ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS

MOCK UP....

i decided it'd be a good idea to have something tangible to really see the form of the five degree lounge so i built this little mock up out of card stock. it's always a good idea to build a simple model and it wasn't difficult in this case at all. this is at 1/12th scale.

5 DEGREE LOUNGE

i've really been wanting a nice lounge chair lately. the ideal would be just to go out and fliff 3k on the eames lounge chair but since i just found out i'm in the red that probably isn't really a viable option. so, i decided to start designing a cheap alternative. i plan on building a prototype using the cheapest 1" x 6" lumber i can get at home depot. i'm betting i can rough the whole thing out for under 30.00.

i spent a few hours today sketching ideas, and then into CAD. a few more refinements made it complete enough to throw into 3DS MAX for modelling of the geometry. once i cut a five degree jig, i should be able to cut all of the pieces using just a table saw (which luckily i have access to). for now i'll call this the 5 degree lounge. i plan to add some arm rests as well but wanted to make sure the ergonomics are correct before i get too involved in the details. i can't wait to sit in it! i'll let you all know when i'm ready to start taking orders. :)

FROM THIS....TO THIS!

i needed to help kir out with some graphics for a big event she has coming up. the idea is to have some postcards that can be folded into A-cards to put next to her amazing desserts! she gave me a photo of her logo that she had a local artist paint and i tweaked it and sent it off to the printer! even better it's multi use if she cuts them down the middle she has labels for her boxed goodies and business cards with her info.

the photo she gave me:

the post card design:

PHOTOSHOP GEEKERY... AGAIN!

RECENT PHOTOSHOP TINKERINGS

COMPOSITION 1

title: erik dragging a knee
media: marker on white cardboard w/ corrugation exposed
dimensions: 18" x 8"

COMPOSITION 4

title: pink floyd
media: latex paint on carved polystyrene
dimensions: 68" x 42"

COMPOSITION INSPIRED BY VIDEO

i took a video of a freight train in southern idaho and really liked the color that was on it. so, through a long process of capturing stills of each and every train car i converted it to a striped background (if you look closely you'll see that each stripe in the background of the image corresponds directly to one of the 67 train cars in the video. they're also in order.)

STYLIZING PHOTOS

i spent this past weekend in rexburg, idaho working on some rental properties that my parents own. it was good to do some physical labor and to see my parents and sister. i stopped along side the road on the drive back to logan and decided to take a few photos. i was inspired by the combination of colors i saw on the countryside.

i had this antique fan in the back of my car so i pulled it out and decided to take a self portrait with my digital camera. after a few attempts at setting the camera timer and then running into position i snapped this one which i liked the most.



i needed to crop it so i opened it up in photoshop. i was just playing around but one or two tweaks turned into many and i came up with a few different versions of the photo.

let me know which one you like best.


the effects on this one are subtle but i used gaussian blur to try to give the photo more of a in-focus/out-of-focus look. i am not sure but i think this might be called short depth of field. (maybe christy can comment on this). i also bumped up the saturation of the yellow weeds a little.


i tried to give this one a black and white film like quality. i used the same blur effects for depth of field but i also blew out the levels so that it would have high contrast. obviously i got rid of all the saturation as well. then i added noise to different areas of the photo to emulate film grain.


this last variation is kind of inspired by christy's photos taken with her holga camera. i subdued the saturation and added reds to the midtones to give it more summery/poloroid type of tones. then i created a few vertical blocks of varying saturation on top of that to give it that cool misaligned frame effect that you get with holgas.

SCHOOL BLOG

so this has been a pretty killer semester and now that it's over i guess i should document some of it.

the first project i worked on was for an IDEC competition. it was a group project and the emphasis was to make a small housing unit that is extremely affordable. this is basically low-income housing but we also needed to incorporate the principals of sustainablity. the boards that we ended up creating were completely hand drawn. i spent hours writing out the text and another person in the group did the renderings. the corrugated part on the bottom is where we actually cut the top layer of the cardboard out so you see the inside of it. i think it turned out well and hopefully we get recognized when the time comes to be judged.

the next project i worked on was for another competition called Tasmeem Doha. a partner and i had the task of coming up with a design concept to better the world. it needed to have something to do with shelter. we decided to take the vague nature of the design breif and keep it really simple. basically we want to create a blueprint for a container that can be used for a whole bunch of other things. we called it xix and we submitted a video i made using 3DS max. hopefully you'll get a good idea of what we had in mind by watching it (please do because i probably spent like 50-70 hours on it). we also made a custom CD case with some images and a simple built-in scale model of our container that could be assembled when you open the booklet. p.s. the music on the video is arms at akimbo, the band that we had last year. (i think we're re-forming after the holiday too.)

the project that followed was one i did on my own. it was to design a piece of furniture that had multiple functions. it was to be presented to KARIM RASHID and so i designed it in a similar style to his work. we were required to build a model of our design and so i used a rapid proto-typing printer. it's a basically a 3D printer that makes objects out of a starch. it's pretty cool but expensive. my model cost me about 100 bucks and wouldn't you know it, i dropped it and broke it right before i handed it in. i ended up gluing what i could back together and it looks alright. below you'll see some photos of it. i'm aslo including a video file that played in the box that it sat on and showed the various functions.

after that it was another group project. we were given a project that a SLC firm is currently really working on. the objective was to design a space for SUNSET magazine which is opening an office in downtown SLC. each person on the team did different parts of the project. i'm just going to post some images of the layout which i did. i also built a model of the reception area but i haven't photographed it yet. note: the white squares had material samples attached after the boards were printed.

the last project that i've worked on wasn't technically for school. it was for a design contest i chose to enter. the object is to design a DREAM KITCHEN that uses GE MONOGRAM appliances. a friend of mine won last year and bought herself a harley davidson sportster with the $5000. i could really use $5000 too so i figured it was worth staying up 3 nights in a row. here are the images that i came up with and submitted: