Last Blog of The Quarter

Well, as the last official blog for Art 413 I just want to wish everyone good luck in the final portfolio. I would also like to thank everyone for their support and their feedback during critiques and during class time. I think we've all grew as students and professionals in this particular class. A lot of the work really blew me away. I thought it was pretty dope. I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing some of you in the fall, so have a great summer and I hope to see you guys inthe fall. Peace!

Undergard Art Exhibition at Cal-State LA

The undergaduate art exhibiton on campus was really inspiring. However, I was extremely disappointed that Jimmy Moss specifically said that the exhbiton was for design-related work only. This was not actually true. I turned in a few pieces that were for my design classes. However, the exhibition was actually a fine arts exhibition, which sucked because i didn't submit any of my paintings and sculptures, which i thought would have been pretty cool for the exhibition. I was actually very upset because its been a while since I wanted to showcase a lot of my stuff. 

On the plus side, one of my typography posters was chosen for the exhbition, which was awesome. I've been wanting some of my work to get shown, so it was a nice feeling to see it mounted on that lit wall. Now I can't wait for the senior project. I'm already gathering ideas for it and I'm thinking it might be very successful. It was cool to see all of the other work designed by my peers and how they compare and contrast to my own owrk. It really shows what your strengths and weaknesses are as a designer, and you can use that to your advantage.

Typorgraphy and Design on Timepieces (watches)

For as long as i can remember, I have always been into watches; their construction, the lettering, the mechanics. Nowadays I try to keep myself informed with many of the new trends and designs of watches and how they impact the market. Nixon has had a huge impact in the last 2 years. They started off really small and now they have big name artists promoting their products. The watches are trendy and nice to look at, but they are not timeless. So they'll last for as long as they keep coming out in magazines and musci videos, but you really can't mess with the big boys, like omega, cartier and patek phillipes. I mean, these are big name watches that we only have the priveledge to look at (for now). 

I really don't think it matters who is chosing, but if that person had to choose between a $1000 rolex or a $1000 nixon, they'd be a fool not to take the rolex. Not just because f the name, but because of the timeless desgn that these watches hold. The designs feature big watch faces, classic typefaces and sleek construction that you can't tell what year they were made. The thing about timepieces are that although they are a fashion item, they hold unique characteristics that seperate them from jewelry and other fashion items. They hold a mechanical significance that adds for a small item with a lot of detail. Check out the photo and note all the detail....  

Automobile Emblems

Has anyone ever looked at an emblem of a car and really examined it?

When you think about it, transportation is really far fetched from being labeled a product. The badges of cars are really different from any other logos as well. For one, vehicles are given actual names rather than a word with a number (compare Chevy Impala to Nike Air Force 1). Although there really is nothing unique about cars nowadays, the badges and the idetities they carry not only with the owners, but within the cars themselves sparks curiosity. Its hard for a lot of products to carry character or personality. Cars do exactly just that. Some say "I'm obviously cheap and will save you money" and others say "look at what you can't have". The emblems in cars also carry out a certain identity. Some are very far fetched from the actual identity of a car.

Some vehicles carry a well-suited identity, like the chevy Monte Carlo. Others are not so good, like the Ford Pinto. And others are sort of confusing, like the Scion XB because it reminds you of an xbox (because the car actually looks like a box). Some cars like the 1982 Chevy Nova was probably the worst choice of identity for a sub-sompact vehicle. It was originally a heavily respected muscle car. My point is, identity goes a long way, especially in the vehicle. And with close to 100 years in the history of automobiles, the car brand are no longer just marketing, but rather an identity that really desn't have to be changed. Chevy has had the same logo since they first introduced the "class 6" in 1911. It goes to show how a lot of car brands are truly timeless in a sense. 

PDF Portfolio Tips

I just wanted to share some of my tricks on how I got to finish my portfolio for Jimmy's class. I have the preliminary portfolio complete... but there might be just a couple of changes that I need to do to the text... Its pretty short and simple. Just 8 pieces of my best work with descriptions of what approach I used to make it a succesful design. I found some small typos that I have to adjust and that's about it. My biggest concern is that it might be too simple. But I think I'll be okay.

Anyway, as far as text goes, I basically built a grid system for the layout that indicates exactly where the text will begin. In my portfolio I used to sets of text. I have a colophon for each project on the bottom left as well as a detailed description of the project on the top right. My images were all aligned to the left margin of the page not exceeding either 5.75" in length or width. All text is algined to the left and top of the images. The look is very uniform and clean, and I am pretty happy with the results. There is a very consistent look and feel, and I chose to keep the text small so that it wouldn't overwhlem the images. some of the images were photographed, but others looked better as placed files. My photographs look fairly professional. I actually took the photos on my couch with a large piece of black butcher paper and a digital camera. I just made sure I adjusted the levels on photoshop. Anyway, if any of you guys may be stuck, I hope these quick tips may help you out. Good Luck!