Fabulous

At the Tokyo premiere for her new movie "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" Sienna Miller was wearing this fabulous Gucci suit. Accessorizing with peep-toe platform booties, Miller wowed audiences with her flawless skin and fit physique. How is it possible for a suit so heinous to look so good on Sienna? Honestly, I think any other celebrity, or even ordinary person, would look like they were in a bad 80's music video; but Sienna has this unusual fashion sense [and a killer body to go with it] that makes people go wild. I would never dare to wear such an outfit, but good for Sienna that she can pull it off! Now I think it is time for me to go work out...


I found this picture of Sienna Miller at: http://omg.yahoo.com/photos/2-hot-2-handle/3098?nc#id=1.

Typefaces

Prior to today, I was unfamiliar with the actual definition of the word “typeface.” I have always known what a font is [I actually have a knack for pointing out the exact name of fonts located on signs and posters] but really have never known what a typeface is. Thanks to the always handy http://www.dictionary.com/, I was able to grasp what a typeface actually is. According to that resource [www.dictionary.com] the word “typeface” is “the size or style of the letter or character on a block of tape,” “the full range of type of the same design” and lastly it is “the surface of a block of type that makes the impression and the impression made by this surface.” After gaining a clear understanding of what a typeface is, I could not wait to plug in “typeface” to my Internet search engine. I was able to find some really neat typefaces—and even some really lame ones. After gazing at just over one hundred typefaces, I found one that struck my fancy. It is the image shown above. In my opinion, this typeface is simple yet engaging. If I were to design a typeface that contrasted the words “light” and “heavy” this is exactly what I would come up with. The words each appear to fit what I imagine in my head, light appearing, well, light; and heavy appearing heavy [duh]. The word “light” appears as though I could pick it up off the page, yet “heavy” just lays there looking too massive for me to handle. The idea that the words “light” and “heavy” are tangible—that I could pick them up off the page—says a lot about the typeface, ultimately creating the meaning of the typeface itself: light is light and heavy is heavy.

I found the image above at this website: http://z.about.com/d/graphicssoft/1/5/2/A/scaleeffects3.gif.

Design, Culture, Language...

DESIGN: In my opinion, the term design means to create art in an imaginative manner. To design is to choose specific elements of something and communicate a message with what you have chosen. To design is to let your heart wander, to let your imagination run wild, to let your inner soul and thoughts appear in your creations. To design is to let go of what others think and simply create images, sculptures, anything your heart desires. Design ultimately means to unleash your imagination and create new things. There are different types of design, such as two dimensional and three dimensional. Design may inform, persuade, or express a specific idea to audiences.

CULTURE: The word culture means so many things to me. A website I found defined culture perfectly. This is what the website had to say: Culture is a shared, learned, symbolic system of values beliefs, and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior – an abstract “mental blueprint” or “mental code.” Must be studied “indirectly” by studying behavior, customs, material culture (artifacts, tools, technology, language, etc.).

1. Learned. Process of learning one’s culture is called enculturation.

2. Shared by the members of a society. No “culture of one.”

3. Patterned. People in a society live and think in ways that form definite patterns.

4. Mutually constructed through a constant process of social interaction.

5. Symbolic. Culture, language, and thought are based on symbols and symbolic meanings.

6. Arbitrary. Not based on “natural laws” external to humans, but created by humans according to the “whims” of the society. Example: standards of beauty.

7. Internalized. Habitual. Taken-for-granted. Perceived as “natural.”

LANGUAGE: According to www.dictionary.com, there are fourteen different definitions of the word language. After reading all fourteen, I came to the realization that what language means to me can be simplified in one word: communication. We use language in many different forms—verbal, body, art, writing, signs, symbols, etc.—and they each communicate what we want to express.

Now, here’s the tricky part: how do the words design, culture, and language influence each other? There are actually many ways they influence each other, and it all begins with [in my opinion] culture. The culture that surrounds you influences the types of designs you will create and the language you will communicate. I believe this because the core of what defines each of us as individuals is our culture. Our culture makes up the attitudes and values we possess, and ultimately who we are. All three words—design, culture, and language—are an example of intersection. What is an intersection? One definition, according to www.dictionary.com, says the word intersection means a place where two or more roads meet. I think in this case, design is one road, culture another, and language is yet another road. All three meet up to form an intersection; and each word defines one unique way to get to that intersection.

Chained to Your Cell Phone?

When I saw this picture, I immediately let out a giggle. Then I sighed because I realized I am addicted to my cell phone -- I am constantly texting and if I am not, I am waiting for someone to text me. Or call me. That is why I felt this picture represented a visual metaphor within a photograph; and that metaphor is we are chained to our cell phones. So often we look around and people are glued [or chained] to their cell phones, unable to focus on what they are doing at that exact moment. If we are with one friend, we are calling or texting a different friend. If we are at home, we are on the phone with someone from work or regarding work. When we are at work, we are on the phone with friends and family. It is a really awful habit, but so many of us just cannot seem to put our cell phones down -- again, as if we are chained to them! I found this visual metaphor to represent the evolution of cell phones, and the fact that everyone today is unable to put their cell phone down. So next time you reach for your cell phone, think twice: it may be handcuffed to your wrist soon!

I found this hilarious picture at http://www.adventuresinstockphotography.com/images/cellph.jpg.

"25. Don't clean your desk." -Bruce Mau

After reading Bruce Mau’s “Incomplete Manifesto for Growth” I found my new favorite website to look at for motivation. I found all forty-three points Mau made to be useful in my life. The one point that really stood out to me was number twenty-five: “Don’t clean your desk.” It is actually very ironic that this is my favorite point considering the fact that most people who know me consider me a neat freak. However, I think that is why I chose number twenty-five to be my absolute favorite advice from the manifesto, because it could really change my outlook on things—or help me, according to Mau, “find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.” Maybe my tidy ways are keeping me from letting my creative juices flow in my designs and projects; maybe my imagination is too neat and I just need to stop being so darn clean. I am going to take Mau’s advice and not clean my desk tonight, hopefully I wake up to find something I forgot about last night.

I found Mau’s “Incomplete Manifesto for Growth” at this website: http://www.brucemaudesign.com/incomplete_manifesto.html.
Check the website out! I am sure you will find some inspiration for yourself - I know I sure did.

Simplicity

The picture above is one I took when I was in Venice, Italy a few weeks ago. Although it is not my best photography, I fell in love with this picture for a few reasons. I love the contrast between the empty tables with the people bustling in the background; I feel this is exactly how many of us live our lives today. We are all too consumed in ourselves that we forget about the little things in life. The empty tables in the picture symbolize the innocence of life that we walk past each day. The bold, yellow chairs are a reminder that if we all just take time to sit down and collect ourselves we can live a better life. The pure, white table cloths symbolize the future we have when we remember that it is indeed the little things in life that count, and we have to remember that, because we all forgot.

That is just how I viewed this picture and why I love it. I, too, get consumed in the chaotic schedule of my daily life that I sometimes forget to simply sit down and collect myself, my thoughts, and breathe. But, that's just me. What do you think?

Song of the Moment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YhlfCq1AM

The song I cannot get out of my head lately is "Swing Tree" by Discovery. If you click on the link above, you can listen to it to. The wonderful thing about this song is the feeling of happiness that overcomes me each time I hear it. If the feelings I feel in the summer could be conveyed in a song - this is it! The upbeat rhythm is relaxing and happy, emotions that I feel when I am laying out on a hot summer day. I especially like the fact that the vibe of this song is not only Indie, but also a little reggae; two genres of music that are not usually combined. I enjoy the words to this song as well, because they are so free and convey the freedom I feel in summer. I absolutely love this song and I hope you get the same enjoyment out of it that I do.

Happy Summer!

Looking Beyond

"Design in art, is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux.

You can't invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension.

That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes."

D. H. Lawrence

I came across this quote in an old design magazine my mom had. D.H. Lawrence was an English author and poet, earning many enemies with his controversial opinion on matters. His quote regarding design, however, does not feel controversial to me; instead, it feels complex. I was instantly boggled by the quote, I did not know what to make of it; was D.H. Lawrence trying to say that a design is felt with every bone that makes up the human body? Because I for one have never looked at a piece of art and had my entire body react to it. In fact, I have never even gotten shivers looking a piece of art. I really think Lawrence was trying to say that we must look closer at designs in order to truly recognize what they are. The first impression of a design is a false interpretation of what it truly means, because art is a fourth dimension, and most of us only look to the third dimension of it. In order for one to truly achieve the feelings the artist tried to convey in their design, we as people must breathe the painting in... and then exhale.

Begin

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

-Goethe-