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

Type Face

Type Face

            What does a type face say to you? Looking at the photos below what is your first impression that you get from them?

                                         http://www.kpao.org/blog/2009/09/18/helvetica.jpg

               http://designinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/comic-sans/10-comic-sans.jpg 

            In the documentary “ Helvectia” Neville Roger, a graphic designer makes the statement that type face is a type of weapon. Then he also explains how different type faces are used as marketing stratigies to sell items. For example, using font that has a torn look would be an ideal way to sign a pair of jeans that have a torn or worn impression.

            There are many types of type faces: CALIBRI, ARIAL BLACK, ALGERIAN, CENTURY GOTHIC, BAUHAUS 93, OLD ENGLISH TEXT MT, TIMES NEW ROMAN, one that is well used in the graphic world HELVETICA. Helvetica  is a “ san-serif type face developed in 1957 by swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger. This type face to me is boring but yet direct. It is one I can see being used to convey many messages. Wether if the message be direct on indirect helvectia to me has a authoritic motion to it. It effect is business orginated to me unlike Comic Sans Ms is more of an up beat face.

         Comic Sans Ms  was “realeased in 1994  the Microsoft Corporation and was designed by Vincent Connare.” Comic Sans Ms is a causual script the is modeled from fonts used in the American Comic for over several decades. This facetype  to me is more of a laid back face. One that I would see at the beginning of a cartoon movie or some sort of childs show.

            The thing is there are many different type faces each with their own story and own their personality.  What do they say to you????

http://www.diywebsitegraphics.com/images/killertextv1/fontswithstyles.jpg

Art on the Wall

                      

            Vandalism.  They’re a group of young people that have no respect for anyone else’s belongings. It is an untasteful display of emotion expressed in the wrong way. Graffiti, what is it? Where did it come from and what has it help shape?

            “Graffiti is the name for images or letterings scratched, scrawled, painted, or marked in any manner on property.” (Wikipedia) It can be “dated back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.”(Wikipedia) “The earliest forms date back to 30,000 in the form of prehistoric cave paintings and pictographs using tools such as animal bones and pigment.”(Wikipedia) Going from the caves and prehistoric times we can find ourselves in Modern-Style Graffiti.

            Modern Style graffiti’s first known examples can be said to survive “ in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus.” (Wikipedia) Graffiti was found carved onto walls and monuments in ancient Rome In Pompeii, Vesuvius preserved graffiti. This included “Latin curses, magic spells, declarations of Love” (Wikipedia) and many other things that gave insight to Roman street life.

            From the Modern Style graffiti we venture into Modern graffiti. It is here graffiti is “ often seen as having become intertwined with hip hop culture and the myriad of international styles derived for New York Subway graffiti.” (Wikipedia)Graffiti continued to spread with culture and to different lands; letting artist express themselves not only about who they were by tagging their names on walls, but also by allowing them to convey their views on political stand points.

            Yes, people think this kind of art is vandalism, untasteful and done in places where it should not be. Look how far it dates back and what ways its came through time to help shape some of the culture that is still here today. Art is always open to interpretations, so why not make your own opinion? I myself love graffiti and wish there where more places here that allow the artists to fill the streets with what lies inside.

http://animalnewyork.com/2009/06/prehistoric-graffiti-rocks/graffiti-rock-4/

           

Liberty by Banksy

http://www.wired.com/wired/images.html?issue=13.08&topic=bansky&img=6

“Graffiti-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.” Wikipedia site .21 September 2010. 21 September 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti>

The Land of Communication!

                                         http://designobserver.com/images/features/Cover.jpg

           Have your ever wondered what the most basic and earliest form of graphic expression was? Or where early writing originated? How about the alphabet and some of the background behind that?

            Well according to Johanna Drucker and Emily McVarish’s book Graphic Design History A Critical Guide, “Mark making is the most basic form of graphic expression and design.”(Pg 11) It is also said “Drawing a line in the sand or making a handprint on a wall is a direct sign of individual identity.” (Pg 11) In the movie 2001 Space Odyssey by Robert Colbert mark making can be seen in the beginning. During the movie there are a group of apes that are seen writing in the sand. It is not sure what it was that they were writing but, I believe that they may have been marking their territory for the fact that when another group of apes approach them they began to scream and bang on the ground.

            So where did this thing called writing originate. “Writing proper evolved in ancient Mesopotamia around 3200 BCE, in the Fertile Crescent that lies between the Trigis and Euphrates River.( Drucker and McVarish, p. 14) Many different writing styles may have evolved from this ancient Mesopotamia writing called cuneiform Script.” (Drucker and McVarish, p 15) Among these styles is “ Egyptian writing in the Indus Valley (present day Pakistan).” (Drucker and McVarish, p 15)

            Lastly, the alphabet, what may have been the first recognizable form of the alphabet and where may that form that we use today originate from? According to AncientScripts.com “the first recognizable form of the alphabet may have came from a particular script called Proto-Sinaitic.” Proto-Sinaitic is a “strange system whose symbols were very similar to Egyptian Hieroglyphs, but recorded a languages related to Phoenician and Hebrew.” Then “the English alphabet of twenty-six letters is derived from the Latin alphabet of twenty-three letters.” (The Origin, 2010) Also some of the letters we use come from both Roman and Greek background, and the “Greek traditions derives the alphabet for the Phoenicians.” (Bruce, 2010)

            So what was the earliest form of graphic expression; mark making. The fact that our alphabet can be traced back in time to more then one different culture is an awesome concept. It is evident that although we as people come from many different ways of life; we have something so simple as our ABC’s in common.

                               http://www.ancientscripts.com/images/alpha-map.gif

Drucker, Johanna and McVarish, Emily. Graphic Design History A Critical Guide. New Jersey: Pearson
        Education, 2009

Black, White, and Colored

                  Saturday mornings, the Sunday paper, the book a little kid hides in his back pocket at recess and stuffs in between the pages of his history book while the teacher is teaching a lesson. A man dressed up in a suit with webs all over it or and man wearing a red cape flying through the sky.  All of these have something in common. All of these things can be related to a little thing called a comic or comic book or even comic strip.

                   In class we watched a clip about comics and their origin as well as where they began. I was slightly interested in the subject, so I went browsing on the net to see what other comics where out there, aside from your normal Superman and Spiderman.  I came across a strip called Mama’s Boyz. In these strips the author takes messages or situations that occur in everyday life and turn them into comics strips.  For example, the first strip talks about a rapper and the message that he sends out to children. His message is to carry guns and take what you want by force. Then by the end of the strip the same message he sends to the children gets the rapper of strip robbed.  The second strip that interested me by Jerry Craft is about teenage pregnancy and how these girls are not old enough to get into a movie because they are under the age of seventeen. In the strip, they are denied access to the movie and was told to bring a parent; so they could enter. The irony of the whole thing is that they are parents themselves.

                   I think that comics are not only a great way to express feeling on how things are, but also great because some of them like Spiderman or Superman, let you venture into a world outside of our own.

                                                             http://mamasboyz.com

                                              http://mamasboyz.com/comics/pregnancy.html