The Movement of "flamenca"

I've related the movement of the Flamenco dance, the basis for the perfume and typography, to those of whipping clothes drying on a line on a windy day. The movement is conceptually related due to both the softness and sharpness seen in the dance style and the effects of the wind on the fabric.

juice

I am trying out a new creative angle, I was Literally looking for my creative juices. So instead of sitting in front of a computer or a sketch book to work something out I decided to raid my refrigerator. I took house hold essentials and made Nature's Niche into a found smoothy. My final ingredients included Raspberry preservers, Some Pulp Orange Juice, and Home-Jarred Peaches. Other trials included apples and iced tea, those were failures. The final one ended up being quite good.

Swift Identity

So I spent a bit of time today walking around with Brenna, my 4 year old daughter. We picked up leaves and she was not selective at all when it came to the old ones, color, size or shape, she just collected. We took the leaves to my office and I scanned seven that mirrored a change. I then sketched an aging portrait of Taylor Swift. I overlapped the two elements to see what might come of the juxtaposition.

Cable Table reDesign.002

I think the perfect world would be wireless, but I've completely forgotten that there is at least one benefit to cables. The more there are on your stage, the more you look like a rock star. With this concept in mind, I found a photo I took years ago of just the cables on the stage at a concert. I originally took the photo to observe the patterns and lines the cables made in the photo. I have now added the detail of the band's name written in the cables to show one way that cables could be used for decoration and flourish rather than just pushed to the side, taped down, tangled and tripped over.

Freudentisch and Old Lace

So, I got to thinking about that fantastic production "Arsenic and Old Lace." My final idea has very little to do with that, but maybe that might help make this make sense.
What if Freudentisch were a social society? Like a book club, or lunch group, essentially a forum for people to get together and get to know each other, to keep up with everyone else and their everyone else. Just a place to talk. A group with whom you can slow down in order to keep up with the fast pace of life. Hence the teacups and the good ol' "Jeeves & Wooster" in the shot... it's all about society! (And, why yes, that is my table Freddie under all that stuff... how could you ever tell?)

Day 2

From my original idea for Soto I was following a type of meditation I'm more familiar with that I do myself: focusing more on soft subtle movements resembling the flow of water. I got to thinking, "What other forms of meditation are there out there?" I realized my two roommates are a lot more active physically than me, and one of the ways they let out their stress and anger is practicing karate for their class. So I watched them practice their movements and the way they moved their bodies, along with breathing exercises to see how the brand of Soto could work with a different type of meditation.

FullGive (Day 2)

I wanted to make a tag for the FullGive cases, so I modge-podged different layers of paper on a wood block for a collaged look; added a pattern of pin head nails in a grid; took a pic and added some FullGive text; voila.

Day Dos (say that fast, it's fun)

Oh ideologies, how I love thee. So motor oil and perfume eh... Well something gots to lube all them there moving parts. So I says to myself, I says... Yeee Hawww.

Well I really have no idea what that first paragraph is all about other than... I don't know actually. So I think this is working. I left slight gaps between the various images for implied effect of spraying perfume everywhere but also implying that oil gets into all of the little small cracks as well. So enjoy my creativity.

When you do not care what you are doing, and you dont take it seriously, it is like throwing away money. I wanted to focus on the financial aspect of life. and yes i cut up my dollar.

number-2

i really like superheroes and most of the time wish i could be one...but i'm not. this is going off of drinking "glo" and feeling like a superhero. not exactly the best sketch (i miss painter) but it's the idea.

design rules

i have started thinking about the concept behind my 'quote book'. i picked all of the quotes in it for a very specific reason: they reflect my personal philosophies behind design. so, today i decided that instead of using quotes in the book i would make a list of what my philosophies are and design a spread using one of them. i named this list 'design rules' (because, well.. it does!).



because i know its hard to read, the list is:

Talk about your work.
Step away from the computer.
Never use the default.
Do research.
Take your time.
The details matter.
Simple is never easy.
Design for content.
Work really, really, really, really, hard.
Think.

and the spread i designed:



i wanted to design this in a similar but slightly different style than what i had been working on for previous spreads. i paid close attention to the interaction of the type and the image while holding on to the simplicity i so adore.

and because i like you guys so much, i made a couple wallpapers of these for your personal enjoyment. feel free to use them.. you can download them from my personal blog.

A Poem for a Tuesday Afternoon

I'm a poetry nut, so I thought it might be interesting to try a poem with a bit of collage. The idea being that there could be a website where poets could go to leave poems or read ones submitted. It doesn't necessarily read too well, but I like the idea of playing with words as texture and layering.

Suite Stuff

I thought of the audience that i was trying to connect to with this project before, and snooty barbie and her horse race loving friends were a good but small audience. to change this furniture company into something different you ultimately change the people coming into the store. although i wish i had time for some snapshots i settled for some pics off the internet of hip, young, trendy people who could like odd or contemporary furniture...

Aziz Light!

Ok so for day 2 I redid my Glo Logo in actual graffiti form. Sorry its kinda like my piece from yesterday, but i was thinking about this and just really wanted to do a punk-renegade-art-graffiti-Pollock-style. Well i hope you all like it!

ps: Haha, oh also sorry about the "5th Element" reference. I forgot how early it gets dark so I kept telling my sister "Aziz Light!"

Peace Out!

Homemade Lemonade

Today I decided to actually try making some homemade lemonade. I thought that it would be a good idea to incorporate some lemonade recipe's along with my table so that kids can make their own. The lemonade actually turned out really good! Try out the recipe sometime :)

Day 2 - Braille Marquee

Today I explored other possible uses for Altable, such as a marquee of sorts for the blind. I cut a wooden dowel up into a bunch of 1/2" pieces and used them to create the characters. The peg and hole system was perfect for creating the braille characters since they are based on a grid as well. The board would be used to create large braille letters to attract attention to the blind, much like we use large letters on billboards to attract the attention of drivers. The beauty of the system is in the ease of use. Simply push the pegs in or take them out as needed. Write and message then switch it up when needed. And in case you were wondering, the board in the picture spells out:

Altable
Braille
Marquee

Day 2: Hopscotch Experiment

This is one my experiments from my list. First of all I am going to throw out props to the random girl, Nicole, and Laura for actually doing the hopscotch.

At about 4 o'clock in the morning I got up and made hopscotch drawing on the cement floor. I did this because I didn't want anyone to see me and also I didn't not want to get into trouble.

I started to watch people at 7:45-8:30 a.m., 9:40-10:00 a.m., 10:40-11:00 a.m. A total of 1hr 15mins. I saw 218 people walking over the hopscotch drawing and out of those 218 people only 3 people actually jumped the hopscotch drawing.

To me that made me think. Why won't older people jump the hopscotch drawing? What made that one random girl jump it? Are people too caught up looking to cool to be a kid again? Or to busy being on there cell phones, or maybe they are just caught up in the world around them?

This experiment just made me think about how sometimes we loss that kid in us. If we lose that kid in us we may also lose that imaginative side that we had when we where growing up. I hope that I will never loss that side of me and that I can apply this fun and imaginative side to more of my work as a designer.

K.O.L.

I decided to switch gears from that idea, and took Hy's advice to try and force this album cover to work with a completely different color for the mood. With what I have to work with, I could get away from the red a lot, which is annoying me now. 

It was one of the first ideas I had to work with this project. Originally I didn't want to do any red at all. I might still be able to but I don't know. I am still working with the mask to get more interaction between the only two images on there now.

CCMA

I plan to explore the CCMA logo a bit further. I think this can be "attacked" from many different angles.

This version is a play on complementary colors, positive and negative space, and implied lines. (very rough typography as you can plainly see but you get the point) In retrospect, I would probably change the piano keys to some other "curvy" instrument to balance the curves of the mask on the right.

if you don't like getting messy, don't bother being an artist.

i love recreating words and imagery out of everyday objects that relate to the content.
so, in revisiting my 'quote book', i asked myself WHAT IF i pursue this visual style. instead of inking a selected word from each quote, i could recreate these words with objects found in my environment and inspired by my daily activities.

this is partly inspired by sagmeister's work:





my version:


(full quote: "give me six hours to chop down a tree, and i will spend the first four sharpening the axe." -abe lincoln)

yum.

p.s. i like this class blog thing.

FullGive (Day 1)

I want to explore different brand drivers for the laptop case company that my brother and I have been working on. For the next week I am going to brainstorm different avenues that I feel portray the look and feel of FullGive. Today I decided to work with materials and a hands-on aesthetic that are very apparent in the construction of the laptop cases themselves.

Day 1: Soto Reimagined

So after thinking about other concepts I could work with on my Soto logo I thought about what it would be like if it wasn't a zen garden table, but a home appliance, interior, and clothing line that includes the sakura flower mark on all the products. So I made a blanket with the Soto mark to see how it works on a product with a 3d element rather than just a print.

The Sound of "flamenca"

To further explore the brand of "flamenca," I recorded four people speaking the word. I layered the sounds to produce vocal punctuation and increase dimension. Tracing and overlapping the visual representations of the voices produced quite the visual cacophony.

Freudentisch & Winnetou

Winnetou, believe it or not, is a real fictional character written into life (and into the German culture!) by Karl May. Winnetou became the star of a marvelous array of German Westerns. He even has a cameo appearance in the song 'Mein Bester Freund' sung by German acapella group Die Prinzen. So, with that in mind, when I wanted to 'Westernize' Freudentisch, it just made sense to partner with the legacy of Winnetou and transform the brand into one that markets exciting children's animations based on pulp fiction.

Cable Table reDesign.001

The original Cable Table was meant for the simple, organized, clean lifehacker and hid its cables by concealing them within and behind the table itself.

I wanted to push the table into even more a niche market and give it a humorous twist. This new version hides its cables by matching your wallpaper. Who on earth would want a cable that blends into their wallpaper? The kind of people who still have this wallpaper hanging up in their homes (or worse ... have renovated their homes on drugs and brought it back.)

What! Glo Not Just for Xtreme Sports?!

OK I am going to be working with my Glo Design. I really wanted to work with this design because it was one of my more favorite projects but on the first one I limited myself to a semi-small focal audience (Xtreme Sports Athletes). I am excited because with this project I can branch out to different audiences and different ways to design for them. This is a Drawing/Painting of "Bro Glo" a character mascot designs to reach to audiences more in the punk and renegade art area. By the way he is a super hero graffiti artist. Hahaha just kidding I don't really have a story for him... even though that sounded good eh? I really just wanted to start out broadening my ideas and get the "creative juices" flowing! Hope you all like!

... Oh and I hope posting 3 pics was ok, I just wanted to kinda show my process of creation:

First I started traditional painting but I felt that was too boring, so I just used my hands. Then I sketched out a character. Then I inked him on the painting and painted around him so he'd show up better.

I chose to re think my Martial arts logo. The first one was more of an High-brow, in the studio design and feel. I decided to take it to the dark, street fighting aspect of martial arts. So I tagged a street and added paint to illustrate the bloody side of a fight.

Day 1: Add-ons

I decided to take my lemonade stand to a new level. Lemon Time will offer add ons for the lemonade stand. This is a way for children to be able to sell drinks at different seasons. Now presenting, Cocoa Time.

Day 1: Cendrillon Mixer

So my idea behind this is to take the Cendrillon perfume ad that we worked on and mix it with some of the motor oil projects that I worked with. Last time I portrayed the Cendrillon label as a sexy perfume for young women. So I thought that I could travel down a different path and have some fun with this. So, it's fun, crazy and unpredictable (I think). If you like this, I have a few more where this came from. So go ahead and BLOG ON, I will do my best to not let you down.

these are a few logos i'm experimenting with for now. i'm trying to make glo about glowing with passion so i'm playing around with lines to see if i can accomplish that in some way or find some way to illustrate having a passion for something.

New Virtual Tuesday Afternoon

I am going to resurrect the old Tuesday Afternoon logo since I ran out of time to

fully develop it. My intentions are to

make it a sort of design your own interior

where clients can pick out a basic room layout,

pick out a paint color, mix and match curtains,

bedding and carpet materials and play with accessories to see how their ideas would work out in a visual representation. Still lots of

fun ways to go in the logo direction.

Day 1 - New Market

I have decided to work with my Altable product for this assignment. Today's post shows a much different approach to the advertising for Altable, through the use of a skytyping airplane. (If you aren't sure what those are check out an example here.) This new way of advertising not only uses a different medium but is also directed to a much larger and more diverse audience and on a very grand scale. This brand strategy would take the company in a much more professional and corporate, but less personal direction.

Untitled Identity 1 for now...

I am interested in further investigating the idea of the transience of identity and the hybrid object, toying with both the formal and ideological traditions of the art world.

My focus will be to clarify the direction of my body of work for a summer 2010 solo show in Los Angeles. My brand will be evident in the breadth of work that will be produced following this exercise.

Untitled Identity 1
Digital watercolor, pencil, and paper.