9.29.2009

Final Branding Website

Can be found at: http://people.ku.edu/~brio/main.html




5.07.2009

The Semester in Review

This semester had many things. I think the highlight for me was the DSVC show which wound up being a very career-affirming experience. Especially to see the similarities and differences in other programs. You hear a lot about the "community" of design but to actually experience it is the only way to really learn the concept. I hope that we (Chris, Cat, Jovan and I as well as anyone else willing to participate) can carry this over to Prototype and the role that it plays for design students.

Second, I find that I keep thinking about the good.is website. I want be more involved in design that matters. That sounds very generic. I like the idea of desiging for the sake of pushing a message that the designer personally believes in — I mean one you can really stand behind — as well as bringing awareness about a problem or concern be it local or global. Somehow the purpose behind something like that goes a little further than exploring 400 birds...

Finally (and this one's important on the eve of review) I'm dissapointed in myself that I seemed to be treading water all semester. Just trying to keep afloat and not pushing myself to finish a project strongly or intelligently. Today, hanging my work I was a little ashamed at how many projects just died after the due date. Rather, how quick I was to drop them since I'd already met the minimum requirement. And I hate the idea of making excuses for how busy I've been with family things because life happens right alongside work. That will never change and I've got to find a way to (I hate the word "juggle" here) harmoniously weave the two successfully. I hope that I can be disciplined enough to refine many of the things that seem so unfinished this semester. Check back with me. I'll work on it. I guess the bigger issue is, I want to be great. And while I feel that some of what I did was great, much of it was mediocre at best. This summer I plan to really consider that idea as I plan for next Fall. How can I sustain a level of excellence in my work? Is that unreasonalbe? Is it practical and who serves as a model of this in the design world?

As I say, check back with me, I've got some thinking to do. It's going to be a busy summer.

Oh and ps - Damn you, Paul Renner, that Futura is a crutch. Get rid of it, Brian.

4.20.2009

More Bruce Mau




Found this over at Typography Served. Typographic interpretations of Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for growth. There are others but these are the more conceptual ones (Repeat Yourself for example has been created with multiple exposures). The unfortunate thing about Typography Served is there's rarely an information on what's going on. It's more like a dump for typographic eye candy. Some sweet, some sour.

Anyway, I think this could make a nice project. Maybe everyone in class picks a statement and interprets it, then makes their own statement on "growth" for a second interpretation.

4.15.2009

I like your type.



I like your message too.

Tropicana Cafe's Tropfest (short films) winner of 2008.

4.14.2009

Jasper Morrison


In flipping through a general look-at-this-handsomely-designed-object books Morrison's work stood out to me for the child-like drawings that accompanied some of the designs. His sketches are crudely rendered but also very innocent and yet very deliberate. Searching through some of the work he is known for I found that this innocence carries into the design. His work is clean and very no-frills and says, "You need a chair? Here's a chair." I like that.

I'd like to somehow juxtapose these sketches along with the objects or at least find a way of conveying their innocence throughout the project.



He has a current exhibit I assume in France as the website info is all in French. Here's what he has to say about the show entitled: Jasper Morrison : take a seat!

“This exhibition consists of 21 chairs, one for each year I have been designing them, and the idea is to line them up and let people sit on them. Partly to avoid the trap of exhibiting functional things with the usual”Please don’t touch“instruction, and partly to let people experience the diversity of the subject both visually and physically. They’re part of everyday life to such an extent that we hardly notice them, but most of us spend more time sitting than we do standing or sleeping, and that fact alone is enough reason to keep designing chairs.” Jasper Morrison.

Even his brief description (as well as the title for the show) paint a picture of the child-like aspect I'm going for.



Here's some bio info delivered in awkward stocatto:

jasper morrison was born in london in 1959.
he received his bachelor of design degree from kingston school
of art in 1982, and his master's degree in design from the royal college
of art in 1985.
in 1984 he received a berlin scholarship to study in germany at the
hochschule der künste.
1986, set up the office for design in london.
reuters news centre installation included in the documenta 8 exhibition in
kassel in 1987.
began designing products for aram & SCP, for the german door handle
producer FSB for cappellini, alias and vitra.
1988-1992: accepts offer of three months in berlin to take part in
design werkstatt berlin.
forms 'utilism international' with andreas brandolini and axel kufus
which concerns itself with the improvement of public spaces.
projects include design for the frankfurt art fair and town planning in vienna,
graz and berlin.
in 1994 began a consultancy with üstra, the hannover transportation authority,
designing a bus stop for the city.
in 1995 the office was awarded the contract to design the new hannover tram.
further collaboration began around this time
with the italian companies magis, alessi, flos and the
german porcelain manufacturer rosenthal.
recent projects/events include:
teaching a unit of royal college of art students with michael marriot,
a digital slide show installation of a 'world without words'
at the design museum, london,
a solo exhibition at the axis gallery in tokyo,
furniture design for the new tate modern gallery in london,
a solo exhibition for flos at yamagiwa centre in tokyo,
a show in palermo for magis with marc newson and michael young.
elected as a royal designer for industry, london 2001
morrison reduces things to essentials. he designs things that are so quietly
functional that, to an untutored eye, they can look as if nobody designed them at all.
there's one thing he likes doing above all: designing for mass production.
he's a designer, not a craftsman...

4.11.2009

I see what you did there...

Designing with type, you clever designer.





4.06.2009

DSVC Show

In leiu of a long rave or rant about the DSVC show (it was definitely more rave than rant) I've compiled a list to summarize my thoughts on this weekend's DSVC conference.

10 Things I think I think about the DSVC 5th Annual Student Conference:

In no particular order:

1. Dallas has an impressive and inspiring design community. I think this is probably true of many comparable markets though it was extremely refreshing to step into a different region and see design as they see it. Probably 90% of attendees were Texans.

2. It's possible to do work you love with people you admire. As pointed out by Christian Helms of The Decoder Ring who's had the opportunity to work with an impressive list of like-minded individuals, both for profit and for fun. This was a reoccurring theme. Design is really a co-op of sorts where ideas grow and develop infinitely better when they're shared and probed as a group.

3. It's important to stay inspired. Even in tough economic times or lulls in creativity, find something that keeps you going. Waste time creating, it will keep you sharp and aware of changing trends.

4. If you ask 100 questions you'll probably get 100 different answers. This speaks to the diversity of creatives. Fortunately those 100 answers are valuable answers. Even the stupid ones since they teach you what not to do.

5. Designers say fuck a lot. A LOT.

6. There's value in making an effort to learn someone's name. This was easily the most impressive thing about Jim Sherredan of Hatch Show Print. And if you know HSP you know they've done some impressive work. But Sherredan asked everyone that took the time to talk to him what their name was. Later I saw him mingling in the hallway and he remembered my name (and probably dozens of others).

7. There's always a little more that can be done to improve your work. As pointed out by 2 of the 5 judges. I took this to heart and feel I've been lazy with some of my projects - making them just good enough. We need to push ourselves to refine our own work until it is flawless.

8. If you're looking for something ask a local. Even the scary ones that hang out at liquor stores.

9. There's a difference between graphic design and design graphics. I'm still trying to figure this one out. Somehow Matt Owens of Volumeone and Athletics has made a career out of making design graphics. He's an artist with ridiculous design sensibility who's able to use his art as a problem solving tool. I want that. PS - Matt was a part of The Cost of War that many of us watched on Good Magazine.

and finally,

10. The student design community can be infinitely furthered by events like the DSVC student show. More things like this need to happen. And more students need to attend them. I spent a good part of the weekend feeling lucky for being there and I'm truly glad that Cat, Lauren, Jovan and Chris got to go too. But there was also a bit of me that wished there was some way to get everyone (all of you, class) to go. This is a learning experience that can't be taught in class but definitely furthers the concepts and ideas we've been discussing and will continue to address throughout the program.


Of course, a lot more happened then can be summarized in 10 bulleted points but I'm still digesting. More to come when time permits.

3.24.2009

Almost.


Project 2: Visualization from Brian Rio on Vimeo.

The ending needs changing and the sound doesn't run the full length but we're almost there.

3.10.2009

Font Identification


Platelet
Designer - Conor Mangat of Emigre
Geometric

- Monospaced, For legibility purposes M and W have shorter middle stems
- i and l end in a lead out curved stroke
- lowercase b incorporates the uppercase B and lowercase q incorporates the uppercase Q.
- Lowercase letters are taller than uppercase which appear as smallcaps.




Rockwell
Designer - Unknown, Monotype Imaging (supervised by FH Pierpont)
Slab Serif (Egyptian)

- Geometric in design
- heavy serifs
- angular terminals
- best for headlines and posters
- legible in very short blocks.

3.05.2009

More.

Some space front and back would be nice. Otherwise, I like it.


Kinetic Typography - Willy Wonka from Alexander Perry on Vimeo.

3.04.2009

Hello, Beautiful Motion Graphics.

Tomorrow Partners (mostly branding, some of it award winning if memory serves me right) has a stunning bit of motion graphics as an introduction to their site. Find them here.






I've had a crush on their SF Law Library logo since I saw it in last years (maybe 07, I forget) print annual.

3.03.2009

More

Halftones aren't working very well. Otherwise I like it.


Final Logo Flash

Final Logo Motion & Poster

In case you were wondering...

I like simple. Here it is.



The name "Built to Spill" is in itself a verbal pun, here the name is played upon in this 2 part poster.


Both the bomb shaped bird cage and the dove are allegories, meaning they represent larger ideas or principles.


The Tod Lippy poster is in some ways a synecdoche in that the title page is a representation of the idea of publication (in this case Lippy's art based magazine). One page represents the larger book.


The scale of the eye (or the boat I guess) is exaggerated to convey the idea of a sea of tears.


And this one's just nice. Enjoy.

Oh, all posters are by The Small Stakes except for the Tod Lippy lecture which was designed by Amanda Spielman at SVA

2.28.2009

Good is...

I'm a little late with this but the Good.is website fits nicely with the upcoming journal regarding Sagmeister and his thoughts on First Thing's First. I hope that with the expansion of media (blogs, web video etc) and the waning popularity of printed news, design can find a fresher more interesting face for global issues like the one's found at Good.is. The problem with news on demand is that the viewer has to have a self-sparked interest in whatever message it is they're tuned into. There is example after example on Good.is illustrating the important role that design can have in showcasing nearly any message and perhaps more importantly, holding the viewers attention long enough for them to absorb the message.

I especially like the idea of updated info graphics and I think they fuse well with the video format. One of my favorites from the site is on Urban Aquaculture. The titles and the explanation of a shared water system are perfect.



I also spent a stupidly long time (baby in hand) watching the fictional Roger Numbers deliver factual and entertaining Good News that spanned from plate tectonics to vampires.

2.18.2009

Malcolm X - A Common Enemy

"As I say, if we bring up religion we'll have differences; we'll have arguments; and we'll never be able to get together. But if we keep our religion at home, keep our religion in the closet, keep our religion between ourselves and our God, but when we come out here, we have a fight that's common to all of us against a enemy who is common to all of us."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Malcolm Little dropped out of high school and began an early life of crime, organizing drug, prostitution and crime rings in the Boston during the 40's and 50's. While serving a 7 year prison sentence, Little finds the teachings of Islam and converts, drops his "slave name" Little and adopts the name Malcolm X, the X standing in for his "lost tribe name". After serving most of his sentence, X was released and joined The Nation of Islam and establishes mosques in Detroit and New York. Malcolm's mentor and the leader of The Nation of Islam, Elijah Mohamed is found to have fathered several children with as many as 6 women and X leaves the Nation of Islam now disillusioned and begins his own organization Muslim Mosque, Inc after a pilgrimage to Mecca that revises his views on segregation and believes that any race can follow the teachings of Islam. In 1965, after several assignation attempts, Malcolm X is murdered by 3 men from the Nation of Islam while speaking in Manhattan at the age of 39.

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Who is speaking?
Malcolm Little (Malcolm X)

Why was/is the speech important to society?
The speech marks, most importantly Malcolm X's separation from the Nation of Islam and his joining in helping the Civil Right's Movement. While X declares himself a Muslim he begins his speech by noting that the Black Movement should not be concerned with religious preference but rather focus on the idea of common equality and common rights.

Why do you feel in is important or interesting?
I think the idea (of personal spirituality or personal religion) is important and fundamentally relevant to contemporary society.

What is the emotion, mood, tone, personality, feeling of the speech?
The speech is a call to action, meant to inspire and motivate.

What is intonation, emphasis, what is loud, stressed, or soft. Where are there pauses...
There is an interesting section where he pleads with the listener to "Keep our religion at home, keep our religion in the closet, keep our religion between ourselves and our God" that has an interesting rhythm about it.

What do you FEEL should be loud or soft, long pause or rushed?
Is there a call to action? When listening to it what are key/emphasized words?
The entire speech is a call to action, yet this section is delivered in a leveled way that underlines it's importance.

How does it make you feel?
This section is spoken very temperately, calmly and in a deliberate manner as if the whole of the idea needs to be absorbed, without specific emphasis.

How do imagine that the audience felt?
The audience seems to agree and yet, there is a moment where maybe the audience wasn't expecting such simple, yet poignant instruction.

Could there be another interpretation of the speech?
Some feel that the speech was meant in part to distance Malcolm X from Martin Luther King Jr, who used Christianity to reach a broader audience during the Civil Rights Movement.

2.15.2009

Creativity = the coupling of Brain and Heart

One thing that i'm slowly learning (but rarely practicing it seems) is that design can't be flowery all the time. It isn't supposed to be, it's really not a fine art (sorry, it's not). Design is about problem solving and answering questions and Jakob Trollback's approach is startlingly simple: Stop making design that looks pretty and start making design that addresses the problem and perhaps even provokes thought.

*side note, you don't have to appologize for your "shaky" video which has been beautifully designed.

2.08.2009

Bruce Mau is smart, different.

Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto has a lot of good information and each point is worth devoting at least a little personal and professional time to. More importantly, Mau's work speaks to the kind of things design is capable of. Design, for me at least is a pretty selfish thing. At it's surface, design says, "Look at me," and in turn, the designer echoes this statement.
For nearly a decade Bruce Mau has been using his design voice to say, "Look at this, this is important (and the list of work on the Bruce Mau Design website attests to this)." Personally, I think that speaks louder than any of the Manifesto statements but in the spirit of talking about me, here are some of the finer points of the Incomplete Manifesto:

3. Process is more important than outcome.

I'm projecting a bit here but as far as I can tell, the end result isn't what gets you paid. It's the process, as it breeds the end result. I've been thinking a lot about that lately and over break decided to treat my process book like an additional assignment. At the end (of each year or of senior year, I haven't decided) I'd like to compile process up to that point and package it in a refined and presentable way. If nothing else, I have a reminder of where ideas come from.

32. Listen carefully.

I tend to be judgemental. Overly so. I tend to stereotype quickly and jump to conclusions, especially while someone is talking. Stop it. Stop it right now.

13. Slow down.

To which we could add, "Speed up." I like the idea of finding things or discovering outside of routine. We get so locked into routine that it can become detrimental fast. I'm going to start changing up the way I work, staggering my own progress and process in order to push and pull creativity.

And finally, 25. Don't clean your desk.

I'm sorry Mr. Mau but this one I call out. This one is bullshit. But, only because I find little bits of importance I had long since forgotten about when I clean my desk. There's always some inspiration under a month of scribbled notes and receipts. Plus, I like to move things around on my desk, rearrange for a fresher approach, it's not your fault, it's me trying to speed up/slow down, break routine and hopefully grow a bit too.

2.01.2009

Nice.

Add this to the list of logos I wish I'd designed.


Upton Sinclair Project Concept Statement

The Early 20th century was a turbulent time for America. Industry was everywhere, soot filled the air and a boom in immigration sent overcrowding to new heights. The Great Depression loomed and the world's first War made our future uncertain. "Here is a population, low-class and mostly foreign, hanging always on the verge of starvation and dependent for its opportunities of life upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers; under such circumstances, immorality is exactly as inevitable, and as prevalent, as it is under the system of chattel slavery."


*Bonus points to me for ending a second consecutive post with a widdow.

1.28.2009

David Drummond does amazing things. Hear me? Amazing.

I'll point you to his blog too where the amazing is often featured and Mr. Drummond even takes the time to explain his process and concept (bonus).

Here are my favorites:














Told ya.