Images I never got around to posting!
written June 19th, 2009 · 0 comments
Holi, the Hindu festival of colors.
Posted in Inspiration
Bad Typography Part 2
written June 19th, 2009 · 0 comments
When I read fashion magazines, one of the things that always seems to bug me is when an article discusses specific work of an artist or designer, but they don’t show a coordinating image, so those who are not in the know are totally clueless as to what the author is referring to. Even worse is when there are photographs to refer to, but there are no credits indicating what is what, and it leaves the reader with no idea of whose clothes are being shown! (Honestly, I have not seen this that often, but was shocked to find it in a really well designed fashion magazine.)
Here is what I came across. read more…
Posted in Graphic Design, Typography
Appearance is everything?
written June 2nd, 2009 · 0 comments
I just listened to the BBC’s World Have Your Say podcast from yesterday, June 1st. They were discussing whether it was fair that the judges on the TV program Britian’s Got Talent completely and obviously prejudged a contestant Susan Boyle as having no talent based solely on her looks. I watched a clip of her singing before I listened to the podcast to see what all the fuss was about and I was really shocked at the way the judges looked at her in disbelief when she came on stage and also how the audience members looked around as if, how on earth could she have any talent. It was almost like these clips were purposely thrown together to increase the drama and push viewers to question her talent as well.
I think it is horrible how we judge people based on looks, but I also think it is in our nature to do so, unfortunately. This, however, does not make it right and we, as morally decent human beings, should strive to overthrow these inclinations as best we can. We should only look to our own friends and coworkers to see that people are varied in appearances and talent. read more…
Posted in Random
Living green…
written May 18th, 2009 · 0 comments
Overall, I’d have to say I am pretty happy with how green I live. I live in a small apartment with my boyfriend. There is no need for air conditioning and perhaps more need than use of the heat in the winter, we have no dishwasher, no clothes dryer (and I always wash my clothes cold), and no car (just bikes and public transport). We recently bought energy saving light bulbs, we turn off our power strips when we are not using our computers (surprisingly easy to get used to doing!), and we sell our bottles back and recycle, which is actually worth it here, because they recycle everything, even the trash from neighboring countries because their system is so efficient! My lifestyle may be typical for a 25 year old, and it will probably change when I start a family, or live somewhere else, but all in all, I’d say it is super easy to live green in Berlin!
Posted in Life in Berlin
Green Art
written May 18th, 2009 · 0 comments
I have noticed lately that many sellers on Etsy.com are emphasizing their use of recycled materials in their work (be it scrap sterling silver, metals or paper). There are also many calling their designs green. Not to criticize the artists that call their designs green, but how much of their designs are green and aren’t we all just jumping on the band wagon here?
What is green? How can one truly know and trust that all our materials (unless completey handmade) are green? What materials are we left with, if we as artists, want to be green? It is great that we are all aware of our greenness and how our lives can be more ecologically friendly, but where will it end? read more…
Bad Typography
written April 18th, 2009 · 0 comments
I don’t know about you, but I go crazy when I see bad typography, especially in established magazines and ones that I greatly admire! Most of the mistakes I see are so obvious to me and seem so careless, that it is just plain aggravating! How could a good designer miss some of these mistakes? (At least I assume there are educated or knowledgeable designers working at such magazines — but I could be wrong.) I don’t think these mistakes are done on purpose as a deliberate design choice either. When the leading is so tight that the text becomes a blob of letters that no one wants to read or it looks messy, it doesn’t look creative or trendy, it looks amateurish!
I was taught that when you want to push the boundaries of traditional design (such as using unconventional leading or other forms of spacing) you have to do it so that it looks deliberate, not like it is a mistake. And this is what I feel I find quite often . . . mistakes, or poor design judgment (I can’t say, I don’t know the designers). I do not want to insult any of the magazines that I have scanned for this entry, because many exhibit incredible design sometimes or have since changed their design(er). I am just pointing out what bugs me as a designer when I read magazines and how easily these mistakes can be avoided to look 100 times more professional!
Take a look… read more…
Posted in Graphic Design, Typography
written April 1st, 2009 · 0 comments
Spring is here! I found these beautiful crocuses while biking through Volkspark yesterday!
Posted in Life in Berlin
Torn
written April 1st, 2009 · 0 comments
I am torn between wanting to get more active and involved with things like Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, etc. and just going on with my work and life without trying so hard to connect with people. I want more people to see my website (my design work) and I want to generate interest in this blog of mine . . . but it isn’t THAT important that I have tons of followers or subscribers. In short, I am not doing this for social connections, (however, collaborations would be cool). It is more about having an outlet for my thoughts. Is this the case for everyone? Is this why blogs are so popular? Are there those that write blogs and those that read them? Or does it overlap? I find it hard to do both. How does one find the time! read more…
Posted in Life in Berlin, Random
Fresh Air
written March 30th, 2009 · 1 comment
This guy is great. I find it really interesting to think about what our brain simply can and cannot do. We’ve all felt this before: Too much information that paralyzes us. Jonah Lehrer in this interview with Terry Gross talks about how our brains aren’t designed to deal with a lot of information. Our rational faculties are limited and he says our pre-frontal cortex can only hold 7 pieces of information at a given time! In order to combat this, Lehrer tries to listen to his emotions more, for instance, when choosing cereal in the supermarket, to decide what he really wants to eat, vs only what he should eat. If we were cut off from our emotional signals completely, Lehrer says decisions would be impossible to make. So I guess we need both. But to make decisions easier, we should limit the about of equivalent options and the amount of variables in total, otherwise our rational decision making will be greatly limited, leading us to buy only junk food for breakfast. Brain scans actually allows scientists to see the tug of war going on in our brains when we are making decisions!
He also has a great blog that I am reading where he discusses all kinds of other current events he likes to weigh in on.
Posted in What I'm Listening To
written March 25th, 2009 · 1 comment
Planet Money started a conversation here about who to blame for the financial crisis, and I just listened to this great podcast from them called Pointing Fingers. All of this inspired me to do a few collages illustrating the outrage we are all feeling and the inner pull to want to blame someone, anyone for this mess. But would it really be possible and would it help our misery? And how would this solve our problem?
Here is the most final design so far.
Posted in Collages, My Design Work
