pergola @ palais de tokyo

zoom in. you're gonna wanna read this one...

preaching to the choir

interestingly enough, the same chair of the communication department who scoffed at me at the start of the semester about wanting to do design but not advertising ("who are you going to work for, adbusters?") invited jonathan barnbrook to parsons paris for a 24 hour lecture/workshop this weekend (a guy who has done quite a bit of work with adbusters.) needless to say i soaked up every morsel of wholesome design advice. it was pretty awesome. and i think i had been needing that. here's some of what he had to say...

- don't say something in your work if you don't believe it.
- don't be afraid to criticize your own profession.
it is how we make it better.
- language is the ammunition we use to change society. typography is the weapon.
- not everything should be legal. that would be boring.
- interesting design doesn't happen in design annuals. it happens in the streets.
- styles come and go. true experiment is not about change of form.
it's about change of thought.
- being a graphic designer doesn't mean that you stop when you get home. you bring that with you no matter where you go.
- people who are bored are boring.
- ethics are relative. but at least you should have them.
- defining a problem in a boring way means you will come up with a boring solution.
- be authentic with how you experience life. your work is only relevant if it is your life and if it is now.
- it's easier to be poor when you are wrong.
- don't get distracted from what you want to do.
- being a student designer is an active process. you have to go out and find how the world is interesting.
- good ideas can be destroyed by bad presentation.
- have a desire to change the world. don't be embarrassed to want to do this.
- if you're work is good, you will get noticed.
- (and last but not least) be nice.

the french are funny about fonts

and just when you think that they've got it... you see some random usage of hobo or papayrus. nonetheless, here are some examples of times i think the french did exceptionally well in the realm of type.

the infographic kick continues...

love this. new stefanie posavec.

we're not in paris anymore...

today we were spontaneous.

we got up early (sort of) and hopped on the rer without a destination in mind. just the plan to journey off into the country side and stop wherever the scenery looks enticing enough. (or whenever you have to use the bathroom. which happened concurrently in our case.) the air was fresher. people wore jeans. it was a good departure from the soot of the city and monochromatic uniform of its residents. paris can get so stuffy... it makes finding a place with astro turf flooring and faux stone (literally) table tops something to be thankful for.

getting money

i just made the mistake of looking at my bank account. bad idea. dollars to euros never looks good. so, in an attempt to keep from starving artist status, pretty please give my poster some love by heading over to let'ssavemichigan.com and casting a vote. (the contest ends the 15th and there's cash money involved!)

and in the spirit of $$$, here's a little something i hope will make you smile to show my gratitude. (who knew learning after effects could be this fun?)

brockett is the best!

the billboards i did with aiga last year for the maryland optometric association are finally up in and around baltimore. brockett was awesome and went around to take pictures of them all. i'm pretty proud to see them up in action! the pink one happens to be behind a fence, or i'd post a picture of that one too. yeah pro bono billboards! take what you can get...

reading is fun and mental? really?

my latest information graphic assignment was to re-design an existing one... (according to our teacher 90% + of what is being touted as "information design" out there sucks.) it was pretty clear when i found this transparency from good magazine that it needed some help. the concept was cool (showing the literacy in various countries by equating word count to percentage of population that can read) but the overall message was missing. i felt that for the viewer to truly understand the data, they needed to be able to start with the bigger picture (and be able to compare the literacy of other places to where they themselves live) and then delve in to get more detailed information if interested. to do this, interactivity was a necessity. (and actual interactivity, not just zooming and dragging.) finally! a use for flash that doesn't feel forced!

click here to see it in action! and click here to see the original.

(oh, and it's not fully functional. i only put in all the data in the arab states book. for sanity's sake.)

and when did it turn into march?

yes. i've been slacking a bit. but this was literally the last thing i did before i found myself in a french hospital for a week. (the best slash worst way to learn a foreign language.) in an effort to catch up, these are the photos i probably would have posted last monday from my first trip to the louvre. which was totally overwhelming. even with an audio tour. i had to focus on one thing to keep myself from being completely lost. i think color was a good choice...