VisAd: Good Citizenship response

I don't know that values are breaking down so much as they are changing and adapting to the times.

The article talks more about a lack of morals in the corporate world than the family-individual basis.

Loaded vocab- pushing us the same way the "minority single-issue groups" aggressively push their concerns.

"Most of our colleagues never exercise their right to communicate on public issues"- does that pay? Can we make a living off of that? Maybe that makes us sellouts, but why is supporting our families such a negative thing? Why is it wrong? Why is it our duty to comment on public interests if that's uninteresting to us?

" the graphic designer was to be the Neutral transmitter of the client's message" - as it should be- or as it can be.

Not everyone wants a message hidden in their advertisements, or business materials.

"Abstraction is safe," I fully agree, but it can be meaningful contrary to what Mccoy says. Imagery is more subjective. This is definitely true, it's hard to conform everyone's opinions on one thing with an image- sometimes majority has to rule.

"this is a decisive vote for economics over other potential concerns including social educational cultural spiritual and political needs" Agree that there are more advertisements out there based on consumerism rather than better schools or political choices, but this doesn't have to be a negative decision.

I think we should be more focused on how to get our art to everyone no matter what their personal view points are, rather than worrying about having a view point that we want everyone to conform to. People get bombarded with subjective opinions every second of every day. Sometimes it's nice to have a piece devoid of ulterior motives.

Summer Quote List 2010

Summer 2010 Quote list

5-13
Kat: It feels weird in here without bathrooms....... uh... chairs.

5-16
Epp: When Shockley and I clap, we look anything but straight.

James (10 years old): I figured out what my initials stand for, JTW, "James the Wise." Now all I need is a hat and some booze.
Lisa: Then you'd be James the Wasted.

James: I want the liquor

Andy: Laugh for her

5-21
Micah: I'd have gotten out my tights, tunic, and lute for that shit!!!

5-17
Derek: Why are there so many dicks in that fucking pile?

Aaron (mo's brother): I thought I could bring a pink shirt into this environment and be okay.

Sean: Fucked and a half we all are.

5-30
Kiera: Well he picked the lock... with the... hairpin from his ass... I don't know.

6-1
Lance: It was making me sick and sober.

6-6
Micah: Well then get off hulu and let's work on it. I didn't realize hulu was a part of creative suite now.

Mike talking about a male DJ: This girl's good. Or... whatever the hell it is.

6-8
Kirk: Are you calling me a joo?

6-10
Luke: Imma bring some Debbie snacks.

6-12
Lance: I think it's funny it's exciting to you because it relates back to True Blood some how.

6-18
Luke: I got attacked by fruit flies earlier.
Mo: Do you mean gay people?

Luke: Want a gummy bear?

6-19 (Saturday)
Nick: Hammermans!

6-24
Micah: Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a Voodoo doll?

Me: You just sounded like the Cookie Monster
Luke: I'm hungry.

6-25 (Friday)
Random guy: How are you today?
Old Irish guy: Old fat and ugly. Some things you can fix with a pill, some you can't.

McCormics guy: Let me know if I can do anything for you.
Lance: Do you have a shopping cart?

6-28 (Monday)
Sean (talking about Luna, his cat): I want to shave it and see how big it really is.

6-29 (Tuesday)
Me: What are you doing?
Micah: I'm washing the blood off my hands, I finally killed (him).

7-2
Mom: I'm penis-less and I don't fit in.

7-9
Dan: I can take it in my face

7-12
Micah: I'm still pissed that Mo's tape measure is longer than mine.

7-19
Dmitri: Have you lost all your physical ability?

7-20
Micah: Painters eat puppies.

7-22
Lance: Hello Moonshine!

Luke: Hey. Wanna steal this tractor?

7-23
Lauren: Do I have to bark seven times?

7-26
Me: We need to remember to renew your short bus pass.
Micah: Are you still a member of the sarcastic bitch society?

Michelle: This is hard. How do you guys do it? I'm just getting dizzy.

7-27
Micah: A purple you can believe in. Apparently a Care Bear named it.

Kiera: It's hard for me to get attached to anything in a relationship way. Kittens...That's another story...

7-31
Dylan while losing money at poker: I'm going to get a brain aneurysm walking home.

8-3
Jessica: Do we mention facebook things in real life?

8-6
Sean: I gotta pee too, I'm going out back.

Derek: I thought those were illegal.
Sean: They are.

Sean: There are going to be three fucking cats hogtied outside.

Luke: I'm a seaweed.

Sean: I just walked around naked and talked to my cat.

8-10
Jessica: If only me and the gingko could make more gingko.

Jessica: I'm robbing the cradle of gingko.

8-16
Michelle: I'm going to fucking die up here.

Maeghan: We should get a fucking panda.

Jessica: That's edible? It's kind of like edible undies.

Kauffman Center

A story about our Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts mural was aired on NBC Action News this week. That, in and of itself, is exciting, but the coolest part is that they used a photo that I took on day 21 of the process. That's right- A photo that I took appeared on television. They didn't credit me by name, and I'm not in the photo, but it's still cool to know that a bunch of people saw a photo I took of a process I'm involved with. Gives me butterflies. You can find the clip online, or you can watch it below. Cheers :)

Tonic: Independence Retirement party invites, idea iterations

Working on creating a postcard invite to a retirement party for the woman that headed the tourism promotion for the City of Independence. I'm kind of playing with two ideas right now. The first idea goes along with the whole "relaxing after retirement" theme, something tranquil and beachy. The second idea plays more with the idea of tourism and a tour guide. Not only do you have another place to visit, but it's the last place you'll visit with Stephanie during her 13 year long career. I'll post more as I continue to iterate and play with these very sketchy concepts. 

Tonic: City of Independence resize

Turned this... 

... into this.

Tonic: Overland Park shopping advertisement

I worked on this ad a while back but we needed to resize it and reformat it for a different publication. So I took this image.... 

... and turned it into this image. 

Business Cards: Personal, Physical Prototypes

I don't really have a good place to photograph work in my apartment, so I apologize for poor image quality/bad glare. These are they physical prototypes for my personal business card. The first image is of all ten original designs. The second image is of the top three choices. I can't really choose between those three... I might just make a set of all of them and pass them all out in a random order. That would also help me have variation and different elements to play with when I finally build my website.

Tonic: Pulaski County Advertisement

I built this advertisement with a bunch of stock pieces a while ago, we've since used it in various publications at different sizes. Pretty cool :D 

Business Cards: Personal

These are the proofs for my business card that I've been working on. I started with about ten designs, and after printing them off onto the craft-paper-colored-stock that I want to use, I was able to narrow it down to my top three favorites and then down to my winner. Pictures of actual card (on correct stock) to follow later.

First ten designs.

After the first elimination.

Top three: Winner is labeled as such.

NPR

I was on the radio on Thursday for the Kauffman Center mural project. It was pretty sweet.

 You can click here to read a bit about the story and to listen to the story that aired on NPR Thursday morning (7-29-10).

I sound like a huge dork on the radio. I like that they describe Dan as having "wavy chin-length brown hair and a stubbly beard." Made my day.

Tonic

Yesterday, Stacy (my boss at Tonic) offered me a paid position at the end of my internship after the first week back to school. I'm officially a graphic designer now. It's super exciting and you all are going to have to go celebrate with me once I get a bit of cash in my account again. Wish me luck!

Old Quote List

Theses quotes have been floating on my comp. for a long, long time and I didn't want to delete them, but they need a new home.... that new home being here! The summer quote list will be up here as soon as summer ends :D


Be who you are. Say what you feel. Those who matter, won't mind. Those who mind, don't matter. - Dr. Seuss  


Hal Wert: "Historians are looking in a black room for a black cat, Theologians are looking in a black room for a black cat that isn't there, and Philosophers are looking in a black room for a black cat that isn't there, but keep screaming, "I'VE GOT IT!""  


The sexy chick to James Bond while laying on top of him: "You can have me anywhere." Josh: "On a train in the rain? On a box with a fox?"  


Katie as we're playing Super Smash Brothers: "Okay that's it! You are no longer welcome on my magical platform.... of... trust..."  
Me: I think I'd like to name a dog something completely random. Like Lamp Shade, Elmer's Glue, or belly button." 
Katie: Left Foot 
Me: Marco Polo 
Katie: *breaks into sign language* Tree Leaf Hot Dog Apple! 


Kat: "It's in London, so it must be French." 


Joe: I'm going to get a Botox injection in my balls.
Bo: Do you have any idea how much that would hurt? 
Joe: Yeah but I'd have the smoothest balls in the world! They'd be like eggs...  


"It is not merely happiness we all seek. We seek some place where we belong. For the lucky few, we find it in childhood with our own families. But for most of us we spend our adult lives seeking that place or person or organization that makes us feel that we are important, that we matter, and that without us something would go undone and undoable. We all need to feel that we are irreplaceable."  


Sherry Sparks, talking about the letter Russell wrote, "Don't show this to your parents..."  


Nick: If I were a tree, you'd be my leaves. 
Mom: If you were a tree you'd shit acorns.  


Nick: Do you believe in mercy killings? 


Nick Garvey: Holy shit. It's like you're working for the president or something. "Uh, Ms. Gallagher, we need you to pee in this cup, then we need a sample of your blood, and do you mind filling out this form, it just tells us about every bank transaction you've done in your life, along with what you've eaten in the past 42 hours. Oh and uh... we need a sample of your hair, and a toenail clipping from your left pinky toe. But that should do it.. besides the tank driving test, we wanna make sure that you can fire a missile from far distances. Any questions?"  


Pizza guy: I keep trying to tell my girlfriend she should come to school here. 
Me: Yeah, that would be cool. We don't bite... at least most of us don't. 
Pizza guy: And those of you that do probably have to wear some sort of tag or wrist band, right?  


Jon-boy: I'm just expressing myself and sometimes, when that happens, swear words come out.  


Eppelheimer: it's like a sea of widows!  


Mo: It's raining cats and dogs outside 
Sean: It's raining dogs and pigeons.  


Dustin: I really just want to get naked and run through the woods right now.  


Kidwell: That's a cute little car. It's blue! 
Me: Is it yours? 
Kidwell: No. I spilled yogurt on my shirt earlier and I'm not too happy about it.

Jumanji Porch

I've been thinking about the movie Jumanji a lot in my adult life, I and thought it was epically awesome when I looked onto my front porch and found a chair tipped, but held up with vines. It was really kind of exciting. I took pictures. Hush. 

Busy Bee

Between the mural project, my internship at Tonic, and my volunteer work, I had a thirteen hour work day. I'm feeling mighty exhausted, but I'm also feeling pretty darn good. I hope to get some real work done involving my business cards and website soon. I really, really do. Anyway, here are some pictures from my night of volunteering, enjoy!

Kauffman Center Mural Project

We're on day twenty of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts mural expedition. Things are coming along really, really well. I put all the updates of the progress on the Kauffman Share Space Blog which can be found HERE. Not only are there updates, but you can see photos I take each work day, find out about issues that arise, see the community connections we're making, and even see a few video clips that I'm taking every now and then. I hope you'll check it out!

Inspiration: More Ffffound Pictures.

I love Fffffound. What more is there to say? Just wanted to throw these pictures on here so I had them to reference later.

Tonic: KC Destinations Map, final

Tonic: Smith Electric Font

I was given the logo for Smith Electric and was told to finish the alphabet based off of what was already there with the logo. X was the most annoying to construct believe it or not. N and Y had to go through several variations until it fit with the rest of the system. This was a lot of fun.

Tonic: KC Destinations Map

I created this map to show all the locations involved in the Kansas City Destinations project.

Tonic: Projects I've worked on Round 1

I know I already posted this City Wide brochure I created, but I figured it couldn't hurt to show it again.

I do some work on taking ads and super imposing them into contextual images like these Coke truck backs and the billboards.

I sometimes have to resize ads and bump content around to fit more onto the page, like the logos on the bottom of this print ad.

I was also put in charge of creating t-shirts for each of the four KC Destination ad components, like this one of Jesse James.

And I was in charge of creating a facebook page for the KC Destinations campaign in general. I'll be in charge of updating that on a semi-regular basis, which is cool. 

Apart from that I've worked on updating Tonic's website, I've made some web banners that I'll post in a bit, I've been in charge of incorporating sound clips onto websites/presentation materials, and some other cool stuff :)