tradey trade!

as nicole said, we decided to trade projects for this last day of collaboration.
i approached nature's niche as a brand of my choosing: if i had a brand called nature's niche, what would it be?

i started making all sorts of associations with the natural themes and organic concepts that nicole has been working with and was particularly drawn to the idea of a nursery. which is funny, since i branded a nursery earlier in the semester.

nature's niche would be an extensive nursery specializing in fruit trees meant for organic home gardens.

my twist on nature's niche:



these are my uncle's orchards that i photographed over thanksgiving break.

one more week everyone!

What do kids sell on the corner?

Tonight I asked my friends what they used to sell when they were little on the corner. I got a wide range of things. One of my roommates sold flowers they picked from their own garden, one used to sell her own personal artwork, others sold lemonade, and kool-aid, cookies. I personally with my friends (when we weren't selling lemonade) sold rocks, and we tried to sell my friends hair bows once also. Kids are creative and even if it doesn't make sense what they are selling, people buy it because it's made by a kid and they're just so cute :) I thought this was some good insight into more ideas of what kids could sell on their stand on the corner.

Freudentisch: Your Table Pet

Heidi offered her creative services today, and I willingly accepted. She told me that she thought it would be awesome to have miniature collectible tables; you know, the desk pet variety. I wholeheartedly agreed, and I began to think about the sort of crazy table pet one could have on their office desk. After all, one of my psychology professors had a miniature wheeled garbage can (the big black plastic sort that people usually leave at the curb) and I had teachers from my childhood who had small toilets (complete with flushing sounds!) as part of their retinue of desk toys. Anyway, this idea also took me back to the day where I thought it would be neat to cover a table with faux fur. That would say oodles about one's personality, if they had a faux fur-covered table on their desk at work! Plus, with a smaller variety of the table pet, it would certainly make collecting lots of tables more reasonable.

Cable Table reDesign.018

For this final collaboration, I really wanted to tap into the resource of my chiari friends online. Everyone has different, varying symptoms, but we could all use something that makes our lives a little more streamlined. One of my friends had all her outlets raised to the middle of the wall because bending over was tough and exhausting (I feel the same way, it's a weird symptom. Leaning over can sometimes make me feel like suddenly I'm 100 years old or have been up for 50 hours.) Another person experiencing the same kind of symptom recommended a recessed pen holder so that it wouldn't be able to tip over and make you have to pick things up off the ground. Everyone wanted more storage, which makes plenty of sense. It's much easier to have everything at hand than to have to constantly get up and move around or search for things.

However, since we all have different situations, I think it'd be great if there was a custom table optino for cable tables. The mark up wouldn't be insane, just about like what blurb.com does for books. Most of the cost would be controlled by the options you choose for the table. This can be things like a lighttable section, a custom number of power outlets, whatever drawer layout you want, extra accessories like a light or hot plate or fan built in. It's about conforming to what the consumer needs, so that cable table can ultimately make their customer more efficient and comfortable.

No more harpsichords?

So I was thinking about how when you listen to more modern classical music, you never hear a harpsichord anymore. My grandmother had one when I was little and even she never played it. Don't remember what ever happened to that thing. But anyways, personally, I enjoy listening to someone play the harpsichord. I'll take it a step further, I enjoy listening to baroque music...chamber music to be more specific. This is where you hear an ensemble of musicians rather than a whole symphony. You will most likely hear a harpsichord being played in this setting.

Basically I am really into minimalist style design. But I do have an affinity towards all things baroque for some reason. I know, it goes against all things minimalist. I'm hoping to bridge the gap somehow for my logo.

Getting Around with Glo!

So after this whole week I was just thinking of different ways I could use the weird geometric art that I have been enjoying into my designs. Well then I was thinking more along the lines of my original Glo Target Audience (which was those who practice extreme sports). Then I started thinking about snowboarding coming up soon and that lead me to think that to do all these things, many times you need a vehicle. So I decided to make the Glo Car... Actually it was kinda an experiment on mimicking Nikolai Cornell but I still think it turned out pretty fun and good.

... oh and for those who don't know of Nikolai Cornell I recommend looking him up his site is obscuradigital.com he does Awesome interactive motion graphic type stuff but he also did and does a bunch of cool work with super extreme high power projectors.

... oh and by the way this was a collaboration with Hyrum... using his vehicle and his projector. Thanks Hy Man!

The Valor of "flamenca"

Everyone has fears, some of them insurmountable. Today I was crippled and frozen by those fears. Looking back on today, I found that it related to an experience I had as a 3rd grader. I grew up near the Royal Gorge Bridge in Canon City, Colorado. As 3rd grader Kate crossed this 1053' high suspension bridge, I was terrified that I would slip through the 1" spaces in between the slats of wood. Of course this fear was entirely illogical, but I still experience these. Once there is a trigger to dissipate these fears, I know and can feel that there was no danger the entire time. "flamenca" is a trigger.

Portrait.

One last portrait this week as a collaborative effort.

More than a table

So during the break, as my family crowded around the dinner table waiting for the feast to begin, I realized that tables are more than just a place to set your plate. They are a place to make memories with family and friends. I think we take tables for granted just because they are always there, just standing the tests of time. But why couldn't your dinner table be more? Lets say Christmas rolls around and you need to fit 12 relatives around your small table. Wouldn't it be grand if your other furniture like shelves and desks could easily be arranged to accommodate the whole herd? If think a series of simple, connectible, table-like structures that could be combined to form many different shapes to handle various space problems would solve many problems.

Day 18

I asked a friend who was familiar with my original idea for my zen garden table to draw out what she would do with a table for relaxation. The two of us aren't alike at all when it comes to style or the way we work. When she gave me her idea, I was quit surprised to find out she loved my original idea and just expanded on it. She left the original idea of the sand and rocks that I thought of, but included a large rock with a small waterfall to give the sound of trickling water. I would definitely consider this if I could find a way for it to work. I guess I learned something new about someone I thought was the complete opposite of me.

Day: Lego

I was sitting with a buddy of mine and we were think of what you could build Neverland out of? We came up with all sorts of ideas, like glass, clay, Lincoln Blocks, rocks, and etc. Then it hit me! Legos! I got to give props to Sage because he did mention about Legos in an earlier blog. So here is the word Neverland in Legos.

sound waves

"I always remember listening to music (I saw that as a comfort type of situation) and as I learned to play interments, my music tastes started to expand. I love the intricacy of the symphony and the counter melodies. I apreciate how vastly expansive and encompassing music can be, there are so many different types of music out their to experience." is roughly what my grandma told me when I asked her why she loved listening to music. I talked to her about how she felt that sound vibrations can influence humans, sense everything is just a electric or chemical reaction, basically.

Instruments can put somebody, mentally, w/e you might need to go. But adding lyrics, real meaning full lyrics can cause your thoughts to rome places you would have never expanded.

FullGive (day18)

Wow, a laptop case who would have guessed? Over the long break I was able to collaborate with many people and this was the result. Input was given on many levels for all of the little details that went into this project; from the colors all the way down to the hardware used to assemble the final product. I also took the feedback that I received form you as a class into consideration and put it to work.

New View

Today's collaboration involved Danelle and I switching ideas. I have had many thoughts of what I would do for her topic if I were given the chance. So today thats what I get to do.

I thought of quotes that reflect how I feel about the art world and how I create my design.

Don't take things too seriously. Thats not going to do anything but stress you out and end up ruining your creative flow.

Don't design for the NOW design for the THEN.

Have a Plan. sure it might not all work out necessarily as you planned, but at least that way you have a direction.

Express yourSELF.

Music is all around us

I was watching August Rush the other day

and thinking about the beginning of the film

when August was out listening to the wind through

the wheat field and how he's always hearing music

all around him. I remember going out near the end

of Summer (August). I went out into my

back yard and tried to do the same thing— I listened

to the wind through the trees, the crickets chirping, the

bird song and the sun rising up through the mountains

and I wish I had footage of it so I could say I collaborated with Nature

but it's very very cold out now and there are no crickets, not much bird song

and so I thought of something else. I put together a little video of sounds

from a forest along with images. I hope it works, or I will be resubmitting something else.

So my collaboration today actually happened a few days ago when i asked my family about color schemes. I took a few that i had done on previous blogs and a couple more that i liked. The consensus was this color scheme. I edited out one of the colors that i had so its a little more simple. I actually found all these colors in my first mood board in all the natural vegetation. But i also thought that it would go well with contemporary style and work well with vibrant colors that may find their way into the store. Oh and i also thought of the ingenious logo right there, no collaboration but i had to put it down, always comes when your not trying for it. Its a throwback to the S i had in my first logo but has the representation of chairs. Two functions in one and it looks contemporary! i think I've got it!

Day 18

I know that in life we wish that there were instruction manuals to most everything we do. So what if we did have manuals or better yet, picture diagrams (I like pictures). Would it really help? The image below is of an Audi V12 TDI (Turbo Diesel Injection) engine. Audi will be using this engine in their newer race car called the Audi R8. If you click on the picture you will get an enlarged view of the engine. So... even though we have this great diagram of an engine, can we really put it together and make it run? I submit that we cannot. Just as life continues on and we continue to learn, so it is with an engine. There are specifics that the eye cannot see just from a picture but can really only be fully understood by experiencing life first hand.

Now I know that all of you are in awe of my super image of a "perfume bottle" here. I know, I know, you may be asking your self, "How does he do that?" well, lets just say, it's MAGIC. So we have this other diagram here. It is simply demonstrating how a sample of a perfume bottle may work. There really is no further explanation needed on how to use this. So do we really need instructions on how to apply perfume or cologne?

What about "Pop-Tarts?" There is actually instructions on how to prepare one of those scrumptious breakfast pastries using a toaster. I'm sure there are many other examples out there on various explanations or directions on how to work complicated or simplistic devices. My idea is this, sometime to understand something in life we need to experience it for ourselves so that we might be able to help others along their way in life. And sometimes we just know what to do and no explanation is needed.

mob mantality

When people get into groups it sometimes seems like common sense goes out the window. Riots start spontaneously, panic strikes much easier. It reminds me of sheep. one gets scared and it spreads to all those around them and then to all. riots and mobs will happen but it takes someone who is thinking right to see the situation for what it is. It takes someone who has knowledge of yourself and reality to fully understand what you need to do. Thats what training gives. control of yourself and the ability to get away from a bad situation if needs be.

worm

i asked a bunch of people what came to mind when they heard the word "glow." i got the expected answers like glow sticks and florescent lights. i also got the morning sun coming through the window, a pregnant woman, someone being happy, and the answer i never would have thought of was worms. i looked up what glow worms were and thought they looked pretty cool. maybe "glo" could turn people into a glow worm or make some random appendage glow like the worms do.