:: ( CRIT ) :: DESIGN BLOG ::

Life Imitates Video Games

I am happy to see yet more proof that design can touch someone's heart, as evidenced by this little sculpture. Creators of the Katamari video game series will be pleased to see their work painstakingly recreated in the real world by Jennie Maneri using items found in dollhouse supply stores, hobby shops, and other items she hand made. For those that don't know, the Katamari series is based around a little alien prince that gets sent to earth by his demanding father to collect things using a small sticky ball. During game play, you are the prince, and you roll your sticky ball around collecting things that range from small thumbtacks to entire planets. It's incredibly fun, and incredibly cute, spawning many Katamari fanatics across the globe. In terms of video game culture, this game has definitely made a huge mark. One of the key features to Katamari's widespread success is that it's very easy to learn — yielding a relatively wide fan base— yet it takes much skill and practice to master. Jennie's "real-fake katamari" is testament to the creators' success in creating a cultural moment that goes beyond game play itself.

P.S. The little prince you see poking out in the first shot was made by our own Josh Hester!

Your confidence is my respect

As I write my first post on this blog I am listening to Radiohead's new album "In Rainbows". On October 10th, 2007 at 2:29am U.S. time I received my link and I downloaded my 48.4Mb Zipped album from www.inrainbows.com with lots (LOTS) of excitement. It was the first time in my life I was paying whatever I wanted for a product that was for sale. I remember never being as excited as I was about listening to a recently purchased album. I imagined the rest of the fans listening to the first track "15 Step" on the album all at the same time. I don't feel like "lending" the album to a friend because they will miss the opportunity of feeling how I felt by purchasing it themselves at the price they decide.

The CW and The Feed

I’ve taken to watching television online. An increasingly busy schedule at school and various personal obligations mean that I am rarely, if ever, at home during designated primetime hours. Rather than plunking down a couple large for a DVR box, I’ve opted to download torrents of my favorite shows or track them down on their respective networks’ websites. It’s no muss with only a modicum of digital fuss.

Most of what I watch is quality stuff; strictly highbrow, critically acclaimed, narrative-driven stuff, OK? And I say that only because in order to tell this story, to tell it right, I have to admit a shameful secret. Here goes. On Thursday night…ahem…on Thursday night my wife Claire and I watch Gossip Girl on The CW. Life can’t be all Chelsea galleries, MoMA Design Store fetishizing and heady debates with classmates about typographic fluency. I need a little low culture with my advanced degree. And we only suffer through the show for Kristen Bell’s narration because we can’t have her on Veronica Mars. And, um, we watch because one of these days the network programmers are likely to slip and just run an unseen episode from a heretofore-unfilmed season of Gilmore Girls. Right? It could happen!

Best of the Next

Last week, some of our distinguished alumni were selected by a number of design icons to participate in 20/20 at the AIGA's National Conference. Continuing the tradition, 20 under-thirty folks were asked to present a 1 minute film on the conference's theme "What's Next?".

In some particular order (alphabetical that is), Masood Ahmed, Ryan Feerer, Naz Sahin, Serifcan Ozcan and Amy Wang made us all proud.

Cut&Paste, NY

On Saturday night, the third annual installment of Cut&Paste, the live digital design tournament, blew through New York. Having read about the event and breathlessly watched Internet coverage in the past, this year's tournament was can't miss for me. Asking my non-design friends to stand in a crowded theater for three hours and watch nerds draw lines on four simulcast projection screens would have been met with derision and a lifetime of shame-based ridicule. But, as luck would have it, I just began the MFA Designer as Author program at SVA, so there was no shortage of like-minded comrades to attend the show with me.

Cut&Paste is a live design tournament that pits eight pre-selected designers against each other, tournament-style, mano y mano, Wacom y Wacom. Over the course of three 15-minute rounds, contestants must compose a still image inspired by a common theme, using the typical tools of the trade (Adobe and Wacom are two of the global sponsors, so each designer was kitted out with CS3 and Cintiq displays to get the job done). The designers are also allowed to bring in approved objects that can be photographed and incorporated into their final design.

Archived Interview with Tibor Kalman

One of my favorite discoveries this summer has been the video archive on the Charlie Rose website. As a regular viewer of Charlie Rose on Thirteen weeknights at 11:00pm, it's been a real joy to pour over his old interviews or catch them if I happen to miss a show. It didn't take me long to find an hour long interview with the late Tibor Kalman taped just 5 months before he passed away. In the interview they discuss his work at M&Co and Colors, and among other things, the benefit of naiveté, the use of vernacular, as well as the interesting story of his family escaping Hungary in the 50's. It is truly a testament to Tibor Kalman's wit and humor, and wonderful way to spend an hour.

Also, interviews with Bruce Mau, Calatrava, and a whole host of artists, architects, and thinkers are available to watch as well.


 

Designing for a Marriage: The Ketubah

The business of weddings can be a confounding time for the high-minded designer. Amongst our peers, we can discuss our aesthetic aspirations for visual communication, but when it comes to picking out materials for a marriage, it’s hard to find decent, forward-thinking objects. I’ve encountered this many times over the past six months as I’ve been assembling my own marriage; sometimes you have to pick your battles. When the task of finding a Ketubah (a Jewish wedding contract) was presented to me, I dashed to see what I could find outside of the wedding factory.

Broadcast: Maira Kalman talks MFA Suitcases

Enjoy listening to Maira Kalman chatting with Steven Heller on Core77 regarding her Suitcase Project. Maira has been working this semester with the MFA Class of 2008, developing suitcases that serve as "vessel[s] for a story"...

Big Pimpin'

Photo courtesy of saloon.com

Recently, I’ve taken an interest in custom car culture. I’ll admit this was initially inspired by one of my favorite TV shows, “Pimp My Ride”. What I find interesting is that this trend began in the 1940s and 50s as a reaction against the conformity of the time period by flamboyantly expressing individuality through custom cars. According to Tom Wolfe, “[the automobile is] the only uniquely American art form.” The use of a car as a canvas was the perfect embodiment of this rebellious streak amongst a culture felt to be boring and “square” during the post-war years. The work of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, one of the pioneers of car customization, has had a tremendous ripple effect throughout popular culture in ways that are pretty mind-blowing if you don’t already know who he was.

Flash forward to today. This month’s issue of I.D. magazine looks at the revival of ornamentation in contemporary design, and posits that it can be understood as a reaction to Modernist sensibilities which are now associated with large, conformist, and cold-hearted corporations. Ornamentation and customization are seen to go hand in hand in emphasizing intimacy, individuality, and emotional sensitivity.

An Infernal Cover

If you've seen Martin Scorcese's Oscar winning The Departed, you may know that it was based on Infernal Affairs, a Hong Kong film from 2002 about an undercover cop who infiltrates a gang and a gangster who becomes a mole in the police force. The two end up going after the other while trying not to be found out by their respective employers. Although I could write a glowing review of it, I'm actually here to talk about the graphic design of the DVD cover. Pictured here is the American version (taken from amazon.com.) It's awful.

The Decline of the Great Rock Album Cover (or, Beck Rises Like a Phoenix)

Last semester, one of our teachers, a designer who created some of the more iconic music packages of the past 20 years, declared that “music is dead.” Despite my initial shock of this pronouncement,  I considered the statement, and hoped that he meant only the mass medium, the compact disc. After having been involved in playing music and designing albums for over a decade, this news made me a bit melancholy. CDs might be dead, but do we have to throw out album art with the bathwater?

RANTS + RAVES: A Review of the WIRED Magazine Redesign

By Tamara Gildengers Connolly & Joshua Hester

There is something about the heart and soul of WIRED Magazine that has made many people devoted readers. What helped forge this following was the magazine’s maverick, highly intelligent voice, and its reporting on topics not dealt with in others magazines — if there was crossover with other publications, it would be months or even years before anyone else covered it. This gave readers an edge in what they knew. The design of the magazine, for the most part echoed this character. Recently, the magazine has gone through a redesign, and it seemed about due, but as we know, changing something familiar and loved and having a good outcome is a slippery proposition. At first glance at the new design, our knee jerk reaction was, “What happened to our beloved WIRED Magazine? It’s new, and ‘improved’?”

Mishmash!

Sometimes, it is hard to concentrate on one idea. At the moment, that is because this past month has been a sensory explosion. From working on my thesis to figuring out what to eat at each meal, an amalgamation of new visual experiences has awaited me at every corner.

Or is it just all the new recipes from the cookbook that I got over Christmas?

Cooper-Hewitt Triennial: In 500 words or less

Review by Joshua Hester, our newest writer.

A few weeks ago, a few of the first years and I went up to see the National Design Triennial entitled “Design Life Now”, going on at the Cooper-Hewitt. If you live in or around the New York City area, or are planning to visit, I urge you to go check it out yourself. The show will be up until July 29, 2007, but that time will fly by fast. The exhibition features the works of eighty-seven artists and companies in all, running the gamut from architectural and industrial design, to print and product design. I’ll go through a few of my favorite works and give a couple of comments (a la crits!) about the show overall.

I start with the designs of Ransmeier & Floyd, whose works with everyday objects were quite beautiful. They begged to be interacted with, which unfortunately (yet understandably) isn’t allowed. Even so, I felt this was truly a shame especially since their products are meant to be used everyday, like the Gradient Dish Rack, or The Crop bookcase that hides the top “rag” of each book, making them all the same height (truly a “by designers, for designers” product).

A few of the works were interactive – most notably for me, J. Meejin Yoon’s Low Rez Hi Fi. Her piece was a wall with a grid of small lights that reacted to a person’s movements similar to a mirror. What I discovered standing in front of it is that her piece reads black as a neutral background color. Since I was wearing my black pea coat, it only showed by head and hands, until I would open my coat quickly, almost like I was flashing the piece.

I’d also like to point out the overall lack of pure typography within the exhibit. Sure, there were many amazing posters and book designs featuring great use of type, both designed and handdrawn, but the only example of a typeface that was featured on its own was the one designed specifically for this exhibit – Clash by the designers at COMA. Clash and Clash Sans were used for the signage throughout the entire display, which actually made it harder to read than anything else. The mixture of serif and sans serif worked well for the titles, but not at all for the descriptions of the pieces. It was almost like they were challenging us to read quickly before moving on to the next display.

Lastly, I want to mention the ever present nod to Deborah Adler, whose ClearRx piece was featured in the “medical breakthroughs” section of the show. It was funny to see her final SVA MFAD thesis project behind glass, along with the final Target bottles that she helped to develop and think, “No pressure thinking of a thesis project, Josh... no pressure.”

A Little Book Review and a Nice Walk in the NYC Printing District

I was perusing around Barnes and Noble last week and came across a sweet little book in the "New York" section entitled: The Curious Shopper's Guide to New York City: Inside Manhattan's Shopping Districts (by Pamela Keech, published by The Little Bookroom, September 2006). The shopping-loving Newyorkophile in me was compelled to flip through this publication, not just for the title alone, but because of the charming design. The Curious Shopper's Guide is a small, 4" x 4" square book with a fat page count of over 300 pages and cute, silhouetted photographs of everyday objects that wrap around the covers. Each silhouette has the name of a New York shopping district subtly printed below it, and the publication's interior is neatly typeset with crisp photographs of various stores and objects. Upon noting the pleasantly variant design from other publications in the "guide book" category, I flipped to the title page to see who did the art direction. I was not surprised to see the designer was Louise Fili Ltd (the lovely title script and delicate, clean typography could have tipped me off).

Form Follows Feelings

Guest Editorial by Matthew Tait.

When the NASDAQ famously nosedove in 2000, so plunged our faith in the simplifying, liberating promise of new technologies. Technophiles became technophobes, counting the ways in which computers actually made life more complicated and confined their users. If anything, this cynicism has deepened among technical journalists -- new trends are often reported in terms of the old trends that they disrupt. "The web is a serial killer," the Economist declared last week, "and television's next."

So I was pleasantly surprised to encounter, just last week, some downright old-fashioned technological optimism. In their European design survey, The Frankfurt Museum of Applied Art anticipated a bright new design era, with digital technology unshackling industrial design from the chains of practicality:

Wordplay: The Ultimate Grid Design

Watching Merl Reagle construct a crossword puzzle in the documentary film Wordplay, I witnessed 20th century entertainment sketched before me in gorgeous black and white. Reagle is a professional Crossword Costructor, and his puzzles often appear in the New York Times, edited by the now-famous Will Shortz.  As Reagle fills in squares on the grid with his pencil, he recounted the rules of crossword design that were developed and honed by the first NY Times puzzle editor, Margaret Farrar, aka “The Mother of Crossword Puzzles.” In shorthand, the rules are as follows:

- 1/6 of the Diagram is black squares
- All words are interlocked, no islands
- No 2-letter words
- The design is symmetrical (same design when turned upside-down)
And most importantly:
- No bodily fluids or functions; no one wants to find the word “ENEMA” over coffee and eggs, as Sunday morning tends to be the biggest audience

As  I watched Reagle sketch out his word map, I thought of the crossword puzzle as the basic premise for an interactive design. The designer is presenting word questions in the context of a visual landscape. And the audience, if they can remember a seven-letter word for the “bow-legged comic of classic films”, will be amused, challenged, and ultimately finish the game that the designer started.

The movie treats its puzzles (and puzzlers) with sincerity, and a sense of humor; Will Shortz grins at the audience of the 28th annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament with an elfish “I-can’t-believe-I’m getting-away-with-this” charm. And as the second half of the movie works its way into the Crossword Tournament’s last three players, adrenalin rushes (in a seated, Sunday-morning-coffee manner), and we are all caught up in the sport of trying to finish the unfinished design.

Got the Porno Look?

Got your attention? Good. Rick Poynor recently gave a lecture about the basis for his book, Designing Pornotopia: Travels in Visual Culture. According to Rick, pornographic imagery has become increasingly abundant in our visual culture and is affecting the way we see. It is affecting what we consider acceptable to look at in a public realm, the sexual development of today’s youth, and the way we design.

Steve Brodner Writing (and Drawing) From Turkey

"In the morning I and two of the cartoon award winners were interviewed by a reporter for the Huyyiat Gosteri. Problem was he only spoke Turkish. The other two spoke Farsi and Polish. Only the reporter had an interpreter. It went like this:

Reporter: What is the state of cartoons as you see it now?

Amin: Cartoon is . . . good.

Pawel: Having cartoon is getting idea to other person. It is good.

Interpreter: Cartoons are good.

Steve and interpreter: (Laugh)"

The Brooklyn born, Cooper Union-educated political illustrator Steve Brodner has been making visual statements for thirty years. He has contributed to the National Lampoon, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, and Spy. Actually, this brief description doesn't do justice to the amount of work Brodner has done and made, which includes a film and teaching at the School of Visual Arts. Click here to read his bio and when you're done, visit his blog, from which the above passage is taken. He's blogging from Istanbul—"my way to relax," he says over email.

Naked and Clean

Squint-eyed stupor, coffee brewing with the laundry basket freshly stuffed beyond capacity. The morning routine is one that yearns for consistency. The right foot is the same foot and getting off on both of them is the first step in directing a day toward a fulfilling sequence of seconds come minutes.

Prior to wheat-pasted posters prodding peripheries, hours before blog sidebar ads and AdWords pummel my well-intentioned “research,” I typically launch the breaking day with a hygiene routine. Unscrew the cap on the Tom’s of Maine. Squeeze it onto the Oral-B. Twist the Moen, lefty-loosey, to find the comfort balance between warm and cold.

The Designer as Geek

When Rick Poynor came by last week to speak to the class I happily fetched my copy of Designing Pornotopia: Travels in Visual Culture and had him sign it. Last semester I did the same with Matthew Carter and his book, Typographically Speaking: The Art of Matthew Carter. And roughly around the same time, I met Jonathan Hoefler of the Hoefler & Frere-Jones type foundry; I openly gushed over the typeface Requiem like a fanboy and chatted with him like a film student meeting Scorsese. If that makes me a design geek, so be it.

But there's a line I won't cross, and that's wearing graphic design-themed clothing. Let's look at a few examples. Those of you who visit the design blog Speak Up have probably noticed, in the upper left corner, advertisements for clothing by Veer. Take a minute now to visit its store and when you've looked around a bit come back here.

Can a T-Shirt (Ipod, Watch, Phone, Credit Card or Sneaker) Change the World?

On Friday the 13th, 2006, (PRODUCT)^RED launched in the United States. Originally launched in the UK earlier this year, and created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, the (PRODUCT)^RED brand aims to raise awareness and money for the fight against AIDS in Africa by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands. Essentially, (PRODUCT)^RED has partnered with a few high profile companies, from Apple to Armani, to produce (PRODUCT)^RED branded products. A portion of profits from each (PRODUCT)^RED item sold will go directly to the Global Fund to invest in African AIDS programs, with a focus on women and children.

In design or out of Control?

Janet Jackson has returned to the music scene with her new album, 20 Y.O., which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the release of her breakthrough album, Control. Part of yet another innovative marketing plan to promote and sell a new album, Janet Jackson and her team decided to let a fan design the new album cover. Four designs were selected as the winners and were used for a limited edition run of the album. Ms. Jackson stated that she did not want to set any parameters for the design, that the people who submitted work were free to get creative.

Semi-what? And Ethno-huh?

As designers we often need to research what is being done in areas related to whatever project we are embarking on, and consider the stylistic trends and visual codes that might be at play. About six months ago I had the pleasure of working with a team of contemporary culture and marketing experts, as well as designers, on an 8-week project that analyzed emergent stylistic trends delving into the overlap of semiotics, design, and marketing at a depth and range I had previously never encountered. Needless to say, it was quite an illuminating experience. I found it highly pertinent to my work as a designer, and for that reason, I wanted to interview one of the key players, Cate Hunt, in the project as a means to share some of this thinking with our Crit readers.

10 Things You Can Do to Overcome Designer's Block:

1. Look for inspiration in vintage wallpaper patterns on www.secondhandrose.com.

2. Oogle at amazing animation and Gael Garcia Bernal in "The Science of Sleep".

3. Transform your sketches into 3-D with Smooth Teddy.

4. Go apple picking—tis the season! (If it doesn't help with the design block at least you can breathe in some fresh air and snarf down apples straight from the tree.)

5. Track your progress and other life goals with Joe's Logbook.

6. Browse through a collection of instructional drawings on Flickr.

7. Check out the Droog Design Exhibition at the Museum of Arts & Design (through January 14, 2007).

8. See examples of how the dashed line has transformed design.

9. Use this personalized "recommendation visualization" interface for music playlists.

10. Chronicle artist Ellie Harrison's thoughts curated by the type of tea (or other hot beverage) she drinks. (Lara, you will like this one!)

* and if all else fails, go to Jaques Torres in Tribeca and have the big, gooey chocolate chip cookie. I promise it will make you feel better :)

The Art of Concert Posters

Guest Editorial by Jeffrey Everett

I recently read an article on "Design Stars" in STEP magazine that made me perk up. The interview with Marty Neumeier (author of the wonderful "Brand Gap" and head of Neutron LLC) was a discussion on the Rise and Fall of the Design Stars and the importance of design, product, and society. In the interview, Mr. Neumeier makes the claim that the decline of the design star is because the general public does not focus on the designer per se, but is more focused on the product. "....I probably don't know that Stefan Sagmeister designed the packaging for my Rolling Stones CD. I'm focused on Mick Jagger, so I don't bother to learn Sagmeister's name."

10 Things You Can Do With Design This Week

1. Double your credit card as a money clip

2. Let New York City be your playground at the Come Out and Play Festival from September 22-24

3. Get free wireless access anywhere in the world

4. Check out an online catalog of old design ephemera on Flickr

5. Watch a guy from Colorado navigate the streets of NYC as a cab driver at the Gypsy Cab Project

6. Vote for your favorite nominee in the Cooper Hewitt People's Choice Design Award

7. Use the itbox to organize and decorate your space

8. Join four million people in listing your possessions at zebo.com

9. Go to the AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers of 2005 exhibit in New York City from September 21-November 22

10. View outdoor photography by Chuck Close, Mitch Epstein and Dayanita Singh in Madison Square Park

Pure Motion: The Miami Vice Title Sequence

An effective title sequence teases us, whets our appetite, establishes the mood. It provides us with a hint of what's to come and presents the players. it is worth watching on its own yet is always in support of the feature.

Last semester for an exhibition design class I built a nine foot tall mock-souvenir booth inspired by the television show Miami Vice, a crime drama which debuted over twenty years ago but whose cultural impact can be felt today through its distinctive and innovative blend of music, style, and art direction. As part of my research of the show I watched old episodes and was struck by how good the title sequence was. For a show that's now ridiculed for its dated look and sound—its pastel suits and 80s synthesizer music—the title sequence is remarkably timeless for those who can look beyond the faded colors and specks and dust of the transfer. It is also highly effective, engaging, brilliantly simple, and conceptually smart.

Trees in Times Square: The Urban Forest Project

Design Times Square: The Urban Forest Project brings 185 banners created by the world’s most celebrated designers, artists, photographers and illustrators to New York’s Times Square. Each banner uses the form of the tree, or a metaphor for the tree, to make a powerful visual statement. Together they create a forest of thought-provoking images at one of the world’s busiest, most energetic, and emphatically urban intersections. Following their display, (September 1–October 31, 2006) the banners will be recycled into tote bags and sold at auction, with proceeds going to scholarship and mentoring programs that benefit students of the visual arts. Some banners embody visceral responses to pressing environmental, political and social issues. Others use the evocative power of nature to develop rich patterns and abstract forms that delight the viewer. All contain passion, thought, and energy—qualities that only emerge when the world’s finest creative minds apply themselves to a brief they truly believe in.

Text from the Urban Forest Project, sponsored by the AIGA New York, the Times Square Alliance, and Worldstudio Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is social change via design and the arts.

Pictured: Rozina Vavetsi's banner: "It's a jungle DOWN there. New York's subway system is a subterranean jungle of branches and nodes, and this is depicted as a subway map forest."

Periodically Speaking

I like surprises. A lot. Who doesn't?

Unexpected cards, exciting emails, and opening the mailbox to see a magazine. I anxiously fight to slide some not-so-perfectly (but perfect for me) perfect-bound pages out of the box that's twenty percent too small for my hands. I'd say it shines, but it doesn't really. Mostly, it smells like the plastic bag that protects it through it's journey. A piece of petrol-derived waste I hate but am more than willing to carelessly trash to get my eyes on the edge-crinkled pages inside.

Shades of Gray

Last weekend a few friends and I were discussing the recent trend of Lower East Side locals wearing the Keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress, as scarves, skirts, or other fashion accessories. Keffiyehs are generally white, square, cotton cloths that are wrapped around the head in various styles, but many have a checkered pattern in red or black stitched into them. The black and white checkered style became especially well-known during the 1930’s as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, and continues to be associated with Palestinian political sympathies.

One of my friends (an American who just returned from a year studying Arabic in Egypt as part of a foreign affairs graduate program) argues that the adaptation of Keffiyehs as a fashion accessory by young hipsters is insulting and irreverent because many of them do not really understand what the Keffiyeh stands for, namely a show of Arab solidarity. He likened this fad to the trend of Che Gueverra t-shirts, which many people wear because it represents the concept of revolution, not because they actually know anything about Che Gueverra.

Although many young adults only have superficial knowledge of these symbols, is it wrong for them to adapt such icons into the realm of popular culture and potentially create alternative meanings? Are these manifestations different than other culturally specific iconography that has been integrated into western fashion and design, such as bindis, saris, or tiki imagery, because they are so politically charged? Furthermore, what is the responsibility of designers when referencing such culturally and politically sensitive material?

Brand Allegiance

Two weeks ago, we reviewed a pre-holiday break project: to redesign the packaging of a supermarket product. During our discussion, Milton Glaser insisted that what really needs to be communicated is reliability and trust. A food buyer, consciously or not, wants to know they’re getting what they got before, whether that be a cheap box of chocolate covered peanuts, raw baking ingredients, or a jar of organic soup. When it comes to eating, we may want to try new things, but we certainly don’t want to try something bad.

He brought to our attention the nebulous thought of brand allegiance. It’s not the idea that’s so fuzzy, the committment to a brand, but where it originates. Really, where does it come from? Milton mentioned ketsup as an example. If you use Heinz catsup as a child, you end up using Heinz katsup you’re whole life. Hell, my last hame is Hunt and I always used Heinz katsup. Needless to say the condiment example is my childhood carryover to a T.

I started to consider what my brand allegiances are, the obvious and not-so-obvious, and why they may be.

Where to begin...

The year is new and for many it signals time to make changes, set goals, and find “new beginnings.” Changes for the better—that’s what we’re working for all around, right?

There’s something I’m not planning on changing anytime soon. It’s seemingly insignificant, and that’s precisely why I like it.

Each time I open my web-browser I see nothing but a blank page. I’ve no home page configured in any browsers, and for some reason it gives me great satisfaction. Perhaps its the visual breath of fresh air, maybe it’s feeling in true control of the content that I’m curating for myself, but still feels bombarding.

From nowhere, I can go anywhere.

A little bit of digital freedom. That’s where I like to begin.

CMD-N: Where do you begin?

Live Strong

Last semester ended rather unusually. The final week of classes was canceled due to the New York City transit strike and I didn't get to see classmates and faculty before heading out of town. I also felt a little unfulfilled, for lack of a better word, as the result of my final project for my class, "Can Design Touch Someone's Heart?" My first two projects were successful in the sense that I got good reactions for both, but my third, a website of love poetry to touch the hearts of humankind, was one with which I struggled. There were ideas in it but not realized to the extent I had wanted; in its current state it didn't feel complete. Since my presentation of that final project the question of whether or not design can touch someone's heart has stayed with me like an intriguing film with an ambiguous ending you want to figure out, with every viewer coming away with different interpretations.

I went back to my course catalog and revisited the course description to refocus: "It is widely assumed that movies, literature and music get to our emotional core. At the same time, it seems to be more difficult for design to achieve the same effect. In this course, we will explore this possibility with three individual assignments."

Why is this? Why is it more difficult for design than art? Let's back up a bit: how does design differ from art? Going back even further, how do you define each? (I'm not going to get into that here; it's addressed elsewhere on CRIT.)

In terms of what has reached my own emotional core, I thought about examples of movies (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), literature (The Catcher in the Rye), and music (U2's "One"). And design? To my dismay, none really came to mind. My mind wandering, I started thinking about my other classes, and what I learned from them, and remembered something we talked about in my design history seminar about propaganda (originally not as loaded a term as it is today.) Someone brought up the now ubiquitous yellow "Live Strong" wristbands from the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I think I had found my design example.

Collecting

Like many designers, I collect things. Some of these collections start out innocently enough: when I was setting up my first apartment, my grandmother helped out by donating four sour cream glasses that she had been holding on to since the 1960's. Next thing I knew, I had about 30 sour cream glasses from flea markets and ebay taking over my kitchen cabinets. At the point when the glasses had to be stacked outside of the cabinets, I started giving them as gifts to my friends.

My other grandmother lived in her house for 60 years, during which time she kept virtually everything that passed through the front doors. (That is, with the exception of my uncle's extensive comic book collection from the 1940's which, to my family's unified horror, she considered garbage and therefore threw away in order to make room for an ever-expanding collection of empty strawberry containers because "you never know when they might come in handy.") From that house I ended up with some Jens Risom furniture, Esquire and Fortune magazines from the 1930's, a collection of ephemera from a family cross-country trip in 1957, random instruction manuals, report cards, ration books, marbles, jadeite kitchen ware, and a myriad of other goodies that each sparked the beginning of a larger collection. This doesn't work out quite as easily in my one-bedroom New York apartment as it did in my grandmother's suburban Boston home with a full basement and attic, but I'm ok with that.

What do you collect, and how did you get started?

Everything now always forever with everyone everywhere.

It is the unforeseeable that creates the event, when John realized this he was less critical and tried to find his own voice. As the lights dimmed, It was now time for the foreign film to begin...

BRING IT BACK! Protest and the Poster in 2005

By Darren Melchiorre

I designed the "BRING IT BACK" campaign as a community project for Stefan Sagmeister's class with the hope of igniting a dialogue among the East-Village (and NYC) community about the famous Astor Place "CUBE" and the fact that it remains missing from its home on Astor Place. The "CUBE" was removed by the NYC Parks Department for emergency repairs and was promised to be returned a few weeks later. Now eight months later, it has yet to return...

Weight Watchers

Book Review: Drawing From Life: The Journal As Art

Publishing a journal as art is a bit like selling cookie dough as cookies: you hope that your audience loves sweets enough to risk salmonella and stomach ache for the unconventional but strangely satisfying form. Yes, there are delicious morsels to be discovered in the rawness, but there are challenges of dishonesty to be overcome too. Selling an unfinished product comes with responsibility—if a journal is defined as art, then the pages must truly live up to the promise. They must deliver gorgeousness, wit, and clarity without misstep.

This is for you.

Beautiful, skin, face, air, warmth, sand, sound, hair, hands, night red sky, pure, held, white, alive, darkness, clean smile, forever, time stands still, no place but here, naps, waking, sheer, sun, orangish yellow reflections, sheets, us, dream, heart, soft, felt, softer, ears, sea in your eyes, ceiling, delicate, honest, hips, endless, entanglement, speechless, greater good, questions, imaginations, search, perfect, kiss, breathe, taste, waves of skin, close, together, go to sleep, ours, covered, only, attach skyline to life line, life sail, walking disaster, passion, star glistened, expression, spiratically, memories, desire, truth,love.

this is not for you.

"change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life." Judy exclaimed. God know what Peter was thinking by dragging Paul to this event, Sarah and johnny hadnt spoken since and being there was medication involved the kung fu moves were interesting. Lickable Jesus paintings and small ponies danced into the evening and ate the spaghetti stars right from our noses. The proper love should be given to the tennis team. No one is aware of the possibilities involved in the hair piece, it fit superb and Francis leaned towards Kathy and handed her his fork, the firk melted when the hammer was thrown across the room on impact. The lickable wallpaper was running from rainbow foundations president as he motioned towards the tropical pudding weapons. Its taking over screamed michael as the basketball team met at center stage for the final dance move. Again Jerry knew that max would leap over the tree, it was shiny and nice.

No, Not Maxim

I love publications, which combine two of my interests: writing and design. In my apartment I've got magazines in boxes and on bookshelves and some stacked on the floor. Sadly, though, my collection doesn't have any issues of George Lois's Esquire, Tibor Kalman's Colors, or David Carson's Raygun.

These Four (Or So) Walls

Every Tuesday evening in class, Stefan Sagmeister asks: "So, has anybody seen anything interesting lately?" At that moment, when I want so badly to remember something really awesome I saw, I have a sort of blurry vision of my F train commute, and the four (or so) walls of the inside of the MFA Design studio. I say to myself, “I know I saw a lot of great things last week. What were they again?”

I Want It That Way

A fellow student sent this link around to our class, and I thought I'd put it up on the blog as something light for the weekend. My justification? That it's something students do--passing around books and magazines, names of designers, URLs, and videos like this--and I thought maybe we could all use a mid-semester study break and a moment of levity. It's also well done and surprisingly watchable.

(recent ruckus) Magazine Ad's... gone to far. ( ? )

some recent ruckus's.....

"When promoting a new military aircraft, it's not a good idea to show U.S. soldiers "unleashing hell" upon a mosque " fark.com

Magazine ad "unleashes hell" for Boeing and Bell.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002532657_boeingad1m.html

and...

Sony pulls "Jesus" advert for PlayStation

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050930/tc_nm/italy_advert_jesus_dc##2

Street Art: The Appropriation of "Public Space"

A couple Saturdays ago, as a part of Resfest, I attended a panel discussion titled "street art or not". The description went something like this: "Graffiti is everywhere: on the streets, in the galleries and in mainstream advertising. An eye-opening roundtable of graffiti writers, artists, experts and advertising executives will opine on this ubiquitous form."

The discussion was led by Marc Schiller of the Wooster Collective (very articulate and knowledgeable guy).
The panelists who struck me the most were Darius & Downey, artists who question the notion of "public space" and argue that it no longer exists (their work is currently at the jen beckman gallery until 10/22). They are known for reappropriating public signage and advertising, sometimes dressing up like public construction workers to do so. They state "As environmental artists we concern ourselves and work with the elements that surround us on a day to day level."

I wanted to see more of this type of art, so the next day I attended the free Street Art Walking Tour led by Marc and Sara Schiller. They led 15 of us through soho to the east village, pointing out street art along the way. I was already familiar with artists like Shepard Fairey and Barry McGee, and others who possess an incredible mastery of the spray can. But what struck me most on the tour was a type of street art i hadn't yet seen (i just moved here from San Francisco). Much of it was 3 dimensional and involved the reappropriation of public property, the type of stuff Darius & Downey and other artists are exploring.

I took photos along the way. The assignment for Heller's class that week just happened to be to 'bring in examples of signs or symbols that have been transformed and co-opted to have a new meaning.' He encouraged me to post what I shared with this class on Crit (great suggestion).

Below are a few of the photos i took during the walk. They include new interpretations of the walk street signal, wooden shoes thrown over telephone wires, piping transformed into sculpture, and wooden crate typography.

As i explore the city i am suddenly finding 3d street art all over the place. It's all so well-thought out, unexpected, and inspirational. Are others seeing what I'm seeing?

Reproduce and Revolt!: Call for Submissions

By Josh MacPhee & Favianna Rodriguez

Reproduce and Revolt!: Radical Graphics for the 21st Century
Edited by Josh MacPhee & Favianna Rodriguez
Soft Skull Press

Reproduce and Revolt! is a graphic toolbox to be launched into the hands of political activists all over the world. The book will contain over 300 new and exciting high-quality black & white illustrations and graphics about social justice and political activism for activists to use on flyers, posters, t-shirts, brochures, stencils or any other graphic aspects of political campaigns.

Sept. 11 Memorial

I was watching the Sept. 11 memorial on television as men and women of all ages read the names of those who lost their lives that day four years ago.

All of the major networks were broadcasting the memorial, and when I came to the FOX broadcast it was as if I had just received a jab to the body. A blue graphic took up the bottom third of the screen. On the graphic were the words, large, white, and in uppercase like this, "THE READING of the NAMES." In smaller type was "911 FOUR YEARS LATER," with two thick, vertical blocks in place of the eleven, a clear reference to the towers of the World Trade Center. In the upper right corner was the word "LIVE" in a size that was hardly discreet. And finally, wave-like shapes undulated in the blue background.

Most Influential Objects in Design

Name the five most influential objects in design today.