"Comparison and Contrast"

Image by: http://hicars.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Infiniti-Logo.jpg

Image by: http://www.autoinfoz.com/company_logo/lexus_logo.png

   The aspects of design that I thought I would compare are in the designs of two major car company's logo; Lexus, and Infiniti. 

   Both i thought were the most simple, but also visually astounding logos of design. Similarities we see in them are form and figure, both are oval shaped and has their main attribute in the center. They both also have the same corresponding colors to them; either comes in gold or silver to show off its elegance. They are both pretty symmetrical on the outside shape but differ within. 

   The rim of the Lexus logo is a bit narrower then the Infiniti, along side with the attribute in the middle. Each one has a specific meaning and representation to it We see Lexus take the direct path of putting on an elegant L in the middle of their emblem, whereas the Infiniti one we see them do a more subtle approach by displaying a thoughtful lines parallel at one pint then meeting to give off a hint of endless paths, or to state infinity. Lexus has a more verbal approach towards their design. The Infiniti center is also pretty symmetrical according to its form everything is well balanced about it, where as Lexus we see mainly the weight of it being shift to the right. Their logos show what it stands for as it represents the company as a whole.

"Choice of Weapon"

Images by: www.tenniswarehouse.com

   

   A design aspect that intrigued me, was something that i have been using every since i was a kid. It varied through out the years, as it improved with technology, it is my choice of weapon when i step onto that court. When i'm that mode there's only four things that are on my mind at the time: the ball, the net, the opponent, and of course my racket. 

   Through out the years of me playing the sport of tennis, i had changed the type of rackets i had used several times, all based on the design of the racket and how it has improved. It starts with simply new technology and material the racket is made. An example would be how the Prince o3 series came out and introduced a whole new line of racket that allowed the player to have a faster swing. It altered the racket by making the string wholes bigger which gave it more aerodynamics as the racket is being swung. The company head also introduced the technology of making their racket out of titanium and then reintroduced it and came out with a liquid metal series racket. 

   What is capturing about racket designs is there are so many ways to go about it. We can see that the looks of the racket also matters, with every new racket comes a new paint job over it. We see different type of designs that cover the rackets, with a variation of colors, which follows the theme of the racket. The K Factor series by Wilson we see a color designs of mainly red and black for the main rackets. Wilson just released their new line call BLX which has colors of black and orange. The rackets all redesigned with different looks, which is a distinguishable trait towards the sale of the rackets.

"Design as Conversation"

   Communication is a key aspect in design, without it design wouldn't be where it is today. Through the contexts of critics and discussions, every designer has a sense of feedback on how he/she can improve their work. Further discussion would be on how we as designer seek what needs to be designed, and how is this done? Communication. We can be designing for others or simply ourselves, but in every aspects of design we should always tend and follow that near final step. By discussing our work and talking with one another, it can open up our minds to a series of new ideas, as well as light bulb moments in which we can see our work differ in some way. Communication also leads to collaboration, which will only progress our work and understanding of design as a whole. Design is said to be an endless quest, my belief is we can’t anywhere near the end of it without help from others. We may talk to one another through conversation about design but simply just talking about ideas is already brought to be design. Another form would be if some had hire you as a designer, you would have to listen and talk to them about their wants and needs towards that specific design. I mean you can’t just do everything based on yourself, it has to be based on the needs of the patron. And of course what you creat isn’t going to be exactly what they want, but after discussing it with them, you’ll be able to adjust and fix it accordingly to how they would want it. Communication through design is a key factor in achieving what design truly is.

"Inked"

Images by: Red Demon Tattoos

      An ancient art form that we come across with a lot during our lives is merely the canvas as being one's skin; tattoos. Tattoos are a complex form of design, as it requires precise technique, and the ability to create and construct a unique piece. A tattoo is said to follow you for the rest of your life, meaning no regrets when it comes time for you to sit down in that chair. To have ink instilled in your skin forever follows the idea that the overall piece has to be something meaningful and of course looks good. 

     The struggles with tattoo artists are mainly creating the template for their patrons. I mean there are so many different designs out there one can create, so many different styles one can follow, and simply so many way one imagined their tattoo to look. A master tattoo isn't one who can give the patron exactly what he/she wants, but rather create a piece that's convincing enough to lead the patron towards that; "yes, ink me up." The designs in tattoos mainly portray each artist’s unique styles within their work, and it requires endless practice for them to master this art form. Every time that needle pierces a person skin, the ink is embedded deep into their skin, there’s no room for mistake so every line and every aspect of the design must be well thought and planned out. 

      The design that follows each person varies depending on what that person’s thoughts are. It can be from a complex design of a portrait of someone, to a mere saying or poem written across someone’s body. No matter what the design is tattoos are a sense of complex and thoughtful art form; originated from ancient times – tattoos are bound to last centuries to come as an art form and not merely just on people’s skin.

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Stone Soup

Images by: Long Luu

      As Stone Soup jumps from my childhood into the present, it was very interesting on how I thought we would perceive this concept through our Design 1 class. It led us to a construction of a piece with our group; in which the outcome became a college of pieces we had put together on a tree. My thoughts on this assignment were that it was very creative and a good form of an icebreaker for the groups. Our project consisted of a college idea contributed by all members of our group. 

      We each just started piecing together various parts separately, than sticking it on our piece as a whole. The main focus was the giant flower in the middle, but along the way our other aspects of the college overwhelmed that part and it got somewhat lost within the piece. The piece has various piece doesn't have a specific meaning to it, it's not an everyday object or something that one can recognize. It’s more like a piece for your thoughts, because there's so much happening on it, it's hard to follow just one thought through it. 

      The materials we had varied from various items such as; paper plates, present wrapping strings, and even a Finding Nemo cloth piece. My overall thoughts of our piece were that it was very symbolic like a puzzle; every member contributed to a piece – which very wells follows the concept of what stone soup is. See if you can find Nemo is our piece.

Creativity from Without

Image by: http://www.ferraribooks.com/images/95991500.jpg

      

      An ordinary day goes by and a single event or object and be a form inspiration to someone out there. For me that everyday object is something we see thousands of everyday, and something we get into everyday; the automobile. Not simply just a car, but mainly the paint scheme of the car. There are thousands of various types of paints out there that we see these cars in, but to the un trained eye they're simply just primary color. We see cars as a basic white, black, blue, red, silver, etc. but what you don't notice is that each manufacture and each car has it's own different paint code. How does this inspire me? I find inspiration through forms of colors, just seeing these things everyday in the street and realizing that there's a sense of difference in them is inspiring enough for me. The simple cars we see can just have a normal shade of paint; an example would be “Taffeta White” from the Honda Company. We would just see this as a normal spectrum white, but the same car also comes in a similar looking coat of paint, however this one includes pearl in the paint; which Honda calls “Premium Pearl White,” where the pearl gives it an astonishing and elegant glow to it. It’s not just the paint scheme that’s inspiring it’s the thought of mixing various types of paint together to get the overall color is inspiring to me as well. The technique of getting a custom color or just trying to match that color just right is very hard to uphold, because through this process there are so many factors. Should I add a hint of blue or red? There are so many variations of color one can play with in the aspects of painting cars, and that’s what is really inspiring me.  

"Origami"

                                                    Image by: Long Luu

      Origami has a lot of aspects that follow the characteristics of design, such as the construction of the object as a whole from simple pieces of paper. Paper is used in our everyday life, and yet it has the ability to become a work of art and design. We see paper as just an ordinary flat object, in which we use for millions of things in our society, but when you take this object and create a origami piece; it becomes a work of 3 dimensional design. 
      Origami fuses many pieces of papers together in creation of one piece, it can also be made from a single piece paper; it just simply depends on what you’re making. There are endless designs out there for origami, but it is something not so easy to do. It takes precision paper folding with a lot of variables that comes in to play such as the size of the paper and the color. 
      There are many figures that we see paper becoming through origami, but we have to consider the minds that originated this technique skill. I mean how were they able to fold the paper so precise in a way with other papers in which to create the famous origami crane, a rather complicated and delicate looking piece. It's the minds of the creator that simply saw a vision through paper and took it upon design to create the art we call origami today. The picture you see above was actually a gift to me made by my girlfriend. It consists of 12 flowers, each flower took 5 pieces of paper to make; so overall it took 60 pieces of papers to make that piece. As you can see from that piece the complexity of origami through paper plays a sense of trying to obtain what we see in our minds into a form of design. 

"Design in a Sense of Smell"

  

                                                     Images by: Long Luu

      Cologne and perfume not only focuses on our sense of smelling good but the bottle itself focuses on our sense of sight and design. The companies manufacture each bottle to have a distinctive and attractive look with some being more creative then others. My mom is actually a perfume collector, from the picture you see above that’s how she chose to display her collection, and that is where I found my inspiration for this blog. The perfume bottle design she has is massive with a lot of different types of designs. I see bottles with loops all around it like a roller coaster and one shaped as a sand glass, as well as bottles being shaped as a human figure. The designs on the bottles not only have to correspond with the brand but also appeal to the consumers and attract them to buy it. I see this as an object we see yet we don’t realize that design prevails within it. Sure we all buy it for the smell, but is that really all we’re buying it for? The design of the bottles has to play a role in the purchase as well, wether you're into just a simple sleek bottle or a more complicated looking design, it's all there on the market. The thing is that the smell and the design of the bottle are both created by people in hope that it’ll relate to other people. I mean sure the sole purpose of cologne or perfume is to make you smell good but the design of the bottle also appeals to others as art. We can see the design of the bottle being manipulated through different shapes and sizes, offering an opened door to the universe of design and endless possibilities.

"Brick by Brick"

Image by: mentalfloss.com (http://www.mentalfloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/legos.jpg)

     

 Recalling back through the early days of my childhood, I see only one toy and hobby that corresponds to design and has also kept up with me the longest in my life is Legos. Legos opens up a child’s mind through the concept of design, and simply gives anyone wielding it a hand to create. Legos opens up the doors and mind through a sense of having each brick and piece be attachable, with limitations of course. Each piece has to correspond to another piece, which kept my mind thinking through a sense that everything has a right piece to it. Not only that there were thousands of pieces and endless possibilities’ of creations, there were also an interface of different characters and colors. 

      Through legos the process of design were endless, each piece was a part of a bigger picture. Every set of course came with a designated design but what opened up my mind was being able to add and configure to that design. My first set if I recall was just a basic set of bricks from which I would construct simple pattern of designs; a red brick, to a yellow brick, to a red brick, and so on. With this object being so quantitative, my collection grew larger and larger as years came along. Following this allowed more designs and objects to be built. Legos follow the characteristics of design through the endless possibilities’ that it holds, brick by brick. In sense I see legos today as carrying the trait of “design” being an endless quest.