26 June 2008

480T update. second brief.

mary kelly. a local, conceptual contemporary artist that i've been embroiled in these last few weeks is really starting to fascinate me. i just wish her work stimulated me visually. however, her ideas are def worth noting. she's clearly a feminist, but more than a feminist, she has the ability to call to attention political issues in a very poetic kind of way. i like that.

my second brief has to do with one of her shows that is a complete departure from her normal, feminist work: masculinity. it's titled Gloria Patri (Glory be to the Father).


here is the detail on one of the shields. mary kelly is an excellent writer and unless you read her work, you can easily be lead astray of her concepts.


her concepts came from watching the persian gulf war on television and journaling in her sketchbook in the early 90's. here's the pdf of my paper.

a lot of the research that was found came from Postmasters Art Gallery. [ http://www.postmastersart.com/ ]

we will be presenting our research next wednesday. i will try to figure a way to post it here.

24 June 2008

everyone's doing it.

Image Hosted by project art school

yesterday, we started a blog for primate design. now there are officially three blogs in my life – one for every aspect. school. life. and now... work.
check it out: primatedesign.com

17 June 2008

design for the world : push/pull proposal

push and pull — pictograms in need.
to save the world – probably not.

i've always said i wanted to save the world. but i presume it will just have to wait a few years. proposals, sketches and ideas we're recently accepted by the organization, Design for the World in Barcelona, to solve the push/pull problem.

"Nowadays many different cultures share equal or similar codified systems of pictograms, but none of them express the “push-pull” function. In order to illustrate which way a door opens it is necessary to use words, even written in different alphabets, which vary according to the language of a given country.

Our intention as the NGO Design for the World, and in accordance with the aim expressed by our name, is to offer the world a new pictogram which would fill this gap. This is the reason why we ask the Design community for a voluntary contribution of ideas, sketches or formal proposals which would show how designers see the push-pull pictogram."


it was mid may when i received an email from my professor chen wang regarding this problem. i got really excited and everywhere i went, i noticed that it was true.

i began by researching sign language (aslpro.com)




and braille (afb.org)







as well as current international pictograms that we see in public places such as airports, restaurants, the olympics, etc...






my conclusions are far from concluded and the june 15 deadline already belongs to the past, but i sent four comps just for giggles (at midnight 6/15/08)...

one question that still bothers me is — if we, whether right or left handed, use a particular hand to complete this function? and as i see it in my part of the world, most doors are hinged on the left, therefore require action on the right. what hand do you use? and as the "hand" might be a graphic solution to this problem, i avoided it all together because i feel it almost always needs a modifier and stands weak as a symbol alone (unless it's STOP, but then again, STOP can be confused for HIGH 5).
peace...


this one seemed like the obvious one to me and most influenced by "airport" pictograms, and might work well if not on a door or in another context. but the problem at hand is literally at hand - and on the door in front of you.


simulated in an environment.



here is a revision of the above to reflect less of 'up and down' and more 'in and out.' i think it works well on the door, however it feels a bit dingbat-ish.


simulated in an environment.



this is my favorite, but as reminded by my son, it looks more like bite marks rather than grip impressions. the idea here is to show where your hand would go on the door in order to complete the function. i also like that the shapes are similar, yet can be differentiated from a distance because of their orientation.


simulated in an environment.


another way, more literal as to where your fingers impress, would look like this, yet from a distance they might be confused with one another.



and finally, a solution that would require some training, but nonetheless, would be effective. i'm aware that the triangle symbol means caution, but if trained to relate to pulling when applied to it's medium (the door), i feel this set would be the minimalist solution in our confusing/sign infested world.


simulated in an environment.


here's an alternate if the problem of the "caution" triangle arose.



OK, how about this? eliminating the letters that are in common. "lowest common denominator... numerator? whatever" HA! i got rid of the PU and to me, this is very identifiable no matter what language you speak. a little training for the end user is in order, but i believe it's effective. too bad, i never sent this one in...



here was my intro letter trying to explain my reasoning...

15 June 2008


Hello Design for the World:

PUSH/PULL. Ideally, the final mark should not have to be explained and in the end, should stand on it’s own. However, this is not the end and some problems just need to be worked through.

BRIEF EXPLANATION. My first inclination tells me that this mark needs to be accompanied by it’s respective words written in the language of the given country—for the first five years... at minimum. Whether that’s good or not, I believe people have to be trained, especially in a complex problem like this.

PROBLEM SOLVING. As I began thinking of this problem, I immediately realized the need of a shape-difference recognition. Although the end user will be literally arm’s distance when interacting with the mark, I feel each, the push, and the pull, need to be recognized from afar with a sense of immediacy. They require a bold difference, whether in shape, orientation or symbolism, yet still need to be congruent and display as a couple, even though they are separated. For example, a vertical rectangle and horizontal rectangle — much different, but still similar with the difference and similarity easily recognizable at a glance.

Attached are 4 ideas, push on the left, pull on the right, followed by an environment simulation. If you feel there is any potential in these given comps, I would love the opportunity to work with this problem further. Thank you for your consideration.

Genuinely,

brian prince
00-1-714-336-6170

15 June 2008

deadlines 101.

it seems that my working life is dictated by deadlines lately. some inevitable. most self-imposed. i guess it's a way to meet progress.

mental list of things due:
JUN 15 : design for the world's push/pull proposal (today)
JUN 16 : CUP's making public policy (tomorrow)
JUN 17 : cordelia knott's fall catalog to print.
JUN 20 : eikon's summer ad to newspaper.
JUN 21 : 480T, csuf grand central art center 2pm.
JUN 23 : 480T, mary kelly paper#2 due. (gloria patri)
JUN 24 : logo comps to seoul enterprises.
JUN 27 : create awards 2008
JUN 27 : free people's shopping bag contest
JUN 30 : logo lounge volume 5

JUN 30 : print magazine's 2009 student cover competition

JUN 30 : american graphic design awards
JUL 1 : pd blog launched.
JUL 1 : rent to landlord.

if making just one of these deadlines means progress, then i'm in good hands. and if i don't meet progress, well, then i'll be on the street, cuz rent is due.

13 June 2008

balance 101.

between the family, primate design, little league, summer school, writing and the NBA FINALS, i haven't had much time to update project artschool. i know. i know. "no one said it was going to be easy." but, i say, why not? there are a lot of things coming down the pipe. a lot of pressure building up. and the summer is looking shorter and shorter by every late sunset. but lately i've had the opportunity to step outside of my life and look in, and man, it can't get any better. praise God for all the goodness amongst the chaos. as i see it right now, if my life wasn't so grand, i wouldn't have this ability to stop and acknowledge it — peeping in at every angle, appreciating every blessing before me. i came to this realization this morning in the dentist chair as the hygienist picked my brain. life may be full and up-to-my-neck busy, but that's because i'm always loungin'.

one thing accomplished however, is that i managed to shorten the URL to access this blog. so, welcome to www.projectartschool.com. word up.

12 June 2008

480T update. first brief.

Southern California Contemporary Art is coming along. i am now in a group of 8 and we are to articulate a 30 minute-ish presentation on Mary Kelly, a now-local contemporary artist that weighs in heavy on feminism in the conceptual division. our final is due july 2 and statistically, it looks impossible. but, optimistically, we can do anything.

here is a bio of Mary Kelly. and here is my first paper/part of the group's research: Criticisms of Mary Kelly. (unfortunately, it's only negative but i'm drawn to find some more positive reviews because i know it's out there.)

05 June 2008

dan havel and dean ruck: inversion.

Houston sculptors Dan Havel and Dean Ruck sculpturally altered two buildings in a Montrose neighborhood.

The project Inversion transformed two Art League houses on the corner of Montrose Boulevard and Willard Street. The Art League offered Havel and Ruck the old studio buildings before they were demolished this spring making way for a new Art League building.

The adjacent houses have been used for exhibition space and art classes for over thirty years. Havel and Ruck created a large funnel-like vortex beginning from the west wall adjacent to Montrose Blvd. The exterior skin of the houses was peeled off and used to create the narrowing spiral as it progresses eastward through the small central hallway connecting the two buildings and exiting through a small hole into an adjacent courtyard.



Photo credit: Brother O'Mara



Photo credit: Brother O'Mara




Photo credit: Brother O'Mara

Photo credit: Brother O'Mara

pretty freakin' rad. Thanks to Kevin O'Mara for the use of his images.

03 June 2008

benjamin verdonck: nest rotterdam

this belgian birdman gets outrageously cozy. for seven days, a giant nest 50 meters up one side of the Weena Tower in Rotterdam has been home for artist benjamin verdonck.







read more at nest-rotterdam.nl/

02 June 2008

480T Southern California Contemporary Art

summer school is here. already. it wasn't even june and i found myself sitting in a lecture hall consuming a trail mix bar and a presentation of art history as we know it. art history, as in, all of art's history — since the beginning of documented art, to now. pretty fascinating. pretty quick.

this course will be heavy on group and light on lecture. which is an o.k. diet as long as your group is good. we have a questionnaire to fill out so the prof can determine well-balanced groups. i like that. besides getting an overview (well-needed) of art history, we will focus this summer on a southern Californian artist. we have 8 to choose from: rubén ortiz torres, georgeanne deen, liz mcgrath, susan silton, kenny scharf, jason rhodes, mary kelly, or shepard fairy. in the end, our group will give a 40-50 minute presentation on our selected artist or topic related to the artist. the questionnaire asks to list your top 3. i have yet to choose.


i have no idea why i scanned the questionnaire, but here it is.