I originally discovered this on The Donut Project blog that I posted last week, which still stands as a great resource for all things 'designery'.
October 2009 Archives
I originally discovered this on The Donut Project blog that I posted last week, which still stands as a great resource for all things 'designery'.
I came across a fantastic blog created by a group of graphic design students from Kent State University's Visual Communication Design program.
The Donut Project
Not only is the content of the blog close to the kinds of things I love to read about, but the layout is nice an minimal as well. They even use Vimeo, which I've always believed has a video player superior to YouTube's.
We're all accustomed to scrolling up and down to view content of webpages. This company decided to take a massive design risk and design their page from left to right. Once you start clicking on links, and using the navigation at the top of the page, you soon realize that you never leave the page. You're guided to another part of this huge 'timeline'. Links within pages of this timeline load right in the page itself.
I'm a big fan of experimentation, and I am happy to see this. However, I personally can't see this catching on. I've viewed this page numerous times while writing this blog post, and still I don't feel like sitting down and reading it all. Not because of laziness, but because it's breaking the way I've been conditioned to view web content. Vertical layouts almost force you to read as you scroll, but horizontal layouts let you keep on scrolling.
The Media Lab at MIT is a program that consists of lab designers, engineers, artists, and scientists, who use non-traditional methods of developing technology that promises to fundamentally change the way we live our lives.
MIT Media Lab
Be sure to take a look at the Groups and Projects page to see a categorization of projects currently in development.
I am a huge proponent for the integration of technology into the lives of the average citizen. One category I find particularly exciting is Fluid Interfaces, because I've spent a substantial amount of time conceptualizing how technology might realistically improve our everyday lives. I emphasize 'realistically', because concepts like 'flying cars' and 'robot slaves' too often distort our idea of technology of the future
Some fans of Valve Software's Team Fortress 2 are undergoing the most thorough study of sentry gun placement in the game's history.
TF2 Sentry Heatmap Project
Anyone who's played TF2 knows how crucial the placement of the engineer's sentry guns are for the perfect defensive line. The 'heatmaps' that these guys are generating are statistical visualizations of sentry gun placement and effectiveness. The fact that such a study exists is more proof of TF2's intricate design
About a week ago, Google released a preview version of a program called Google Wave. It's described as a "personal communication and collaboration tool".
Google Wave Homepage
You've all used Email, Facebook, AIM/ICQ/MSN, and maybe edited a few Wikipedia entries in your time. Google Wave combines the features and experiences of all of these into one program. Once I get a chance to try it for myself, I will be sure to post here about it
Adobe has announced that Flash CS5 will allow people to create applications (apps) for the iPhone and iPod Touch
Adobe Labs - Flash CS5
This is great news for graphic designers. The majority of us are already accustomed to Adobe products such as Photoshop and Illustrator. With Flash CS5 we will finally be able to design for the mobile world...the Adobe way
I'm David
This blog will refer to me as rober753
I am a fourth year Graphic Design major at the U of M Duluth
My biggest interests are Art, Design, and Technology
I'm especially interested in Game Design
I will be using this particular blog as a place to dump the following things:
• Links to interesting art/design/technology images/articles/videos
• Tutorials that I write in order to help anyone use whatever software is involved
• Thoughts on art/design/technology
Much of this blog will be based on YOUR contributions. I love art/design software, and I love to teach. Comment on this post, or email me at ( rober753 at d.umn.edu ) if you have questions about anything. Even if I can't answer it, I will still refer you to the best resource I can find. Don't hesitate.
The way I think, teach, and design generally goes as follows:
Minimal
Concise
Analytical
I do not believe in trying to impress or intimidate people with 'insider' words that they won't understand. I am always willing to explain something another way. By breaking things down to their most basic forms and meanings, I hope to lay a strong foundation to support whatever is built upon it.
