MMEXP: Community Model

Luke drew a small prototype for our community model and we went through the list of things we thought were important to include in order to make a master list of points each shape should include. The "individual" and the "community" bubbles will be covered in the paragraph we wrote up as part of our written community proposal, but those other four circles needed new body copy. I wrote four paragraphs to sum up those aspects in our community system.

INFLUENCE:
Our community is highly influenced by user-driven content. Through the use of a rating system, users will be able to rank dives that they have visited, and other members will be able to have a unified list of new dives they have yet to experience. This ultimately has the power to effect dives. Poorly rated establishments based on community member input will directly effect other users desire to visit.

INTEGRATION AND FULFILLMENT OF NEEDS:
The members of our community have a few subjective needs that we hope to fulfill. Members hope to find a good regular hangout complete with good food, drink, and entertainment that is comfortable and reliable. Those things can be accomplished with the user rating system and the "trust ability" of our members. Members may also want to meet new people or support the local economy and having a list of local dives is a good way to experience new locations within your own city.


MEMBERSHIP:
Membership to our community is effected by physical boundaries (such as location, age, mode of transportation, and budget), emotional safety (the ability to "trust" users opinions), relationships (user-user, user-friends, user-establishment, establishment-community), and symbols. We discovered that beyond the visual aesthetic of existing establishments, there are no existing symbols. Through the creation of our identity, we hope to create a symbol that will unify the community to a greater extent.

HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS:
Historical consciousness relates to the ability for members to find themselves in the public image. Our members will be able to have public profiles that showcase their contribution (uploaded photos, ratings, etc.) to the community and other members will be able to judge their "trust ability" in our system. The history of the individual establishments is also related, as are the discovery stories our members post about their dive finds (this includes first impressions).

MMEXP: Dive Hunting Brainstorming

Finding local dives is an activity/hobby that many enjoy participating in. Our demographic is fairly open. It will generally consist of young adults, aged 18-30 (possible college students), of any race or ethnic background, male or female. Since currently there lacks a unified group of individuals that participate in the exploration of local dives, we hope to help bring people together in a shared venture. We hope to help our community by creating a list of local dives with pertinent information relating to each location (address, phone number, quality of service, hours, nightly specials, calendar of events, reviews, etc.) as well as implementing a rating system that is individual driven. Individuals in our community will interact with our hub as a means of posting ratings/reviews, photos/videos of personal experiences, first impressions of the locations, etc. Away from the hub (on an iPhone/iPad) users will be able to get real-time night-by-night updates on events (such as local shows), get maps to locations, and create/access a planner of events for the near future. Individuals will also be able to rate the trustability of other users in order to filter out serious users from users of a sillier persuasion.

Agency (user generated content)
-ratings
-multimedia sharing
-"trusts" reviews
-Recommendations

Relationships:
-user to user
-user to friends
-user to establishment
-establishment to community

Life Goals:
-Useful ratings (trust)
-defining "good"/"bad"/"ugly"
-finding "your spot"
-best food/drink
-info database

Organizational structure:
- #1 is user contribution
    -"trusted" user
    -user location
-popularity/majority rules

Historical Consciousness:
-history of establishment
-discovery story/first impressions
-age

Membership:
Boundaries- location, budget, age, transportation, building access, food/drink genre, dress code
Emotional safety- "trusted" user, honest reviews
Sense of Belonging- atmosphere, cultural diversity
establishment aesthetic, created by our community

Influence:
-rating system
-calendar/planner
-photo/video uploads
-recommendation

Integration and Fulfillment of Needs:
Needs/Hows
-good hangout (atmosphere)/ rating system, user generated content
-good food and drink/rating system, user generated content
-entertainment/rating system, user generated content
-support local economy/ location
-meet new people and find new places/ profiles and establishments
-comfort and reliability/ rating system, user generated content

Shared emotional Connection:
-participate in rating/visiting dives
-establishment to community

Hub Contents vs. iPhone/iPad Contents.

Possible things to consider/ad.

Trying to flush out all the connections.

DESN405: Toy Robot Museum Competitors

Kidwell approved my idea of branding a Toy Robot Museum. The museum won't just showcase the toys, but will teach people about the mechanics behind the metal and possibly teach kids how to make their own robots at home. Below are a list of links to existing competitors:

http://www.oldwoodtoys.com/robot_museum.htm
http://www.robothut.robotnut.com/ (Image below)
http://www.dgupost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=590
http://www.danefield.com/ (image below)
http://www.robotcityworkshop.com/products/solar-kits-5/

It's kind of crazy, but none of the sites really had branding, and those that did had poor quality branding in no sort of cohesive series. When doing a google search for "toy robot museums" the museum that had the most sites dedicated to it/most hits was the Toy Robot Museum in Adamstown, PA. The image below of the youtube video is the only existing branding that I was able to find for it. The most legit museum was for science and industry and those aren't toy robots so much as robots as tools.

Inspiration, fall 2010

I think these are pretty, I'm sure this post will grow. Above are all ffffound imags. The first below is a quicksilver advertisement found on their site. The second image is by Atget Mouth, quite possibly my new favorite photographer. The third image is from Landor's page. The rest of those are from ffffound.

MMEXP: Dive Hunting research

DIVE HUNTING

PHYSICAL BOUNDARIES:
your location, your budget, means of transportation

WHAT'S/WHO'S INVOLVED:
local dives, good drinks, social bees, people that enjoy local music, beer drinkers, young adults 21-30  

EQUIPMENT NEEDS: a car, an empty bladder

DEMOGRAPHICS: Anyone 21+ generally young adults less than 30. Any race. Male or female. College students mostly.

INDIVIDUAL NEEDS: night by night updates on specials/live shows/special events, cheep drinks, good company, map to location

COMMUNITY NEEDS: a centralized place to find information about good dives (rating system, maybe a map to the place, photos, etc.)

SYMBOLS: hangovers? Nothing really

MOTIVATIONS: Finding a good local hangout, cheap fun

DESN405: The Candidates for branding

POSSIBILITIES
android adoption
zombie adoption
bull terrier adoption
covered wagon rental
goldfish adoption
pirate adoption
jet pack rental
golf cart rental
submarine rental
save the clock tower- back to the future
toy robot museum
pumpkin patch
Little Monster Day Care
zebra farm
garbage truck carpooling
dog sledding
study abroad with traveling circuses
Horse Drawn Carriage company
organ donors

I really like the following, hopefully Kidwell will let me run with one of them:

Toy Robot Museum: Showcasing 100 years of wind up toys of all sizes, genres, and materials and educating the public on the creativity of generations passed. Providing a fun way to learn about mechanics, and possibly teaching kids how to  make their own small-scale robots at home.

A Horse Drawn Carriage Company: Providing a romantic mode of transportation leading you and your love to your very own happily every after.

and,

Organ Donation: Helping people weigh out the benefits and detriments of organ donation, but ultimately helping families in need of organ transplants.

MMEXP: Community Decision with new partner

So, Luke and I were partnered together in Multimedia Experience. We went over our lists of possible activities we'd like to find a community in to work with and we narrowed it down to a list of four: Dreaming, Road tripping, Polaroid photography, and Dive Hunting. After drawing up some mind maps and making a list of possible cons, we decided to go with Dive Hunting. A dive, for those of you that do not know, is a fairly gnarly, janky bar or restaurant that has a fairly small following. We figured there were many factors about a dive that make it interesting- Stories of how people came to know about it, the regulars, the service, quality of food, drink prices, live shows, etc. Luke and I are very excited to get working! The last photo contains project title ideas. I'm partial to WHET.

MMEXP: list of communities to consider

new/young parents
people that like to cook
print makers
local musicians
video gamers
museum goers
people that bake
hair stylists
magicians
avid move goers
bar hoppers
restaurant goers 
dive crawlers
people that collect things
people that crochet
Tea drinkers
archers
poets
garage salers
bingo players
bounty hunters
short story writers
local concert goers
ninja wannabes
neat freaks
first Friday goers
people that still use Polaroid
ren faire goers

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.