Shits changing

When I first got into art all I could think about was drawing, printing, stenciling, collaging, and mixed media kinda stuff. Nothing had to do with computers or using any of these Adobe programs I've been learning at USF. I thought (and still think) that if I were to do anything in design it would never be web or super crazy computer graphic design.
Leaving high school I had no idea what I wanted or was I ever thinking about where the future was going with the field I want to study in college. All I knew is I wanted to create, so I decided to test this Design program out at USF. It has taken me so far and dragged me out of the small view of art that I was open to before and let me get my hands on some real technical stuff. 
It still makes me sad that the art that I was so drawn to my whole life, print, is dying and surmising to the enormous path of the digital world. But I am adapting swimmingly by crossing boundaries I never thought I would by building websites. Using my Photoshop and drawing skills to make my websites unique and different then the average build website. All in all, in the end for me I want to be able to get up and back down in every different kinda of media I can weather its on the web or with a stick of lead in my hand.

Signs

When I see signs for stores I always take note to the display and structure of the sign. Big chain stores or buildings will have the same big bright neon sign that lights up at nights. But the stores that are one of a kind, the smaller less known personal shops will have a hand painted sign. It shows the flaws and the develops a character that sign tries to portray. For whatever reason that is something I acknowledge and like when I'm walking into a store. The sign is supposed to be the first thing you see down the street before entering a store and its got to present a certain aura to attract visitors.

Robots

After reading "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" I know why I don't like using fancy complex machines like computers. If man kind really does go to the length this article talks about, which is a stretch but also a strong possibility, and I see it in my life I will have no more hope. I cannot live a life like that, I believe that the world started and built naturally and it thrived. Then humans came and created mass quantities of unnatural things that has made the earth suffer and robbed it of it natural resources that balance it out. Thinking this makes me sad, that our planet had a microscopic chance to create a perfect atmosphere near a star with sufficient heat to power a natural living growing planet with life, and we messed it up. I know and I feel that humans are getting very wrapped up in technology and there is only a bigger demand for more.
I think things can quickly get out of hand, and the quote that I like best from that article was when he references a grand mother that never used antibiotics unless she absolutely had to. This is something I try to implement in my life with things that I don't think are 'natural' in essence, limit the use of unnecessary things.

no matter how much

No matter how much I try I can't use the computer as much as other people do. I'm not immediately drawn to the instant gratification the internet has to provide, or posting my thoughts about things in blogs. When I'm typing on this screen for anyone to see I feel odd, I like the security of scribbling my thoughts down in a blank pocket book that follows only me everywhere. That isn't because I'm shy I simply like to share my story with people who want to talk about it not read it in cliff note form on a web page. This is a big reason why I feel like the internet has no purpose and so I find little use for it.

However, now many of my classes are requiring me to have better internet skills by using blogs and sites to get loads of inspiration from for graphical work. Also by paying close attention to the actual layout of websites so I can create intriguing and interactive websites. So I feel like I'm crawling out of a vague cave and trying my best to immerse myself in the internet world. I'm trying to use design blogs and sites as tools of inspiration and look at their tools of navigation and see what works for the site and things that could be fixed. So if anyone ever does read this stuff post a comment of websites you like to look at so I can find more stuff I like.

internet zero

I've never been forced to ask myself the question of how much I really use the internet. The biggest thing I've learned about myself since last class in thinking about the world of media around me is that almost none of it comes from the computer. There was a statistic we read about how much information was on the computer and how it rapidly increased with the availability of the internet, and now its somewhere close to 100%. For me, the last time I used the internet was Monday for the Dig. Lit. quiz and using google for a helping hand. When I think about where my inspiration comes from and the images I see that I put in my design, it all comes from the environment that immediately surrounds me.

I have seen the direction where the world is going with technology and for better or worse I know that personally I do not fit there. As the world has grown more complex in technology and average life I think I push farther away from that world. I need something more simple, something that gives my senses a tingle and lets them know that they are still my first line of response to how I interpret the world.

#2 Ola

The sport I watch most is surfing. The professional tour pretty much goes year around and they travel to different spots all around the world to get all kinds of waves from huge thick meaty slabs to long point breaks. When swells line up perfectly for these contests it makes for some spectacular performances. Now the tour is in Tahiti at place called Teahupoo; this is one of the biggest stops on the tour, literally. The wave is easily one of the gnarliest in the world and the footage captured at this spot is some of the most seen in surfing history. The add for this contest is simple in design and almost lets the picture do all the talking with small print on the top and bottom for essential information (where, dates, sponsors, etc.). For people who surf and like the ocean a wave is a very mysterious thing, pure energy trapped but constantly moving within the ocean. When it comes together as it does here in Tahiti creating waves 20 feet tall and 20 feet thick throwing over a dangerous reef only a couple feet below the surface it can put your mind into a divine trance. The add displays a side shot from the channel of an absolutely massive wave relinquishing raw power. To me the image was almost exploding off the screen and if this is what is to be expected in seeing the contest, I'm sold.

#1 Gone Fishin'

Today as I was walking back from a huge pancake breakfast at Stacks in Hayes Valley, I saw a familiar man in the same spot that made me feel at home. He is a homeless man that has sat next to the same vacant lot on the corner of Hayes and Octavia for as long as I've lived here. I have never seen him ask anyone directly for money, but he has an interesting advertising technique that lours people in throw a visual appeal. Hooked to the fence he leans against as he reads, is his fishing pole, and tied to the end of the string instead of fish bate, is a cup that has the words "Gone Fishin'" on it. For someone how has little to work with I thought this was about as clever as he could get, and combined with his strategy in location to set up shop in the well off highly popular shopping area of Hayes Valley. For most by-passers walking along I could only imagine this catching the eye of every single one, and most tourists more then willing to throw the man some spare change for the clever gimmick and visual appeal.