J2.Project 1. Inspiration

"Nightmares" by Eterna2 from Deviant Art

"Painted Roses" by Autonoe from Deviant Art

"Peril of the Guardian" by Alector Fencer

"Take me the Ship of my Dreams" by Osokin on Deviant Art

image search from google

"In This Land of Dreams" from Deviant Art (artist unknown)

google search image for nightmares

"Alternate Nightmares" by Gaarathehated; Deviant Art

google search of dream catchers

google search for dreams

I realized I never really posted the images I am working with for my project. So here are some of the ideas I am thinking about for Dreams. So above is the images I want to draw from.

A Little Creative Caffeine on Natural Hardening

I was trying to figure out how to make buttons for my current little pet project in materials (pun intended sorry folks!) and I wanted to keep the buttons made out of fur. It would be easy enough to model some out of bamboo or rock but what is the fun in that? So, I google'd how to make natural "plastics" and tried some at home. I am not really finished this little experiment but it was getting late last night so this is the progress thus far.

I guess you can call this the "making of" picture of the milk-based plastic. It smelled HORRIBLE (probably because I hate the smell of vinegar). Anyway, it was very think and crumble-y and not suited for this at all. I don't even think I could mold it into shapes. I have a few possible reasons in my head it didn't work; mostly I think there was not enough milk fat in the milk I used to produce curds. I am not sure exactly how it works but, let's just say this didn't. Also, it shrunk the wool ball by half it's size! That to me is a huge waste of fur.

This was fun. I took a homemade candle that I made a few days ago and impregnated the wool ball with it. It made the ball a little larger and it was pretty hard instantly. Foreseeable problem is cracking. I was hoping that my throughly coating the entire ball with wax it would fix this problem. I have to test that later tonight.

This one was pretty successful. It is just needle felted into a ball shape. I think its pretty nice and one of my favorites of the tests. It remains soft and easy to handle and retains roughly the same size and shape as the basic "felted ball". I am concerned about it breaking down with use though.

This is my favorite of all of them. It is creamer and lemon-juice "homemade plastic" (There is a video below of the making of). The plastic started out as a nice "paste" and you could just roll and squish the wool ball into it. It was nice and squishy until it started to harden. It kinda looked like a white milkdud when I was done (weird comparison I know) but, it seems the easiest to do and has the possibility for the most success I think.

***Update*** As of 8pm the cream-based plastic is still a bit squishy.

I tried to potato-based one. Basically it creates starch. I do not have an oven or the glycerin so I got a little creative and we will see how it goes.

Here is a little video of making cream-based plastic. Its just creamer (half and half) and lemon juice.

Home-made Plastics

I am trying to find a way to "harden" my felted buttons. I found a pretty neat site on how to make some homemade plastics with stuff found around the house.

http://howtomakestuff.com/2008/09/11/how-to-make-plastic/

I want to try the milk and the lemon ones. I don't think I will have access to the glycerin to try to potato one but that looks really fun and with my knowledge of biochemistry, I think it would be pretty strong.

Also, there is an artist making bowls out of vegetables. He uses some sort of "proprietary drying and forming technique" to actually make bowls out of carrots and some other vegetables. http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/30/edible-art-biodegradable-bowls-made-from-vegetables/

Even cooler then those, there is a race car made of vegetables that runs on chocolate byproducts! It can go up to 135 miles per hour (whoa!). http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/race-car-made-vegetables-runs-chocolate

How to Needle Felt

Just a video tutorial I found for myself on how to needle felt. I am trying to needle felt some buttons for my project and then I am doing a little creative caffeine on how to harden them and make them work as a button as well as what I can do with fur in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcfbgtyrz2U

I want to try using milk-based polymers to see if that is a natural hardener for the wool. I am thinking I can use it as a bonding agent and hardener for the fur and then mold it into a button shape. (http://www.hometrainingtools.com/article.asp?ai=1229&bhcd2=1266292360 how to link)

Catch-Up

After about a week of snow and barely any internet (to the point I am unable to open most webpages and actually see anything) everything seems to be back up! It has been an interesting news week.

The Olympics have started and before the opening ceremony an Olympic luger died (http://english.aljazeera.net/sport/2010/02/201021319333362528.html). They seem to have been able to go on afterwards but, this is something that bothers me. A lot of people have said that sports are getting to be unsafe. I am a Cheerleading coach for younger girls (7-9 year olds) and I see that in my own sport. They installed "safety padding" to make it safer but, I think its still dangerous. Sports in general are being pushed too far and athletes are becoming younger and younger. It leads be to question what is going to happen in the future. There needs to be a point where it stops or more and more people will be killed.

Next, the incident with film director Kevin Smith. I honestly agree with Southwest's policy of charging someone two seats if they do not fit into one seat (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/feb/15/overweight-filmmaker-banned-southwest-airlines). I mean I think it was handled badly, but if you cannot fit into one seat then you have to pay for two. It is no fair for the other person who is assigned the seat next to you if you are taking up a seat and a half. I just think that they did not handle it well when they informed him. It is not necessarily a 'flight risk' as they said to him. I just think he was wrong to take it the way he did. If he flies a lot he should know the policy. The airline should have informed him of the policy before he boarded though.

Materials- What is Material?

I figured it would be helpful to brainstorm about some materials and what materials means to me and what it means to our culture as well as types of Materials.

Wikipedia states that Material is:

"Material is synonymous with substance, and is anything made of matter – hydrogen, air and water are all examples of materials. Sometimes the term "material" is used more narrowly to refer to substances or components with certain physical properties that are used as inputs to production or manufacturing. In this sense, materials are the parts required to make something else, from

buildings and art to stars and computers.
A material can be anything: a finished product in its own right or an unprocessed raw material. Raw materials are first extracted or harvested from the earth and divided into a form that can be easily transported and stored, then processed to produce semi

-finished materials. These can be input into a new cycle of production and finishing processes to create finished materials, ready for distribution, construction, and consumption.An example of a raw material is cotton, which is harvested from plants. Cotton can be processed into thread (also considered a raw material), which can then be woven into cloth, a semi-finished material. Cutting and sewing the fabric turns it into a garment, which is a finished product. Steelmaking is another example – raw materials in the form of ore are mined, refined and processed into steel, a semi-finished material. Steel is then used as an input in many other industries to make finished products. In chemistry materials can be divided into metals and non-metals."

I think for the Materials course I am taking they are focusing more on raw materials. For example, the first project focuses on the use of raw materials from animals, plants and miner

als. I want to focus on the types of these raw materials that I could make myself, so there is a consideration of my technical ability, and also cost. From the little research I have done, they do not cost very much, however; I would love if most of my materials could be found around the home. It sounds weird I guess, but, I have been brainstorming a list of possible in house natural materials (dog fur, human hair, spider webs). I like art to fit within my budget and I usually assign a project a certain budget to follow (with my finances and also to make it more realistic in the terms of being able to be remade and possibly sold). Profit margins have always interested me, I work in retail so I hear about them a lot, so I like to keep in mind how much stuff costs vs. how much it could be sold for.

I was shopping around for materials I could use last night like roving made from silk worms, bamboo, sheep, alpaca, camel (to

the left, look at those pretty natural colors!) and the word "fiber" arts kept coming up. I have heard this word sooooo much, but honestly, I never looked into its meaning. So, again using wikipedia (I know they are not an authority, but I find their definitions to be less wordy and more understandable then other places) Fibers are:

"Fiber, also spelled fibre, is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread. They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissues together. Human uses for fibers are diverse. They can be spun into filaments, string or rope, used as a component of composite materials, or matted into sheets to make products such as paper or felt. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. Synthetic fibers can be produced very cheaply and in large amounts compared to

natural fibers, but natural fibers enjoy some benefits, such as comfort, over their man-made counterparts."

As for minerals, I looked up a definition in class the other day. For those that missed it minerals are classified as:

"A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. A rock, by comparison, is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids, and need not have a specific chemical composition. Minerals range in composition from pure elements and simple salts to very complex silicates with thousands of known forms.^[1] The study of minerals is called mineralogy."

I think I will list these as my "carve-ables" in my project. They are hard, geological forms that I think would be good to investigate.

J2- Brainstorming Project 1

Project 1: Series of Treated Metal Surfaces in a Theme, Concept Brainstorm

I was given a project in class yesterday to make a series of treated metal surfaces that portray a theme. I jotted down a quick list of about 20 different themes. I think three of them are pretty viable: Space, Childhood and Dreams. I am thinking about imagery but, I am also very concerned about presentation. I think that way you present something really makes a difference on how it is viewed.

Dreams-

I was thinking of the dichotomy between dreams and nightmares. The word nightmares got me thinking of dream catchers. They would make wonderful surface textures for some of my pieces, but, beyond that I was thinking it could also provide a mounting surface. If I made a large enough dream catcher it may be possible

to mount the pieces to it like the beads are placed on it. I don't think this is really a final solution but, I will keep looking into it.

The imagery of dreams would be quite interesting. I was thinking of mixing images of monste

rs with butterflies. The landscapes of dreams are usually very bright and co

lorful mixed with swirling patterns and shapes from all the pieces about dreams I could find. That makes me think of images of swirls and possible patinas that could be placed on the metal.

Space-

This one is more of a challenge for me to conceptualize. I seem to mix space and night together in my head. Images of galaxies

mixed with icons of stars and planets. I was also

thinking of the texture of the moon and the texture of a night sky. This leaves possibilities for soldier inlays and patinas (especially oxidation of the metal). I don't really know how I would present this type of imagery to be honest. It seems to present a challenge because of the vastness of space. It would be like containing all of space in a single form.

I was also thinking about the meaning of night. I could take this into a different direction and do the beasts of night. That could be an interesting mix of textures and forms as well as incorporating some of the iconography of stars and moons that I was thinking of before.

Childhood-

This was inspired by two images of butterflies that I saw while looking into the subject of dreams. Childhood presents a lot of different images depending on what gender the imagery is targeted for and what aspect of childhood you represent. I like the idea of mixing images of dolls with footballs. There are a lot of textures and things that could go into this as well. I was leaning with all my imagery more towards the side of whimsy and fantasy of childhood. The texture of a teddy bear or the wing of a bug would make very interesting textural pieces. There are a lot of bright colors and contrasting colors that could really lead to a lot of experimenting as well.

I was really inspired by the image above. It made be think of ways to represent forms without all the details. I think a soldier inlay of something like this would be very effective. As for presentation I was thinking it could be done in an introspective fashion. My initial thoughts are to mount them around a mirror of some sort, like onto a wooden frame around a mirror, so that when you look at the images you also have to look at yourself. I would hope it would provoke a retrospective of your childhood.

Just something to brighten your day <3

Ya know...MAYBE ITS A SIGN MS. DIXON!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-survey-results1206,0,4276214.htmlpage I think to myself today, Why is Sheila Dixon still in office. She was caught redhanded using giftcards to Best Buy and Target buying PERSONAL items that were seized in her home...yet she is still in office because she won't step down. The news above shows a slim majority that want her out and I agree with this article http://www.examiner.com/x-3108-Baltimore-Republican-Examiner~y2009m12d7-How-dumb-are-the-citizens-of-Baltimore ...HOW DUMB ARE THE PEOPLE OF BALTIMORE?

This weekend the Major's Parade through Hampden was greeted with the shouts of "Theif" and "Where are MY giftcards?" yet, Major Dixon sat pretty and waved to the crowd.
The statement that I most agree with "Sheila Dixon stole gift cards intended for poor children and she also had an affair with a married man. Yet many people claimed Dixon was a good, church-going woman. What church taught those ethics and morals? Was Dixon’s church located on The Block?" Now, I will be the first to admit, I don't like Major Dixon, never really have. And, this isnt the first time she has been suspected of doing something wrong.

When will she get that she was caught in the act and step down before it ruins her forever? Right now parading around like nothing happened is just angering people more. She needs to end this all now before it gets worse.

Homeless Veterans

Somethings make you wonder what is going on in the world. Recently in Chicago a homeless shelter was opened for veterans. It was not really even an article, more of like a blurb about it opening in the worldpress. http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1925052,homeless-shelter-veterans-120709.article The fact that we are allowing returning war veterans to go homeless is a crime. They fought for this country and they deserve more respect. Even if you oppose the war something should be done for them.

I also wonder about the training they are recieving in the military if they are unable to transition out of it into a stable job. My godbrother was trained as a plane and h-vac mechanic to which he still works in that field today. He left the marines as an MP only a few years ago. I wonder what changed to make it so that these men can't leave with a useable skill.

My other problem with this is, it is only a men's shelter. Now, I realize the military is predominantly male;however, there ARE women in the military. I am sure they are affected the same way these men are. How are they being helped?

Big Green Purse Project

I was reading the Baltimore Examiner online today and I came across an article about the women who won the trip to Copenhagen to talk at the climate meeting. She is a local mom, and founder of the Big Green Purse campaign. (http://www.examiner.com/x-17020-DC-Green-Living-Examiner~y2009m12d2-Send-a-local-green-mom-and-climate-activist-to-talks-in-Copenhagan article)

I did some research into this campaign and its pretty awesome. It's basically a grassroots idea to take $1000 of your household budget and devote it to green projects. If everyone did this it would compound into an astronomical effect. (http://blog.biggreenpurse.com/biggreenpurse/2009/12/vote-for-me-as-your-hopenhagen-ambassador-.html) Basically, this style is super effective. The way to change something is person by person. If this idea catches on like it has been it will create green "doorways" in every house to promote change.

I really hope this idea goes nationally. Even if you can't devote $1000, what about $100? Just changing your lightbulbs to CFLs would dramatically bring down electric costs! It's not just good for the environment but good for your wallet. In the long run all those "green ideas" will turn out to be very helpful. (Like composting and using it as fertilizer for some veggies maybe) Who knows!

Research of Lamps

The idea of recycled lamps is NOT new, however; the idea of using denim and bamboo is.
A lot of major design firms are working on sustainable or upcycled lamps.

Here are some examples from Droog. The 'Hang on Easy'N'Milk Bottles' They are all very strong compositions in the proportions and layouts of the lamp. The Hang on easy is actually my favorite. It has such a simple design and construction that would be very easy to make out of clothing that is starched. They have a lot more examples, but I find that most of them are created out of new materials, that are sustainable, or recycled pvc/plastics.

There are also many designers out there creating upcycled lamps out of discarded objects.

Below is from the site: Poetic Home Faux Lux http://www.poetichome.com/2008/09/23/fiat-lux-upcycled-lamps/

"Clockwise from top left: Upcycled vintage Tupperwares make cheery pendant lamps via Oak Boston; Chains and wire create a rocker style lamp via Etsy’s Swandieve; I always knew the Dutch were fabulous, and this great street lamp made of recycled soda bottles is another testament to their style via Flickr’s miek37; Reclaimed gear parts create industrial and stylish lamps via Etsy’s sksullivan667."

As for the creation of the light, it is not complicated to wire a lamp. The model I will be using for my project is very similar to what I wanted to create and its a fabric lamp. http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Fabric-Lamp/

As for my design, I researched a lot of antique lamps and found a few styles that I sketched out. I like how the lamp design I chose has almost a modern look to it and I liked the multied tier effect I there is from it.

Upcycled Clothing Furniture Creative Caffiene

For my third project in Social Design I wanted to make furniture out of old clothing specifically jeans. We learned in class that it takes a huge amount of pesticides and chemicals to make a single pair of jeans. In order to solve this and stay sustainable I want to take those "bad" materials and reuse them instead of throwing them away.

For my creative caffiene I wanted to see what had =been= done with upcycled denim already. What I found was that pretty much everything that had been done so far was a bag. Here are some of the products I found made of recycled denim:

For what I noticed with a lot of the images, the product was very crafty and very limited in the design. The idea of furniture breaks away from the simplistic image of demin bags.

Homeless, Who's Problem is it?

http://www.app.com/article/20091130/NEWS03/91130011/1007 I was reading this article I got off of world press. It talks about how there is a growing number of homeless families in N.J. with young children. It gives the story, or part of it, of Ms.Adkins and her two young children. They talk about how a startling number of cases are around like her story. Something happened the family ended in finacial ruin and she now lives in a homeless shelter. It is a sad story, but I generally do not pot blogs about something like this. Everyone knows there are homeless people.

What made me post this was the comments left on the article. Everyone was so quick to condemn the women because she was 'Ms.' Adkins. Apparently, it is her fault she is homless because she does not have a husband. The article does not mention if she was married at any point or what happened to the father of her children. I personally feel that it is wrong to say she is homeless because she does not have a man in her life. That is ridiculous! I also tend to find it wrong to automatically assume it is someone's fault they are homeless.

A few weeks ago my mom was at a McDonalds for breakfast and she met these two men that have been homeless for a few months. They frequent the Towson area and can sometimes be seen on street corners. They are hardworking and go every morning to Labor Ready (a non-profit day labour center for homeless men and women to find a job for the day) to get money for food for the day. If they cannot get a job that day they try to get some on the street. One of the men, Steve I believe was his name, was nice enough to share his story with my Mom who had offered to buy them some breakfast (and found out later afterwards it was this man's birthday as well). He and his son had been working hard to keep the house after his wife died. His son was still in H.S. at the time and he was working in a local Hospital. When the recession hit hard last year he lost his job, then his house and was forced to live on the street. Every day he goes and tries to find work like he did everyday for the last year. There just isn't any available for him (he does not have a college degree, nor is he any kind of skilled laborer). He was a janitor and there just arent that many positions open at the moment. He was a very nice man, and I hope the best for him. Right now they have a social worker on their case and I sincerely hope he can find a job.

My point is, I don't think anyone who is homeless should be condemned. You don't know who might be next, it may even be you. So what if she isnt married? There are HUNDREDS of single mothers in America doing just fine. Things happen that are out of our control that lead to consquences that may leave you homeless. So I ask, if someone is homeless, who's fault is it that they are homeless?

Converted Organics Inc.

http://www.stockhouse.com/News/USReleasesDetail.aspx?n=7540129

Found this while browsing worldpress.com, there is a company called Converted Organics Inc, where they take organic products and remake them into new ideas. This year they are introducing a line of totally organic fertilizers.

Okay, here is my problem! THIS IS GROUNDBREAKING??? I mean seriously this is not something new. They are taking old technology and bringing it back into a new world. But, I am not saying this is bad. I think its a step in the right direction I am just wondering why this is so huge.

Going Green has Benefits, Who Knew?

http://www.examiner.com/x-17027-Louisville-Green-Living-Examiner~y2009m11d18-How-going-green-has-huge-health-benefits I was reading an article on the Baltimore Examiner Online that I actually found through worldpress.com. It was talking about the benefits of going green. I found most of them to be scratching the surface of what we talk about in class, but there were some points that were brought up in there that I think gives this article some merit.

One of the major points they make it "buying locally", now I have to say a majority of this article focuses on the health benefits produced by "going green", but still! Its a start Baltimore. They also bring up how bottle water isnt all its cracked up to be which I think is something everyone should know. Before starting this semester I always drank bottled water (and occasionally I still will) but, with all the things that are used to make that bottle ect. I think its better to just carry my own bottle (not to mention that money it has saved me). It just doesn't make sense to pay for water when you think about it.

Final Design Research for Project 2

http://www.internationaloliveoil.org/downloads/Beijing_Conference.pdf
International Council on Eating Behaviors/Habits. They have a project called "EatWell" which doesn't tell you what to eat and what not to eat just tells you to be smart about how you do things. Gets away from scolding people which leads to eating disorders.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/11/07/schools_cut_times_for_eating_playing/
Boston Globe article about how they are cutting lunch time and play time to increase time in class. This makes kids eat faster. It teaches bad eating behaviors when you are young.
http://www.psu.edu/ur/2002/lunchschool.html
Kids are not being given proper time to eat and socialize leading to behavior disorders later in life.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-06/14/content_616624.htm
British "hour lunch" is more like 3.5 minutes of actual eating and the rest shopping and running errands.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2006-06-11-no-lunch-hour-usat_x.htm
LUNCHTIME ROUTINES
When it comes to eating lunch, workers concentrate on other things:62.7% of workers consider the 60-minute lunch hour the biggest myth in office life.57.9% eat lunch at their desk while continuing to work.55.6% multitask during lunch (28.9% eat and run errands, 26.7% eat and e-mail or shop online).51.8% take 30 minutes or less for lunch. 21.9% eat at a restaurant or other eatery.20.2% eat in the company cafeteria.

Test Flight Testing Budgets

I was browsing around Worldpress.com to see what was going on in the world and I found an ariticle about the $445m 6-minute test flight for a new NASA rocket. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/445m-for-nasas-sixminute-test-flight-1810900.html). As a lot of my friends know, I am a bit of a physics nerd. I love calculations and inventions and new ideas that could change the world but....

I have to stop and think for a minute. We spent $445 MILLION DOLLARS on a flight to test a new passanger space rocket during the recession we are in. I am the first person to tell you I love new tech, I just wonder if it is coming at a good time. People are always very apt in times of crisis to blame technology. I would hate to see the space program come under fire just because they are trying to experiment with newer faster programs.

I also wonder what they $445m could have been used for. 90% of that cost probably went into all those sensors that will take years to decode and analyze. After that they will most likely pay another $445m + on a new rocket.

Some of my Design Research for Project 2

So I have been doing some research on what has been done about positive eating/self-image and there is a ton.
One of my favorites is this commercial : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94c43AlwLKo&NR=1 There are quite a few like this so, it's not a super original idea I guess. I really how theyies. play with dual realities.

I also began by researching retouching models ect, which you can find on my creative caffeine.

There are hundreds of sites that advocate eating disorder awareness *just a few sites*:
http://www.eatingdisorderinfo.org/
http://www.eatingdisorderinfo.org/Advocacy/EatingDisordersAdvocacy/tabid/978/Default.aspx (They have a store but, it is just logos and text with their slogans)
http://www.mirror-mirror.org/eatdis.htm
http://www.nedic.ca/

All of these share the same things, they are all about awareness and having eating almost in a negative way. There are very few places I know that have a positive message about eating (www.slowlab.org) and their "Go Slow" like what was featured in the Pioneer's of Change in New York.

That's where I got my idea: promote good eating, not the negative side. Proper eating habits are not taught anymore because of the rush of business ect. School lunches used to be like an hour and now they are only 20 minutes. Everything is a rush.

So I decided to make a "tablecloth bag" dining set.
I could not find any specific "bag into tablecloth or blanket" that is commerically made. I know there have been blanket bags before though.
A lot of the design was inspired by Mio's Organic Hammock (http://www.casasugar.com/3060320) for Target. It is very sustainable however, there is a bag attached that it goes into. I wanted it to fold up INTO the bag itself.

The text the imagery I want to be very simple and basic. I used www.worldlingo.com to research the different languages and from what I can see they are pretty on.

Murder Trial

I sometimes visit Al Jazeera News to see what they have going on. They generally have some pretty interesting articles (Even if most focus on terrorism). Today, they have the follow up article to the stabbing of an Egyptian woman at a trial by a Russian man (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/10/20091026979199891.html). At the time the women was 3 months pregnant with her second child.

To make a long story short this guy came into court 200 days into a trial and stabbed this women. Al Jazeera has nicknamed her the "veil martyr" stating the defendant Alex W. stabbed her out of hatred for her being from a different culture. I find this quite funny seeing as he stated this as his reason yet he is a Russian-born man living in Germany. If he was doing this for the love of the mother country to keep out the impure races then why is he there even? He is not German, he has not right to stab people because they are not German.

I think it comes down to the fact he is a racist against the Muslim culture. It had nothing to do with her being Egyptian. It was the fact she was wearing the veil and clothing of a proper Muslim women. The media creates a fear and hatred of the Muslim Culture which was been present in Europe and Asia since before the Middle Ages. It has nothing really to do with her nationality or even her culture. It is an inbred hatred for the unknown.

Xerox Business in Decline

Today the New York Times reports the Xerox company is still losing business. They set this up to be two different social problems: the recession in America and a fear of new technology. Xerox in the last few years has tried to steer their business from the typical printers to full office solutions. They say companies in this economy are timid to try new things. I think that is not recession-related. I see people come in all the time trying new tech they are unfamiliar with. I think the problem here is branding. People know them for only one thing. It they want to increase business they need to change they brand image. If people know them as something other then a printer company I'm sure they will have better luck in business.

Do Good Design Reading Summary

Main Points About Designing and Designers from Do Good Design:
- Just like Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility: We as designers have a responsibility to our public with what we create. We have to take responsibility for the consequences of our designs.
- Not just about the design anymore but, about the ethics around the message you produce. You as a designer have a responsibility for the public you design for.
- "Imagine: what if we didn't just do good design...we did good?" motto for design
- The messages we put out will affect the generations to come.
- "It takes a village to raise a child. I would say that it takes a society to raise a generation."
- Watch the claims you make as a Designer!
- Example: Drink Milk, Enjoy Life. Does that mean if you don't drink milk you in turn do not enjoy life? What the message you send to people.
-Think how people are going to interact with your design
- Example: 2000 Election with the poor designed ballot. What if Bush was not elected President? What would have taken place or not have taken place?
- We as a culture are plagued with overconsumption which is driven by bad media
- "It is unfortunate that the culture that was the most influential of the 20th century also happens to be the world's most environmentally unsustainable."
- Media is everywhere you look and you are constantly bombarded with messages to buy and consume.
- The brands from the U.S. market their products outside of the U.S. when the marketing fails to work here.
- In cultures where negative health effects of products are not as well known, the products are more heavily marketed.
- Brand loyalty is a very powerful idea, it can sway a consumer.
- "Designers are at the core of the most efficient, most destructive patter of deception in human history."
- Example: Nike swooshes on everything now. Coke logo on billboards in Africa where people buy Coca-Cola instead of anti-malaria pills.
-Branding is everywhere you look now.
- Presidential-election speeches then and now. Used to be in Memorial Coliseum now, in Pepsi Center and INVESCO Field.
-Places are now trying to counteract overmediazation of society.
- No billboards in Vermont and Sao Pablo
-" Be careful what you create." Not only are you responsible but, it can have dire consequences.
-"[R]ather then sharing our cycles of style, consumption and chemical addictions, designers can use their professional power, persuasive skills, and wisdom to help distribute ideas that the world really needs: health information, conflict resolution, tolerance, technology, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, human rights, democracy...as well as share the antidote for the buying and spending virus for which all have not yet built up resistance."
-Sexuality and women have been used in marketing for years.
- The old adage "Sex sells" still stands in today's marketing strategies.
- Is it our responsibility to change the world? The change starts locally and move globally. The best way to effect change is to start at home and move outward slowly with positive messages.

Balloon Hoax

Okay after reading the article from Worldpress today about the balloon hoax (http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/world/world/general/balloon-boy-hoax-was-reality-tv-show-publicity-stunt/1653116.aspx) I feel sufficiently informed to weigh in.

I first heard about this in the break room of my work on Friday afternoon. That is when the mysterious video managed to surface of the couple watching the balloon take-off. From right there it looked extremely fake. If they thought there child was inside a balloon (FILLED WITH HELIUM NOT OXYGEN SO HOW IS HE BREATHING?!?!?!) why were they not trying to get him out? They were just standing there watching the balloon take off. Then, they said that the wife was supposed to have tethered the balloon down and they kids could ride in it. Okay, a little more plausible but still, why would a 6 year old be unattended in a balloon. While it's not hydrogen I'm seeing distaster.

Then, the way in which he called for help- The FAA, The local News, then the police. First off, I understand the FAA, he was in this field and knew that an unidentified object would normally be shot down which would probably not be beneficial for getting his son back. THEN THE NEWS THOUGH? What good would that do you? You need the police in this matter, not the news. Reporters would just complicate things. He claimed it was so they could track the balloon. I think that to be total hogwash.

Even on Wife Swap with the Heene's, Richard seemed a bit crazy if not bipolar (if you haven't seen it check it out on Hulu like I did a few minutes ago, its hilarious in its absuridity) they also have up the ridiculous music video they did of their children signing about how they are not pussies. I find the music video to be the most offensive if you ask me. http://www.theinsider.com/videos/2920762_Wife_Swap_Heene_boys_Not_Pussified_music_video

They are exploiting their children for more fame. They are failed actors and they are trying to milk the system for that its worth. This is an octomom event all over again. I pray to god they don't get a reality t.v. deal out of this.

Droog and the Cooper Hewitt

So to begin with, I decied to go to Droog's website. I have to say they have a lot of unique (and pricey!) designs. A lot of them to me were very decorative and unnecessary which was kind of upsetting after hearing so much about them. But, once I got over that, I discovered their "Straps". Okay, thats clearly awesome! They are these simple, giant rubber bands that you can use to hold things against a wall. It is so simple and clean and takes away those giant, clunky, hard or particle board shelving units you get from IKEA (and you could definantly make them yourself out of old bungie cords). There was also the tree bench (http://www.droog.com/products/furniture/tree-trunk-bench/) by Jurgen Bey. That is something I would personally want in my house. I have always loved going camping and sitting on logs around a campfire. It seems like a wonderful (and sustainable if the trees have already fallen) idea.

From there, I went to the Cooper Hewitt site which sent me to the Design for a Living World main page (http://www.nature.org/design/). The stuff there is just awesome. They have this Bamboo furniture that seems pretty sustainable. Basically, it uses steel rods (for the heavy load bearing furniture) and cut circles of bamboo as the main coverage instead of cloth. They even have a t.v. stand made out of a thick bamboo pole. I like the larger upper supports, but the chair I think could have been designed completely out of bamboo so that the wood did not look like just an addition to the rest of the design. Cloth is sustainable too they could have made a cotton and bamboo chair to the same effect as the other steel and bamboo and if the bamboo is thick enough like that one the cut to make the rings of the chair it would be very sturdy.

I also really like the cocoa maker. It is a metal shaft that you take this huge chunk on natural cocoa out this burlap case and scrap some of the cocoa into a cup with hot water. It then turns into a stirrer for the cocoa. It seems like its pretty well design and the graphic on the pouch and handle of the stirrer are very clean, neat graphics. I like how this site goes into the details and tells you all about how it was made and the cultural motives surrounding every piece. Everything was made to be sustainable and to carry a social message about the area it was designed for.

The Pioneers of Change/Dutch Design was very interesting too. There was so much there it is hard to list so I will quote NY400 here:

"Repairing instead of recycling, knitting a carpet with six foot long needles using wool from three kinds of Dutch sheep, elderly people slowly but attentively serving meals with smaller portions of foods from far away places and larger portions of those from nearby gardens, Dutch fashion designers collaborating with New York masters specialized in beads and lace together with students from Parsons The New School for Design, designers digging in local grounds to reveal differences in color and texture, movies about urban farming focused on New York, and left-over building materials collected over a month in New York available for creative re-use."
(http://www.ny400.org/events/ny400-week-pioneers-of-change)

Everything was about living life and taking it slow, making life sustainable for the future. It seemed like a great event and I am sad to have missed that opportunity. The Slow Lab seemed the most interesting (http://www.slowlab.net/) of the Pioneers of Change. I loved how it was about patience. That is something I don't see much in people anymore. I like the idea of being able to sit down and eat and being able to take your time and talk. It just seems like a nice change of the busy pace of day to day activities.

Nazi Gnomes

I don't know whether to find this funny or to take offense to it. In the New Zealand Herold (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10603559) ran a story about 1250 Nazi satire gnomes running in a display in German. One thing I didn't know was you are not allowed to display Nazi symbols in German. I am sure this is to keep the peace, but nevertheless it's an interesting fact.

The goverment of German is allowing the Army of Nazi Gnomes to be displayed because it is clearly a satire. I think its funny that you can't display nazi images but you can make fun of them. Isn't someone who is going to display nazi images gonna see the wrong message in these gnomes? I don't think there is a totally clear message in them. Plus, 20 are painted gold of the 1250 and the rest are black. I wonder if the 20 have any significance. The article wasnt very specific.

I guess this is just very odd to me. I have never been one for installations. They are neat and all but, I just lack a point in them I guess.

Jaime Salm: "Why I Love Design"

Last Thursday I was given the opportunity to talk to Jaime Salm and attend a lecture he was giving on Sustainable Design and Mio Culture. To start off Jaime Salm is an amazing man. His ideas are so inventive and fresh and brings up great challenges to the idea of sustainable design and solves with them great resolve!

Prior to the lecture I was working in 2006 on my pop-up lighting project for my Jewelry 1 class and I was trying to figure out how to make my design actually work as a lighting figure. It was very complex with a lot of cut-out shapes. Jaime suggested that I think of this project not just as a project for school but as a project of how to take a material that is eco-friendly and make it sustainable eliminating waste. He said in anything you design you should minimize if not eliminate waste from the design. I had not thought of this prior to talking to him but it is a great idea. Everything we make should be sustainable no matter what the project. That gave me the idea of changing the design so that the cut outs would function as different aspects of the light. Basically making the large cut out the stage for the light and the smaller cut-outs as pegs to hold the peice together or something of the sort. I had never thought of taking a project from school farther into the design process then "a project for school".

This led directly into what he was talking about in his lecture. Salm began his lecture with the introduction of his college thesis: Fibrid. Basically, he took pulp which is a rather ugly material and made it into stools. He was trying to make people rethink the idea of waste. He took three ideas into his design process:
"Extreme Users" --> use things in new/unique ways, how college students repurpose objects to fit their unique dorm room needs
"Extreme Technology" --> repurposing industrial technology to fit a new design need
"Extreme Materials" --> Turning waste into beauty
I like how he made everything into the extremes and took those extremes to create his thesis.
He then went into how his thesis turned into his career taking money he got from a consultation job making pulp signs for a company and put it all into the creation of Mio.

He said at one point that "an academic endeavor made Mio and a philosophical mindset drives it" everything about Mio is about making life sustainable. Jaime seemed focused on "designing your life" which is basically making a space around you to design and making your space sustainable. Sustainability seems to be the driving force in everything he designs or creates. Also, there seems to be a very complex work process. For every creation that comes out of Mio, hundreds if not thousands of "frankenstien models" (as he calls them) are produced. For the bendant lamp over 20 models were made to just get the design and that does not include the probably hundreds of paper models he made beforehand. He had a slogan which he had told to me while we were talking about my design and that is "test everything!". If you don't know how it is going to work you can't put it into action. So basically, the most important step in the process is to design and test everything you create before you make the final version.

He had a few principles that Mio is based off of that seem to drive his company that he brought up continually with everything he created. First off, waste = raw material. Anything that is waste can be repurposed into a new material for a new purpose. There is "no such thing as waste" to Mio. He also seemed to bring up that "users define sucess". You could have the best product in the world but in the end it is up to the user to define whether it is a success or a failure. Jaime also stressed that it is important to streamline the process. "Make it simple, Make is afforadable" was his motto. Make the best product that you can but, don't waste time doing it. Don't make the process so tedious that the end product is too expensive or too labour intensive to create. He says he is at a constant struggle of "Money vs. Idea". If users define success then you have to make it affordable for the user. In the end the user is the one that will be using/buying this product and it has to be something that will want to buy and use.

He is also leading the forefront for where design is going with "user-centric design". Basically, making products that the user defines what the end product will look like. I think this is huge. Everyone wants something different so why not let that person define what the end product looks like? I really want to incorporate this into my future products. He is also now very into "active sustainability" which is "a product that generates a positive and quantifiable environmental impact every time it is used". This takes the sustainability farther. It doesn't just have to be sustainable when it is made but sustainable for the life of the product.

I highly enjoyed this lecture and I think I will take a lot out of it in the future. I have been trying to think how to make my project 2 sustainable and my pop-up lighting have virtually no-waste. These principles I think are quite important to the future of design. I also want to start getting into user-centric design because I really think it has a lot of possibilities. I think that if users are allowed to interact with the design it will make the message all the more powerful and the object all the more enjoyable.

Creative Caffiene Project 2

Some of the images I collected as part of my Project 2 creative caffeine. I tried to research how much retouching is actually done in photographs for print campaigns because I am trying to do a print campaign about "true beauty" for my project 2. So without further delay here are some of the more impressive images:

Trading Missiles

To begin with I apologize for any major typing errors seeing as this is being typed on an ipod touch currently. Anyway moving on...I went onto worldpress.com in my free time this morning to see what was currently happening in the world. And, really not surprising, there was a list of the current bombings over the weekend. What really made me laugh was the way things were reported. The Khaleej Times (check them out if you haven't they have a very interesting point of view) reported of a Pakistani Bombing a Taliban settlement. The way it was written was actually quite neutral.

What made me almost laugh was on worldpress directly under it was "Taliban Bomb Pakinstani Marketplace, 41 women and children dead" from the New York Times. Okay people, we need a reality check. If you bomb a Taliban "settlement" you are killing women and children too. Over 31 men, women and children were killed in the Pakistani bombing of the Taliban villiage. I am not saying the Taliban are something good to be praised; however, there needs to be equal covereage. War goes both ways you can't pin murdering women and children just on one side. When American was in Afganistan hundreds of women and children were killed in raids, but all we hear/heard was roadside bombs killing U.S. soldiers.

When America can report both sides unbiased we might make progress. It makes no sense to create hate. Why can't we just report what happened they way it is not the way we want it to be?

Missing Blog Post from Project 1

Going back through my project 1 posts I noticed I missed the post of the list of activities and events that I saw on my day walking around of possible social issues. So, here is a typed copy of that list:

1. Traffic
a. people not carpooling
b. inconsiderate weaving in and out of lanes
c. gas consumption waiting in traffic
2. Students texting in class
a. wasting tuition money
b. disrespect to teachers
3. Isolation
a. ipods
b.culture
c.computers
4.Food Waste in the Dining Hall
5.Nutrition
a. easier to get snacks and fast food then hot meals
6.Towson not pedestrian-friendly outside of campus
7.Bathrooms
a. can never use the mirror girls always around it
b.crowded sinks
8. Trash on the field where we practice
a. people not be responsible for their environment
9. Girls growing up too fast
a. Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers shirts
b. little girls wearing makeup
10. glorifying crime
a. late night crime dramas
b. violent videogames

Women more likely to be hit by Cars?

I was reading an article on the BBC that I could not really fathom as being true. It was talking about how women are more likely to be hit by lorries in the UK.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8296971.stm.

I honestly don't buy their reasoning for this, however, it did get me to thinking about the way women's bikes are made. They think it is why so many women get hit and killed on them. I always wondered by male bikes have that bar that come up in the middle that would seem to be very uncomfortable if you hit a bump where as women's bikes sit lower in a more comfortable way. It seems like a very poor design.

Plus, I think what this article needs to research is the proportion of women to men that ride bicycles. It could be that more women are killed because there is significantly more women on bikes in the UK. I don't think this article is fully researched and to me has an undercurrent of sexism disguised loosely with facts.

EU Treaty

So, I like to see what's going in the rest of the world. It seems the European Union Lisbon Treaty might be passed soon according to the Germany Times http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8300311.stm. It amazes me that in 2009, almost 2010, we are still sorting out land in the aftermath of World War II. I know there is too much greed and the struggle for power in the world for people to be able to agree but this is one more step towards peace, or a temporary peace. I think that there would be a lot less trouble in the world if there was not this imperialistic attitude for land between nations. If we could all just be happy with what we have and not be so consumed with what we want the world would be a much better place.

Swine Flu Blog from Last Week

Apparently one of my blogs did not post last week, so I am going to repost it.

So, I have been very curious how the rest of the world is treating the swine flu pandemic (and yes folks like it or not its a pandemic). I wanted to see if it was just the U.S. media causing a stir or whether the hysteria had reached the other side of the world as well. I went to worldpress.com and I found an article about a women who was diagnosed with swine flu in vietnam (and died from it later that week)http://www.syracuse.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/international-10/1249376591320540.xml&storylist=international.

Honestly, they were just as bad as we are. Do you know that 3600 healthy Americans die every year of the regular flu? The swine flu is slightly more deadly with the chance of the secondary infection in your respiratory system. I think the world needs to take a chill pill. Many scientists have said "its not if the next pandemic is coming but WHEN it will hit". We are due for another pandemic and we can't put off the inevitable. People are going to die. Most don't know that pandemics are generally caused by overpopulation as natures way of culling off some of the herd. People just can't accept that one day their time will come. We can't live forever and we are not made to. Sooner or later our number will be up and we have to accept it. If my number is up this year due to swine flu then so be it. Its life people chill out!