September 24, 2004
BOOYAH!
Hot on the heels of the personal ad project, comes the Onomatopoeia project for typography. It's a multi-tiered project that just starts with creating a type treatment of an onomatopoetic word in a 20"x20" square. Words like "wow" or "hiss" or "plop." My word, if the title of this post hasn't already given it away: booYAH!
Posted by Dan at 11:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Personals Typography Project
After an exhaustive amount of work, I finished up the personal ad project for typography class. The final piece (60k pdf) is a series of six 10"x10" panels meant to be read horizontally, flush up against each other.
My takeaways from this: typography is demanding, tedious, and requires a ridiculously sharp eye. It requires patience, but the results can be very beautiful. Who knew that simply moving letters around could eat up so much time?
Posted by Dan at 10:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 22, 2004
The Last of the Goodbyes
A group of us gathered on Saturday night to bid the final farewell to departing alumni Kerry and Haven. They are heading to Boston: Kerry to work for Forrester Research and Haven at Catapult Thinking. On Friday, Mathilde left for the Bay Area, to go work at Ebay.
And I really do think that's the last of the departing. At least for now.
Posted by Dan at 1:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thursday Night Drinks
We've been pretty successful (so far) in resurrecting the Thursday night drink tradition, where all the design grads gather to blow off steam and gossip about the faculty and other students. Thus far, we've made stops at Kelly's, "The Cage," and Gooski's. Assuredly the old HCI hangout Sharp Edge can't be far behind...
Posted by Dan at 1:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The Writing Begins
Yesterday was a milestone: I started writing my thesis paper.
In truth, I've probably been ready to start writing for about a week, but the importance I've put on it was giving me writer's block. It's only some 30-40 pages and I've written that much before, with much less time. It just has a daunting name: "Thesis Paper."
To recap, my thesis paper is on the role of metaphor in interaction design. Metaphor is oft maligned and typically misunderstood as a tool for designers, but it can be used effectively in both the design process and within the products themselves. Indeed, digital interaction design would probably be impossible without it.
I'm trying to have a draft done before Thanksgiving, which means writing 3-4 pages a week until then.
Posted by Dan at 1:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 18, 2004
Counterform
I must be a slow learner because after three weeks of graduate typography it's finally started to sink in: the space between the letters is just as important as the letters themselves. The shape that's formed between letters and words can be a thing itself and can make or break the whole composition.
Posted by Dan at 1:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 16, 2004
Design School Convocation 2004
The School of Design held its annual "Welcome Back to School" meeting yesterday. Dan Boyarski, the head of the school, introduced the students, faculty, and staff, talked about changes in the school both good (new facilities) and bad (the loss of some alumni and teachers). My CPID classmate and friend Christina Musante was also mentioned. Over the summer, she suffered a brain aneurism and is taking a year off to recover. She's lucky to be alive and I wish her well.
Afterwards, we all went outside for a barbeque. A nice way to start off the year.
Posted by Dan at 10:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 15, 2004
The Difference Between Computers and Calculators
In the course description of Golan Levin's Introduction to Interactive Graphics, it says that no programming experience is necessary. Yesterday's class totally disproved that notion. Had I not taken Computing in Design last year, I would have been totally overwhelmed and lost. Homework for this week includes such "simple" Processing exercises as:
Develop a composition which in which one thousand lines respond to the cursor.
The 3 hour class last night was an introduction to programming that covered nearly the same amount of material as the entire semester of Computing in Design did, minus arrays: if/else statements, for statements, basic syntax, and the different types of numbers. When you have a number, you have to specify what type of number it is. Floats have decimals and thus, in animation, help achieve smooth organic movement since your cursor can land on a coordinate like 20.345. Integers have no decimals and are good for counting. Boolean is a number that can only have true or false.
There's two main differences between computers and calculators, according to Golan: iteration and if. The computer can do millions of iterations easily. If statements (if this happens, then do this) are the beginning of a system that responds to humans. It's rudimentary reactivity, but it's a start.
Posted by Dan at 3:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 13, 2004
Rob Adams, Flasher
I should give a shout-out to recent CMU alumnus and frequent odannyboy commenter Rob Adams, who starts his job at Macromedia today as the usability specialist for Flash.Posted by Dan at 3:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Personals Project
I'm working on a very difficult project now--at least it's difficult for me as a rookie typographer. It's a very challenging (but fun) first assignment for graduate typography.
We had to chose two contrasting personals ads, then pick two typefaces that best represent the two "characters," Male and Female. Using only those fonts and no color or greyscale, we have to do a series of 10"x10" squares of the two fonts/personals meeting, first with just the letters M and F, then with the whole personals ads meeting. My male (Caslon font):
23 year old SWM, 6'3, 235 lbs, decent build, brown hair, brown eyes with goatee. Looking for a F who is affectionate, loves to snuggle, kiss & be affectionate in public & private. If you have kids that is great. I am very passionate & compassionate & you should be too. Please no head games because I just got out of a bad relationship.
My "female" (TriplexLight font):
Very feminine, submissive, bi-WM cross dresser, tall, long legs, slender, loves dressing up. ISO a couple w/a dominant partner or a dominant M or F for frequent get togethers. I love role play, spanking, light bondage. I can entertain at my home or travel.
It's difficult because it seems like type has a limited set of "moves" that can be combined in many different ways to form a whole. In a way, it reminds me of chess, looking at patterns of form and counterform.
Posted by Dan at 3:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 8, 2004
Intro to Interactive Graphics
I had my first class in Golan Levin's Fundamentals of Interactive Graphics course last night. It's taught through the art department, with a strong programming component. Here's the description:This course is an introduction to the use of computer programming as an expressive visual tool. It is a "studio art course in computer science," in which the objective is art and design, but the medium is software. Rigorous exercises in the Proce55ing flavor of Java will develop the basic vocabulary of constructs that govern static, dynamic, and interactive graphics. Topics include the computational manipulation of: point, line and shape; texture, value and color; time, change and motion; reactivity, connectivity and feedback. Students will become familiar with basic software algorithms, computational geometry, digital signal filtering, kinematic simulation, and the application of these techniques to aesthetic issues in interaction design.
We'll be learning Processing to create works of art and design. But it's not just using the computer to make art: it's using the computer as the medium of art. It's not a computer graphics class; it's rather about responsiveness, creating pieces that respond to human actions and operate in cultural and aesthetic spheres.
Despite its brutal time period (6:30-9:30 pm), this could be a really fascinating and challenging class.
Posted by Dan at 5:14 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
A Sandwich Made of Type
An in-class typography project: Each student had to bring in a sandwich in a brown paper bag to graduate typography class. The sandwiches were "shuffled" and laid out on a long table. Then we each chose two of them to describe: what they were like, what characteristics they possessed, how we thought they were made. And finally, what faces they would be if they were fonts. (Someone suggested my turkey on wheat was like Cooper Black.)We then took our own sandwich, and choosing a font, cut and pasted letters (with real scissors and glue) onto a paper plate to recreate our sandwich. (My sandwich was remade with Trade Gothic.) Interesting.
Posted by Dan at 4:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 7, 2004
Tim Brown on Design Education
NextD, the NextDesign Leadership Institute, has an interesting interview with IDEO CEO Tim Brown, discussing (partially) design education and how schools don't properly prepare their graduates for working at IDEO."I think that the breadth of practical skills that institutions perceive their students need means that often not enough attention is given to the core thinking skills of empathy, analysis and synthesis around more complex problems. We have to work hard both to find people with the beginnings of these skills and then train them to bring them to a level where they can make significant project contributions. We are having more success with designers who have a more eclectic background and perhaps already had a career in another field before they enter design."
Posted by Dan at 3:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Obeying the Rules
My graduate typography class, taught by Kristin Hughes, began with a review of the basic rules of typography, very much like Karen Moyer's lecture on What's Normal.The rules to generally obey are the following:
- For optimum legibility, choose classic, time-tested typefaces with a proven track records.
- Be mindful not to use too many typefaces at once.
- Avoid combining typefaces that are too similar. It looks like a mistake.
- Text set in all capital letters severely retards reading. Use upper and lower case letters for optimum readability.
- For text type, use sizes that according to legibility studies prove most readable. These sizes range from 8-12 points.
- Avoid using too many different types sizes and weights at the same time.
- Use text type of book weight. Avoid typefaces appearing too heavy or too light.
- Use typefaces of medium width.
- For text type, use consistent letter and word spacing (kerning) to produce an even, uninterrupted flow.
- Use appropriate line lengths. Lines that are too short or too long disrupt the reading process.
- For text type, use line spacing (leading) that easily carries the eye from one line to the next.
- For optimum readability, use a flush left, ragged right style.
- Strive for consistent rhythmic rags.
- Clearly indicate paragraphs. You never have to indent the first paragraph of a column.
- Avoid widows (words left on a line by themselves) and orphans (a single word at the beginning of a column or page).
- Emphasize elements within text with discretion. Never combine small caps and regular caps.
- Always maintain the integrity of your type. Avoid stretching or distorting your typefaces or putting text on a curve.
- Always align letters on the baseline or the meanline.
- When working in color, ensure that sufficient contrast exists between type and its background.
Posted by Dan at 2:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 6, 2004
Fall 04 Assistantship
My assistantship for fall is TAing the Introduction to Interaction Design class. This year, they split the interaction design class into a fundamentals class, taught by John Zimmerman, and an advanced class, taught by Jodi Forlizzi.After Rob Adams' post about some of John's ideas, it'll be interesting to sit in on the class.
Posted by Dan at 8:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Blog Database Hosed
My blog's database was either maliciously or else mistakenly deleted. Either way, it no longer exists. Thus, a "do-over." Thankfully, all the entries from last year are still safe and still accessable, albeit with last year's visual design on them.
Adding to this, my servers were located in Florida--directly in the path of the latest hurricane, so there's been some delay in getting this new year of posts up and running. Thanks for your patience.
Posted by Dan at 5:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack