Stupid Sign

The other day at work, someone asked me to post this warning sign.

I said no.  He asked why not.  I explained that it was unnecessary to post such a sign because it is universally understood that nobody should be eating or drinking poison or lead, regardless of whether or not it's in a work area.  He didn't see the humor or comprehend that the lack of punctuation and word placement changed the meaning of the sign or at least
opened it up to different avenues of
interpretation.  

I fixed it by changing the word placement and using hierarchy to make the meaning more clear and less funny to me.

Steve Martin

I just caught Steve Martin on the Colbert Report where he discussed his new book, An Object of Beauty. Just like Shopgirl, I knew that this would be a side of the classic comedian that I'm not used to.  Colbert described a recent event held at the 92 Street Y in Manhattan. Martin was there to promote his book and discuss art but the crowd wasn't happy with that. They wanted to hear about Father of the Bride, The Jerk, and Bowfinger.  Martin was even interrupted halfway through the event with a note requesting that he talk about his movies.  I'm not much of an artist nor would I pick up a book about art, but I also wouldn't be angry if I went to an art lecture and had to hear about art. It's sad that the general public is not only confused but upset about anything with more than one side to it. This article sums it up nicely. The Y even gave displeased attendees $50 certificates to make up for the disappointment of the event. Jeez!

iPad Light Painting Video

I came across this video made by people at Dentsu London and BERG. It's this innovative technique that uses an iPad to light paint single photographs which are then used to create stop frame animation. They use software to create a 3D image and then take what they call a virtual cat scan of the 3D image. They replay that image on the iPad and then drag the iPad in one direction which extrudes the single 3D animated frame as light in the photograph. I'm probably not explaining it as well as they do so definitely check it out.

I didn't make him up!

Last class you all saw my movie which featured the art and music of Daniel Johnston.  Amy asked if I had drawn the characters, probably because they looked like the handiwork of a five-year-old.  But no, Daniel Johnston is an actual artist and musician.  This piece uses the same song that I originally had in my movie.  I was using it as a backdrop for an original narrative that I wrote, but it is used here to narrate aspects of Daniel's life.  It's not really a linear narrative, but you can see how the lyrics match the selected pictures of him and his artwork.  I hadn't seen this before I did my movie.  It works much better here.

You'll shoot your eye out kid

Check out this is the classic scene from A Christmas Story when Ralphie is trying to ask Santa for that gun with a ridiculously long name reenacted in typography.  Since I started at UB, I've learned that kinetic typography is one of my most favorite things in the world.

Christmas List

Nobody really asks me what I want for Christmas anymore.  This really doesn't bother me at all - bring on the gift cards and/or cash.  I'm not picky.  Some people say an Exxon card is impersonal.  I see it as someone filling up my gas tank and that someone deserves a hug and a genuine, "Thank you!"  Anyhow, for any of you who still get Christmas wish list requests, here is a list of holiday gifts for designers, things you probably didn't even know you wanted.  Or, these may be some ideas for designers that you're buying for.  And here's some fun stuff for writers.  Most of the stuff for writers are goofy, but the practical gift lists were just a bunch of books and pens.

Futurama eyePhone

I was diligently working on school assignments in my room, as usual of course, while my sister watched Comedy Central in the living room.  I overheard what I thought was a commercial.  A voice said something like, "With the new iPhone, you can stalk your ex or even download porn on a crowded bus."  I thought, "Wow, Apple is really switching up its advertising theme."  Then I realized that this was not a commercial but an episode of Futurama where Fry, Bender, and the rest of the gang all get new eyePhones.  I watched it later on Hulu and I thought it was hysterical.  You can read about it here.  This is Fry having is eyePhone programmed.

 
 

Before & After

I'm slowly getting used to the blogosphere and have been putting together a collection of reference sites.  I found another blog that I think will be helpful for me in the future.  Before & After is "dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful, and even fun for everyone."  It probably is rather elementary to many of you in the class with more experience than myself in graphic design, but we all will eventually suffer from a case of designers' block and I think this back to basics site might come in handy one day.

Jessica Biel warfighter pics?

All of the ex-military personnel in my office were up in arms this week about an e-mail that went around with specs for and pictures of three carriers and the new fighter jet.  Apparently, all of the pictures in the e-mail came from the movie Stealth which stars Jessica Biel.  All of the specs in the e-mail were accurate.  The images, too, were the described crafts; but they were all shots from the movie.  The information was true but the origin of the photos was intentionally left out.  Recipients of the e-mail felt that their intelligence was underestimated.  Not to mention that they were all totally annoyed with the guy who sent this to everyone on the base.  I guess the moral of the story here is to be aware of your audience - something I know we've gone over a thousand times.  This case illustrates that your audience is the key to you not looking stupid.  Because the person who sent this e-mail?  He looks really stupid.