ImMULTIMEDIAte

Gallery Complete!

2009-04-28T13:31:00.002-05:00

HERE'S THE LINK TO MY ONLINE GALLERY:

http://student.tcu.edu/brooksriggins/

In the Right Place at the Right Time

2009-04-23T23:33:00.002-05:00

Bourke-White was born in the Bronx, New York, to Joseph White (who came from an Orthodox Jewish family) and Minnie Bourke, the daughter of an Irish ship's carpenter and an English cook; she was a Protestant. She grew up in Bound Brook, New Jersey (in a neighborhood now part of Middlesex), but graduated from Plainfield High School.[3] Her father was a naturalist, engineer and inventor. His work improved the four-color printing process that is used for books and magazines. Her mother, Minnie Bourke, was a "resourceful homemaker." Margaret learned perfection from her father; from her mother, she learned the unabashed desire for self-improvement."[4] Margaret's success was not a family fluke. Her older sister, Ruth White, was well known for her work at the American Bar Association in Chicago, Ill., and her younger brother Roger Bourke White became a prominent Cleveland businessman and high-tech industry founder.

In 1922, she began studying herpetology at Columbia University, where she developed an interest in photography after studying under Clarence White (no relation). In 1925, she married Everett Chapman, but the couple divorced two years later. After switching colleges several times (University of Michigan, where she became a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority; Purdue University in Indiana, and Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio), Bourke-White enrolled at Cornell University, lived in Risley Hall, and graduated in 1927. A year later, she moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where she started a commercial photography studio and did architectural and industrial photography. One of her clients was Otis Steel Company.

Margaret's success was due to both her people skills and her technical skills. Her experience at Otis is a good example. As she explains in Portrait of Myself, the Otis security people were reluctant to let her shoot for many reasons: First, steel making was a defense industry, so they wanted to be sure national security was not affected. Second, she was a woman and in those days people wondered if a woman and her delicate cameras could stand up to the intense heat, hazard, and generally dirty and gritty conditions inside a steel mill. When she got permission, the technical problems began. Black and white film in that era was sensitive to blue light, not the reds and oranges of hot steel -- she could see the beauty, but the pictures were coming out all black. She solved this problem by bringing along a new style of magnesium flare (which produces white light) and having assistants hold them to light her scenes. The result of her being able to work well with both people and technology resulted in some of the best steel factory pictures of that era, and these pictures earned her national attention.

http://www.benjaminharlow.com/alloftheabove/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/mbw_chryslerbld.jpg

The Man Behind the Hollywood Mask- A Transcendentalist of Sorts

2009-04-23T23:27:00.003-05:00

Avedon was born in New York City to a Jewish-Russian family. After briefly attending Columbia University, he started as a photographer for the Merchant Marines in 1942, taking identification pictures of the crewmen with his Rolleiflex camera given to him by his father as a going-away present. In 1944, he began working as an advertising photographer for a department store, but was quickly discovered by Alexey Brodovitch, the art director for the fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar. In 1946, Avedon had set up his own studio and began providing images for magazines including Vogue and Life. He soon became the chief photographer for Harper's Bazaar. Avedon did not conform to the standard technique of taking fashion photographs, where models stood emotionless and seemingly indifferent to the camera. Instead, Avedon showed models full of emotion, smiling, laughing, and, many times, in action.

In 1966, Avedon left Harper's Bazaar to work as a staff photographer for Vogue magazine. He proceeded to become the lead photographer of Vogue and photographed most of the covers from 1973 until Anna Wintour became editor in chief in late 1988 [1][2]. Notable among his fashion advertisement photograph series, are the recurring assignments for Gianni Versace, starting from the spring/summer campaign 1980.

In addition to his continuing fashion work, Avedon began to branch out and photographed patients of mental hospitals, the Civil Rights Movement in 1963, protesters of the Vietnam War, and later the fall of the Berlin Wall. During this period Avedon also created two famous sets of portraits of The Beatles. The first, taken in mid to late 1967, became one of the first major rock poster series, and consisted of five striking psychedelic portraits of the group — four heavily solarised individual colour portraits (solarisation of prints by his assistant, Gideon Lewin, retouching by Bob Bishop) and a black-and-white group portrait taken with a Rolleiflex camera and a normal Planar lens. The next year he photographed the much more restrained portraits that were included with The White Album in 1968. Among the many other rock bands photographed by Avedon, in 1973 he shot Electric Light Orchestra with all the members exposing their bellybuttons for recording, On the Third Day.

Avedon was always interested in how portraiture captures the personality and soul of its subject. As his reputation as a photographer became widely known, he brought in many famous faces to his studio and photographed them with a large-format 8x10 view camera. His portraits are easily distinguished by their minimalist style, where the person is looking squarely in the camera, posed in front of a sheer white background. Avedon would at times evoke reactions from his portrait subjects by guiding them into uncomfortable areas of discussion or asking them psychologically probing questions. Through these means he would produce images revealing aspects of his subject's character and personality that were not typically captured by others.[3]

He is also distinguished by his large prints, sometimes measuring over three feet in height. His large-format portrait work of drifters, miners, cowboys and others from the western United States became a best-selling book and traveling exhibit entitled In the American West, and is regarded as an important hallmark in 20th Century portrait photography, and by some as Avedon's magnum opus. Commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, it was a six-year project Avedon embarked on in 1979, that produced 125 portraits of people in the American west who caught Avedon's eye.

Avedon was drawn to working people such as miners and oil field workers in their soiled work clothes, unemployed drifters, and teenagers growing up in the West circa 1979-84. When first published and exhibited, In the American West was criticized for showing what some considered to be a disparaging view of America. Avedon was also lauded for treating his subjects with the attention and dignity usually reserved for the politically powerful and celebrities. Laura Wilson served as Avedon's assistant during the creation of In the American West and in 2003 published a photo book documenting the experiences, Avedon at Work, In the American West.

Avedon became the first staff photographer for The New Yorker in 1992 [4]. He has won many awards for his photography, including the International Center of Photography Master of Photography Award in 1993, the Prix Nadar in 1994 for his photobook Evidence, and the Royal Photographic Society 150th Anniversary Medal in 2003.

A True Understanding Between the Artist and the Subject

2009-04-23T23:16:00.002-05:00

Born in 1949 in Waterbury, Connecticut, Annie Leibovitz enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute intent on studying painting. It was not until she traveled to Japan with her mother the summer after her sophomore year that she discovered her interest in taking photographs. When she returned to San Francisco that fall, she began taking night classes in photography. Time spent on a kibbutz in Israel allowed her to hone her skills further.

In 1970 Leibovitz approached Jann Wenner, founding editor of Rolling Stone, which he’d recently launched and was operating out of San Francisco. Impressed with her portfolio, Wenner gave Leibovitz her first assignment: shoot John Lennon. Leibovitz’s black-and-white portrait of the shaggy-looking Beatle graced the cover of the January 21, 1971 issue. Two years later she was named Rolling Stone chief photographer.

When the magazine began printing in color in 1974, Leibovitz followed suit. “In school, I wasn’t taught anything about lighting, and I was only taught black-and-white,” she told ARTnews in 1992. “So I had to learn color myself.” Among her subjects from that period are Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and Patti Smith. Leibovitz also served as the official photographer for the Rolling Stones’ 1975 world tour. While on the road with the band she produced her iconic black-and-white portraits of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, shirtless and gritty.

In 1980 Rolling Stone sent Leibovitz to photograph John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who had recently released their album “Double Fantasy.” For the portrait Leibovitz imagined that the two would pose together nude. Lennon disrobed, but Ono refused to take off her pants. Leibovitz “was kinda disappointed,” according to Rolling Stone, and so she told Ono to leave her clothes on. “We took one Polaroid,” said Leibovitz, “and the three of us knew it was profound right away.” The resulting portrait shows Lennon nude and curled around a fully clothed Ono. Several hours later, Lennon was shot dead in front of his apartment. The photograph ran on the cover of the Rolling Stone Lennon commemorative issue. In 2005 the American Society of Magazine Editors named it the best magazine cover from the past 40 years.

The Greatest Can Never be Overstated

2009-04-23T22:56:00.002-05:00

Ansel Easton Adams was an

American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West and primarily Yosemite National Park. For his images, he developed the zone system, a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photographs.

Although his large-format view cameras were difficult to use because of their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, their high resolution ensured sharpness in his images. He founded the Group f/64 along with fellow photographers Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham, which in turn created the Museum of Modern Art's department of photography.

Adams' timeless and visually stunning photographs are reproduced on calendars, posters, and in books, making his photographs widely recognizable. You can see examples of his remarkable work below:

Edward Curtis...A Revolutionary Photographer and Documenter of the West as it was

2009-04-23T22:47:00.002-05:00

Beginning in 1900 and continuing over the next thirty years, Edward Sheriff Curtis, or the "Shadow Catcher" as he was later called by some of the tribes, took over 40,000 images and recorded rare ethnographic information from over eighty American Indian tribal groups, ranging from the Eskimo or Inuit people of the far north to the Hopi people of the Southwest. He captured the likeness of many important and well-known Indian people of that time, including Geronimo, Chief Joseph, Red Cloud, Medicine Crow and others. This monumental accomplishment is comprised of more than 2,200 sepia toned photogravures bound in twenty volumes of written information and small images and twenty portfolios of larger artistic representations.

Edward S. Curtis was born near Whitewater, Wisconsin in 1868. His father, a Civil War veteran and a Reverend, moved the family to Minnesota, where Edward became interested in photography and soon constructed his own camera and learned how to process the prints. At the age of seventeen he became an apprentice photographer in St. Paul. The family moved near Seattle, Washington, where Edward purchased a second camera and bought a half interest in a photographic studio. He married and the couple had four children.

In 1898 while photographing on Mt. Rainier, Curtis encountered a group of prominent scientists who were lost, among them George Bird Grinnell, a noted Indian expert, who became interested in Curtis' work and invited him to photograph the Blackfeet Indian people in Montana two years later. It was there that Curtis practiced and developed his photographic skills and project methodology that would guide his lifetime of work among the other Indian tribes.

Such a massive project is almost incomprehensible in this day and age. In addition to the constant struggle for financing, Curtis required the cooperation of the weather, vehicles, mechanical equipment, skilled technicians, scholars and researchers and the Indian tribes as well. He dispatched assistants to make tribal visits months in advance. With the proper arrangements Curtis would travel by horseback or horse drawn wagon over paths or primitive "roads" to visit the tribes in their home territory. Once on site Curtis and his assistants would start work by interviewed the people and then photographing them either outside, in a structure, or inside his studio tent with an adjustable skylight. Employing these and other techniques over his lifetime he captured some of the most beautiful images of the Indian people ever recorded.

One of Curtis' major goals was to record as much of the people's way of traditional life as possible. Not content to deal only with the present population, and their arts and industries, he recognized that the present is a result of the past, and the past dimension must be included, as well. Guided by this concept, Curtis made 10,000 wax cylinder recordings of Indian language and music. In addition he took over 40,000 images from over 80 tribes, recorded tribal mythologies and history, and described tribal population, traditional foods, dwellings, clothing, games, ceremonies, burial customs, biographical sketches and other primary source information: all from a living as well as past tradition. Extending the same principle to the photographs, he presented his subjects in a traditional way whenever possible and even supplied a bit of the proper clothing when his subjects had none. Reenactments of battles, moving camp, ceremonies and other past activities were also photographed. These efforts provided extended pleasure to the elders and preserve a rare view of the earlier ways of the people.

With the publication of volume twenty in 1930, the years of struggle finally took their toll with Curtis suffering a physical and nervous break down. The declining interest in the American Indian, the Great depression, and other negative forces slowed, then halted the successful financial completion of the project. Less than 300 sets of "The North American Indian" were sold. Curtis spent the remaining years of his life with his daughter Beth and her husband in Los Angeles. On October 21, 1952 at the age of 84, E. S. Curtis died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, virtually unknown. But what a legacy he recorded for us.

As one admires the beauty of the Curtis photographs they must be placed in a proper perspective. In spite of the dedication and hardships the photographer had to endure, the ultimate beauty of "The North American Indian" lies not only with the genius of Curtis, but also and most importantly, within his subjects. The native beauty, strength, pride, honor, dignity and other admirable characteristics may have been recorded by photographic techniques, but they were first an integral part of the people. While Curtis was a master technician, the Indian people possessed the beauty and their descendants carry on these same traits today. Please see some examples of his work below.

Martin Klimas Explodes Our Minds...and His Art

2009-04-23T22:31:00.002-05:00

Martin Klimas was born in 1971 in Singen, Germany which quite possibly could have shaped his development as well as his preference for his subjects in his art. His preference being for exploding clay miniatures.

Martin Klimas destroys a lot of clay to make his art. Combining the silence of Eadweard Muybridge’s horse pictures with the association-rich composition of a still life, Klimas breaks recognizable objects so they become something else, and stops us just at the moment of transformation. Below, you can take a look at what I mean. It's pretty neat stuff.

Completed Website! Solar Frogs Initiative is Up and Running!

2009-03-31T12:52:00.003-05:00

Please visit my website for a cause, The Solar Frogs Initiative: Reforming Energy at TCU. The process of creating my website has been long and arduous, but I have learned a lot and I feel like my cause is realistic and approachable. I hope you enjoy my website, and learn something about Solar Power yourself!

Creative New Mix n Match Esquire Cover

2009-03-30T15:43:00.002-05:00

This new cover for Esquire Magazine is pretty cool. The magazine has been exploring new technologies and creative designs for their covers lately, starting with a battery-powered October cover with light and video. The newest issue comes adorned with a cover which the reader can switch up, mixing and matching the facial features of Barack Obama, George Clooney, and Justin Timberlake. I don't know why these three men got the honor (except Obama is obvious), but I like the creativity of the idea.

Info via Advertising Age

Some More of My Work / if you don't know BANKSY, you should.

2009-03-26T18:11:00.004-05:00

I made (well, re-faced) this poster for a buddy who runs the TCU sports blog site Spit Blood TCU. It's really an interesting site, done by a former froggy, so if you're a sports fan, check out the site. The site's webmaster/owner asked me if I could draw this up for him and I think it turned out well. GP looks menacing in that hat.

Part 2 of this blog post:

If you have never heard of British street artist Banksy, you gotta check him out. I don't care if you hate art or graffiti, the significance of this dude's messages can't be ignored. He's an amazing artist, and he has a brilliant imagination for explaining the situations of the world visually, out in the streets themselves. The picture above appears on his homepage.
Banksy started out as a graffiti artist, and he still works in the streets of the world, but you can also find his work in galleries in NYC and Europe. Explore his site and pay attention to how he uses the urban landscape to form his messages. It's very impressive stuff. ENJOY!

In "my other work" news...

2009-03-26T17:51:00.004-05:00

So, I'm gonna be a little selfish and post some outside work I've been doing for friends of mine, basically to show them off and hopefully get some feedback. First off, I created a couple posters for my friends in the band $3 Crunch they jam, check'em out on Myspace. They played a Fat Tuesday show at the Aardvark a few weeks ago (and played recently at SXSW festival in Austin). I wanted to use a Mardi Gras theme for the posters and keep them clean and interesting. Here they are:

Note: The little girl pictured was actually standing at the Mardi Gras parade in the 50's, for an added touch of authenticity

The building pictured is St. Louis

Cathedral in the French Quarter in
Nawlins, FYI. I screened over the
image with a traditional Mardi Gras
pattern.

Let me know if you like them, hate them, or have any suggestions. Thanks!

Layers, Creating Image, and Web Design

2009-03-26T17:45:00.003-05:00

Here is one example of some layering I used to create meaning in an image used on my website. You may recognize those columns from Sadler Hall's entrance, in the middle of TCU campus. I used a quick mask with multiple filters to layer a sunny day on top of the column image, to create a message about our campus harnessing the sun's power. The process was simple, it took about five minutes in Photoshop, but in my opinion the final product looks really nice and adds meaning to an otherwise dreary (if significant) photo. Be creative with the images you have, take advantage of the photo-editing and illustrating software we have access to, and use your skills, knowledge, and experience to make your website more than just words on a page that happen to link to more words on other pages. It's an easy way to improve the look and feel of a website.

F'n TP

2009-03-26T17:37:00.002-05:00

Am I a noob? possibly. But I've never used FTP in my life until this project. In fact, I had no clue (in the 5 years now that I've been here at TCU) that we had our own webspace available. (There's an idea for a simple reform: INFORM we the students). Anyway, I was a little intimidated by the idea of FTP at first. It gave me troubles initially, so I forgot about it. Then, I really wanted to work on my website at home, where I think I do my best work, so I sat down and decided I was making it harder than it was. (How hard can three letters be?). As it turns out, I was making it much too hard. After reading carefully the online instructions to use the FTP for my U:Drive, I entered the correct information and voila! we had liftoff. After discovering the glory that is FTP, my life has not been the same. The ease with which it allows me to work from home is not underappreciated, and to think I was ready to give up on it. It was like after I discovered this beast, my motivation skyrocketed and my productivity jumped like the opposite of the economy. Long story short, I really love FTP and I would be glad to help anyone who is still confused (though I'm sure my peers have it down).

Now We're Cookin' with Sunlight!

2009-03-26T17:29:00.003-05:00

OK folks, the site is up and running, though still in construction so be nice. I like the look and feel of the site so far, and I have at least three links legitimately up and running. I think I have substantive information, but I am well aware I need much more description and factual information. The more I read up on solar energy, the more intrigued I am on the subject and the more convinced I'm becoming that TCU should really think about trying out this reform! I am not sure where I'll find cost information for solar panels, but rest assured, the day will come! Here is a screenshot of my homepage as-is right now:

I think it's looking pretty good. Check the site out for yourself here: Solar Frogs Intitiative

Please let me know what you think, and constructive criticism is always welcome!

Early Stages

2009-03-26T17:19:00.005-05:00

My Website Header

So, I missed some class because of illness, so I got started, then slacked, so I had to work really hard to get caught back up not just on the content and look of my website itself, but to catch up on readings and understanding of just exactly what the hell I'm doing. After having a few troubles with Dreamweaver, I went to my books and to the internet for resources and help. After a couple hours of research and learning, I was ready to attack my site again. (Let it be known, I have started over from scratch thrice and hopefully not counting).
After my study session, my skills were much more honed, and with some tinkering my site was beginning to appear how I wanted it to. Pictured above is the header I created on Photoshop for my Homepage (the ol' index.html). As I worked on Dreamweaver more and more, it became clear to me that creating my own images, collages, layered images, backgrounds, etc. is easier for me to do in Photoshop and transfer to Dreamweaver than if I were to insert simple pictures into Dreamweaver and try to mess with them there. Also, I feel I can control the feel of my site more if I have a hand in all the graphics. In the image below, I simply added a quick mask gradient to transition from whiter and focus on the sun. I will use this image as the background at the top of a page most likely.

My Website / TCU Reform Idea

2009-03-26T17:03:00.005-05:00

So, for HUGE project 2, our assignment is to create a multimedia website with working links and all (so, legit.) devoted to some sort of reform to our fine Texas Christian University. After many ideas swim swam through my noggin, none I really cared for, I got to thinking... "We have literally millions of flowers on campus, and it's really beautiful. The colors and varieties make walks to class rather pleasant. Most days around here, at least in the spring and summer, the sun burns down on us like a magical beacon of suffering and sweat. This, the same sun that breathes life into our beautiful gardens of fresh flowers. What if... instead of the sun just burning us and providing for our flowers all day... the magnificent orb could actually power our school buildings, stadiums, classrooms, and computers?"

Granted, it was a long and windy train of thought. But I realized that the opportunity, and the financial and environmental necessity of exploring solar energy on the TCU campus, is upon us. Oil is the source of war, violence, and greed worldwide, right? You know what I heard is NOT the source of war, violence, or greed? The sun. At most, it's a source of some pretty wild tribal dances of praise and worship. I know I'm getting a little off the topic of solar energy actually being used on our campus, but I think an all-around appreciation for the capability we have of harnessing the endless power of the sun is the basis for my argument for reform here on campus.

Well, now that I've got my reform topic, I have researched and found some interesting articles and information on actions some universities have already taken in the direction of solar power use and innovative solutions to environmental struggles of today.

Note: I tried to insert a picture of my website Header, to no avail. I apologize for the text-only entry.

Shepard Fairey Music Video for N.A.S.A.

2009-03-02T17:10:00.003-06:00

If you are even the least bit interested in design or art, you know who Shepard Fairey is. The creative genius behind the Obey clothing label, a world renowned street/graffiti artist, and the most successful graphic designer in the world as of late. You know his work-- He designed the Obama poster and cover of Time Magazine:

In a recent effort, Fairey's art animates the music video for musical collective N.A.S.A.

N.A.S.A., an acronym for North America South America, is a collaborative alternative dance project between Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon that rounded up an amazingly eclectic bunch of underground music stars for the full-length album The Spirit of Apollo. Of the two DJ/producers comprising N.A.S.A., Squeak E. Clean is the better known. Born Sam Spiegel, he initially established himself as an award-winning producer of television commercial soundtracks during the early to mid-2000s. His production "Hello Tomorrow," a collaboration with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for an Adidas spot, was awarded the Gold Lion for Best Music at the 2005 Cannes International Advertising Festival and proved so popular that it was released as a commercially available single on iTunes. Around this same time, Squeak E. Clean began producing songs for a variety of recording artists. Most notably, he produced the Grammy-nominated Yeah Yeah Yeahs album Show Your Bones (2006). Moreover, he collaborated from time to time with his brother, acclaimed video and film director Spike Jonze, on projects such as Yeah Right! (2003), a celebrated skateboarding film. Born Zé Gonzales, DJ Zegon is the other member of N.A.S.A. Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, before relocating to Los Angeles, CA, he is best known for his tenure in the Brazilian rap group Planet Hemp, which was active between the years 1993-2001 and released a series of albums on Sony Music. Working together as N.A.S.A., the two DJ/producers rounded up a slew of noted music figures over the course of several years for what would ultimately become their full-length album debut, The Spirit of Apollo. Released in 2009 on ANTI- Records, the album features vocal turns by David Byrne, Seu Jorge, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Tom Waits, Kanye West, George Clinton, M.I.A., Santogold, and more. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

Yes, the music is as amazing as it sounds like it should be- David Byrne of Talking Heads, George Clinton of P-Funk, M.I.A. (Slumdog, anyone?), the deceased ODB! In my opinion the man with the Andre the Giant stencil (Fairey) was the perfect choice to design the music video for the single "Money," the first single off the album. Check it out:

Get the album on iTunes now.

LovelyPackage.com

2009-02-14T14:15:00.002-06:00

While we're on the subject of package design, I wanted to bring to attention this website I just discovered, which highlights the best that the package design world has to offer. The site is really well done and there are some beautiful graphic designs to browse for inspiration or consumption. Enjoy! lovelypackage

In Package Design News: Club Coke 2009 x Justice x So_ME | Glow-In-The-Dark Bottle

2009-02-11T17:18:00.003-06:00

So, this new bottle has been designed in collaboration with Coca-Cola France, electronic band Justice, and Edbanger Records creative director So_ME. Club Coke is the exclusive line of artist designed Coke bottles reserved for only the best clubs around the world, and this is their fifth year anniversary. The reason I post this is the design significance of this product. First of all, Coke is pushing the envelope with their style, especially for a company with such iconic packaging and labeling. You've got to appreciate their willingness to experiment and gamble with their image. The band, Justice, will play a party in Paris tonight for the launch of the new bottles, which GLOW IN THE DARK. But only partially and very awesomely. Notice the different typography on the bottle. Every word is in a different font, but I think they compliment each other and the overall design well. I'll have to find one of these in person and bring it to class! via Highsnobiety

Unit 1 Project Draft 1

2009-02-10T12:32:00.002-06:00

So, here is a basic layout plan for the first unit project:

I guess this could be considered my rough draft. I think the images work out really well in the layout and speak loudly to the cause and the reason for my NGO. As you can see, I still have yet to incorporate three dimensional media or found items. I could really use some suggestions on what else I could include to enhance my message.
This mock-up is by no means the final design for my project. The final product will be more complex, with a multitude of media and objects, and hopefully I can unify the GFWYO message into one exciting composition of meaning. As always, suggestions, criticism, and comments are welcome. Thanks!

Super Bowl Ads

2009-02-06T11:39:00.001-06:00

In case anyone is still interested, here is a widget for all the Super Bowl advertisements on Hulu.
Enjoy, and discuss!

Helvetican't

2009-02-06T11:08:00.003-06:00

Dedication:

see:

Everyone uses Helvetica, which is why I'm confused. First of all, Blogger does not offer Helvetica font for blog posts. Where's the respect? And you know what else does NOT have the font? Photoshop, a purely design software (and photo editing if you want to get technical). I for one was impressed and shocked by the video about Helvetica and its amazing range of uses and history. The font is 50 years old, and is the most important typeface, maybe ever. Does anyone know if it is possible to use Helvetica on a blog? Can I install the font from my hard drive into Photoshop? To these questions I will search for answers, but I'd rather someone just tell me ;)

While I'm on the subject of Helvetica, I have to mention these t-shirts. Yes, they are nerdy, but I think the shirts are pretty cool. Check it out:

Silly, no? If you're truly interested, you can buy one here: http://www.collapse-design.co.uk/pages/tshirts.html

Cigarettes Hate You.

2009-02-06T10:41:00.000-06:00

I produced this anti-smoking Image using Photoshop. The headline will read, "Cigarettes hate you and want dead." I wrote the type with a burned hole effect engulfed in smoke. I'll post it after the jump. What do you think about the image? Is it meaningful, stupid, funny, attention-getting? Offensive? The work is for Creative Communications with Galyean. I'd love some feedback!
Would you get the message without the headline? Have a better headline idea? Should he have a face? Let's hear it!

Mixed Media Image Composition!

2009-02-06T10:20:00.005-06:00

For Unit numero uno, the big project is a mixed media image composition. Specifically, I must strive to produce the best darn mixed-media collage promoting the values of a local non-profit organization I can produce.

My organization: the Youth Orchestra of Greater Fort Worth

I must align my goals with their cause, "inspiring the development of young musicians by providing intensive training and unparalleled performance opportunities." The orchestra has toured Europe, Switzerland, Canada and the Far East, and performed with many fantastic professional musicians and composers. "Participation in the Youth Orchestra of Greater Fort Worth is an investment in the future of music, our children, and our community." Enough said.

So... for mini-project 2, I designed a smaller, simpler collage promoting the FW Youth Orchestra. Here it is:

My first efforts

(Sorry it's kinda small)

Lemme know what you think/suggest/would change. Thanks. By the way, here's the link to the organization's website: http://www.yofw.org/index.aspx

King Kong ain't got $#!% on this Blog Title

2009-02-04T17:15:00.005-06:00

I figured I might get help with a pressing problem sooner if I made the problem overstated, distasteful, and inconvenient for everyone. As we can see, my blog title is how do you say? Uhlarge. I had to make the title so big just so visitors can even read part of it.

I need help. I cannot change the color of my blog title, and therefore cannot read the font unless I make the size 1000 or so. I realize this is probably a stupid problem with a simple solution I should be able to figure out, but I'm new at this, and I've tried.

Thanks.

Edit: I figured it out. The issue was with the picture I had tried to insert into my header. I really need to learn HTML!

Allow me to reintroduce myself

2009-02-04T10:00:00.004-06:00

So, I'm Brooks. I joined the class February 4, so I am understandably in catch-up mode with this blog and with my projects. BUT, I have been hard at work and excitement bubbles up inside me as I imagine all I will learn and create by the time May rolls around.
Image, physical creation, and technological integration will be my focus of the semester, and I will make posts based on these expanded ideas, always keeping it interesting of course.
I have mediocre Photoshop and InDesign Skills so if I ask a lot of questions on other blogs, please be patient.
I included some blogs I'm interested in in my blogroll you can see on the sidebar, so please explore and enjoy some of the things I do. I look forward to hearing your comments and responses so don't be shy! I am excited to see what everybody is capable of by the end of this.