Wednesday, November 18, 2009

New Media/Design/Artist?



This whole idea of media arts/new media/design is a really eye opening experience for me. I have countless conversations with myself on a daily basis just asking myself where I fit in all of this. It makes me wonder what the DESIGN of my life is. How do I design my life? What are the rules? What will I accomplish? What will I end up doing? I mean I know we all have an idea of the career field's that we want to get into but what about success? How do you design a life of success? Is there a method or do you just chop away and hope the tree falls? I have to say that the whole issue is mind boggling to me. Sometimes I think about it all and I just wish that I was the type of person who was content just getting a job and living a simple life. Sometimes I feel like my desire to design things and analyze everything is what holds me back. On one hand I love to attempt to design things and I am working on a few personal projects but the fact that I don't know that I will be successful sometimes palatalizes me. I have good idea's and then I realize that there really is nothing that special about what I am trying to do and then I get down and critique my self into not moving further. I wish that someone would tell me how to DESIGN my mental processes. Maybe I'm just thinking too much. maybe I need to just do what ever it is that I want to do and not worry about what will happen.

Monday, November 16, 2009

the Pyramids Indianapolis


The Pyramids located on the upper west side of Indianapolis just off of 465 were constructed in 1972 for CP Pyramids and Associates LP. Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates LLC, were the principal designer is Kevin Roche was responsible for the architecture. Roche is known for his grand facades. I wonder what made the company build these so far from downtown. The Pyramids are the tallest buildings in Indiana's Marion county Pike Township. All three structures are connected through basement and ground level corridors. It seems as though Indianapolis is one of the most spread out cities in the nation. You can find pockets of great architecture all over the city. I have driven by these three structures countless times so one day I just parked in the parking lot and decided to take some photos. I notices that Indiana Tech and The Institute of Art are tenant's of these properties. I think the structure obviously is capable of meeting the needs of smaller private schools like the Art Institutes. My only problem is the location. I know that it is located in a business district that features a lot of big companies. But when you think of something like this you think it should be downtown or something overlooking the city! Well regardless of where they are located they are definitely an Indianapolis landmark.

Good Idea/Bad Idea


I'd like to critique one of my own ideas in this blog post. Last week Wednesday I proposed that there could be some sort website that took the photos from a consumer's phone and placed on a postcard to send to the address of their choice for a minimal fee. At the time I felt as though it would be something really cool and convenient for people who traveled a lot, especially those who traveled overseas on a regular basis. You know like military personnel. Over the weekend I mulled over the idea and I realized that it's actually a lousy idea. The problem is virtually NOBODY is interested in receiving or sending postcards nowadays! Really the only time you really see a postcard in use is for a business promotion. People don't even want paper billing anymore! Why would they want to have a postcard with a picture on it from someones 1 mega pixel camera phone? People send images all the time over the web. I think that it is important to know when you have a good idea vs. when a good idea has you.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Crystal Cathedral




This play is otherworldly. It looks like something straight out of snow white. The structure above is refered to as the Crystal Cathedral. It is owned by Chrystal Cathedral Ministeries headed by Dr. Robert H. Schuller. I have watched this ministries television broadcast and I got the impression that there was some sort of man maid rain forest just behind the pool pit area. Its almost as if they told the architect to make it look like Jesus and his host of angels were tenets. The towering structure on the right is referred to as the Tower of Hope. It was originally commissioned in 1961 to noted architect Richard Neutra. It was completed in 1969. Dr. Schuller commissioned architect Phillip Johnson to design the sanctuary referred to as the Crystal Cathedral.

Float Glass set

This is an interesting set of glasses. I am a tea drinker. I prefer to drink out of a clear tea cup. I also would love to have some sort of dish that i could steep the tea in before I actually drink it. The pitcher being used to poor above. For me aesthetics may or may not be enough to win me over. If I had the money the aesthetics of this would have won me over. But it actually has an added bonus of functionality in my opinion. this set is also good for cold beverages. I imagine that the materials used to make this set are a little different that the usual glass making tools.

Triplet Square furniture


I think that I tend to like stuff that makes me think I can build it myself if I go to the hardware store. That couldn't be farther from the truth. I'm sure if I had months of time on my hand I probably could hack it out but without a knowledge of spacial relations and carpentry I doubt it would be as structurally sound as the above piece of furniture. It takes very clever application to build this thing and actually make it stand for a prolonged period of time. I actually saw a piece in someone's house that looks almost exactly like this. the beautiful thing about this is it can stand in the middle of the room. It doesn't have to be propped up against a wall. I think that the artist most likely had that in mind.

Ultra sleek chair


I think when a consumer is buying poolside furniture they may be more concerned with how they look lying in it more so than what it feels like to lay in the thing. I mean look at this! the thing is almost aesthetically intimidating! It practically says,"Russian blond super models only!" Above and beyond that you can't just put these anywhere. Well i guess if you pay for it you can but It would only look right in some ultra modern mansion some where in Beverly Hills! Its funny how a product can actually designed so well its intimidating.

3d Chess


I'd like to address the practicality of what we have above. Sure it looks nice. I understand what is being displayed visually. But is it worth playing on? In my opinion no. I cant see anyone being able to actually hack out a game of chess on this board. Its just way to cramped! The problem is that if the board is not flat then you wont be able to maneuver pieces without knocking over other pieces. I guess if the board is big enough you may be able to maneuver around that. The other problem is that you would have to stand in order to see the entire board! that wouldn't make for a very comfortable game of chess seeing as though the game takes so long to play. Also it would be very hard to brew up a strategy because of the limited vision. You would probably not notice the proper angles to work you bishops and queen because the board is not flat.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Abacus iPhone app


I used this image for one of my class projects. I'd like to take about it because the image is very interesting when you look at what is being displayed. this is an iPhone showing an app that allows you to use an abacus. How ironic is that? Its an iPhone! The iPhone is one of the more advanced cellular devices on the market. It is shown here useing a 5000 year old device called an abacus. The use of the abucus is said to date back about 2700 B.C. to the ancient Mesopotamians. I wonder if any of them ever thought there would be a divice called a phone, let alond a phone that conects people through a satelite system. Now this ancient way of counting and calculating numbers can be used on one of the most cutting edge devices of our time! And get this. There are technologies that make the iPhone look outdated! The real kicker is that the abucus can be used to calculate some numbers much faster than an iPhone can. If one learned how to use an abacus correctly one be able to use the abucus to perform a calculation like [(89-75+47) / 67 )* (46)*(302334343) ] in seconds while on the contrary you cant even calcualte this type of proplem on an iphone or even most hand held calculators! What does all of this have to do with design? Well I think that the mind pocess of someone who could figure out how to invent and abacus is mindboggling. How could you invent and analog calculation device that can challenge calculation devices built thousands of years ago? What aren't we thinking about that they were thinking about?

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Computer Rockin Chair


Yet another overpriced minimally useful product hits the market. I cant imagine why they would even advertise this as the ultimate work station. What kind of work can you do in a chair like this? I guess I could think of a few things that are not appropriate to comment on in this blog. I wonder why they named it the Computer Rockin Chair. Don't get me wrong it is a very chic and beautifully designed product that may very well be a joy to sit in but I wonder how anyone could manage to actually get a lot of work done in it! I guess you could just sit in it while you use your lap top. The problem is that the human spine is not circular. I could imagine this thing causing some serious back and neck pain after regular usage. I once fell asleep in a chair shaped like this and in the morning I had the worst back ache ever. I think sometimes great design is mistaken for great aesthetics.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

The healthy "look"


I wonder if people realize how much our world depends on aesthetics. I found this photo online and began to wonder about the "look" of health. It seems as though certain things just look more healthy than other things. Lets start with a health club. If I go there and the building looks really crummy the machines are old and clunky it would probably be harder for me to open myself up to joining because I'm not getting the aesthetics that I want. Thats why I just workout at home. But if you go to another gym and the building looks really modern and the machines are all new machines with touchscreen interfaces and they offer the newest fad in exercise science then one may be more inclined to join. I feel that way about personal trainers also. I can't stand people who head fitness classes that are not in tiptop shape. What does all of this have to do with new media? Well I think that its worth exploring because the health industry is so huge. The health industry always needs new ways to market a product, place, or person. I wonder if the ancient yogi's understood that yoga 'looked' healthy. It has certainly become an immensely popular exercise. More so than that it is such a good way to market a mediated experience related to health. Doesn't that woman just look so healthy? And no one looks at that and wonders what they have to sacrifice to look like her. They just say what can I do in the next to weeks to look like that? As new media professionals it will be our jobs to help trick consumers into thinking that such a solution exist.