Stain: a teacup

Link

This is a teacup that is "designed to improve through use" by making areas of the interior surface more susceptible to staining than the rest. The result is that it stains in a pattern:

Keri Smith's Ideas

Typography II, Journal: May 4

Keri Smith, a successful illustrator who works for such clients as Forbes, People, The New York Times, and Random House, has a bunch of fun—and sometimes quite useful—kits and ideas on her website. When I say useful, I'm talking about some of her ideas for self motivation or what could be thought of as creativity pick-me-ups. Often, when working in a creative field, one hits a wall—or simply runs out of steam—and the joy of creating disappears. Everything you do seems like a failure, and you can't seem to come up with any ideas. We've all been there.

Keri's list of "100 Ideas (a work in progress)" contains 95 activities to stimulate you creatively (the last 5 are blank so that you can fill them in with your own ideas). There is no explanation and there are no instructions aside from "pick randomly." My interpretation is that these are things you should do regularly (ie. one a day) in order to keep your mind fresh.

“Did You Know?”

Typography II, Journal: April 28



This is a very well designed presentation of information. It conveys facts about our exponentially accelerating society that I think are good to keep in mind. These are issues that were brought up in Bruce Mau’s talk when he was at KU earlier this month—he quoted someone who noted that living in the 21st century was akin to living through 20,000 years of human development.

Thank You for Smoking title sequence

A good example of kinetic type that uses cigarette box designs from around the '40s and '50s.

Pixar Animator Angus MacLane on How LEGO Helps/Relates to His Job

Full Brothers Brick interview.

TBB: How does your “day job” as an animator influence your LEGO hobby?

Angus: Mostly I build with LEGO as a way to unwind from a day spent in front of the computer. The tactile nature of LEGO can be much more satisfying than working in the often intangible realm of the computer. Also, a large part of an animator’s job is to clearly communicate an idea through the pose of a character. I think this is similar to building with LEGO where part of the goal is to sculpt clear shapes that communicate the purpose of the creation.

TBB: Has your LEGO hobby helped your “real” job in any way?

Angus: LEGO gets you used to thinking and designing in three dimensions. It has really helped my ability to visualize spatial relations. This is especially useful when working with artists and technical directors to take 2D designs and successfully turn them into 3D character models.

Also, when building with LEGO you often have to simplify or caricature the intended form. This is similar to caricaturing motion and simplifying acting ideas, which is an important part of the animation process.

Nixon's "Not a Crook" Speech

Final version of the Type Visualization of Nixon's "Crook" Speech. Higher quality version.

Fonts used: Chaparral Pro (Bold), Birch Std, 3 the Hard Way

Type II Nixon Speech (almost done)