Use your Breaktime wisely – Typography | Off Book | PBS Arts

I’ve been playing around with different ways to blog and coming up with ways to stay connected to friends and family that have expressed a profound interest to know more about art (of any kind). Well, I’m hoping some of you latch on to this idea of Breaktime posts. Think about it, how long is your break at work? About 10-15 minutes, right? Now, instead of wasting the time engaging in some virtual stalking of the person you like/admire/dislike, why not watch or read something during those 10-15 minutes and delve into something you may have never seen or known before. I’m serious. If you look at infographics about how much time, collectively, we all spend tweeting and facebooking (now, you know we do this A LOT if those very words have become not only part of our lexicon but we use them as verbs), you will understand how much time we spend watching, viewing, reading, not-reading, and engaging virtually. Okay, off the soap box! Watch the video above on Typography. A little secret (which isn’t much of a secret now): I went to art school for a couple of years and studied graphic design and illustration. I’m a SUCKER for typography. And, um, if you’re wondering, creating an original typeface is hard. Very challenging. More difficult to design great and effective type than you think. Trust me (or do it yourself – and NO, changing Arial font on your gDoc from regular to bold and italicizing it DOES NOT count). All right, go forth and enjoy your break time!!

Visit PBS Arts here to learn more

Lecture by Scott Summit, Co-Founder of Bespoke Innovations

Enjoyed a lecture by Scott Summit at the California College of the Arts yesterday evening. Being a huge fan of the lecture series at CCA, I love the fact that the artist talks are open and free to the public. If you find yourself in San Francisco, it’s definitely great to take advantage of these events (especially if you want to keep yourself apprised of art and design). Above, I posted Summit’s TedxCambridge Talk. Although last night’s lecture was geared towards budding industrial designers, I found it extremely informative and learned some new things (i.e., additive fabrication/manufacturing). Overall, it was fascinating to see concepts designed virtually and brought to fruition through additive fabrication (aka 3D modeling). Having a profound interest in the translation between virtual to physical (and vice versa), the presentation was pretty enthralling. As for some of the conceptual and creative aspects of industrial design, Summit stated the importance of the following in the design process.

1. Create uniqueness
2. Design like Nature
3. Create for the Body
4. Increase Complexity to Reduce Cost
5. Start a product company with no upfront cost
6. Really (Truly) Optimize – Perform, Feedback, and Revision
7. See things you couldn’t see before
8. Low Power Consumption
9. Self Replication – The machine’s ability to print itself

trinkets from the bitstream

Reblogged from R+D:

• 

O, Internet! Some glimmers of humor and poetry: — In search of a book, I found this little gif. It’s a cover design that’s meant to stand in for a missing file, but it’s handsome, balanced, mysterious and beautiful on its own. Book-face with a swash-nose. I’d read it. — I’m slowly working my way through psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s books. This one, co-authored with Eugene Halton, is on how objects become associated with sentiment. It sounds very enriching for me as an artist. I love this …

One of my favorite artist-writer, Christine Wong Yap. She shares “trinkets from the bitstream” with the rest of us! Totally worth your time. Please check out her post and blog! In addition, consider this the first installment of re-blog Mondays (a day to share some amazing thoughts and internet goodies from some of my favorite artists and writers out there)! Enjoy!!

Emerging Media and Creative Coding

Form + Code: In Design, Art, and Architecture ~ Image Source: Form + Code web site

In reference to the emerging media of his time, theorist Marshall McLuhan wrote, “Today we’re beginning to realize that the new media aren’t just mechanical gimmicks for creating worlds of illusion, but new languages with new and unique powers of expression.” Writing code is one gateway for realizing these new forms. Learning to program and to engage the computer more directly with code opens the possibility of not only creating tools, but also systems, environments, and entirely new modes of expression. It is here that the computer ceases to be a tool and instead becomes a medium.

~ Form + Code: In Design, Art, and Architecture by Casey Reas, Chandler McWilliams, and LUST

I cannot put this book down. It’s been a great resource in learning the emerging media and how artists, designers, and architects are working within a fast paced digitally laden environment. Please click on the image above to visit the Form + Code site. This book is certainly for anyone interested by new media arts and computational aesthetics.

The Top 1%, What jobs do they have?

The Top %1 Percent Jobs Breakdown ~ Image Source: The New York Times

The New York Times created an infographic to show what jobs of the top %1 percent. I pulled the info from Hyperallergic, which is one of my favorite online art and culture journals. Of course, info and data are, well, exactly that. Hopefully, it leads you to do a bit of research and investigation. It made me think, I’m not included in this schematic because I do freelance and work completely outside of the structure (i.e., blogging, personal enrichment). Now, imagine, hundreds like me that NEED the analysts, managerial, or office drone occupations to help keep us afloat?

If you’re interested, here’s a comparator article that delves into an artist’s wage.

STOP CENSORSHIP

Stop Censorship

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The King Center Digital Archive

An incredible digital archive of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life, essays, sermons, and notes on non-violence and education. It’s a fantastic resource and I highly suggest exploring the archive and learning something new about Dr. King’s legacy. Please (please) click on the image above and share this valuable resource!