Tender Buttons Animation Update

Title screen reference.

This text fades in and out. 

While visible it has a slight shake to it.

Type coming out from behind a mask at varying speeds.

There will not be a traditional order behind this as the lines of text come out you will have the ability to read it in variing order until its completely unhidden. 

I will be doing this to represent a sense of growth and typographic evolution.

The text has a slight shake to it that isn't being shown here. 

This is an example of the structure of the poem I will be referencing. 

Tender Buttons Book Update After Group Critique

Projects Status Currently:

Overall Build: Book folds out into a 22x28 sized double sided poster.

Disc: The cd will be placed into a white sleeve with black text laid on top of it from the poem above it. 

Changes:

• After exploring earlier fully fleshed out double sided mockup I realized that I need to reorder the pages.
  
• I will be adding my concept to the colophon and possibly removing the colophon title from its section as it may distract from the over all composition.
  
• I will be removing the page numbers on the index as this concept allows for any order of the poems to be perceived and listing them in order would add structure to the way the viewer will read the works. 

Possible Changes: 

• I will be exploring multiple shorter folds to allow for a easily turned page.
  
• I am exploring the possibility of using a black shape in the very center of the folded out book as a place to leave my title instead of using one of the "sections" reserved for Steins poems. 

"Push the limits"

This is an example of the size increase from 18x24 to 22x28 in the book folded out in poster form. This will allow for larger typography use and help with clarity.

Some different title variations in the works. 

Example of how the poems are organized. 

John Pizzarelli Folly Theater Poster Sketches - Critique & Moving Forward

These are the three sketches that were chosen during critique that I will be moving forward with:

General Reference Notes:

Try the mic and the guitar together as separate objects in the same frame.
Do not use more than two signs combinations at a time.

For example six possible combinations:

• Guitar / Mic
• Guitar / City
• Mic / City
• Mic / Guitar
• City / Guiar
• City / Mic

Rendering Methods:

Vector
Vector / Hand Drawn
Photographic Collage

Adjustments: 

Try this concept with a mic instead of a guitar. 

I need to show more of the guitar head for clarity. 

Now using the NYC skyline I will make the city larger to show emphasis on his roots and sound.

Separate the artists name and date / time information. 

Remove the double use of his name. 

Adjustments: 

One version with the type inside and one with the type outside. 

Try to avoid too much negative space or make it work in my favor. 

Try allowing the typography to be the fret board. 

Adjustments:

Reming as a possible reference for ribbon type placement. 

Adjustments: 

One version with the type inside and one with the type outside. 

Explore type use on the sides with only part of the mic being shown. 

I won't be using any tilted image axis anymore to increase clarity. 

John Pizzarelli Folly Theater Poster Sketches

John Pizzarelli Materials References

More below the break. 

Tender Buttons Research

I am interested in the relationship between Stein's cubist poetry and Picasso's analytic cubist paintings. I want to know how they mutually inspired each others process and final product. I want to reflect that influence by calling out color and or Distortion based on different axis's set in the spread. In the cubist paintings much of the broken up imagery is sitting on different angles. Using a paper that is simular in color to the cubist paintings at the time. A vanilla or aged paper. If possible I would like the paper to be transparent to some extent to allow all of the poems to merge together to form one collective image like the cubist paintings that showed all sides as one. 

Cubism: Objects are broken up, analyzed, re-asembled in abstract form instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint.

"In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles, removing a coherent sense of depth. The background and object planes interpenetrate one another to create the shallow ambiguous space, one of cubism's distinct characteristics."

"The influence of cubism extended to other artistic fields, outside painting and sculpture. In literature, the written works of Gertrude Stein employ repetition and repetitive phrases as building blocks in both passages and whole chapters. Most of Stein's important works utilize this technique, including the novel The Makings of Americans (1906–08) Not only were they the first important patrons of Cubism, Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo were also important influences on Cubism as well. Picasso in turn was an important influence on Stein's writing."

Paper Size: At the moment I am thinking a 5.5in x 8.5in size pages in an 8.5 x 11 two page spread or a four page in an 11x17 that can be folded out and viewed with four poems forming the canvas of sorts.

OR a series of seperate sheets of paper that can be held together as one or multiple sets. Each would create its own cubist image.

Paper Type: Aged or vanilla colored possibly transparent paper.

Sample Spreads: 

Sample Overlap: 

Reference Images: Picasso's analytic cubist paintings.

Tropes Find & Share

THE SEX PISTOLS - GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, 1977
Design by Jamie Reid.

Example of Irony using the Union Jack and the Queen of England advertising the Sex Pistols Album God Save The Queen.  

Expressive Type

The winner

John Pizzarelli Quartet Research

His official site can be found here

John Pizzarelli, is a jazz guitarist, vocalist, and bandleader.

He was raised in a family of musicians that had deep roots within the jazz community. He started playing the tenor banjo at the age of six. Soon afterwards he picked up jazz guitar. He was raised with a respect with for all genres of music. He has had such vocal influences as Nat King Cole, and Joe Mooney for their smooth and relaxed singing styles.

He has recorded forty albums of music, as well as other joint recordings with his father, Bucky Pizzarelli. He has been a guest performer on numerous records throughout his career, for a total of over 140 albums.

He often performs with his own Jazz quartet, composed of his brother Martin Pizzarelli on double-bass, drummer Tony Tedesco and Larry Fuller on Piano.

Cool Cat John Pizzarelli, is known for his charming personality, and his great rapport with audiences during his live performances.

He was hailed by the Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.”

When he performs with his wife, singer/actress Jessica Molaskey, and his father, guitar legend Bucky Pizzarelli. They were labeled “the First Family of Cool” by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Pizzarelli, an Italian American, was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He frequently expresses pride about being from New Jersey.

Pizzarelli is a huge Boston Red Sox fan, and has played baseball (in one capacity or another) all his life and is known for being a sports fanatic.

KEY WORD LIST:

Smooth

Cool Cat

Fluffy

Charming

Sophisticated

Type In Motion / Fine + Share - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from Seth Brau on Vimeo.

Here is a pretty fantastic kinetic typography video based on the UDHR.

More information about The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The actual UN declaration can be found here.

KCAI Design Student Life: Caffeine Consumption Poster

KCAI Design Student Life: Caffeine Consumption

Data recorded during my first sophomore semester at the Kansas City Art Institute between October 20th, and December 10th, 2010. I tracked my consumption using Daytum.com on a daily basis.

Calculations done with Wolfram | Alpha

Data Breakdown:

Coffee:
Black coffee with no creme or sugar.

$0.06 Per cup
Total cost $2.73
50 Calories in 42 cups
2,058 Milligrams of caffeine
21 Pounds of liquid
0 Pounds of sugar

Mochas:
Starbucks, 2% Milk with no Whipped Creme.

$3.95 Per drink
Total cost: $154.05
7,974 Calories in 39 drinks
6,825 Milligrams of caffeine
31 Pounds of liquid
2 Pounds of sugar

Combined:

81 Drinks at a total cost of 156.78

View larger .pdf

KCAI Design Student Life 11x17 Poster

KCAI Design Student Life 11x17 Poster

Hours recorded during my first sophomore semester at the Kansas City Art Institute between October 20th, and December 10th, 2010. I tracked how my time was divided up using Daytum.com on a daily basis.
KCAI Design Dept. Blog

Explanation: Hours are directly related to size of the circles and triangles. Both are representational of the information given.

Stylized loosely using the KCAI Graphic Standards.

Data:

Total Hours: 1248
Documented Hours: 679
Hours of Sleep: 248
Hours of Studio Time: 189
Hours of Class TIme: 124
Hours of Part-Time Work: 72
Hours of Work-Study: 47

Please click here to view larger .pdf

Nelson-Atkins Internship Update

Currently I am working as lead designer on the 2010-2011 Report of Gifts annual report project. The Report of Gifts is comprised of many different lists of the generous individuals and businesses that allow the Nelson-Atkins remain free for everyone to visit. Along side these lists are carefully color corrected images of works of art in the museums collection that had been on display in the 2010-2011 year. Working with many different environmental images of visitors of all kinds. The museum understands and wants to reflect that without the visitors there could be no museum.

The build I have put together is a 6.75" tall by 11" wide. The reasoning behind this is to allow for the least amount of waste space while printing with Mpress while being a sensible choice for the information I have to work with. The challenge here is working with the images of particular business, member, and exhibition events chosen by the director, and marketing to represent the Nelson carefully into 40 full color pages worth of lists creatively into a printed booklet and online pdf simultaneously. During the 2010-2011 fiscal year that this ROG represents the torch had been passed from Marc Wilson to Julián Zugazagoitia. For that reason with Julián's spirit of innovation and progress the report itself evolves in several ways to represent this shift.

The overall build of the book is separated into two layout formats with different flowing column rhythms. This is a nod to the changing of the directors. In the first half of the book the column and lists come down from the top of the layout in a more structured format. This particular section works better with the structured build because the lists start and end frequently and must be worked with rather than forced into a confined space. Also this format allows for column of information to span across from one another while remaining under the same header which was very important to represent the amount of the donations.

Sample Image - Top Layout (This is filler text in the image)

While the second and final half of the report is a majority of longer lists that often span multiple pages which have allowed for easy manipulation of the rhythm of the columns in order across a spread. Much like I learned I could create while working on my Geek Culture Magazine in Type II last semester. This format will allow for interesting and creative visual patterns of column layouts infused with environmental images of the museum.

Sample Image - Bottom Layout (This is filler text in the image)

Though out the spreads there are a series of colored bars that run along either the top or bottom of the layout depending on the section. The colors that these bars are filled with serve as a guide to each section of the report. Where the bar continues off of the page or stops will represent the end or continuation of a section. The colors themselves will change themes from the first section into the second to represent the changing of the directors. I am also experimenting with the idea of including exhibit and important event dates into the color bars to allow them to serve as a time line of sorts. I believe that this could help enforce the overall theme of change. 

The folio is a simple centered number at this point. Anything elaborate would distract too much from the rest of the layout. Also being centered as it currently is leaves it safe from the creep expected from 20 spreads being put together. 

Another project for The Nelson-Atkins:

Set of three frames that are being currently shown in rotation on the screens in the lobby of the Nelson-Atkins Bloch Building advertising the "Heavens: Photographs of the Sky & Cosmos" exhibition.

A7 Selection

My Shigeo Fukuda Design Lecture Poster was selected for the AIGA KC A7 Exhibition!

A big congratulations to everyone who was selected!

Arctic Monkeys Concert Poster

New concert poster for the Arctic Monkeys
House of Blues Houston
August 3rd, 2011

Will be up for sale soon on Chazbro