Kamikaze Girls

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.hkmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/kamikaze-girls.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.hkmania.com/%3Fm%3D200903&usg=__iRuEmj_ILIp6KYzNEdhlPc_7TWo=&h=400&w=300&sz=55&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=4GNYueGXpvf-uM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=94&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkamikaze%2Bgirls%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address%26rlz%3D1I7GGLL_en%26biw%3D779%26bih%3D556%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=250&ei=KVb8TOWhK4HGlQeT88mLBQ&oei=KVb8TOWhK4HGlQeT88mLBQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&tx=67&ty=38

        Kamikaze Girls was a movie that we watch in History of Design. This is the first movie that I have see the at was entirely spoken in Japanese. I enjoyed the movie because it was out of my normal selection of movies.
        Kamikaze Girls is about two girls for two entirely different world. Momoko, the youngest, is antisocial but knows that she want and what she likea. Lolita, the oldest to me, to me does not seem to know what she really wants out of life and is lost. We also find out that she was leaves her city after her father is exiled. The main reason though I believe that this movie was show is because the design aspect of it.
        In Kamikaz Girls  the two girls have some difference, but they are pulled together when  the youngest is asked to do some stiching for the oldest. The stiching is done one a jacket in memory of a women that took her under he wings when she felt like the world had abandon her. After the sticking was done the Lolita was entirely thankful.
       As the movie came to a close Momoko ends up with a job stiching because of her talent. My thoughts are no matter how small the design project it can make a big influence on a situation.

podcastonfire.com

Robert Crumb

           
http://blogging.la/2009/10/14/robert-crumb-yes-r-crumb-at-ucla-october-29/




     Robert Crumb was born on August 30th in 1943. He is not only an American artist, illustrator, and musican but he is also known for his distinctive style. Crumb was one of the founders of the underground comic movement. He is said to be " its most prominent figuers" in this movement (Wikipedia). Even though he is one of the most celebrated comic artist his career "unfolded outside the mainstream comic book industry" (Wikipedia).
   One of his comics that he is most famous for is "Keep on Truckin". This comic "became widely a distributed fixture of pop culture in the 1970's (Wikipedia). Other characters that come to mind when Crumb is mentioned are Devil Girl, Fritz the Cat, and Mr. Natural.

   http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2009/02/13/master_of_mischief/

        In class we watched a doucmentary on Crumb which was interesting. Through the movie you can tell alot about him. It was said the him, his brother, another man, and a female had their own little comic club. This comic club could be where Crumb really had his start in the comic buiness.
        Some of his comic can be said to be crude and a little indecent. I think that his comics are just straight to the point and is an extention to himself. These comics are interesting and some of them are quite funny, but thats lets you be the judge of that.


http://kotapparel.blogspot.com/



    "Robert Crumb- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia Site. 22 Nov 2010

Frank Gehry

              


http://blog.bumblebeelabs.com/tag/technology/

                  Frank Gehry is a very well known architect. To many up coming architects you can say that he is an architectural guru. During class we watch a documentary on Frank Gehry and explored many of his works. He walked through the process in which he created building that seem to break the law of physics. He also talked about one of his first projects (his house) and one of the events that lead him into creating and designing some of the most unique buildings in the world.

http://www.picturethecity.com/architects/frank_gehry/linkitem.html

                 Some of his "best known works include the titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa, Spain, MIT Stata Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Walt Disney Concert Hall in down-town Los Angeles" (Wikipedia) and there are many more among that.
                 When Frank Gehry starts a building he starts with paper and produces model after model until he is satisfied with the outcome. In the movie he is also shown constructing and deconstructing his models several times over and over again by tearing and folding and placing them different spots.
                  Franks first project was his house. He didn’t want to destroy the structure of the house but he did add on and around the structure. One example that was talk about in the video was him not having a lot of light to shave. To fix this problem he just simply knocked a hole in a wall. At the same time of doing his house he was also being to commission to build a hotel.
                 The people that was paying Frank to do the hotel visited him at his house after an event. It was at this time Frank was asked if this is what he loved doing referring to the design of the house. After Frank complied with a yes, he was then asked why he did the hotel the way he did. Frank replied its income. The man said if you don’t love it then don’t do it and quit. This is just what Frank did and now is one of the world most famous architects.

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/geh0-030



      "Frank Gehry- Wikipedia the free encyclopeda." Wikipedia Site. 22 Nov 2010

Saul Bass and Picto Plasma

Saul Bass and Union Motion Graphics

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/saul-bass-inspires-us-to-burn-after-reading.php

       During class we watched a documentary on Saul Bass and also Picto Plasma. These documentaries introduced us to the world of moving graphics and some of its artist.

Saul Bass is not only a great graphic designer, but he is also a great movie poster producer. He created several different openings for different Broadway productions as well as movie posters. Among these productions were “West Side Story”, “ The Man with a Broken Hand”, and “ The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” These works by Saul were done around the early 1900’s and still are a big impact on today’s graphic designers. The reason in this being said is because he has been mentioned in several of my class already.

Then we looked at Picto Plasma. The video starts out with series of different sculptural images in both 2 and 3D. At the start of the movie many of the works looked as if they could have been intentional made to be a screensaver on a desk or laptop.

Farther into the video soma some graphics are shown. Among these were moving images the came for the foreground and disappeared into the background. As these images are traveling music is being played. The tone of the music as well the movement of the graphics sends you into a whole different world.

Late in the video the graphics seem to more flat but yet they still had their own spin. They give the viewer a very urban vibe with graffiti like graphics moving on brick and cement walls.

I enjoyed both of video and really enjoyed the whole motion graphic aspect. These artists bring life to still graphics and I think that it’s really a refreshing look.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.friendswithyou.com/uploads/media/hgqne4b6.....

http://www.google.com/imgres?.....

The Merchants Of Cool

The Merchants Of Cool

http://www.soytasty.nl/catalog/images/logo_sprite.jpg

            One of the class sessions was on a video about teenagers and the things that are cool. It also talks about what the marketers want to know about us so that they can make money.

            They say that we spend over fifteen billion a year and our parents even more on just us. They believe that our parents give us extra money out of guilt. This guilt coming from the idea that they are not able to be with their children as much as they want to be or should be because they are constantly working.                      

            In this video they talk about cool kids. Cool kids are those who are trendsetters and those who think outside of the box. The company “LOOK LOOK” goes scouting for these “cool kids” in hopes of finding out what the new tread is and how to market to these trendsetters to make money in the future. They then take this idea and sell them to big corporations for a total of twenty thousand dollars each a year in a subscription.

            Once markets find these tread and market them the trend stop being cool. And by enforcing cool it makes it uncool. By enforcing these thought it begins to be a problem for the marketers but now there starting to become seen as the enemy. To get around this problem the marketers make them self appear to be cool their selves for example Sprite. They point fun at the idea of corporation with Grant Hill telling them not to drink Sprite as he was doing himself. When this tactic didn’t work any more Sprite then went into the heart of youth, Hip Hop. With the help of the marketing firm Corner Stone, Sprite is now the fastest sell soft drink. Sprite is now an icon of hip-hop culture.

            There many different corporations like Viacom, which market and are right in the running with Sprite. Viacom prized jewel is MTV. MTV lunched over twenty years ago. This channel is nothing but advertisements.

            The video talks a lot about how these big corporations take what they learn about youth today to keep them coming back for more. All in all it a big on going circle in which the youth constantly sells itself it itself.

http://www.marketingshift.com/resources/viacom-logo-cloud-lg.jpg

                        

http://www.hypebot.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e2011168cfb30d970c-pi

Bauhaus

 

Bauhaus

Bauhaus Logo

http://aworldinside.com/imd110/assignments/assignment2/images/bauhausface.gif

           How would you like to attend a school in which books are not your main focus? A place where your hands and your inner artist is able to come together in your studies. A place where your craft of design and architecture is the main focus. If this is the school for you check out one school that may have been the inspiration for this whole train of thought.

            “Bauhaus is the common term for the Staaatliches Bauhaus, an art and architecture school in Germany that operated from 1919 to 1933, and is known for its approach to design that is publicized and taught.”(Bauhaus)  The school was “associated with a trend toward less ornate art and architecture and greater utility.”(Bauhaus) “The inspiration for this concern was the rise of the working class and the desire to meet the needs of masses rather than small number of wealthy patrons.”(Bauhaus) It still was one of the most influential waves in Modernist architecture, and also “one of the most important currents of the New Objectivity.

            Bauhaus was a great influence in the development in architecture and interior design.  Bauhaus was located in three different German cities: Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessua from 1925 to 1932 and Berlin from 1932 to 1933. Each time having different architect – directors that in some one in which some way shift the schools focus, technique, instructors and politics.

            This school has a lot of history. The process it went through and the people that help shape it have also shape the thought processes in other place then just Germany for example here in the United States and other places like “Canada and Israel (particularly in the White City, Tel Aviv.)”(Wikipedia)

            I’d love to go to a school in which I know helped shape some of the building and tables are chairs we sit on. It’ s a great concept also some institution can help shape the other countries and not only theirs.

                                                            Bauhaus School

                                        http://www.natureparktravel.com/dessau/bauhaus1.jpg 

                                                 Chair Designs

                 http://hanser.ceat.okstate.edu/2003/new%20pages%2001/mtg26/bauhaus/Bauhaus%20chair%20designs%20.jpg

“Bauhaus- New World Encyclopedia.”  New World Encyclopedia Site. 20 October 2010. <http://newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Bauhaus

“Bauhaus- Wikipedia-, the free encyclopedia.” Wikipedia site. 20 October 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus

Gutenberg and The Press

Gutenberg and The Press

 http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Technology/images/johannes-gutenberg.jpg 

            

           “Johannes Gensfleisch zur Landen zum Gutenberg was a German goldsmith and printer who introduced modern book printing.” (Wikipedia) His invention of a mechanical movable type printing started the Printing Revolution and was regarded as the most important event of the modern period. (Wikipedia)

            So how did Mr. Gutenberg come to great invention? It is said “around 1439, Gutenberg was involved in a financial misadventure making polished metal mirrors for sale to pilgrims from Aachen: in 1439 the city was planning to exhibit it collection of relics for Emperor Charlemagne but the event was delayed by one year.” (Wikipedia) “It is said the capital that was spent could not be repaid, so when the question of how to satisfy the investors came up, Gutenberg is said to have promised to share a secret.” (Wikipedia)

            In 1440 it is said that Gutenberg revealed “ the secret of printing based on his research, mysteriously entitled Kunst un Aventur (art and enterprise). (Wikipedia) It is not clear though if this was the early trail of his invention of the movable type because of the four year gap in record, but it may have be the beginning.

            By 1450, Gutenberg’s press was operational and a German poem had been printed. It is not for certain but it may have well been the very first item printed on the press. It is said that several prints where done between 1450 and 1455. Many items printed at this time are uncertain but it is said, “By 1452, with the aid of borrowed money, Gutenberg began his famous Bible Project. Two Hundred copies of the two-volume Gutenberg Bible were printed. (The Printing Press)

            That just a little back ground on Gutenberg and his Press. Where would we be with out inventions like this one?

Gutenberg Press Clip Art

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/44800/44880/44880_guten_press_lg.gif

Gutenberg Museum Fribourg - Letter Case

http://www.carto.net/neumann/photographs/2006/fribourg_2006_04/05_gutenberg_museum_letter_case.jpg

                                                 Gutenberg Bible

http://www.theworldsgreatbooks.com/images/Misc/Gutenberg%20Leaf1.jpg

“Johannes Gutenbreg-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.” Wikipedia site .20 October 2010.  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg>

"The Printing Press." The History Guide site. 20 October 2010. <http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/press.html