This past February 7th, Magacín, El Nuevo Día’s Sunday magazine asked my father to write about one of the most important design traditions in our family: the design of wedding anniversary commemorative bracelets. Read the rest of this entry »
Completed design, worked in conjunction with architect in training, Celina Bocanegra.
I spent most of the last two years at the NC State College of Design thinking, talking and ideating about the design process. As a student, most of my efforts, be it the look into Elemental’s intervention at Iquique, or the speculation over the future of our digital identities, among others, were all framed to dissect design process. On a class-level, the explorations surrounding the issues of collaboration or a social problem such as water consumption also pursued similar ends. Today, as a working designer, I find myself re-learning my ways of working, and how these relate to my design process, and that of others. Read the rest of this entry »
“The realm of the final inch… The work has been almost completed, the goal almost attained, everything seems completely right and the difficulties overcome. But the quality of the thing is not quite right. Finishing touches are needed… In that moment of fatigue and self-satisfaction it is especially tempting to leave the work without having attained the apex of quality… In fact, the rule of the Final Inch consists in this: not to shirk this crucial work. Not to postpone it… And not to mind the time spent on it, knowing that one’s purpose lies not in completing things faster but in the attainment of perfection.”
This past week, via Jason Alejandro of Made by Archetype, I was made aware of this wonderful creation which, in more than one instance, made me question the truthfulness of the reality that it presented. It is remarkable to see the work of someone who can manipulate softwares to generate such great work. If you have not seen it, give yourself 10mins of peaceful watching…
This past week, while visiting Raleigh, I came across this particular $1 dollar bill from the Where’s George project.
This exercise consists of a series of bills that have been tagged, marked, and released into the open public as an experiment that will hopefully lead to a better understanding of how currency travels. It works something like this: once a person comes across one of these bills, before it’s passed along, he or she can register it on a website and write about how the currency was acquired. The website then keeps track of how the bill moves around, and if you choose to, it can notify you of further movement of your bill. Read the rest of this entry »
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Yesterday I placed an order off Film Baby, an online independent film distributor. Like in any other seller, I chose what I wanted to purchase, added to a cart, checked out, and within minutes I received an order confirmation email. A few hours later, I was alerted that my movie was already under way. Upon review of the shipment confirmation, I found an unexpected surprise in the text: humor and personality.
Please rest assured that we’ve taken great care in the shipping of your DVD.
We hold true to an ancient DVD shipping tradition passed down for over 5000 years. This very intensive practice is only achieved after years of training, meditation, purity of mind, and deep breathing exercises.
After a rigorous 17 step process of verifying the authenticity of your DVD, we donned silk gloves and placed it into a sacred box made of magic and lined with Unicorn fur, tied the box with a strand of Gypsy hair, and wrapped the whole thing in a snazzy looking faux gold leaf paper, with elm leaf inlay from Costco. Unfortunately, by the time it gets to you, all of that fancy stuff will likely have been picked clean by the greedy postal service employees. Please don’t be surprised to see just a plain cardboard box.
It’s surprising to see how my opinion of a seller can be so suddenly shaped but such a small detail. I now only wonder if this is the only message, or if there is more than one. I guess I will have to order another movie to find out…
Last friday and saturday I attended NC State’s Biennial Graphic Design Graduate Symposium: Design, Community & the Rhetoric of Authenticity. From the get go, know that it was a top notch event, executed with the care and precision of a full-blown international conference. Read the rest of this entry »
Here one more scan, this time of a 1783 document. Smaller than the ones I scanned before, this one is also full of typographic curiosities. Read the rest of this entry »
As a continuation of my previous post, here another scan, this time of a 1725 document. Again, the use of the “catchphrase” is visible within these pages as well. Read the rest of this entry »
This past week, while researching through Dr. Arturo Dávila’s personal library, I came across a stack of pamphlets, about 11 of them in total, sewn and bound in varied marbleized papers. Trim-wise, these are considerably small, ranging from 3×4.5 inches to 5.5×8 inches, and yet, they called my attention. Don Arturo, as wise as he is, felt as my eyes were drawn to the colorful spines. “Pick them up; take a look“. In the process, he explained that these reproductions were used by the Church to spread its message. Little did I know, my curiosity had brought me to a series of original 18th Century texts—printed versions of homilies recited by Catholic priests in Mexico.
To share these, I took the time to scan one of the leaflets in its entirety. Please note a curious type treatment that has been killing me since I became aware of it: at the end of every page the typesetter included the first few characters of the word that follows on the next page. I had never seen this kind of strategy employed, and it was used in almost all of the documents, printed in a range of many different years, which means it was not a one time thing.
In their time, these documents would have probably not attracted any aesthetic conversation, but today, I can’t help but see them with a clinical eye, and hold them in my hands with admiration. Right now, everything about them—texture, color, smell, sound—is just fantastic. More importantly, each and every one of them holds some kind of typographic lesson that I can learn from. Read the rest of this entry »
Cover | Indice Anotado, 13 years of Mid-Career research investigations from architecture students of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.
Jorge Rigau, FAIA, founding dean of the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico; Miguel Rodríguez, current dean; and funds from the Historic Preservation Office of Puerto Rico have made it possible to publish the Índice Anotado (Anotated Index). This publication documents the Mid-Career research investigations completed by students at the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.
These texts were completed between 1996 and 2009 and executed by students at the end of the 3rd year of study. Their topical range is extensive, and most are complemented by photographs, drawings and inventories that will be useful to others following similar lines of research. While the collection is mainly about Puerto Rico, some projects look at Cuba, Dominican Republic and Panamá.
The index is organized by themes, and while some overlap, researchers will have to asses the focus areas of each of their topics to find relevant investigations. The documents are written in Spanish, but the the index provides a blurb about each of them in English to expand the ideas to a larger audience.
Copies of the full writings will be available for public consult at the library of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and at the library of the Historic Preservation Office. The Índice Anotado has been designed by Alberto Rigau and published by Editorial Revés.
Back in the 60’s, Puerto Rico’s government considered the development of a social housing project called “Habitat“. The monstrous structure had its life, for pre-fabricated pieces were actually ordered and many arrived on the island. Thankfully, it was never built.
As this cartoon from 1969 satirically emphasizes, the social implications associated to the design of this structure would have only lead to a catastrophe. It’s labyrinthic layout would have provided a space for crime and drugs to prosper, and a new meaning to the term “cacerío“.
It’s a learning experience to look back at these materials. As a designer, I can imagine all of the blind efforts that must have been pushed forward by the building’s creators. As this case clearly illustrates, designers have the responsibility of understanding the implications of one’s work, specially if the social impact is at a scale that affects communities or cities. Of course, you may think “duh”, but proposals like Habitat make me aware that not everyone out there actually thinks this way.
Today, there are a few of the prefabricated pieces of the Habitat still around Puerto Rico.
Recently my father, an avid architectural historian, managed to track 2 of them down in the town of Arecibo. These pieces never fulfilled their original purpose, but today form a new kind of habitat that keeps intriguing some of us whose curiosities never sleep.
Study of a custom typeface in 1/2″ frosted acrylic. Each letter was cut to be 12 inches tall.
Study for a commercial booth in a 1/2 scale model to test the assembly system.
While at NC State University’s College of Design I was encouraged to consistently prototype. Even though we had access to a full machine shop and a laser cutter, I always prototyped in paper. I loved the quick success granted by playing with some post-its and markers (I have to say my friend Valentina was the grad-school queen of markers who got me into the habit of using them again).
Now, a few months after leaving NC State, I am still consistently prototyping. I have to say that now, because I am trying to establish a multidisciplinary practice, I require more quick iterations than ever before, be it to keep my mind fresh or to be able to collaborate with another designer on a project.
Here I want to show a few images from two projects that are currently underway. In each of them I have prototyped using a laser cutter and some acrylic. Read the rest of this entry »
This past week I received my copy of Gary Hustwit’s film Objectified. You can imagine my excitement to have the opportunity to finally press play, but seventy-five minutes later I found myself asking: “–That was it?” Just as with Helvetica, I enjoyed the film, I truly did, but I found it too closed niched, too much in the preference of a certain kind of designer and object.
Where were the Campana brothers? Did the One-Laptop Per Child deny an interview? Was Phillip Stark not available? Javier Mariscal? How come no electric cars made it to the edit? How about Massimo and Lella Vignelli? And those unsung heroes who today produce some of the most amazing work on the sustainability front? How about Catalan designer Juli Capella who constantly writes about Spanish objects, their design and influence in culture? How come Scandinavia’s and India’s work did not make it? And why were there no architects? (they happen to design a large percentage of the objects that surround us) I bet you can also instantly think of a few more examples.
This project being a film, I understand its need for editing and focus. Not everything can make it. I understand that, but… Would it have been too hard to minimize the fourth showing of one person and introduce the perspective of an up-and-coming designer? And how come Latin American design has not been referenced? (I am so shocked about the non-showing of the Brazilian Campana brothers).
As you can tell, I am a bit disappointed, but don’t let that discourage you from watching it. The film offers a rare look into the process and thinking of some of those whose work has changed the contemporary way of living. It is a good reference. It just left me with too many questions that probably only a design nerd like me will ever make…
In my first night around Seville I made one significant stop (which was non-food related). I visited the Cathedral in Seville, final resting place of Christopher Columbus. Read the rest of this entry »
I arrived at Seville. I have to admit I was exhausted from the long travel, flying into Madrid and then, only 2 hours later, taking a train. Once here, I decided to get myself out into the old city. It was a two-fold strategy. I have never visited before and this might be my only chance to do so on this trip. My work schedule begins tomorrow morning at 9:00am. Walking around would also ensure that I would wear myself out completely to sleep through the night.
Of course, first thing is first. I have to hunt down some nice typography.
I am always surprised that more typography like this is not found in Puerto Rico.
Maybe I am the only person who finds this odd, but a young man searching to take care of older people… hmm, suspicious in my book.
Bar Europa. Strongly recommended by my father, mother and uncle. After enjoying it, I fully endorse their recommendation.
Small, cozy place.
Menu of this bar. It had some of the tastiest ham croquettes I have had in my life. (and if you know me, you are aware of my experience on the topic. jeje)
Today I used Renfe’s Ave train as a means of transportation from Madrid to Sevilla. I had heard a lot about it before, but I had never used it. I have to say that I am very impressed with it. More so, I am even more impressed with the graphic and visual landscapes which are born when the train reaches very high speeds. Probably I am the only person in the world who like it but you can be the judge for yourself.
In it’s weekly show, the Puerto Rican League of Theatrical Improvisation executes a game that involves people from the audience. In this game, one of its members calls two single people to the stage for an interview on personal information, dating profile, professional goals, dreams… and also nightmares. With the information attained, the league improvises a complete scene. This past week was my turn.
Coincidentally, the League also chose my dear friend Denisse, and I have to say it was great to share this moment (and embarrasment… hahaha) with her. Good friends of mine think that Jonathan (who played me) did a great job!
Sorry to those of you who don’t understand Spanish and will not be able to understand the play.
Recently I have had the opportunity to work on a series of identity projects for a diverse group of clients. One of the most exciting has been the challenge to re-design the visual language of Puerto Rico’s State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).
In a collaboration with Jorge Rigau FAIA and Miguel Ortiz, the approach intends to provide a framework on which SHPO can now establish a permanent visual structure. The project is currently being implemented, and a full system roll-out should be done in the next 2 months. Here I share some of the elements that have been generated. Read the rest of this entry »
If you are near New York City on October 29, AIA/NY is hosting a one night lecture event around the work of three Puerto Rican architects. One of them is my father, Jorge Rigau, FAIA. Sadly, I won’t be able to make it, but I am sure it will be a nice gathering, so check it out if you have some time.
This past thursday 3M Company of Puerto Rico held a fashion show to promote some of their Post-it products. For the event, I was commissioned by my friend Lorna Ramos to execute the event’s decoration… all of it made out of Post-its.
This video documents, in under 2 mins, the 15 hours spent playing with squares of colored paper. For photos of the setup, see here.
I want to point out that frame after frame you will consistently notice the collaboration of Miguel Ortiz, a young architect with whom I am currently working on a series of projects. I also want to thank Lorna, Juan Carlos Rubayo, Denisse Rodríguez and Sofía Acevedo who came out to help.
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To make the video more interesting, I used the music track Again and Again by The Bird and the Bee. As of October 11, 2009, the official website of the band is offline and the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine was not useful in accessing its contact information. I will keep trying so that I can ask for a formal permit to keep the song in the video. If it is not granted, the song will be removed immediately.
Recently I have been playing with a new toy that has me thinking I am Eadweard Muybridge. So far I am only playing to learn the features and its quirks (as in the timer is always on). Here a small peek into this morning’s sunset.
This group of Puerto Rican military personnel works to exterminate rats, and every other kind of rodents, via asphyxiating gases. From Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1921, No. 582
Handcrafted with love by Brigham Young University (BYU) design students and faculty, for Typophile Film Fest 5. A visual typographic feast about the five senses, and how they contribute to and enhance our creativity. Everything in the film is real—no computer generated (CG) effects!
Clearly inspired by the Powers of Ten of the Eames, this wonderful interactive website is exploring the relationships of space, scale and size in out contemporary universe, as measured by present-day technology.
Commemorative piece given to the 2009 recipients of Puerto Rico's Architecture Awards. Design and concept by Alberto Rigau. Fabrication by Roberto Pérez.
This past Thursday, Puerto Rico’s professional college of architects and landscape architects awarded the 2009 medals in architecture. These awards, named after Ricardo Alegría, are given to individuals and/or entities who are not directly related to the discipline of architecture but who have contributed to the field in a way that can be evidenced in a substantial body of work.
Previously, this prestigious recognition had been given four times, and to my knowledge, recipients were given only a certificate. This year I volunteered and gifted the College with a design of commemorative piece to be handed out in the naming ceremony. Read the rest of this entry »
Before Sports Illustrated, Life and the image-based version of National Geographic (can you believe it began as a text-based academic publication?), Puerto Rico had it’s very own image-based weekly: Puerto Rico Ilustrado.
It was published from March 6th 1910 through December 27th 1952, a length of time during which it amassed a collection of 2227 issues. Content wise, the pages primarily chronicled life in the island, while it also included writings and images on international events of the time.1 On average, these were about 16 pages, with about 6 of them dedicated to advertisements (which are fabulous in their own right). It was printed on a kind of dull paper, originally in black and white, but slowly 2 color printing makes its way into the covers. In the later years, covers are then produced in full color (which in many ways diminished the visual impact of earlier compositions)
During the last few weeks I have been scanning directly from about 15 years worth of issues, and the more I look at it the more I marvel at the typography contained in the mastheads of the issues, particularly their visual exploration which shows a struggle between looking man-made and machine-made, with an observed preference on the former.
My study on this publication is only beginning, but I have scanned a series of typographic treatments from a few years’ worth of the publication to begin a process of sharing them. Read the rest of this entry »
mother: [Places plate on table.] Here’s breakfast. daughter: [Arms-crossed with some attitude.] Just toast? Dad gives me scrambled eggs. mother: [Places plate on table.] Scrambled eggs… daughter: [With more attitude and a rude gesture towards the plate…] Plain scrambled eggs? Dad makes it how I want. And to drink? …juice, chocolate or coffee. mother: [Brings some orange juice.] daughter: And the whole wheat? mother: [Frustrated] Commercial voice: Our breakfasts do not have competition. Only in our restaurants do we prepare you a real breakfast, complete and your way.
[Commercial ends with father and daughter eating.]
This advertisement currently airs as part of the commercial prelude to feature films in Puerto Rico’s movie theaters. Due to its dry humor, its consistent showing during the summer offerings, and the context of the cinematic apparatus, every movie-going person now knows it by heart. The phrase ¡¿Revoltillo pelao?! has become part of everyday conversations.
On a first glance it’s a fairly standard advertisement: short and to the point. Its story relies on contemporary characters and scenarios we can quickly understand, an association it uses to explicitly inform, with a hyperbolical narrative, the benefits of this particular fast food chain. Yet, a deeper look reveals a myth(1) portrayed by a series of implicit messages which reference a drastic cultural shift in the Puerto Rican understanding of family values: the divorce has been socially accepted. Read the rest of this entry »
This two-story Lego palace, which resides in the middle of a vineyard, sports a working bathroom, and is covered inside and out with bricks pieced together by 272 Legos. Over three million bricks were used to build the Lego pad, so doing some quick math here — that's over 816 million Lego pieces!
Simply Incredible. ArtiKseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine’s version of “America’s Got Talent.” She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and “sand painting” skills to interpret Germany’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.
It’s been two years since blogging experiment was initiated. Two hundred and forty two posts later, I have carved a little corner in cyberspace for some of my thoughts and ideas. Up until now, the content of the writing has derived from my work in the Master’s of Graphic Design program at NC State University. As a result, this weblog has served as a documentation of my stay at the university’s College of Design.
Today I would like to announce that the content and focus of the site will be expanded as my brother, Armando Rigau, joins as a writer and collaborator. Coming from an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Georgetown University, he currently pursues a Master’s Degree in Architecture at Cornell University. His different perspective will not only help to pluralize the content of this page, but hopefully challenge some of my own preconceptions on design as we both begin to build together a new collaborative framework.
If anything, this juncture can be seen as a canvas where we will share with each other some of our perspectives as we anticipate collaborative work in the future. We will learn as we go and see where it takes us…
When I thought my final project process at NC State University was finished, this morning I had an unexpected surprise when I realized that my research investigation has already been catalogued into the library system. I realize this is a trivial thing… but I have to say it made me smile.
Last semester I taught a seminar course at NC State University’s College of Design where I asked the students to identify, as part of a weekly assignment, two instances: one where design thinking had thrived and another where it had failed. Towards the end of the course, students had collected a series moments that proved that only a simple nudge was required, many times at no extra cost to anyone, to set a series of problems right. Recently, I came across one such example.
Last week, due to the birth of my nephew Gonzalo, I got to spend some time in the maternity wing of the Auxilio Mutuo Hospital. It was indeed a short time, yet most of it was spent waiting for the baby to make its appearance. I had time to look around. A few things came to my attention, but this particular emergency door stood out the most out of anything else that caught my eye.
An Emergency Door in the Maternity Wing of the Auxilio Mutuo Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The subject in question is located on a hallway directly across from the nursery of newborns. As you can imagine, a lot of people congregate in this area. Upon further investigation, four things were of interest to me:
1) The standard, internationally used emergency exit sign; 2) An ink-jet printed sign which informs that this door does not provide access to the ground floor; 3) The familiar red sign that indicates to use this exit in case of an emergency; and 4) A photocopy which explains, in paragraphs, what to do in case of a problem.
Can you imagine what would happen, God forbid, if there was an emergency in this space? Read the rest of this entry »
Recently, a few people have asked about the work I carried out in graduate school. Part of my time in the last few weeks has been spent formatting the work to share it online. Today I am happy to share:
You can visit and see a selection of some of the larger investigations carried out, many as part of larger collaborative groups. The final project is the only one not up yet. It will be coming soon.
In the last few weeks I have been moving from meeting to meeting, introducing myself to new clients and re-connecting with some older ones. Face to face conversation has been at the core of most interactions.
During the time, I have become aware of the many identities others bestow on me: artist, graphic artist, digital artist, the creative, the person who makes logos, sign-maker, event planner, the guy who did that exhibit on the train, the kid who makes things pretty, web-site maker, and I have even been introduced as an architect. Not once in three weeks has anyone (other than in the office space from which I now work) used the term graphic designer, or even the idea of design to refer to me or to what I do.
In the Puerto Rican corporate and academic spheres that I have been exposed to, the practice of design (even if called by other names) is still seen as, talked about, and referred to as an icing on a cake which provides decoration (and an extra boost of sugar) to an already functional product. Designers are not at the decision table, and I have yet encountered one example of design included in a larger strategic process. The techniques, strategies and tools of design thinking are nowhere to be found. The idea of graphic designers having a process and knowledge of specific strategies that might foster innovation is scarce. Inspiration, creativity and talent are still at the core of the generally accepted understanding of how designers work and come up with ideas. Read the rest of this entry »
I am a designer. The term, today employed across various contexts and business models to signify different things, is actually not as hard to understand as many people make it out to be. It basically means that I like a few essential things: sexy typography (this is like the one ring made to rule them all), apple equipment, black t-shirts, fancy eyeglasses, ergonomic pencils, reading about the implications of structuring information, funky-colored shoes, colors, markers, anything Italian, and the smell of old books. (among others) This list is easy to assemble since most of these are stereotypical images society can associate easily with this professional path I have chosen to investigate. And yet, there is one aspect of being a designer that is not as obvious (and sad since it is the best part): as a designer I am in the constant search of problems.
Sounds interesting right? Well, in reality, it is. Yet, being on a constant search for problems to solve brings about a series of problems of its own. The best way I can describe it is that sometimes I find myself in an alternate reality; others talking about the color red and me asking why red?
Can you take a simple list and use different Cascading Style Sheets to create radically different list options? The Listamatic shows the power of CSS when applied to one simple list.
During the past few days I have been pulling together a small amount of my photography. Today I am happy to share the publishing of http://photo.estudiointerlinea.com/.
I hope you enjoy the glimpse into one of the ways that I look at the world. You can count on updates as my next shooting adventures come along…
I have spent the past few weeks making presentations about who I am and what I do. You know the drill … –Hi, I am a designer… I can help with x, y and z… etc, etc.
This time around, I have been given the opportunities to meet with other designers, museum curators, CEOs, individual decision-markers, and larger groups. At most, I speak for a short 3 mins, quickly showing some of my work while speaking of design thinking and design strategy as core to my way of working. I try to communicate bits that relate to things that I consider myself to be good at and capable of handling.
Recently though, I have realized an issue: I now speak in a language that is not familiar to a non-designerly culture, resulting in me not being understood. I speak of a visual system and I get asked if that’s the logo. I introduce the idea of design strategy and others wonder if that’s the advertising. I propose an interactive online experience and I end up talking about Flash.
I need to find a way to present my approach and ideas to better illustrate what I am trying to offer. In a way, I have to help others, because it will eventually help me, not feel like I did in my first week of graduate school: lost in translation.
On May 9th 2009, NC State University’s College of Design carried out its graduation exercises. The event recognized undergraduates, graduates and PhDs who successfully met the degree requirements in one the disciplines of Architecture, Art and Design, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, and Landscape Architecture.
As part of the event’s protocol, students were individually called onto the stage to receive a diploma from Dean Marvin Malecha, FAIA, and each of the department chairs. In the case of the Graphic Design Department, Santiago Piedrafita was there to give us an official hug.
When each student is called, a photograph is projected on a screen in the stage, and as you can expect, the master of graphic design graduates came together and agreed on a template*:
Thanks to Sidney Fritts and Cady Bean-Smith for having the initiative for these colored-sunglasses images. Without them, we would not have been able to pull this off.
* It is also important to share that the undergraduates in graphic design also came together and created their own little system for the graduation slideshow. They made 3-D images of themselves and handed out red/green glasses to the audience. Pretty cool.
At the end of every spring semester the College of Design hosts a Student Awards Ceremony for the current graduating class. This is an opportunity for each of the departments to hand out a series of awards to both graduate and undergraduate students.
The graphic design department has traditionally handed out the Book Award. The basic idea is that a faculty member in the program awards a student with a book that will be of benefit in life after graduate school. This year, I shared the graduate book award with Rebecca Tegtmeyer and Marty Lane. Each of us was awarded a different book by a faculty member… I was given The Design Dictionary: Perspectives on Design Terminology (Board of International Research in Design). :)
During the graduation ceremony of the College of Design I was awarded with one of the three Wings on Wings Dean’s recognitions. Better than explaining what it was all about, I have included the original text as read by the College’s Dean, Marvin Malecha, FAIA:
On occasion there are individuals who stand out among the graduating class for outstanding citizenship in the College community and academic excellence. For this reason I have established the Dean’s Award known as Wings on Wings. It is inspired by the constructivist painting of Natalia Goncherova depicting the Archangel Michael, the good citizen angel, astride Pegasus, the ancient symbol for opportunity. It is a fitting symbol to recognize individuals who have taken advantage of the opportunity that the College presents and acted as a good citizen.
It is the practice of the College that nominations come to me from the academic units and since it is the dean’s award I make the final choice. There have been ceremonies when no award is made, very infrequent thankfully, but our usual custom is one, maybe two recognitions. Perhaps I am becoming soft this year because I could not make one, or even two choices. I have chosen to recognize three outstanding individuals from our graduating class. This is a reflection of just how good our students are!
The third recipient is graduating with a Master of Graphic Design, Mr. Alberto Rigau. In the nomination Professor Denise Gonzales Crisp observes, “Alberto has been a tireless contributor to the design community as a T.A., a teacher at the College Design Camp Program for aspiring design students, as a designer for the Student Publication and for the University undergraduate information publication The Brick. His enthusiasm is responsible for new curricular ideas in the Graphic Design Program. He was a student leader in 2007 for the Graduate Graphic Design Symposium, Option-Shift-Control. He has consistently had papers accepted at professional conferences around the nation. Most recently, he has won the first prize at the NC State University Graduate Research Symposium for the Humanities.” Alberto, please come forward to accept your much-deserved recognition.
On May 4th 2009 I carried out the last of three formal presentations related to my Final Project at NC State University’s College of Design. Even though the step is a required component of the academic requirements at the graphic design program, I enjoyed the opportunity to share some of my interests, ideas and research with faculty, students, and other members of the community.
The presentation was a 25 minute summary of the research and work carried out on my final study at the graduate program: Design as Choice Architecture: informing consumers about debt-related behaviors. The following video is a recording of the original May 4th exposition.
In retrospect, having worked on this final project felt more like a rite of passage than anything else, signaling a transition into a deeper and meaningful design life. I am happy to report that all requirements for graduation were successfully met and I have been granted the degree of Master of Graphic Design. :)
I recently visited The Bain Project in Raleigh, North Carolina. The thing is, I ended there out of pure luck due to a friend who simply said: I want to stop at “a thing”.
As I arrived on the location all that I could think to myself was: “How did I not know about this earlier? How had nobody told me?”. In retrospect, I did know of the activity. In fact, its promotional poster hung 5 feet from me in my studio for the last 3 weeks of classes.
This past Sunday I had the opportunity to visit and participate in The Bain Project. This site-specific artistic exploration took place at the historic E. B. Bain Waterworks building in Raleigh, North Carolina.
I have to say this was a special event where quality, organization, people, atmosphere, mood, and setting all came together in a composition worthy of utmost praise.
As part of the event, the E. B. Bain Waterworks building served as canvas to varied musical compositions that engaged the senses and added to the mystery and nostalgia caused by the historic structure.
In May, Marty and I worked for the First Year College to design The Brick, a 120 page book to welcome and orient the 2008 incoming freshman class into the university. The rest of the summer, Rebecca joined us as we worked for the College of Design on Collective Intelligence, Collaborative Design, the college’s research publication.
Last night, our work was recognized with two Merit Awards from the AIGA Chapters of Charlotte and Raleigh in their Fifth Biennial Design Competition, BOOM! Read the rest of this entry »
Myself in front of my research poster. Photograph by Rebecca Kirkland.
As I have written before before, this past week was the Fourth Annual NC State University Graduate Student Research Symposium. Marty Maxwell Lane, Deb Littlejohn and I were asked to present our current research at the event. In retrospect, it was just like presenting for judges back in one of my high school science fairs… Presentations were made with the aid of posters. We participated in the Humanities and Design category, where I am happy to report that I was recognized with a first prize for the current research I am carrying out with my final project. :) Read the rest of this entry »
The University Graduate Student Association and the Graduate School hosted the Fourth Annual NC State University Graduate Student Research Symposium. The goals of the symposium were to showcase the outstanding quality and diversity of graduate-level research at NC State, and to share it with state decision-makers.
Marty Maxwell Lane, Deb Littlejohn and I were asked to present our projects at the event. We each made posters, like mine shown at top, to share and explain the goals of our investigations. We participated in the Humanities and Design category, where I am happy to report that I was awarded the first prize. :)
In the morning I had the opportunity to share my current research with the accepted candidates for next year’s incoming graduate graphic design class. The presentation, a shortened version of my Orals Presentation, went really well.
In the evening, I volunteered to present at the 2nd annual Intercom Research Exchange at the College of Design. The event had two ways in which we could share our research with the university community: via a poster where the research was presented in a printed format (you can see Rebecca Tegtmeyer’s poster here), or via a Pecha Kucha styled projected presentation.
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This is a self playing movie, but please click on it to get it started. The first 14 seconds are static, so be patient. This is the Pecha Kucha version of my final project presentation
Marty Maxwell Lane also did a Pecha Kucha style presentation to share her research on the way teens understand visual content online (it’s much more than that, but that my version of her project in a sentence. I am sure she will kill me soon over this butchering… ;)
As second-year students of the NC State Graduate Program in Graphic Design, our final semester is dedicated to the work on our final project. As part of the process, we are required to make three major presentations.
The first presentation serves as a public unveiling of our interests to the entire graphic design department. At this point we are supposed to have an initial idea about our interests while we are still negotiating with all of the research that we have so far collected. This point also helps the first-year students, for it allows them to get an idea about what a final project investigation is all about.
The second, the Orals Presentation, occurs the week after Spring Break, half-way between that first exposition and the conclusion of the investigation. At this point, there should be a cohesive argument that makes sense. A design project should exist. The final project must be on its way… and this is the presentation that I recently made.
This post includes the slides of that presentation. You will see notes underneath each one, but the morning of the event I decided not to read any of them. I presented using my train of thought. Of course, what I eventually said is rooted in these notes, but I really did not have time to cover these and read them over. The full development of my ideas will be expressed in the final written document, which will be the core of the third and final presentation coming in up on May 4th.
Sometimes some of the best surprises come after-the-fact. In this case, after the pilot project was over, the words were sent down stream to the pickup location. Video by Miguel Ortiz. Photos by Gus Pantell. Editing by Alberto Rigau.
The early part of the XXth century witnessed the construction of an extensive web of irrigation channels to distribute water to homes and farmlands in Puerto Rico along more than 35 kms. Still in operation to this day, throughout time different individuals and groups have acknowledged the scenic value of these channels; however, to most they remain unknown.
Conceived by the architectural firm, Jorge Rigau FAIA, Architects, the pilot project was designed to garner support from government officials, institutions, and the general public for the development of Isabela’s irrigation channels as a key ecotourism attraction in Puerto Rico. The “canales” travel across plains, mountains, and forests of varying microclimate, flora, fauna, and views. Maintenance paths that run continuously next to them could today be refashioned as nature trails accessible to the general public, children, senior citizens, and handicapped people alike. This pilot project set out to prove the feasibility of this initiative.
After public access to these facilities had been denied for eighty years, one kilometer of channels was opened up for two days, attracting an audience of over 3,000 registered people, including key decision-makers like the Island’s Interim Governor. Environmental leaders and university professors joined the long lines of visitors from all over the Island.Advocacy is often linked to demonstrations, more than often committed to stop something from happening. In our case, we chose to demonstrate otherwise: How something can, in fact, happen. Letters of support have started to come and decision makers – already engaged – have invited us to sit and dialogue. This is what we planned for.
I am getting a bit nervous. The calendar dates keep progressing and my making seems to be resting stagnantly. Nonetheless, major progress was achieved this morning through the discussion and appreciation of smaller details. These procedural wireframes have begun to seriously integrate much of the research, expressing itself through a series of functionalities.
As it can be anticipated, my system has already changed again, but here I present what I showed in the meeting today. Read the rest of this entry »
Last semester, before I got interested in consumer behaviors and their repercussions, I explored gesture based interfaces as a possibility for my final project. Today, while organizing my current archive, I found this old copy of the HP Touch Smart ad. It is still impressive.
After the most recent discussion about the progress of the final project, I decided to stir things a bit… and materialize the sketching. I’ve devised a usable paper-prototype that allows me to explore the possibilities for the interface and its contents. Read the rest of this entry »
As you can imagine, as the oral defense presentation gets closer, the perception of the world around me is slowly shifting. The apartment is no longer home-base, my chair is my best friend, and my desk the center of all of the world’s operations… again, of all of the world’s operations…!
You know… When you wish you were doing everybody else’s project but your own? Don’t get me wrong. I am immersed and excited over what I am working on, but there is always that little instance when you just become extremely jealous of the inspiring work your classmates make. I mean, how can I not be?
Marty Maxwell Lane is doing these amazing explorations that still have me speechless. Rebecca Tegtmeyer has created these gorgeous compositions that provide structural cues to her content. Robert Ruehlman works on animated typographic explorations (like the one at the top of this post) aiming directly at my past with Spirographs… and Kelly Murdoch-Kitt, the cyber-hippie who sits in the back, would not even share her super-secret thesis blog… which kills my curiosity now.
The body of work of these individuals serves to remind me of the right choice I made in coming to this particular program.
A few days ago Rebecca Tegtmeyer sent a few friends an email with a challenge to do something like this. It was not until today that I was able to see the link, and to be honest, I just found it too fun to ignore. Since last night I did not get to sleep much, my productivity today was very low, so I decided to give this a shot.
By now, I have shared the video with a few friends which have pointed out many crucial missing moments like the photography from the Option Shift Control Symposium, from our class trip to DC, the Design Band, and others. With all the missing parts I might have to consider Meat Loaf for the soundtrack… hehehe. I will update the file, probably after the Final Project is done. But for now… I hope you enjoy…
At the end of last semester the graduate class came together to work on a calendar for 2009. The project, headed by Caroline Prietz, Liese Zahabi and Lauren Waugh, was hand letterpressed and distributed to our family and friends. Each of the months was divided among the participants. To show the process to the faculty, I made this short video which pretty much tells the story of that one particular weekend when thinner became our therapist and biscuits were king.
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Two nights ago, while my friend Cady Bean-Smith was trying to work, I made it a point to let her know that I needed some attention… hahahaha. This projection was part of her Interface for Interfaces project that she designed and I decided to come play with.
Armando Rigau holds a degree in Philosophy from Georgetown University. Currently he studies at the M.Arch. 1 program at the School of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University. Alberto Rigau recently completed his graduate studies in Design at the College of Design in NC State University. Currently he runs a multidisciplinary design studio in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On Thursday October 8 2009 3M Company of Puerto Rico held a fashion show to promote some of their Post-it products. For the event, estudio interlínea was commissioned to design and execute the event’s visual language… of course, all of it made out of Post-its. —— To make the video more interesting, I used the music track [...] […]
Alberto Rigau designed the commemorative object that was given to the recipients of the 2009 medals in architecture. Puerto Rico’s professional college of architects and landscape architects honors individuals and/or entities who are not directly related to the discipline of architecture but who have contributed to the field in a way that can be evidenced [. […]
Alberto Rigau was recognized by Marvin J Malecha, FAIA and Denise Gonzales Crisp for his contributions to the NC State University College of Design community. He was recognized for his roles as a T.A., a teacher at the College’s Design Camp for aspiring design students, as a designer for the Student Publication and for the [...] […]
