FINAL PROJECT - THE FISH LIBRARY

Icon Redesign: The Final Product

Skype is a popular and revolutionary video chat system with a memorable image and iconic sounds. The little blue 'S' icon is recognizable to many, and a charmingly simple design. However, to people who have never used the application, its doesn't quite convey 'video chat system'. In my non-professional opinion, if some small changes were made to this logo, it would make the icon more clear to first time Skype users and curious icon clickers.

To try and convey the program's purpose better, I mimicked the look of an old fashioned phone. The two phone speaker/mic pieces are connected through the S, to show that this program is a chat system. The corded phone may be old fashion, however it is easily recognizable, which makes it effective in making a point.

I wanted to do another design, as suggested by the professor, that featured the S as the connecting point of the two nubs on the Skype icon. However, my computer's general incompatibility with Illustrator made making even this simple first design near impossible. There is so much more I wanted to do with this design, let alone an entire second icon that just didn't happen (its also a huge contributor as to why this one assignment is so late, however its no excuse). I will be sure to make use of the school's computers for future Illustrator projects.

Ugh.

Business Plan: Third Eye Tea

Third Eye Tea is a small chain of shops specializing in herbal tea. We sell healthful caffeine free tea blends made with organic locally grown herbs and fruits, and select few tea brewing accessories. We plan to open in malls and small shopping centers to compete with Teavanna, and to attract health conscious, young adult customers. We wish to have an earthy, but trendy, image and to have a meditative feel to our shops.

Third Eye Tea is going to need a logo that incorporates the third eye, but without it being creepy. The logo should match the relaxing feel of the store, and should also incorporate our product: tea. An earthy color scheme should be used in the logos and fonts.

Skype is a popular and revolutionary video chat system with a memorable image and iconic sounds. The little blue 'S' icon is recognizable to many, and a charmingly simple design. However, to people who have never used the application, its doesn't quite convey 'video chat system'. In my non-professional opinion, if some small changes were made to this logo, it would make the icon more clear to first time Skype users and curious icon clickers.

WERE-RAT!!!!

You would think that by 2033 B-Movies would be out dated.

Movie Poster- The Idea

For our upcoming move poster assignment, I am creating a poster for the B-movie horror flick, WERERAT. The protagonist, a college student majoring in environmental studies, enters the sewers of New York City to research the increase in rat populations. While gathering information she is bitten by one of the sewer rats and transforms into the fearsome Wererat! The scientist-turned-monster must continue her research into this mutating rat colony and uncover a cure for her ailment while fighting her Wererat urges. Can she uncover the mystery? Can she cure her horrific condition? Can she push the secret environmentalist agenda of the movie without it being as bad as Birdemic? (Probaby not, but thats why I'm not a director) Watch the movie to find out! Coming to theaters in 2016.

Functional/Non-Functional Product Project

Non-Fucntional: The Baby Ball!

Perfect for babies just learning to craw, the Baby Ball allows your child hours of safe exercise on any hard surface! The hard plastic bubble keeps you baby free of the dirt, cuts, and bruises many toddlers fall victim too. It also keeps baby's hands and fingers off of expensive items and dangerous objects. The ball has a large, clip locking door on each end for easy access to the child, is well ventalated, and is made of highly durable acrylic.

Functional: WindGROW

The WindGROW city farming system helps bring fresh produce to the urban area. The large imitation wood box anchors securely underneath any window, and can hold up to one ton of soil. Unlike conventional window planters, WindGROW is large enough to grow large crops and root based vegetables, as well as house small breed trees. WindGROW's patented draining system keeps roots well oxygenated and holds water reserves for up to a week, ensuring large, healthy crops.

How to Ruin a Great Design

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/arts/14iht-design14.html?src=me&ref=arts&_r=3&

Much like the street signs and car logos this article focuses on, I have seen product packages butchered when a new design is introduced. The most memorable example for me was the recent change in Tazo brand tea bag packaging. A few years ago the company was bought out by the hot beverage titan Starbucks; and with the change in management so came a change in style. Pre-Starbucks the tea company had a distinctive, classy packaging scheme, and a very memorable logo. It was memorable and iconic to avid tea drinkers like myself, it truly separated Tazo from its competition (if only in style). However, the new designers completely remade the Tazo box image, taking the distinctive look and trying to simplify and modernize the look by removing the textured background and signature logos. The new design is strikingly similar to many store-brad packages and strips the illusion of classiness the company once had. What was once a good design now blends in with the rest of the grocery store tea bag selections.

Tazo packaging, before on the left, after on the right.

DOG-Y

Product Design- Lomography's Oktomat Camera

The Oktomat is the oddest camera I have ever had the pleasure of owning, not just in appearance, but also in function. This little 35mm film camera has not one, but eight separate lenses that fire in quick succession to capture movement over a span of about three seconds; all 8 images appear on the same 5x7 print. The individual boxes on each print can be combined digitally to make some really cool .gif files. Oktomat's appearance is just as strange as its function, bright red and brick like, with a whole mess of colors around its multiple lenses. However, it's suiting for the plastic camera. The shape is easy to hold, which is great for flailing around trying to get the best three second action shots, and its sold with a sturdy lanyard to wrap wound your wrist just in case it does try to slip away. The bright red plastic also makes it easy to keep an eye on for your models in the case of a high-octane photo-shoot (and although the lenses may have some weird shades, they all coordinate nicely with that BRIGHT red). 

Unique in both functionality and appearance, the Oktomat however can't be called more then a novelty. It's practicality as a video recorder was invalidated when the first ACTUAL video recorder hit markets, plus Vine videos can record three additional seconds and sound. Any artistic merit the camera may hold is jeopardized by it's plastic seams that occasionally let light expose your sensitive film, and the slow death of analogue photography as a media. Thus, one of, what is in my opinion, the coolest designed cameras on the market is pushed aside as no more then a toy. 


Here are some older photos I took with this thing:

This is Chico our chihuahua. He's an old man now and is very gray in the face, its weird seeing him with such dark color.

If we learn how to make .gif images this is going to be the first one I do.

butt.

Questions

Welcome to Lea Lawson's College Blog~

Questions - Computer Graphics assignment #1, Prof. A. Barkley

What is your computer experience?

• I have basic computer experience, if not better. I have experience in Microsoft word, excel, and experience with multiple internet browsers. I can figure out just about any program within a few minutes.

What is your experience with Photoshop and Illustrator?

• Although I have used Photoshop and other image editors I am still very unfamiliar with the programs. I have had training with Paint.net however, and I am able to use most of it's functions. 

Do you have a computer at home? If so dose it have Photoshop and Illustrator?

• I have a family desktop, and a personal tablet pc- both with internet access. I currently do not have either program but I will download a Photoshop demo as soon as possible.

What is your major ?

• I began studies at CCC with a marketing major. Recently though I have decided to break away from the set courses and only take classes that are relevant to the career I hope to build for myself. I am hoping to write, illustrate, publish, and sell comic books; I plan on taking many art, computer graphics, english and business courses to help make this happen. 

What do you hope to get out of this class?

• I would like to leave this class with an understanding of photo-editing software and higher level design skills.

Who is your favorite artist?

• I don't have a favorite exactly, I appreciate so many different types of art and different styles that it's really hard to compare. Riusuke Fukahori is an extremely talented painter who painted hyper-realistic sea life using paint and layers of acrylic. I admire his skill and intuition. I also am a fan of many cartoonists who haven't yet made a name for themselves. One artist, pen-name Jessu, is a huge inspiration and influence to me.

Who is your favorite musician? 

• I have the same issue with picking a musician as with picking an artist, I am a fan of too many! Pop/Rock/Alternative band Ludo has been a must-follow for me for a long time.

Tell me something interesting about yourself?

• My friend and I have been working on the plot for an excessively long comic series titled Persons of Outstanding Potential for the past five-ish years. We plan on publishing this in the near future, however due to its length its not going to be our first work, instead we are working on a much shorter story in the 'magical girl' genre.

Write a five line story?

• The last man alive sits alone in his room. It has been years since the other survivors died of disease; decades since the bombs fell. He shifts his chair, the creaking of the floor boards echoed throughout the room- contrasting the silence like the blast the tore the world in two. The room returned to silence. He began to drift to sleep when the air was split by another sound, however this one was unexpected. Someone had knocked on the door.
• ((This is based on a two line horror story I've read on some fourm- I would link you but I don't think I can find it again))

Post an image on the blog.