Research Project

This is my final project. It is a combination of the greatest project in the whole universe and the research project.

The above pictures are the prints of my sisters wedding program that I designed for her. As many designers know, the client, who this time happened to be family, did not want the same thing for her program I wanted. Hence, this was the final design that was used at the wedding. These pictures are sideways because they were designed to go straight into the printer to make the program easier to print. Considering I did not have alot of time with this project and I didn't get the content until a few days before the wedding, I had to make sure the printing process went smoothly. Overall, I am proud of this design. With the amount of time I was given, I am pleased with the outcome. At the wedding, people were mostly focused on the main event. Of course this was my sister getting married. But my programs got some attention. There were numerous people that commented on the programs in a positive way. But it got me thinking. What if for my final project I researched how well I designed my sister's wedding program? In addition, what if I researched her design choices versus mine? What if this showed something? So you will see no research here in this post. Because there is none, YET. I will be doing my research inclass where I have access to a classroom full of designers.

There are a few things about this program I would like to address. My sister wanted the program to be black and white. So I did not have the luxury of color. Not to mention that adds to the price when you are at the print shop. The other is the exaggerated text. In my opinion, I think a less intensive text that was not so fancy would have done the job, but my sister wanted the fancy exaggerated formal wedding type text. So if you are looking for sideways, how about a final project that is a wedding program that has exaggerated text in it and the research won't be done until the class finishes it for me?

Greatest Project Ever!

I have combined this project with my research project. Please see my post on the Research Project to see this project.

Bellville

Tonight's class

Basically for today's class, we watched two movies. When class began, we were asked to think about who we are and what type of person we are. Then we watched a movie about people who had taken who they were and made it into where they live. They took their vision and created it so they could live in their creation. It was a very interesting video and it truly made me think about what I would do if I get the chance to build my own house. What would I do? Would I build just another normal house or would I dig deep within myself to find MY house plans.

The second movie was about a sculpture artist that designed his work in nature. At the beginning, it was hard to see what he was doing or where he was going with his work, however at the end I began to realize what he was trying to accomplish. There were two very striking aspects of this second movie. The first was that when the artist worked on his work, he almost completely used his hands. Only a handful of times did I see him use a hammer or a simple pocket knife. His work was very much built by him and his own hands. He had simple tools for a unique design. The other aspect of this video that I found striking was the camera work. When the camera would pan his work it did not focus on the sculpture that had been created. It simply panned the area and the sculpture seemed to stand out itself. Almost as if the camera did not need to focus on the main point of the shot, but that the viewers found the main point of the shot without being forced to focus on it. There was no need to focus on what was simply unique and interesting to view.

Until class Wednesday! Have a good night!

Class Today

Today was pretty much a recap of the whole class. You could say that this class took all of our topics and projects and brought them together. Basically, the meaning of seeing sideways and why we have done what we have done in this class. This class was very much a discussion class. We discussed New Media facts and theories as well as talk about Bobbie Knight and the word fuck. As always it was another sideways class. But seriously, the best classes are the ones that are sideways because "we", New Media Students, have a chance to express and explore our inner design self. As always, have a great weekend! Until next time!

Serious Play

I thought the video on serious play was cool. Most of what he said about how we throw away ideas because we think they are silly is something I can truly relate to. On more than one occasion I have had ideas, but brushed them off because I thought they were dumb or not professional enough. When the video finished, it gave me a better idea of how I wanted to play. I decided to play with one of my favorite creative toys from my past. Legos.

First I had to find out where I had put them. After searching my basement for a while, I finally found them in my bedroom closet. Ironically enough, they were quite close by. I got all my Legos out and started remember about when I was younger. By just pulling them out of their container, it really brought me back to the past. They might just be plastic toys but they are ones I remember and each set of Legos almost truly told a story of my past. Being quite rusty with Legos I didn't build any masterpieces but that was not the point really. I just built the first things that came to my mind. Overall, the experience wasn't too bad. I truthfully had no clue what to expect from this, but it was alright. Legos are one of those toys that have a never ending possibility. The sky is the limit. That's one thing I loved about them when I was a kid.

It's all about senses!

So I decided to take the one sense away that would truly be the most difficult to handle. I took away my ability to see. I blind folded myself for 2 hours. I must say it was quite interesting. I started blindfolded in my room and decided to go eat. On a usual day this would not have been difficult, but now without my sight, it truly became a chore. I found my way out of my room and found the staircase (without falling all the way down) and made my way down to the kitchen. I really wanted to see how this would be so when I FINALLY made it to the kitchen, I went to the fridge and grabbed a soda. As easy as it sounds it took me a long time to find a soda in a fridge. The average time to grab a soda out of the fridge is like what? 1 second tops? I knew where things where in my house, but without the ability to see, it just made things take alot longer. I finally did get a snack and made it back upstairs (barely). When I was back upstairs, I decided to stay on the second floor, as going up and down the stairs would have been a bit of a risk and I was not wanting to try my luck at the stairs again.

After my snack, it took me a minute to decide what to spend the rest of my time on. There was still time left and I really was not sure what to do. After a few minutes it came down to asking myself, "If I was blind, what would I do?". The answer was very simple. I would listen to music! So I made my way back to my room and looked for my ipod. The trouble is, I could not remember where I put my ipod so I had to look for my ipod with no sight. Yay! Believe it or not, I was able to find it, as usually there are only two places I put it. In general, I keep my living space quite clean and orderly. I always put things back where I get them. Today I was so thankful that I had everything so neat. It made searching blind a bit easier. So after I found my ipod, I put my headphones on and listened to some music. It was great because I just had to fumble around the menu and just click buttons until I heard music since I could not pick what I wanted to listen to. I spent the remainder of the time listening to music. It was nice, but in a sense a bit strange. I could not see anything and I was listening to music. I really felt detached from the world for those two hours. It felt like I missed something. For the time period I had to rely on sound and touch to know where I was. So when I was listening to music It was like being in a different world. It's one thing when you listen to music when you are going to sleep, but when you are wide awake listening to music and you cannot see or do anything, it was an "eye opener". I honestly thought during this time, "What if I was blind? What would I be doing? Would I even be in college? If I was in college, would I be a New Media student?"

These question made me ponder about what life would be like blind. I figured if I was blind, I would still love music and would probably have taken to music track if I was in college and a new media student. The problem with that is, I got into New Media because I loved Photoshop. If I was blind then I never would have learned Photoshop and then never would have found my love for graphics which meant I never would have pursued New Media because I wouldn't have known that was what I wanted to do. That, I must admit, blew me away. Without my sight, I would truly be a different person and lead a completely different life than what I do now. I would being doing different things and I wouldn't be as connected to the world as I am now. Those two hours truly made me think about what things would be like.

Due to the fact I couldn't see, I had no way of telling how long it had been. When I thought two hours had been up I took of my blind fold. It was truly refreshing to have my sight back. When I looked at the clock I realized it had been closer to 4 hours. I guess while I was listening to music I had truly lost track of time. But then without the ability to see, I couldn't tell what time it was so I had no idea how long it had been. When I thought it had to have been 2 hours, it became a reality of 4 hours. Quite an interesting experiment. That's the longest I have ever gone with out being able to see.

After taking off the blindfold, I decided what I wanted my new sense to be. It was quite a relief to be able to see again. There are so many things we take for granted that is truly just "eye candy" it could be just a sunny day. But people who can't see can't enjoy something we somewhat take for granted as just a part of the every day to day aspects of life. Then I thought, "What if I could see what was in my mind as I would watch a movie?" So if I had a new sense it would be a mental visualization. In New Media, sometimes the hardest thing is taking an idea and designing it to be exactly how we see it in our minds. What if we could project our thoughts from out minds and literally project them onto a screen and watch them with our eyes like a movie? What if everyone could do that? Would the world be different? I think it would. In my opinion if everyone in the world had a sense to where they could actually project there mind onto a screen and with their mind control their thoughts onto a screen for people to see, it would change the world. I have seen some amazing things that people have designed that have come from their mind. But what if there were no limitations? What if what was in your mind could show up on a video screen exactly how you saw it in your mind? Life would totally take on a new meaning of "living".

Until next time! See you all in class Wednesday!

My experience at the RAM and Networking

First of all, I would just like to say that I believe networking is very important. Especially in the New Media area of study. So I was looking forward to going to the RAM and meeting some industry professionals that are working in my degree in the local area. Most of the evening went very well and I was even able to get to know my fellow students better. Near the end of the dinner, I was even able to get a possible networking buddy which I find to be always rewarding. To be honest I had a good time and would not mind showing up for future gatherings that this group has. As I stated before, I am always interested in meeting new people in my degree and getting a chance to network with them. So in summary, I had a very nice evening (The food at the RAM was great!) and was very glad I attended.

Everyone have a great weekend and I'll see you all on Monday!

Class today

I will have to be brief due to the fact we are about to lose power at my house. The main word of today was "Content". We discussed what New Media meant to us on a personal note. New Media to me is a way that I can take what I have in my mind and express it graphically. As if to say, New Media gives me a chance to "screen-shot" my mind to show others and to share with the world. However it is much easier to follow a set of instructions that are already laid out for you. Some times the hardest projects are the projects of personal interpretation. So in a sense, that is one of the main aspects of why I am taking this class so I can strengthen my creativity so that I can express New Media in the way it was supposed to be expressed.


Until next time!

What if Round Robbin

What if New Media majors didn't have to take those fucking CSCI classes?

1. There would be peace in the world.
2. Students would not stress as much as they do.
3. Life would just plain be better.
4. Students would smile more.
5. Students would be able to spend more time on New Media classes, and not have to worry about reading a book that doesn't make sense or listening to 5 thousand lectures that don't help you with the projects or exams.

This what if question peeked my interest. I chose this question because I believe that some of the CSCI classes need to update their lectures and books because they don't seem to match the tests or projects. I think there is some great potential in CSCI courses, they just need to revamp the class content.

May 27th class

Today was definitely a large discussion day. The class started out slightly "sideways" as the students who arrived early were discussing video games. When class officially started, the conversation emerged into quite a conversation on games and ethics. We talked about how far video games had come. Other topics we brought up within the video game world was the topic of "When have they gone too far?" Everyone agreed that if you were playing a zombie game and you could actually smell charred flesh, they would not play the game. So the main question of the first part of class was "What is ok and What isn't?" We even watched a few videos on YouTube about video games and different aspects of the interactivity.

The second half of class we talked about the final research project. We looked at a few examples of research type projects that were acceptable. The whole research project however, as a whole, is quite open and free for personal interpretation. After some discussion of the final project, we looked at ted.com. I had never heard of ted.com in my entire life. I must say though it was quite interesting and I am definitely going to look into it more as the site is filled with great videos on the most unique subjects.

After a few closing statements and some comments about next week's excercise (a What if part 2) then we dispersed from the classroom.

Until next time! Have a great weekend!

The Doorway

For our last class, we were given a doorway and asked to do something with it. We were not allowed to keep it in the same building and we of course could not do anything illegal. Those were the only rules. After explaining the rules to us, our professor left class and gave us the main duration of class to think about what we as a class wanted to do with this door. For the first few minutes, we just looked at the door. I think we were unsure of the assignment at first. But after a couple of minutes we started brain storming ideas of what we should do with the door. After about half an hour, we all agreed that the best idea was to ship the door back to where it came from.

The first step in doing this was to transport the door. After a few inquiries, we were able to find a student who had a truck and could haul the door. The next step was who would take care of the delivery process. After choosing people that lived close to the doorway's final destination, we hauled the door out of the IT building and thus the doorway began it's long journey back to where it came from. It was going home.

Class May 20

I forgot to blog about class last night, but I wanted to make sure I documented it anyway. I felt terrible for being late, I just completely forgot. Anyhow, class did not last long. We had some discussion about our 50 questions project. After we discussed the project, we received our next project. We were instructed to do something with a doorway. After she gave us just a few small rules, she left us with the doorway in class. My next blog will discuss what we decided to do with the doorway.

Until Next time!

Quetzalcoatl

The last class (May 18th) we were asked to look up the word "Quetzalcoatl". I didn't even know it was a word, so I had no idea what it was. Hence, I opened my trusty Google homepage and Googled it. I found it to mean "feathered snake". This was a deity from the ancient world that tribes like the Aztecs worshipped. The Quetzalcoatl, was a god to the ancient tribes used to represent their armies and war. For an illustration, I would like to give credit to Dan Staten for his incredible illustration of what a Quetzalcoatl represented. The following is a link to Staten's website with the image: http://www.staten-illustration.com/pieces/Quetzalcoatl.htm

On a personal note, isn't it interesting how so many of these mythical creatures and ancient animals seen in so many long ago and lost cultures depict the resemblance of dragons? The idea is quite fascinating to me.

Until next time!

What if questions...

1. What if pigs sold insurance?

2. What if the world was flat?

3. What if you could fly?

4. What if cars could be cool looking again like back in the 70’s?

5. What if cows were ninjas?

6. What if life was 2D?

7. What if clouds had mass enough to walk on?

8. What if “what if” statements were banned?

9. What if you were banned from earth?

10. What if there was another earth to live on?

11. What if you got banned from there to?

12. What if milkshakes were free?

13. What if my egg from class actually hatched?

14. What if I was Batman?

15. What if I hated pink?

16. What if question 15 was true?

17. What if dragons were still around?

18. What if color was seen only through personal interpretation?

19. What if the world was black and white?

20. What if the world could get along?

21. What if the birdie finger was the pinky finger?

22. What if life was upside down?

23. What if chickens created an army and tried to rule the world?

24. What if my egg from class was the only way that the invasion could be stopped?

25. What if that didn’t make sense?

26. What if I was just saying that to be funny?

27. What if I wasn’t saying that to be funny?

28. What if Apple made computers that were affordable?

29. What if Windows Vista died in a fire?

30. What if I hope Windows Vista dies in a fire?

31. What if I said Windows XP for life?

32. What if there was an elevator to hell?

33. What if the same elevator went to heaven and the buttons were color coordinated?

34. What if a color blind person got in the elevator?

35. What if life was literally a bowl of cherries?

36. What if it rained Crunch bars from Nestle?

37. What if grass was made out of cake icing?

38. What if fantasy was true and reality was fantasy?

39. What if the world flooded and you were stuck on a rusty pontoon boat with only 3 candy bars and a chicken that was skilled in the deadly art of Kung Fu while sharks surrounded the boat?

40. What if alcohol was illegal?

41. What if it was against the law to speak?

42. What if animals talked and people didn’t? How would we communicate?

43. What if my name was Bob?

44. What if man worshipped toenails?

45. What if beds were on the ceiling and u had to be strapped in at night when u slept?

46. What if virtual reality became reality?

47. What if people could actually “bunny-hop” and “dolphin dive” like you can in video games?

48. What if you lived for over 100 years?

49. What if you had to spend 5 days in a cramped cave where you only had space to crawl on your stomach and the only food to eat was rats and mice?

50. What if life was a bed mattress? Would we sleep on a hard surface?

Class on May 18th

Well today we actually got into our classroom! That's always a good thing. Today we presented our egg projects. They ranged from dropping the egg off a massive viaduct to simply eating the egg. There was a broad range with the egg projects. None were similar at all. In a way it was enjoyable to be able to see differences instead of everyone turning in the same project and seeing the same presentation a dozen times. The presentations were refreshing in my personal opinion.

After the presentations, we took a quick break. However, this was not a usual break. We were instructed to take our chairs with us on the break. So everyone had to take their chair with them on their break. I must say that was the strangest break I have ever taken from a college class in my entire 3 years here at campus. Before class let out, we watched a video on modern art that was aired on PBS. The art had no structure, but I think it had meaning. Each piece of art that the artist did had a certain meaning to him personally. I do think some of it was to promote him and his work. On the other hand a few of his art pieces I really liked. Something I took away from his art is closely related to mathematical logic. For example, I can say that "2" represents the number two. But "2" is not two. It's merely a symbol to represent the number 2. In binary counting, two is represented "11". This is due to there only being either "1" or "0" to count with in binary. So some of the modern art shown in the video may not have looked like anything, but the art, in my personal opinion, were symbols for personal interpretation. So with all being said, I would consider it to not only be modern art, but also an art of symbols. Each piece of art is made up of symbols for personal interpretation. This was my personal take on the video. I thought it was quite an interesting video.

When the video finished, we discussed what some of our thoughts were on the video. After some final words, the class was dismissed.

Until next time!

An Eye for an Egg

Where is the egg?




For my egg project, I decided to conduct an experiment. My experiment was to place the egg into a natural setting where it somewhat blended in. When I had the egg in place, I showed the image to two people. The first person had no design experience. I told the person to find the egg in the picture. After nearly a minute the person could not find the egg. They then asked me if there was even an egg in the picture. After about a minute and a few clues, the person found the egg. The second person that I had look at the picture had some design experience. When the second person looked at the image, they were able to find the egg within about 10 seconds.

My theory and point is the following:

First of all, this experiment proved that people with design experience have a better trained eye and know where and how to look. I was able to watch both test subjects and each person's eye moved quite different. The person with less experience almost read the picture as if it were a book. Their eyes moved left to right. The person with design experience however, was much different. Their eyes did not move in a pattern. They were very still but their eyes slowly moved to where the egg was located as if they were soaking in the whole image.

Second of all, was the issue with the egg color. The person with no design experience confessed after the test that not only did they have trouble finding the egg, but they were looking for a "white egg" . When I had said the word "egg" they immediately started looking for a white colored egg. This distracted them from merely looking for an egg. They had already had a mind set that the egg was a certain color. On the other hand, the person with design experience did not make the assumption of only looking for a white egg. When I said the word "egg" to the second person, they explained that they were looking for an egg of any size and color.

In conclusion, this experiment showcases the fact that people with design experience have learned how to search for certain items or aspects in an image. They are not locked in the regular day to day mental imaging that automatically sees an apple as a red fruit or in this case, an egg with a white shell.

Seeing Sideways, First Class

Today was my first class in N485 Seeing Sideways and it was definitely a sideways class. Due to our classroom being locked we ended up meeting in the upstairs hallway in the IT building. We then moved later to an open classroom near our own. We had the remainder of our class there. The main topic of the class was introductions and an explanation of what the class was about. Our first project is due the next class where I will have to do something with an egg. Until then, have a great weekend!