Design Laboratory

Final Project

2009-05-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-05-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

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

Yale Degree Show 2006

2009-05-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-20T16:38:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

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

creation

2009-05-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-05-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-05-10T17:24:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

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)

Electronic advertising 'greener' than paper

2009-04-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

Electronic advertising 'greener' than paper

Brings a whole new meaning to green screens ...

Matt Chapman, vnunet.com

24 Jul 2008

Advertising that can be updated electronically is more environmentally friendly than using paper-based systems that create waste, according to one ad sales firm.

Stephen Henley, managing director of Bristol-based Henley & Henley, claimed that tests had proven that the screens reduced waste paper.

"We now know that the use of wireless media offers advertisers a cost-effective way of delivering campaigns with minimal wastage," he said.

Sean Keenan, managing director of Comtech M2M, which creates electronic in-store advertising, added that the drive for companies to be more eco-aware is coming from consumers.

"With over 50 per cent of the £1.1bn spent on the UK's point of sale being wasted, retailers are facing increased demands from consumers to deliver environmentally-friendly in-store promotions," he said.

"Our system carries some 'green benefits' saving on the production, delivery and waste of traditional paper-based material for each new campaign."

Retailers are facing increased demands from consumers to deliver environmentally-friendly in-store promotions

Sean Keenan Comtech M2M

Comtech M2M currently uses 500 wireless digital in-store displays to advertise Nintendo products in ASDA, Game, Gamestation, HMV, WHSmith, Woolworths, Zavvi and Independent retail outlets across the UK and Ireland.

The LCD screens are updated remotely using mobile phone GPRS technology and are controlled centrally from Nintendo's head office.

Esquires E ink Cover

2009-04-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

For the 75th anniversary of Esquire, they released an "e-Ink Cover" thats pretty incredible. i think this proves to be a somewhat happy union between paper and electronics.

E-Books

2009-04-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

Found An Article from the guardian on Ebooks. Dicusses the readibility of the Ebook screens, some new technologies in the field and how many companies are wary to jump on the band wagon, due to the "Napster Effect" (widespread pirating of copyrighted material).
Click Here to Read

The Environmental Aspect

2009-04-30T13:03:00.001-07:00

Found this website on the whole environmental impact of paper. It has some pretty good statistics on consumption (can that word only be used for food?), the history of paper and also some alternatives.
Click here!!

National Press Club paper confrence

2009-04-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

Soo, in February of 2001, the National Press club had a conference sponsored by PaperCom. The topic of the confrence was to discuss "How will paper survive in an electronic world?" i found 2 documents so far that appear to be from presentation at the confrence, not including the article i just posted. They're semi long, so i wont post them here, but hopefully i will be able to ling the PDF files once i get my website up and running.

Whenever i come across an article longer than 3 pages or so, i always feel the urge to print it out, to understand it better and mark it up. i think this is some sort of evidence for my project.

Smart paper

2009-04-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

Just found this amazing article online, released by medill news service, and it kinda blew my mind...

Paper Will Become Smarter, Not Obsolete
The digital age brings embedded functions and capabilities to paper products.
Jennifer O'Neill, Medill News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- The promised but elusive paperless office is the goal of an unlikely team: 15 engineers at Pitney Bowes, the mail and document management company. They've volunteered to do their jobs in a "paperless office zone" in order to understand the value of paper in a modern workplace.

"It's an experiment. They want to understand how they can survive without paper, and say that unless they try to live in this future, it's difficult to come up with new ideas about products in it," says Cheryl Picoult, director of Pitney Bowes mixed-media technology.

The fate of paper in an increasingly electronic world is the subject of a conference this week at the National Press Club here. Organized by a paper industry group called World PaperCom Alliance, it was intended to help industry executives find ways to deal with the impact of an increasingly wired environment on their businesses.

"It's clear that paper won't go away," says Jim Euchner, vice president of Pitney Bowes. "But it's a new world, and paper's role will change."
Paper Gets an Upgrade

We're using more paper in offices than ever before, says Phil Seder, a product manager at Digimarc, which develops digital watermarks. But instead of paper being phased out in the future, he expects its function will be augmented, creating "smart paper."

Paper products such as photographs, financial documents, and event tickets will be embedded with a digital identity, like a watermark, so that each can be linked to the Internet, tracked, and copyright protected, Seder says.

"Smart paper has an identity built within it," according to Seder. You can do more than simply read it. If it's linked to a data source, smart paper can save time by linking you directly to additional information online.

"Everything that is digital before it goes to print, like magazine advertisements or baseball cards, has a digital life at some point. We just embed a message in it," Seder says.

Paper products can carry a bar code that provides some intelligence. Or they may have a chemical or biological marker called a taggent, a radio frequency identification, or a digital watermark, Seder explains. All of these provide traditional paper with the capability to function interactively.
Balancing Form, Function

Consider bar codes. Often found on retail merchandise, the printed codes adhere to a standard format and carry product or linking information that lets a computer identify an item and its cost.

Yet while bar codes are inexpensive and familiar to consumers, they have an "unacceptable aesthetic impact" on business cards or print advertisements, Seder says. That constrains use of this particular kind of link from paper to technology.

"In general, consumers haven't warmed to this technology. They even consider it a bit tacky," he adds.

Alternative methods embed technology in paper without changing its appearance or feel. Taggents put a chemical or biological additive into the paper to identify it, and radio frequency can provide identification and location.

Athletes at the Sydney Olympics wore identification badges with taggents. They contained strands of each athlete's DNA as a unique identifier.

Radio frequency identification is used mainly for inventory control in product packaging. For example, a shipping box may contain a radio frequency identification so company scanners can track the location of individual boxes within an entire shipment of goods.
Watermarks Go Digital

Seder expects consumers will most often use digital watermarking, which is produced by his company, Digimarc.

If you hold a digitally watermarked magazine ad or product box to a Web camera, the embedded message is scanned directly into a browser, which takes you to product information or promotions on the Web.

For example, a company may award a prize to the 100th buyer of a product, identifying her or him upon the purchase through a link embedded in the packaging.

"The eye doesn't see a digital watermark, but a computer can read it," Seder says. Reading the digital watermark takes only a few seconds, he says. And it's a good use for Web cams, he adds.

"We'll see applications by sports card manufacturers using digital watermarks" this year, Seder says. For example, a card of Michael Jordan will contain an embedded link to his home page. You'll simply hold up the card to a Web cam attached to a PC, the camera reads the information, and the browser jumps automatically to the Web page.

But using digital watermarking in general print media ads will take longer, Seder says.

"The market is not quite ready for this yet. This kind of new technology requires consumer education and camera penetration," Seder says. Consumers aren't eager to add yet another peripheral to their PCs.
Paper's Role Changes

Yet the current climate of interactivity at work and at home could help with this transition.

"We live in a networked world where wherever we go we can be connected via cell phones, laptops, and Palm Pilots. And we don't always have paper along with us," says Picoult, of Pitney Bowes. "Paper is a transient medium that used to be for display and transport of information from person to person."

Now that most information can be handled electronically, paper's role as a display medium is more important, Picoult adds. "Ideas and concepts are often more tangible on paper where groups of people can share and collaborate without the need for specific equipment or software."

And Patricia Sachs, a workplace anthropologist, says paper will always serve an important function in the office. Her company, Social Solutions, works to improve the design of work systems, products, and technologies within companies.

"The printed form slows information down," Sachs says. "We're living and working in a pressure-filled environment filled with the demand for fast turnaround, but paper provides the environment for reading and annotating at a human pace."

Printed Matter

2009-04-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

Went to the library today and took a look at he book printed matter. It make me think about the tangibility and importance of paper in the experiments done by Karel Martens. While one may be able to achieve the same general idea of the experiments with a computer program, like illustrator of Photoshop, i don't believe that it would be as successful. Marten's design process was so fleeting and completely reliant on his "printed matter" (haha). Only after he created or printed something, could he move forward. I dont really think the same objectives would as valuable on a computer program. Its so easy to simply press "Command Z" or scale something larger, rather than build upon your design and move forward. Also, things can look so drastically different on the computer screen compared to when it's printed out; with the RGB and CMYK differences. The physical printing of Karel Martens experiments, in my opinion, seem far more accurate and valuable than doing the same type of thing with a computer program.

iheartpaper.

2009-04-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

These questions really came about over spring break when i was talking with my family about my future and all (yuck). If i remember correctly, i was telling them about what i was interested in and such and mentioned publication design. When my sister brought up the notion of becoming a web-designer "Its so much more realistic in today's world, and there's such a high demand" she says as i snarl in reply; "I don't really know if i like web design, it just seems so technical, i like 'print' a lot better" and then she says, " Well, what you like, and what realistic for your future are two different things Nicole, maybe print things could be your hobby on the side, but web design is so much more practical"...

And that's when i got that sinking feeling....was she right?? maybe i live in LALA land because i chose a field that i am so passionate about, and assume that I'm going to enjoy i have in the future and have a job in something that I'm actually passionate about.

Our conversation then continued on and turned to the recession and how everything is becoming a lot more web based because its a lot more inexpensive. and i knew they were right.

And don't get me wrong, i love the Internet, i feel completely disconnected and out of sorts when i can't tap into. but there's just something i love about paper, the tangibility and pliability, the crispy whiteness, and the way something looks when it's freshly printed. One of my favorite parts of the design process is production, cutting things, folding them and gluing them together. I really love using my hands, i find it to be so rewarding and fulfilling. And the thought of everything being so "web based" just rips that away from me. I'm probably being over dramatic, but that's what was racing through my head during that conversation with my family, and it just made me a little sad...

p.s. i secretly think my sister is a little bitter, because i actually have an idea of what i want to be when i "grow up", she still doesn't know. I think she takes a little bit of satisfaction in telling me that i might not be able to do exactly what i want to when im older (which is what shes doing right now).

p.p.s what that mean? maybe im wrong, but theres still a bit of that lingering sister drama (obviously)

1. Pose a question, any question that you wish to address through or about your design practice

2009-04-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

A. Will paper become obsolete in the modern world?
1. Can paper survive the recession? (e.g. magazines and newspapers going out of business)
2. Are electronics better for the environment? (e.g. the rise of electronic advertisements vs. killing of trees)
3. Will paper become something that is only appreciated in the art world ( and those who cherish hand made/old techniques)