Type Video

Untitled from Taylor Wamble on Vimeo.

Text Assignment response

I actually liked working on this one quite a bit. Its really hard to limit yourself to type only. I knew that I want to create texture and imagery with the text but I wanted the text to be legible at some point to convey the concept. The concept revolves around this desire to eat a cupcake. I have a dream where all I an do is think about eating cupcakes and doughnuts and its all a manifestation of repression in my waking life. I know the sweets are bad for me so I avoid them, but they are so tempting that I give in in the dream and then end up feeling guilty.

Artist Essay

JOHN MAEDA

It is hard to put John Maeda in a box with a label. It seems as if the amount of things he does goes far beyond the title of simply a designer. If we must try to define what Maeda does, we could say that he is an artist, a graphic designer, as well as a computer scientist. He was born on Seattle Washington in 1966. He was originally a software engineering student at MIT. It was there that he became fascinated with the work of Paul Rand and Muriel Cooper, both influential designers. He continued on at MIT to get his Bachelor's and Master's degree. He concluded his education by completing his doctorate in design from Tskuba University in Japan. Needless to say, with and education like the one he has achieved, Maeda is absolutely brilliant not only intellectually but creatively as well. Maeda is currently the president of Rhode Island School of Design, one of the leading art and design schools in the country.

After graduating Maeda worked as a designer, developing projects for brands such as Cartier, Google, Phillips, Reebok and Samsung. Also, in 1996 he became the Associate Director of Research at the MIT Media Lab. There he was responsible for managing multiple research relationships with industrial organizations. Some of his accomplishments include having his early digital media work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Since 2001, he has shown in galleries all around the world and they have all been guarded with high esteem. Maeda has also published multiple books, his most recent being called Laws of Simplicity, a book that discusses the theme of simplicity as it relates to the digital world. He has also been recognized a one of Esquire magazines 21 most important people of the 21st century.

It is hard to describe much of John Maeda's work. Much of it is highly intellectually driven and incorporates his vast knowledge of computer technology rather than just the use of design. It is easy to look at his work and appreciate it for the beauty and concept, but it is hard to get a good grasp on how exactly he went about doing it. Much of his work is typography driven. Upon visiting his website, I saw that he has tons of examples of his work. Some of it is interactive. One example tells you to move the curser around the page and a snowflake appears and transforms as you continue to move. I later realize that this is an interactive calendar.

Much of Maeda's work is like this, seemingly inconsequential little explorations. However, they are beautiful and well composed. His work is certainly relevant to this class because he exploring the digital media platform. The uses a lot of kinetic type to convey concepts. He completed a whole motion calendar series for Shisheido that utilizes moving letters and numbers, which serves as great inspiration for our current project. He also has more whimsical work. For Reebok, he designed a colorful sneaker with hand writing as a graphic. He really pushes the concept of type and how it can be used in motion. His work is very sleek and beautiful. That is what attracted me to his work initially. I find his work extremely compelling and think he has a lot offer the digital media world. He is really utilizing his computer science knowledge and marrying well with a design aesthetic.





Links:
www.maedastudio.com/

Masking Experiment

Untitled from Taylor Wamble on Vimeo.

Week 5 Making Experiment Response

I absolutely hate this animation. I lost nearly 5 hours of work because all of my layers didn't get saved even though I saved them. So I basically had to start from scratch around 1:45 am, thus the crapiness. Yes, I know blaming the computer sounds like a cop out but I really was saving frequently. As far as masking goes, this animation doesn't utilize a lot of variations on masking that I would have like to use. I think that I am capable of doing a much better comp that uses the new techniques we learned. The concept I was going with is dreams of intrusion. I have dream that feature having my house broken into while I'm sleeping. The idea is that you don't really know what's going on because you are half asleep and can only pick up on bits and pieces. Hopefully that kind of makes sense. I'm hoping to make up for this sad comp next time.

Week 5 Camera Experiment

Untitled from Taylor Wamble on Vimeo.

I had a hard time getting used to the whole camera thing. I guess its more beneficial when you use it to capture many angles and comprise the footage that way, unlike how i used it which was basically to zoom past stuff. It seems like I could have done that with scaling things up and down. This assignment too me forever and I only have 6 seconds. I began to realize that I could only go so far into z space before the camera inverts thus not much time to create my scene. I think I should have extended my poi more than I did. I don't know if this video really captures what I would like for it to. I don't know if the passing through the clouds aspect is successful.

Artist Lecture Response

I attended the lecture last week, The WORK or Art. Janet did a good job of showing a large volume of work and exposing us to the great efforts that artists go to to create artwork. She explained that art is not always about the end product, but can be more concerned with process. She focused some on process as concept. She featured many artists that blow your mind with the intense amount of time that they have spent creating their work. I was really intrigued by the initial video we saw. It seemed absurd to see these beautiful and well crafted sculptures crash to the ground. Once she began speaking it became apparent that that video was demonstrating that the process is what is important, not the longevity of the product. I was amazed by the dedication and stamina that many of the artists shown have. I saw a lot of gorgeous and inspiring work. It was also cool to hear an explaination of tara donovan's work because I find her work really amazing.

Response Project 3

I feel pretty good about the look of this one. I used all scanned in paper and images. I thing I'm more drawn to that look than using photos. I wanted to do more animation with the fly and create more of a feeling of anxiety. I don't think that is conveyed at this point. I think the motion in general could be tweaked quite a bit. Perhaps the patterns are too busy, but I actually like them. I spent a ridiculous amount of time just getting the basic photoshop file compiled. I need to manage my time a lot better.

Week 4, Project 3

Trapped from Taylor Wamble on Vimeo.

Week 4_3d enabled layers project

Unable from Taylor Wamble on Vimeo.

Response_Week 4_9.15.09

I feel like this excercise was successful in getting me accustomed to the 3D aspects of After effects. The imagery certainly needs to be more refined. Also the motion could be cleaned up quite a bit. I'm going to so quite a lot of revising to this but I felt like I got a good grasp on parenting, nulls, and 3d motion. I think the chioce of doors could be better. Also, I would like there to be more of a moodiness to the atmosphere to convey more of an emotion. The basis of the imagery is a dream that I have where there are tons of doors and I'm trying to shut them and open them and there is a huge sense of frustration. I dont think that is necessarily conveyed.

Week 3, Response

I think that I had good input from the class. I like the suggestion of keeping a journal. I have done that in the past but do not currently do it. I also hadn't considered writing the emotion that I had experienced. I really need to sit down and write down dreams I've had and begin to connect the dots as to common themes and symbols. I think it will be interesting to have a visual portfolio of dreams I have had to look back on for years. Also, the possibilities are endless for imagery and they don't necessarily have to make sense because of the nature of the concept.

1st Animation

Untitled from Taylor Wamble on Vimeo.

Week 3, Proposal

During this semester I would like to focus on the concept of dreams. In the more recent years I have been experiencing vivid dreams nearly every night, sometimes they are enjoyable and other times they are terrifying. I feel very connected to the experience of dreaming because it is a direct expression of my subconscious, and the dreams are usually very personal and intuitive. Dreams, for me, can be extremely realistic and emotional, they can be good and bad, as well as full of important metaphors. I would like to explore themes of repressed desire, as well as symbolism and reoccurring themes that exist within my own dreams. I also would like to capture the intense emotion that I sometimes experience, whether it be intense anxiety and fear or peacefulness. I'm hoping to tap into my own subconscious and try to better understand why I have become a portal for epic dreams.

Week 2_ List and Sketches

Similar:

1. dream
2. subconscious
3. Sigmund Freud
4. interpret
5. escape
6. emotion
7. sensation
8. sleep
9. unexplained
10. mystery
11. perception
12. intuition
13. surreal
14. personal
15. mind reading
16. decoding dreams
17. dream diary
18. inspiration
19. nightmares
20. night terrors
21. psychology
22. spirituality
23. prediction of the future
24. prophecy
25. dream incubation-practice of cultivating dreams that were prophetic
26. Rapid Eye Movement- REM
27. fantasy
28. Carl Jung
29. anxiety dreams
30. sexuality
31. reoccurring dreams
32. ability to fly
33. running from something
34. inability to communicate
35. frustration
36. lucid dreaming-ability to control the characters
37. deja vu
38. daydream
39. sleep walking
40. metaphor
41. reenactment
42. childhood
43. repression
44. fluidity
45. Sandman
46. clouds
47. being hurt
48. trying to run
49. unable to gather materials
50. snakes
51. violence against others
52. holding grudges
53. unable to let go
54. relaxed
55. closed eyes
56. lifeless body
57. circle

Opposite:

1. control
2. consciousness
3. awake
4. tangible
5. blind
6. voluntary
7. reality
8. truth
9. existence
10. fact
11. pipe dream
12. wish
13. unable
14. stifled
15. relief
16. tension
17. relationships
18. open eyes
19. ignorant
20. closed minded
21. shut door
22. responsible
23. responsive
24. rigid
25. square
26. emotionless
27. cut off
28. simple
29. psychologist
30. capture
31. aware
32. cognitive thought
33. intention
34. human behavior
35. intellectual
36. verbal
37. mobile
38. understanding
39. clogged artery
40. a dam in water
41. prohibit
42. insomnia