time for a blog : type

so. next week in youngstown, matthew carter is to speak at the university. i can not tell you how excite i am for this. for those of you who don't know who matthew carter is, he is a highly reputable typographer, who created many fonts, by hand. click the image if you really want to know more; or, go hear him speak next thursday. even before i was a design student, i had an interest in type. i don't know why. but it was just one of those things i enjoyed looking at, playing with, writing. i've always tried creating my own font. nothing silly like a lot of the fonts you see out there, but something classic. i guess it hasn't worked out amazingly, because i don't take the time. but anyways, it's going to be a really good time, i'm sure. it's funny how something like type can have such an impact on everyone. i mean, we write, type, etc. etc. above is a calendar done by pentagram a few years back where every month is done in a different matthew carter type. pretty darn cool huh? i think so. well, that is all i really have to say. i could go on, but i won't bore you. oh, fast fact : this font you are reading right now "verdana" was done by matthew carter. the more you know...


oh, ps: if you're not doing anything or even if you are, take a break and come on out to annabell's in akron ohio around 9pm. i'll be playing a solo set there till prolly 10:30 or 11. it's free, definitely gonna be a good one and last time i'll be performing for quite a long while. prizes are rewarded too! find one of my "limited edition vinyl record flyers" and take the tab off the back. bring it to the show, claim your prize. alright, goodbye.

my 6th blog : vancouver

i feel a blog on vancouver is quite appropriate for the week. the games are going great, but what i want to discuss is this olympics artwork. canada wanted the artwork to be different from any of the other games. they didn't want there to be cliche graphics such as mountains or maple leafs. the graphics speak nothing of canada's history except for the logo, which is rather indiginous. the artwork is actually very contemporary and shows their lifestyle of art and life. the artwork as seen above are all like this, although different. they share similar charachteristics but are all different in their own way. they are used in all of the products from tickets to banners. for a more complete description of the artwork click on the artwork above. i love this style canada decided to take with the games. it is something that "is in" and is also fun and inviting. GO USA!

Bloggin' : Mambo No. 5

Radiation. Cell phones. Interesting.

So my fiance calls me talking about how her cell phone has one of the highest radiation levels out there which could be sold in the United States. I was a bit confused. I really had no idea what she was talking about it. To me, a phone is a phone. So, I asked what she was talking about. She went on to tell me how different cell phones have different levels of radiation. Luckily, my phone is one of the top 20 in the United States of having the least amount of radiation. Still, it's kind of scary knowing that there is radiation coming out of these cell phones. Even if you use your phone rarely, you are still getting radiation. Years down the line, there may be serious consequences for us generation of cell phone users.

I'm no scientist and I was never good at explaining numbers and figures, but I posted a link which tells a little bit about these radiation levels known as SAR Levels. Take a look if you've got the time. You can look at a list and see your phone and it tells you how much of a level your phone is releasing. That is all.

Bloggin' Time : Quatro

With the Super Bowl coming this weekend, I figured this blog was a good one. Pepsi, for the first time in 23 year is not going to be advertising this year in the Super Bowl. Why? Do they not have the money? Oh, they've got the money. They've decided to go a different approach. Pepsi is giving away money this year. $20 million worth of money. Pepsi decided to go the social media route. If you click on the image above it will direct you to a website where you can view the organizations seeking these grants. Pepsi broke the categories up into six parts; health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education. Pepsi wants to have more one on one interaction with their consumers rather than using the Super Bowl as a connection tool. There are commercials for this program "Pepsi Refresh." A representative from Pepsi said that when people watch the Super Bowl, they are looking for entertainment. This program is serious and they felt this was not the audience for them. Also, to show a commercial twice would cost them $12 million alone. Rather than spending this money on a 30 second commercial, they would rather benefit others.

I chose this especially for its use of social media tools. All around us these days are social media websites such as facebook and myspace. This may be the new way of connecting with consumers and clients alike.

Bloggin' Time : Drei

So, I'm not a Dyson sponsor or anything like that (one may think since this is my second consecutive dyson blog), but I saw this in a mall and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Well, maybe not the coolest thing ever, but pretty sweet. Just like the last blog, this is amazing design. Kudos to Mr. Dyson! First, let me tell you my encounter. So, I'm washing my hands in a restroom and I see this box. I thought it may be a hand dryer, but at the same time never saw something that looked like this. Oh! It was made by Dyson! Of course it's a hand dryer. There is this gap in the box where you stick your hands and it automatically starts blowing air. Not like a regular air dryer. It's this stream of air. I don't know exactly how I feel about it though. It's not like it dries your hands any faster than a regular dryer, plus you have your hands in this box and you have to keep going in and out just to get dry. (imagine going through a car wash. even though the air is blowing on your car to dry your car, you still leave with a little water on it). So let's see. I think the design of this product and the technological part of this product is amazing. The air stream is my favorite. Although I don't think it works amazing, the concept behind the product is definitely something to look out for.

Bloggin' Time : Dos

I've always been interested in mid-century modernism. I guess you can say if I had the opportunity, I would love to fly into a time machine and go back to that era. Well, while looking at a modernist website, I somehow came across Dyson's bladeless fan. What?! A bladeless fan? I really don't know how long this has been out. Maybe I'm out of the loop and this has been out for awhile, but this is new to me. I am personally finding it hard to explain how this works exactly, which is why I posted a link to their website. Basically, airflow is amplified through an airfoil-shaped ramp to create a very smooth air current. A fan leaves ripples because of its cage while the Dyson fan brings out a smooth, cylindrical air current.
I chose to write about this product because of its design, plus a bladeless fan?! This fan, like many of Dyson's works are designed beautifully. Enjoy!

bloggin' time 1 : heat maps

i'm working on an identity for a client at work. i've already finished their logo and was working on a letterhead system for them. during my early phases i came up with some pretty nice ideas but they still needed some tweaking. my boss looked over my designs and started talking about heat maps. he mentioned to me that even though heat maps are mainly used for web use, they can be easily worked into print material as well. he told me to look at my work and view it as a heat map. see what is important and fix my work based on this "heat map." i started looking up heat maps, something i've never done before and found it quite interesting. a program is set up and a heat index shows what is most important on the site by sight. i looked at my letterhead system as if i was the heat map and saw what was important and least important. try it out sometime. no matter what a program may be used for can be beneficial in other ways as well.