Silly Coincidences

My housemate stacked these five figures and said, "The Incredible Hulk is so strong!"

Needless to say, I could not resist taking a picture and blogging about it!

Design is Dangerous

Design, while also thought of as being helpful to society can also end up being dangerous to society.  The design of knives can be thought of as dangerous, because the edge that cut things are very sharp.  As a tool, the knife is very helpful to society because it aids us in cutting things that we wouldn't be able to cut without its help.  For example, the knives used in the kitchen are very useful for cutting up food into smaller pieces.  It is dangerous, however, because if one were to slip with a knife, the consequences can be painful.
At the same time, I think knives were not intentionally created to add more danger to the environment, but only to be used as aids.  Because of this, many knives have warning labels attached to them in some way, either in the packaging or in the box.  In the same way, the danger that knives carry as a design is increased by the intent of the person holding the knife.  Obviously, someone with murderous intent would be much more dangerous wielding a knife than someone who just wanted to cook dinner.  In that way, knives are only as dangerous as the person holding them.

Design in Society

The trashcan is something that probably is not generally thought of as a design that improves society, but I feel that it is, because the presence of a trashcan encourages people as a society to make the effort to throw their trash in the trashcan instead of littering on the ground.  As a design, the trashcan is very simple because it is merely a usually round container that is open on top so that items can be dropped inside.  The design is utopian because without the trashcan, people would be more tempted to leave their trash on the ground, or in places less conspicuous that would end up leading to further pollution of our planet.
I never realized how much I expected there to be a trashcan in public areas until I found myself in a situation where I had trash to throw away, but no where in sight that I could throw it.  I found myself fighting the temptation to dispose of my trash on the ground, arguing to myself that, "Other people do it, why can't I?"  In the end, I didn't litter, but I did end up realizing how important trashcans really are.  Without them, people are not as inclined to "do the right thing" and throw the trash away in its designated area, but are more tempted to just leave the trash behind since many other people do the same thing.  The trashcan is also a societal pressure, because if one were to be caught littering on the ground when a trashcan was clearly in sight, the people around them would greatly frown on the person "too lazy" to walk a few feet to the trashcan and throw the trash away properly.  As a result, the trashcan is a design that improves society because it pressures us to throw away our trash properly and "do the right thing".

Color Transforms

The design of dresses is very different.  Each dress has the same basic shape, with a bottom skirt part and a top part.  Dresses can be very different, however, because the color of a dress can greatly influence what kind of image the dress will help highlight to the viewers.  For example, the same dress in many colors can change the overall picture the dress embodies.
In white, the dress is gives off the idea of a wedding dress.  The color white is representative of innocence and purity, so it was the perfect representation of a girl on her wedding.  On the other hand, as a black dress, the dress gives off the idea of mourning, because black is a color that seems to emanate sadness and despair.  The darkness, which is often noted as "black as night", makes the wearer seems more hopeless and unhappy.  At the same time, in red, the dress seems more bold and almost "risque", because the color red is associated with standing out and bordering on improper.  In green and blue, the dress becomes more calm and neutral, because blue and green are colors that are connected to the ocean and the sky, the grass and trees, which are things that are very peaceful and quiet.  At the same time, in orange and yellow, the dress makes the wearer seems happier and more friendly, because orange and yellow are often used to depict the sun.  In this way, color can transform a single object from representing one thing to many other things.  Just a change in the color of a dress can transform the image the wearer wants to portray to the audience.

Free Book?

Today, as I was walking to my psychology class from the Olson building, I was confronted by a man who was handing out free books.  Being familiar with the many free bibles that people pass out on campus, I felt myself acting wary as I was asked if I wanted a copy of the free book.  He mentioned that the book came with a musical accompaniment.  In the end, I was inclined to take a copy.
Walking away, I glanced at the back cover of the novel.  I was reminded of Brian Fies' talk, when he said that he liked drawing comics in which the image and the words worked together.  The book, titled Wild Animus, was described as being like "...climbing, skiing, or intense adventuring, " by Mike Libecki of Climbing Magazine.  The author, Rich Shapero was said to have "...crafted a new art form that intricately interweaves book and music...[that] experienced as a whole, the music expresses the emotional core of the story and the novel serves as its narrative shell."  Since the book uses music to accompany the story-telling, I felt myself intrigued as to how it would feel reading a story with music.  Does the book tell you when to listen to the music? Or is the music merely a reading of the novel with background tunes inserted at certain parts?  I haven't had a chance to experience reading the book with music yet, but I hope that I will have time to see how it feels to read a book with music that is made especially for the novel.

The Design and Struggle Behind Drawing BIG

For my beginning drawing class, we were given three choices: to draw A: 25- 8.5"x11" pieces, B: 6- 18"x24" pieces, or C: 3- 38"x50" pieces.  Me, being the foolishly idealistic person that I am, decided to choose option C, because I thought that it would be cool and fun to draw really BIG.  I realized short-after, however, when buying the paper I would need for the project, that 38"x50" was a LOT bigger than I had ever imagined.  As a result, I was excited because I thought, Wow, if I do a good job, I can frame these and they'll look really cool in my room!  What I forgot to think about, however, was how exactly I planned to go about drawing these huge pictures.
At first, I started out by measuring a grid so that I could get proportions right, but I soon discovered that trying to manipulate a 38"x50" piece of paper around a much smaller, 2'x2' table was nearly impossible.  It took me almost an hour to get the paper gridded successfully.  After experiencing the difficulty of drawing on a small table, I tried to think of a better way I could design my drawing surface so that I would easily be able to draw on the paper.  I thought of using the ground, but it's carpeted, and I thought of using the wall, but I had no tape.  In the end, I had to make a trip over to a store to buy lots of masking tape so I would be able to adhere my picture to the wall.
Being a beginner artist, and by no means having the materials or experience necessary to draw big, I feel quite proud of myself for decided to use the wall as a flat surface.  Although, since the paper is so large, I have a sinking feeling that even at my 5'8" frame, I will not be tall enough to draw on the wall for many hours.  After all, drawing on walls lacks the ergonomic properties necessary for prolonged activity, right?

The Sandpit

When I was thinking of things to blog about, my housemate directed me to this video.  Created by Sam O'Hare, this is not actually a video that was filmed, but a compilation of 32,000 different photographs of New York City that were arranged to give an illusion of a miniature city. Through time lapse and tilt-shift photography, O'Hare was able to leave the viewers questioning whether what they were watching was life-sized or miniature.  Time lapse photography is when the film is recorded much slower than it will be played back, so that when it is played at normal speed, it appears to be moving faster and lapsing time.  Tilt-shift photography is when the focus of the lens is tilted to give off a feeling that what is seen is miniature.
The video challenges the viewers to think about the line between reality and fantasy because the effect of the photos and the way it is compiled turn something very real into something fantastical.  On first watching the video, I was unsure of whether it was a small miniature city, or if it was real.  I constantly switched my opinion of the city from being real to being fantasy.  Through the presentation of the city through photographs and techniques in compilation, O'Hare was able to create an optical illusion in film.