Final Project

My final project is a hand sewn book with images of the web. The idea to make in digital, tangible. Take something fleeting and make it special an permanent. Picture to come (when its not 5 a.m...................)

Printer Experiment

So, In holding to the paper/pixel image theme, i did an experimental print out. My first print out was just a tiled image of a printer (i figured a printer is what unites paper and digital together).

The second image i pixelated in going with the theme (sorry about the miss paper, it is M.I.A. also apologies for the overall crappyness)

I didn't find this experiment to be very successful and after talking with Rebecca, I am going in a different route for my final project.

Some more thoughts.

Upon reflecting on this project, its pretty amazing how much it has developed and changed. My original question was, "Will paper become obsolete?" and has twisted and turned into something so different. My final research and experiments more so reflected the relationship that paper and digital medias have. Digital medias have definitely replaced paper in many ways, in some ways, their competition encourages the other to be better (figuratively speaking). Today, in such a an advanced digital age, paper and printing industries must highlight the value and special qualities that paper can offer, embossing, special inks, paper weight and finish. Especially in the art community, there are many companies and people that strive to make their paper creation, all the more special and ironically it is sometimes done through digital technologies.

No one can deny that the digital age makes so many things easier and more efficient. Paper does have a place in the modern world but just a very different one than before, and because the digital age evolves so rapidly it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what that is.

As i was researching places to get my project printed, i searched "Kinkos London". Ahhh kinkos, my dear friend. As annoying as they may sometimes be, they feel so familiar and safe to me. And the fact that they are international makes living here in london slightly less scary a foreign. But alas, what do i see? i strange post where the London kinkos store locator used to be.

"FedEx Kinko's has sold its five UK locations to Printing Investments Limited, trading as "The Color Company". The five FedEx Kinko's outlets, four in central London and one in Reading, will be rebranded under the The Color Company banner – please see www.color.co.uk."

My trusty printing place was no more. i couldn't even believe it. not more that a month or two earlier i had just printed a project with their trustyy self service printing. The foreigner part inside me was suddenly terrified. Kinkos UK clearly could survive the current recession where only the bare minimums are allowed for large companies. This closure is clearly a sign of the time and the digital era, maybe people don't really need so many things printed anymore.

So my search continued, i then turned to service point, which was slightly more familiar as i had been there once or twice before to get films printed for silk screenings. As it was already 9PM i went straight for the 24hr service point of tottenham court road. But once again, an unfamiliar error. "This location has moved", my heart sank even further. Trusty old 24hr service point was no longer running from that location, and while luckily not all the service points had closed, it was another case of cutting the fluff and getting down to the bare minimum. It is undeniable that the paper business is changing and who knows if it can run as fast as digital era, it definitely has some catching up to do.

sugar anyone?

JUSTFORFUN: Just thought this was cute and clever. it's an ad for an art school

Yale Degree Show 2006

During my meeting with Rebecca, she showed me the wonder that was the Yale graphic design Dept. Degree show in 2006. The entire show was created/printed on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of papers (about a4 for you british folk) and the effect it created was just amazing.

It kind of creates a sort a pixelated type effect, referencing computer yet created with paper. a sort of digital tangibility.

Ive decided im going to go with this sort of concept to create something for my final project.

Some progress

Was stressing intensely over the weekend and the following days over what to create to sum up my whole process. However after talking with Rebecca today, i have definitely progressed with the project.

Basically i want to somehow connect the digital with the tangible. Rebecca asked me what it is i like about paper, and i concluded that it is the tangibility of it, the look the smell the feel of it. I am an extremely visual learner and i think it helps even more when an object is actually in 3 dimension in front of me, rather than 2 on a screen. In this crazy head of mine i am connecting reality with paper and fiction with media technologies and computers. I mean computers are basically magic machines that can pretty much create anything that you think of; things that don't exist in real life.

So, i think the objective of this final design piece is to make the digital tangible.

So anyways, Rebecca pointed me towards a few more things for visual references she showed me first Hektor, which if i spray can hooked up to a computer attached to screens that makes graffiti art. Its basically performance art by a computer. I downloaded their Hektor book and realy liked this image

Once again, Little things making big things. The whole image is created with lines, with an appearance similar to pixels.

little things to make a big

I Found this on some advertising blog and its a wonderful concept. The image is created with drill holes (presumably with the drill they are advertising) and i think that ad is so solid. It connections form and function and is simple and straightforward, but brilliant at the same time. 

Also the idea of using "lots of little things to create a big thing" has been a recurring pattern in my design process  (i am just now noticing), 2 specifically come to mind. Also my obsession with repetition and patterns might have something to do with this design scheme that i keep returning to. 

creation also

pretty amazing...getting closer to the idea, i can feel like on the tip of my brain!!s;elkjs;lkejrer

creation

so this is basically exactly what i want to create for my project.........but that would be called plagarism. I think its just wonderful and want to create something with the same message and pop. Oh adobe....

Paper web designs

Was browsing around, doing some paper research and found this site, it shows examples of "paper web design" and how its one of the hottest trends on the net, just found it pretty ironic.

did you know?

Just though this video was a bit relevant; it has to do with the digital age and computer. the information will boggle your mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8

Some thoughts....

I have been doing quite a bit of pondering over the past couple days. I think my general research phase is pretty much finished and now i need to expand upon it; do something about it.
my initial question was; "Will paper ever become obsolete?" and through my research i have concluded that the answer is no, paper is too important to become obsolete, HOWEVER, paper is definitely changing.

The advent of the web and more recently, it's incredible accessibility makes the communication of information far more efficient. When i started this project i was secretly rooting for paper, while still trying to be as objective as possible, but what i have learned is that just because the web and digital medias are expanding, doesn't mean that paper doesn't still have a place in the world. I keep having to remind myself that as beautiful as i think paper is, it isn't a very easily renewable resource and the average amount of paper waste even one person creates is monumental. I did a quick experiment that campaigned for paper, and Rebbecca said she thought it was pretty much a waste of paper, because the design wasn't really thought about and the message was superficial. and that made me think. its unrealistic to holistically support just one side of the debate. which was going on in my head before.

so i think the answer to my question or possibly my hypothesis is that, the advance of digital media wont make paper obsolete, but more effective and precious. My next question is really what merits being printed out on paper. Paper has a sense of permanence that the web lacks. So i need to figure out what merits being printed out on paper, and focus on the special qualities that paper has to offer that make it precious and unique... eeee...i need to figure out how to do this though...

save the paper

SAVE THE PAPER

for my first experiment i'm creating a campaign to encourage the world to root for paper, pointing out the downfalls of electronic media.

Not dead yet: the newspaper in the days of digital anarchy

I read the speech of Bill Keller, executive editor, New York Times. He gives a little insight on what its like to be an editor/reporter in a dire paper climate and seemingly totalitarian government. he states:

" A journalism professor at the University of North Carolina, named Philip Meyer, has done some studies about the decline of American newspaper readership. His extrapolation of the data shows that, if newspapers do nothing to change their ways, they will lose their very last reader in the year 2044. In October, if you want to mark your calendars.

On the stock exchanges, the value of newspaper shares has declined. Of the dwindling number of quality titles in the US, several are being bought up by new owners who seem completely free of nostalgia for the idea of journalism as a public trust."

Keller continues on to talk about electronic media, the internet and the blog revolution. He points out that while blogs or internet sites offer immediate news, anyone can have one, which is good and bad, but rarely credible.

read the article here

Magazine Graveyard

The magazine industry has been a mercylesss casulty of the recession. The following article is like an obituary for the magazine industry. it tracks every magazine that has gone out of business since even before the recession officially started. The articale claims "to own magazines or newspapers, you have to love what you own with almost impractical passion." It sure seems thats the way the world is turning, why buy something in print when you can just get it for free on the web?? but seriously? why? is the web really the answer to all our problems?
click here for article

June Issue of Esquire

Leonie sent me a facebook message about the June issue of esquire magazine. Megan Fox is on the cover and for her photoshoot they used a high-tech Red One Video camera, a video camera that captures images at four times the resolution of high-definition. They then took stills from the footage for the photos for the magazine, but they also put the video they used online. Esquire seems to be very cutting edge for digital technology and all signs point to digital media for them. Theyre making their magazine better and bolder than the rest with this cutting edge technogoly and are sending their readers to the web.

It interesting that not only have they replaced a manual/print camera with a digital camera, but theyve gone even further by using a video camera.

Heres the link for the article on the issue

Heres the link for the video that accompanies the issue (she is quite the babe)