Day 15: Nothing

Fragment: "What do I have to lose?"
Font: Avenir
Quoted: Stranger


I overheard this quote, as I was walking with my plate through the dining hall to my table with Ngan and Will. It's a serious question, and I think that the answer is rarely "Nothing."


It happened that I asked the same question during dinner and the truth is I have quite a few things to lose, one of them, at least, means the world to me. But there are things to gain, and they would mean the world. It'll depend on how I handle what comes.


To quote Ursala: Life's full of tough choices, in'nit?

Day 14: Last Meal

Fragment: "Justice, equality, and world peace"
Font: Courier New
Quoted: Odell Barnes Jr, via LastMealsProject


A criminal sentenced to death orders a last meal. It's a crazy thing to see what people want. Some choose to indulge: Lobster. Cheesecake. Some choose simple: Black coffee. Freshly squeezed orange juice. Some, in a way, are heartbreaking: 2 pints mint chocolate chip ice cream. A bag of assorted Jolly Ranchers.


I think would want soup. Warm, clear soup. light and nostalgic. 


http://lastmealsproject.com

Day 13: Madness (Reprise)

Fragment: "Remember, Art is not a place for conflict resolution"
Font: Gotham
Quoted: Professor Alexander Nemerov


Nemerov Blog in the making. My TA said that she believed Nemerov was the way Art History should be and aspire to be.
Today I went to his talk titled The Madness in Art: Georgia O'Keefe and Virginia Woolf. To give it in a word, it was about sending art off into the world, and madness around that.


Other considered quotes: 
"Fearless ecstatic relation to their gift"
He also talked about the freezing of sound...How words could be frozen... I wonder what would happen if he found my blog.

Day 12: Dreamers

Fragment: I'll be doing fine

Font: Avenir

Quoted: afterschoolspecial, in Dreamers

The really fun thing about fragments of a quote, rather than the whole thing, is that, out of context, there are so many possible meanings. They can also reflect so much about the viewer's process. For me, because I heard this fragment in context, it's energetic and even uplifting. Ngan heard me say the fragment, and thought instead that it was about a contrast of words to true emotions. 

I probably just picked this one up because it references California (can't wait to go back) but Afterschoolspecial, in general, is pretty awesome. Check them out here: http://afterschoolspecialmusic.com/

In other news, hell week is over. I'm going to sleep.

Day 11: Madness

Fragment: "Art does not always want to come clear, nor should it."

Font: Galaxie Polaris Light

Quoted: Professor Alexander Nemerov

It's too bad I don't see professor Nemerov every day, or this could easily be a Nemerov Blog. Another one of my favorites today, by him "We are all weak."

This quote was about Rembrandt's paintings, how they seem to just barely escape interpretation. According to lecture, a madman once threw sulfuric acid onto his painting of Danae, watching it melt in front of him. The world's a crazy place.

This post is incredibly incoherent... Maybe because it's never meant to come clear. Maybe because it's 4am. Who knows?

In other news, we're on Stumble!

Day 10: Pixelating the Human Texture

Fragment: "Add a soundtrack to your life and perfect it"
Font: Sony Sketch
Quoted: Luv (sic) part 3, Nujabes ft. Shing02


Nujabes passed away from a traffic accident almost a year ago... Happened to be my birthday too. He's one of my favorite artists ever. When I study, I pull him up on grooveshark and add every song into the playlist, in a continuous loop, not that I could ever reach the end, he's made so much, and I keep replaying songs as I go along. 
Everything's better with the right music.


Rest in Beats, Nujabes.

Day 9: Time

Fragment: "... I don't have time to explore, alas"

Font: Dear Joe Script (fun font I had on hand)

Quoted: Professor Alexander Nemerov

So as some have noticed, this is my first time not making the poster of the day by midnight of that day. Busy week, I said.

This quote comes from another Art History Lecture. Nemerov always ends the class a little late. I don't ever see him checking his watch, but the man could say a million words on a painting and still have more knowledge to share. The full quote is about the details of a painting we didn't cover in lecture, which he didn't have time to explore. Alas.

The craziest bit is that a theme of the lecture was paintings that refer in themselves to the act of painting, and in a way, this poster echoes what I feel is a lack of time to explore my every day design challenge.

Day 8.5: Keep Calm

This week is hell for me. Everyone has bad weeks of a semester and this one's mine. Hours of work, hours of meetings, hours of problem sets. 
Despite this, I've somehow found ways to distract myself, the most recent of which is a method to no longer be distracted. I've changed my windows scheme to a bright red, and my computer desktop to this:

You can doo thisss!


Back to work.

Day 8: Decisions

Fragment: "It all depends on what you want."

Font: Times New Roman

Quoted: Jake Eliasberg

Jake's the first to get a double quote. 
He would. I probably talk to him too much.
Ironically this quote comes from indecision over which quote to pick. I was thinking between "You're not stupid" (It was a nice to hear, even if I don't ever think I am) and "Say something smart" (A frustrating that I hear some people say when they find out I go to a good school)
His advice was on the feelings each quote would give, and to a certain extent, I knew that, but I needed to hear it out loud before it clicked. I spent the next few hours pondering my feelings on the two, only to realize as I sat down to write, that once again, Jake had magically produced intelligent conversation.
Just kidding. Love you Jake.

Day 7: Nice Guy

Fragment: "People treat you the way you let them treat you."

Font: Avenir

Quoted: Ngan Ton

Today I was confused for a second, because it's day 7, but it hasn't been a week. Then I realized, that's how it works when you do one a day. I should really get some more sleep.

Ngan gives good advice.

There is such a thing as being too nice. Don't let yourself get pushed around. :)

Day 6: Drop the Pen

Fragment: "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional."

Font: Avenir

Quoted: M. Kathleen Casey (Canadian Politician)

Stay strong.

Other considered quotes:

-Fragments from Justin Bieber's Rolling Stone's Interview, including "It's like killing babies" (on abortion) and "But whatever they have in Korea, that's bad" (on politics)

I'd say the interviewer is asking the wrong questions to the wrong person.

-"Look, my butt is shaped like a heart" -Jake Eliasberg

Day 5: Objectified

Fragment: "the true story of who you are and what your personal narrative is and the story that you are telling to yourself and no one else because that is the only audience that matters"

Font: Courier New

Quoted: Rob Walker, in Objectified

Today in Design class, I watched Objectified, a documentary by Gary Hustwit on industrial design. This quote ends the movie.

Another part of the quote: "If I had a billion dollars to launch a marketing campaign, I would launch a campaigh on things you already OWN, why not enjoy them today ."

Day 4: Late Night

Fragment: "...like a meth addict in a kaleidoscope"
Font: Halvar
Quoted: Mia Thompson


Like many things related to Mia, this makes sense with an explanation, but why spoil the fun?


Design talk: 
-The font is Halvar, inspired by the famous hybrid font Dead History, by P. Scott Makela. (Read up here http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=139317)

Day 3: Advice

Fragment: "Just ask"

Font: Helvetica

Quoted: Jake Eliasberg

I would like to say many words of wisdom come from Jake Eliasberg... though perhaps it would be more accurate to say that many words come out of him, and a some wise ones just happen slip out.

I pulled this quote from a gchat with Jake, about drum sets.

Here's your first quote, Jake. Hope there's many more to come :) Coincidentally, I'm wearing my "Jake Eliasberg Fan Club" t-shirt today.

Design talk: 

-The template had to change! The standard blurb position has been covered by the dot. (Looks awkward in white. I tried it.)

-The question mark is actually not pure Helvetica. The dot has been moved up.

-Posters seem to look better with a little gray on them, thanks to the frame blogger puts around them. I think that's what makes this poster weaker.

-This poster is subconsciously inspired by Michael Beirut posters for the School of Architecture.

-The project as a whole is inspired by Beirut's Workshop, 100 Day Project. (Read up on that here http://observersroom.designobserver.com/oblog/entry.html?entry=24678!)

Day 2: Listen, Tutti

Fragment: "You don't understand. I don't exist."

Font: Galaxie Polaris Light

Quoted: Professor Alex Nemerov

I guess I have some pretty inspirational professors, because I the fragment today is from my Art History lecture. Professor Nemerov is a genius speaker; his words are so carefully selected and arranged but they flow out of him in such charging force, because, you can tell, he really loves art. On a side note, he's Diane Arbus' nephew.

This fragment comes from his enactment of what would happen if art history didn't exist, after the Normandy Invasion. (Special thanks to Christina for clarifying <3)

Other considered fragments:

"Imaging is about the instant, the now, the infinitely interchangeable"

 From some sort of tangent about his pets (2 cats, Tutti and Agnus, and a parrot, Jellybean)

"Agnus can watch Jellybean all day"

"Tutti, you have no memory"

Day 1: Optical Flow

Fragment: "...life is rushing back past you like a waterfall"
Font: Gotham ExtraLight
Quoted: Professor Steven Zucker


From the start, I'm noticing exactly how hard it is to catch a quote. First of all, I'm kind of deaf, and what I do hear gets vaguely translated into a form of how I'd say it. But when I heard my professor say this, I searched frantically for a pen, because I knew this was the one I didn't want to lose. 


The quote is actually about Optical Flow, or the changing of visual elements and patterns before our eyes, but it relates pretty well to how I see life.
Didn't mean to start off so serious, but hey it's just what I hear.


Happy Valentine's Day.

Day 0: Getting Ready

Tommorow is a good day. Sure, it's a Monday and it's Valentine's day, but tomorrow is the day I'm starting my project. 


The rules of the project are simple:


- Every day, for half a year, make 1 vertical poster, 8.5 x 11 in
- The poster must be completed in under 3 minutes
- The poster can only use text and graphical elements (line and shape)
- The content of each poster will be determined by a quote that I remember from that day(measured by the last poster), but can come from anywhere
- The poster must be in gray scale (for now)


This project is a little exercise in graphic design, and perhaps in listening. I'm picking up this little trail of fragments of sounds, and I guess I'll see where it takes me.