Suddenly the atmosphere became dense, the feeling of impending doom hovered in the air. Her stomach started to churn; the motion was so vigorous that it would turn cream into butter. Her lips started to tingle. The tingling made its way down her neck and into her arms. When she thought that the tingling subsided, it evolved into the sensation of being pricked by tiny needles. Then the feeling continued to travel down her body until it reached her soles.


Her heart started to flutter, a second later; it skipped a single beat that could be detected by a seismograph. But it didn't take long until it took off like a steam train. During the ride she glanced towards her midsection and could hear the thumping, it sounded like a drum, blaring away at her chest. She tried to scream for help but no words came out. She felt like she had a lump as big as a California grape in her throat. Her chest felt heavy as though five large men sat upon it. She started to feel lightheaded. Her chest could not expand to accommodate the air her body needed, so it felt like someone was trying to smother her with a pillow. Her breathing became shallow so she fell to the ground gasping for air. She started to sweat profusely. The throbbing vein in her head felt as though she had a tight band that constricted with every waking second. An electric current surged throughout her body. The surge became stronger and stronger, ultimately culminating in the sensation of being thrown across the corners of the elevator. She felt detached from herself; disconnected from time and space and the realization of all the mysterious sensations occurring within her body made her even more fearful. Her thoughts started to race. She could not stop the loud internal dialogues in her head. She was losing control. The loss of her peripheral vision resulted in a constricted circular tunnel like vision. She later finds herself in a dreamlike state that resulted in the apparent delay then acceleration of time. She lied still on the creaky wooden floor and her left thumb began to tremble, followed by her index finger, to her middle finger and so forth. Soon her entire body began to tremble uncontrollably. She turned hot then immediately turned cold, and then her entire body went numb.

Phobia and Obsession

“Vegetarian: A person who eats only side dishes.” – Gerald Lieberman

Carnaphobia is the feat of eating meat, which in our society is Vegetarianism.

I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants. ~A. Whitney Brown

Journal 14

What inspired me most this semester probably making my workbook. at first it was overwhelming but I enjoyed it at the end when i had all the information organized and finally got to design. I liked being able to make something beautiful and true to me. I think that is the only project so far that I am really proud of.

reflection on my year

At the beginning of my Sophomore year I had never used Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, typefaces, printers, external hard drives, PDFs, any of it.

I have come a long way and I am very proud of my progress.

The beginning of this year was a struggle. I did not like the computer and I just did not get it. After some practice and development, I am very confident that design is a good fit for me. I like designing because it allows me to make a point, create with a purpose, have a message, and a strong point of view.

I still struggle with time and want to utilize my drawing abilities more often rather than going straight into the computer. After taking drawing media this semester I was really excited about drawing again. I dont want to always be on the computer using other peoples images and typefaces.

Over the summer i am excited to do Jessica projects. I have a few up my sleeve and can't wait to get started.

Overall this past year has been a good experience and I have learned a lot. I have grown as a designer and a person and can't wait to keep working hard and developing my style and my point of view as a designer.

final motion

final!

Overall i am happy with the way this came out. I wish i had more time to mess around with cameras and lighting. It was my first time using these tools.

I also wish i could have had more of the speech to animate because it was a great speech and there is a lot of potential there. maybe this summer I will continue

Speech round one

My speech round one

Journal 10

The State of the Nation | this video was very mathematical and factual. It was clear and easy to understand. I liked the graphics and the pacing. It was fast and straight forward. It wasnt very inspirational though, which is what the speech project is all about, inspiring people and moving them. Making an impact on them. This video was more matter of fact and poppy. It was educational, but nothing that really moved me.

The Hidden Cost of War | this video was similar to the previous in style and manner, but I liked the beginning of it a lot. I liked the way the type fit into each other and then turned. There were a lot more graphics towards the end, but the initial type treatment was very effective and captivating. This is a technique that I would use in my speech.

How Much Money do we Spend on Food? | this video was a little different than the previous although created by the same designers because it did not have a person speaking. It was all type and image. I thought the way they put the type with the images was clever and effective. I liked the way they layered the type at times to create depth. the type was simple and to the point. It was easy to read quickly and understand.

Journal 11

Debbie Millman the President of the design division at Sterling Brands, an international design consultancy. She has been there for fourteen years and in that time she has worked on the redesign of global brands for Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Campbell’s, Colgate, Hershey and Hasbro. Debbie is President of the AIGA, the professional association for design. She is a contributing editor at Print Magazine and the chair of the new Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts. In 2005, she began hosting “Design Matters with Debbie Millman,” the first weekly radio talk show about design on the Internet. She is the author of two books: How To Think Like A Great Graphic Designer (Allworth Press, 2007), and The Essential Principles of Graphic Design (Rotovision, 2008). Her new book, Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design, will be published by How Books in Fall 2009.

Design Matters is a program where Debbie Millman interviews Designers.

I liked listening to this program because it was very much like listening to a childhood story. I love listening to stories. It seemed like a reading from an autobiography. I liked hearing about Debbie reflect on her life and how it could have been if she would have become a journalist. This is a moment that I am sure to have in my life. I will think what if I would have become a painter or a fine artist rather than a Graphic Designer. "It may or may not be as tactile or visually stimulating." Millmann says this as she analyses the possibility of the end of print. People are still reading and writing though so the end of print is not true.

Stefan Bucher

I love the story before this interview about Playboy.

Kansas City is beautiful.

Speech

Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because...

I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.

For those of you who are black - considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization - black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

(Interrupted by applause)

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

(Interrupted by applause)

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much. (Applause)

Robert F. Kennedy - April 4, 1968

Journal 09

REFLECTION

I learned a lot during the sequence exercise. It was nice to do a hands on project rather than all on the computer. I learned about mixing organic shapes with more geometric pages. I also learned about breaking up clean pages with more cluttered pages to create interesting rhythm.

I watched a few type in motion videos by Saul Bass. I liked the way the text flowed and the imagery related back to the text. I think this is a very powerful medium and am excited to try it out.

SPEECH RESEARCH

Who is speaking? Senator Robert F. Kennedy

Why was/is the speech important to society? It was the speech given after Martin Luther King was shot

Why do you feel in is important or interesting? This was a turning point in US history to stand up and create unity after such a traumatic event. It was a speech given to inspire peace, love, and unity between all americans.

What is the emotion, mood, tone, personality, feeling of the speech? The tone of this speech is sad, contemplative, almost like a prayer. It is a prayer to ask the people to overcome this difficult time. to overcome violence and disorder.

What is intonation, emphasis, what is loud, stressed, or soft. Where are there pauses... The speaker takes many pauses between phrases and thoughts.

What do you FEEL should be loud or soft, long pause or ruhed? The speech should be slow, drawn out, dramatic. It gave me chills because of the pacing. I want to draw out the spacing more.

Is there a call to action? When listening to it what are key/emphasized words? Yes the speaker inspires americans to continue Martin Luther Kings dream in their own lives.

How does it make you feel? this speech made me think about racism and hatred. It made me think about todays world and how far we have come. as well how far we still have to go.

How do imagine that the audience felt? the audience was terrified and petrified. they were sad and confused and lost. it was a scary moment. hatred and loss. sadness and revenge.

Could there be another interpretation of the speech? people could think RFK was racist because of the way he says "black people" and "white people"

_ Write/find a short bio, of the person giving the speech.

Robert Francis Kennedy, the son of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1925. His great grandfather, Patrick Kennedy, had emigrated from Ireland in 1849 and his grandfathers, Patrick Joseph Kennedy and John Francis Fitzgerald, were important political figures inBoston. Kennedy's father was a highly successful businessman who later served as ambassador to Great Britain (1937-40).

Kennedy went to Harvard University but his studies were interrupted by the Second World War. In November 1944 he joined the United States Navy but the war finished before he was called into action. He returned to Harvard and graduated in 1948. This was followed by a law degree from the University of Virginia.

In 1950 Kennedy married Ethel Shakel and their first child, Kathleen, was born on 4th July, 1951. Joe McCarthy, the controversial senator from Wisconsin, was asked to be the child's godfather. Over the next few years Ethel gave birth to eleven children.

In 1951 Kennedy joined the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice but resigned the following year to help his brother, John F. Kennedy, in his successful campaign to be elected to the Senate. Kennedy returned to legal work in 1953 when Joe McCarthy appointed him as one of the 15 assistant counsels to the Senate subcommittee on investigations.

Kennedy's first task was to research Western trade with China. He discovered that Western European countries accounted for around 75 per cent of all ships delivering cargo to China. In an interview with the Boston Post Kennedy argued that: "it just didn't make sense to anybody in this country that our major allies, whom we're aiding financially, should trade with the communists who are killing GIs".

In a speech in the Senate Joe McCarthy praised Kennedy's research. He also controversially called for the United States Navy "to sink every accursed ship carrying materials to the enemy and resulting in the death of American boys, regardless of what flag those ships may fly."

On 29th July, 1953, Kennedy resigned from McCarthy's office. There is some dispute about why he took this action. In his book, The Enemy Within, Kennedy claimed he resigned because he "disagreed with the way that the Committee was being run". However, other accounts suggest that it was the result of a dispute with Roy Cohn. When McCarthy supported Cohn in the dispute, Kennedy resigned.

Journal 08

{Alternatives for Futura} GOTHEM, INTERSTATE, META, NEWS GOTHIC, & PRIORI SANS

Designing Under the Influence

This article raises the question "Is anything I create as a designer truly my own/ purely unique to me?"

According to Michael Bierut, design has infiltrated into our minds without us even being aware of it! This is a scary thought. We could be copying something and we wouldn't even know it! It is in our unconscious memory. We saw it once and made a note of it and it is coming out in our work.

As a young designer it is important to develop your "own" style and grow in that way, but it is also important to know what has been down before. I learned about Barbara Kruger in one of my Art History classes, but I do not blame this student for never having heard of her. There are a lot of great designers in the world and it would be impossible to be well versed on all of them.

I have a feeling this will happen to me a lot when i first start working. I don't know near enough about the design world. I need to hit the books!

Journal 07

Typography in Las Vegas.

The History of the Bathing Suit

round 01

round 02

round 03

round 04

Final

Project Brief:

This goal of this project was to show time through a clear, organized system. It was important to create a strong typographic hierarchy and make it easy to read and understand the information. For my poster not only was it about creating hierarchy and a clear flow throughout the text, it was also about having fun because bathing suits are fun!

Overview:

Overall I felt like this project was a good exercise of breaking the norm. Throughout my grade school and high school a timeline has always been just that, a line. It was nice to make a more non-traditional, abstract and playful timeline.

I am very glad I chose the topic bathing suits because it was a much needed break from the more serious and dark look I created for my book covers. I stayed true to myself with the imagery as well, which I am happy about. I didn't try to be anything I am not. I love patterns and swirly, girly marks, so this project went very smoothly for me.

Journal 06

Little and Co asked 30 designers the same two questions... “What single example of design inspires you most?” and “What problem should design solve next?” Their answers might surprise you. But hopefully, they’ll all inspire you. Discover what they have to say. Listen to at least 5 "conversations".

Summarize, reflect, how would you answer the questions?

Erik Speikerman believes the greatest example of design is the invention of the alphabet. He works on constraints because he is a designer not an artist. He is just inspired by the alphabet, three innocent letters "a, b, & c." He is a simple man.

Miguel Vasquez is inspired by facebook! It drives people to get involved, communicate, send and receive information. He is amazed by the ability to be socially connected within this system. Design should improve the quality of life and be less of a tool to sell, but more of a way to organize and communicate information. good quality of information.

Journal 05

HOW

IS

???

Sagmeister ist Cool.

How Good is Good?

"I do know that bad design can harm our lives. From the problems this little piece of bad typography caused in Florida to unnecessary junk mail and overproduced packaging, bad design makes the world a more difficult place to live in."

This article made me question the idea of "good design." What is good? and is making something good always the best answer. Should you create something that will win awards or something that makes sense for the business or client. Can bad design be good sometimes? Designers tend to me removed from direct contact with the organization or event they are working to promote or create awareness for. Designers can be just as important, though, as the people directly involved because they are removed. Degrees of separation. If there is a good cause and a good design they work together and create good because design can unify and help us remember. Design can simplify our lives, it can make someone feel better, it can make the world a safer place, it can help people rally for a cause, it can inform and teach, it can raise money, it can make people more tolerant.

This article is the dreamers idea of being a designer: that they can save the world with their designs. I don't think this is a bad way to be, shoot for the stars, but on a more realistic level how many designers really make it to that place where they can really, honestly improve the word? It seems a little absurd to some, but I understand and see the possibilities of good design. Sagmeister is so inspiring because he is honest and because he cares. This article is about the dreamer and shows the possibility a designer has to do something that will spark unity and change. Just think of Sol Sender and the Barack Obama campaign. Design really changed the world of politics and peoples idea of hope! Good design works!

If I were to ask Sagmeister a question it would be how do you make it so good? What is the key element to making people notice your design and think twice about it? He seems to use a lot of hand drawn type, which I feel is a really important tool to making people notice. It is the presence of the artist's hand. His designs are not cold, they have a human touch. People relate to that. I would ask him if he thinks hand drawn type is more impactful and relatable. I would like to try this approach sometime.

Timeline sketches

sketch round 03

sketch round 02

the history of the bathing suit

this timeline is fun. it is about summer, textiles, patter, water, and the pool! I am just playing with type, pattern, and summer/ flower images. I have a ways to go though.

sketch round 01

this is the concept i decided to go with