CONCEPT

a direction to go in. a way of making design decisions. inspiration.



my concept?
a bluebird feather.

i was totally okay with this concept because feathers are never boring. they have such a sense of flow and flight to them that's just captivating to me. to find pictures i went to one of the best picture sites ever, flickr.com.

source!

SIDENOTE: so you'd think that the baby version of a bluebird would be so stinkin cute, right?

NOPE.

i just thought i'd share because i found this picture hilarious. 

source!

back to business.
bluebirds aren't just BLUE which became evident in my picture search. i found this picture and i think it's going to be my main concept picture. i really enjoy the way the blue-gray fades to white and then to the copper color.

THE P'S:

proportion: think about how many feathers a bird has! in comparison to the bird itself, one feather is measly. but the feather has a pretty even proportion overall.

balance: a feather has symmetrical balance. both sides are pretty identical. some small pieces (called barbs) may be uneven but the unevenness between the two sides balances out typically.

unity: all of the barbs that are found along the shaft of a feather make the feather a whole.

emphasis: in this feather the emphasis is definitely on the white space. feathers usually show emphasis through color and/or pattern.

rhythm: i'd say this feather has some rhythm. the arrow-like pattern of the white goes against the direction of the feather pieces and that creates some rhythm. also, the amount of lines creates a rhythm as well.

THE ELEMENTS:

space: the spaces between the barbs add interest to the feather and almost call attention to themselves.

line: there are plenty of lines to be found on this feather. they're mostly straight but the transition in color creates its own sort of line as well.

color: the colors are almost complementary, making them stand out more. they're both cool and warm, joined together by white in the middle.

value: with the white in the middle and the darkness of the shadows in the spaces between the little feather barbs there's a variety of value.

form: although mostly flat the feather does have some form, helped by the curve of the stem.

shape: the feather is almost like a long oval. its shape is pretty organic, though. it's definitely not strictly geometric.

texture: the amounts of lines and the color transitions add definite texture to the feather.



in case you were wondering...

what the heck is a barb? and a shaft?

source!

inspiration everywhere

we had a guest speaker [frank cheney] come and talk to us on friday and he talked about precedents and using ideas from other designers. lately i've been collecting inspiration from everywhere. from tumblr to blogger to xanga [i know, its oldschool] there's LOADS of inspiration out there.


lately i'm loving...


WINDOWS. BIG ENORMOUS WINDOWS.

white interiors.

frames. especially big ones that aren't hung. i took my mirror off of my dresser and leaned it against the wall. i also took my corkboard off the wall and leaned it on my desk against the wall. love.

i could spend hours going from website to website looking at crazy awesome blogs and websites...but then when would i get my studio work done?!

sequence: diagramming a building

this semester we're being introduced to diagramming buildings. last week we made a trip over to the weatherspoon art museum and were told to write a narrative about visiting the museum. using our narrative (or doing it separately) we drew thumbnails of the sequence of events/ different spaces in the building. from that we were told to make our thumbnails into one big diagram that somehow clearly expressed the building and the space.
for my narrative i wrote from the point of view of an art student who had sculpture class in the gatewood studio arts building and then art history in the WAM. my trip took me from the studio to the weatherspoon and i had a few sidetrips along the way. in my diagram i expressed the trip step by step and emphasized the more important steps in different ways. The bigger squares are the main objectives and the main places i needed to go on my trip to class. the smaller ones are side trips and distractions. the more i drew my diagram over and over the better it got.

i definitely think that next time i'll focus less on the step-by-step details and think "bigger picture". its all about learning, right?

it's that time again

at the start of every semester we have to make new name tags for our blogs. this year, we were paired up and had to create a new name tag for our partner. the name tag had to express our "client" and his or her style and interests. i was partnered with ayten nadeau. i'd never really talked to and gotten to know her very well so this was a definite challenge for me. she told me that she liked the style of tiffany's and her favorite color was pastel pink. she's got a turkish background and loves traveling and textiles. she expressed to me that she wanted her name tag to be organized with something unexpected. this is what i came up with.

UPDATE:


after group critiques, i decided that adding a semi-border would take this name tag up a notch. so this is what came from that.

 

ayten, my client, was very pleased! (: