_i exist by implication_

::] Back to school [::

ajrigau — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:08 +0000

It’s that time of year again… it’s back to school time! The adventures of my graduate class continue as we enter our second year of the master’s program. Exciting times are these…

Last year already came and went. The first semester was intense. The second was considerably busy. The third? I can’t wait to find out! I am not at all worried though, for Meredith Davis and Santiago Piedrafita are leading the way…

This semester is special though. Not that the previous ones were not, but this semester I begin to articulate my research interests towards the development of a final project. This experience will force me to concentrate my interests into a series of researchable questions which I will later investigate and work on. About time I got started on this…

::] Social Studies Conference ][ MICA ][ Abstract [::

ajrigau — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:03:47 +0000

Screenshot of the conference website.

This semester’s AIGA education conference, Social Studies Conference: Educating Designers in a Connected World , will be held at the MICA campus from Friday, October 17 through Sunday, October 19 of 2008.

A few days ago I was notified that my original abstract was accepted into the conference. This is my final revised abstract.

Understanding Interaction through People, Settings, and Scenarios

At NC State, the Professional Bachelors of Graphic Design prepares students to understand design from a systems perspective. Among courses that address the issue, three are dedicated to imaging. Last Spring, when co-teaching a three-credit sophomore class —Imaging II: Settings and People (Leading to Activity Scenarios)— with Santiago Piedrafita (faculty member), students were introduced to interaction and time-based media through three key ideas: settings, people and scenarios. Each was addressed through a particular investigation: a “site survey (settings);” a “subject study (people);” and an “activity map (scenarios).”

For the site survey investigation, students were asked to build annotated panoramas through layering techniques, documenting and commenting on a particular location of their daily commute. To visualize the importance of people within a system, students collected ethnographic data of other school members, which they then reinterpreted into one-minute biographical video clips and oversized broadsheets. The semester concluded with an understanding of scenarios, exploring how myriad interfaces found on various mobile platforms shape and affect interactions (scenarios) between users (people) and their environment (setting). This investigation was carried out through hand-made rapid-paper-prototypes, later modeled into stop-animation video clips.

Throughout the semester, concepts were introduced through observation and interpretative methods like annotated tableaus, visual essays, authored journals, video interviews, collaborative ideation techniques, activity maps, paper-prototyping, and stop-animation photography. These “image-making” strategies helped students visualize and actualize key aspects (and phases) of diverse design problems (project-definition-driven, project-building, project-making), understanding issues they will come to terms with when undergoing interactive and time-based media work.

:: ] Del.icio.us ][ 8 ][ Recent Links [ ::

ajrigau — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:00:09 +0000

Ampersand

Get your own stell cast ampersand

(tags: type typography)
PVC Pipe font & poster (pure typography) on the Behance Network

let's look underneath the sink for type

(tags: type typography)
Letraset - a set on Flickr

Nice use of letraset

(tags: type typography)
Bagladies - Environmentally Hip

Some very nice tote bags

(tags: backpacks industrialdesign design shopping shop)
UPPERCASE - UPPERCASE journal - Type Tuesday: Typography through Forestry

Letters made from trees. Can be seen from the sky.

(tags: type typography)

Beijing conjures Olympic opening epic with high technology

The technology behind the Opening Ceremonies at Beijing

(tags: technology information inspiration interface)
Adaptive Path » aurora concept video

New and various ways to consider our relationship to the technological world around us.

(tags: interaction interactive interface internet inspiration)
Aurora

This is so worth taking a look at. A new way to envision the internet and its use

(tags: interaction interactive interface internet collaboration)
Speak Up › Let the (Logo) Games Begin

Interesting read on the fast-turnaround logo companies.

(tags: design logo)

::] Social Studies Conference ][ MICA [::

ajrigau — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:32:38 +0000

Screenshot capture of the Social Studies Conference’s website.

A typical scene in my life…

April 2008… I decide to submit a draft for the Social Studies Conference: Educating Designers in a Connected World to be held at MICA this upcoming October. Deadline for submissions… July 15th. Yup, I got time.

July 14th: 6:00pm… Dammit! It’s been raining all day, internet connection has been down, and I have to submit the abstract! Tic, tock… Tic, toc…

hehehe

I submitted the abstract on time (see below)(and I even got a happy confirmation e-mail from the conference).

In this three-credit sophomore course, Imaging II: Settings and People (Leading to Activity Scenarios)*, students are introduced to interaction and time-based media by working with three key ideas: settings, people and scenarios. Each of these concepts is addressed through a particular investigation: a “Site Survey (settings);” a “Subject Study (people);” and an “Activity Map (scenarios).”

For the site survey investigation, and to elucidate over this idea of settings, students built annotated panoramas of a repetitive event in their daily lives. To visualize the importance of people within a system, students interviewed members within the design school to collect ethnographic data, and then designed one-minute video clips and European-sized broadsheets. Finally, the semester concluded in understanding scenarios. Students created paper-prototypes, modeled in stop-animation video clips, to show possible interactions in the university (setting), between a user (people) and an interface on a mobile platform.

Throughout the semester, concepts and ideas were taught by exposing students to observation and interpretative methods such as annotated panoramas/tableaus, visual essays, authored journals, video interviews, collaborative ideation techniques, activity maps, paper-prototyping, and stop-animation photography. These “image-making” strategies help students visualize and actualize key aspects (and phases) of all manner of design problems (be they project-definition-driven, project-building, project-making, etc.).

Through these investigations, students can better survey, document and understand sites and subjects as they focus their attention on to new and unique design challenges brought on by contemporary communications systems, such as in branding, services and experiences, and interaction design.

* It was taught during the Spring of 2008 by co-instructors Santiago Piedrafita (full-time faculty member) and myself Alberto Rigau (graduate student).

::] Funny moment in Design Camp [::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:23:15 +0000

::] Design Camp 08 ][ It’s a wrap…[::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:20:54 +0000

::] Design Camp 08 ][20][ Parent's visit…[::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:20:19 +0000

As conclusion to the week… a small exhibit of all student work was made for parents to see and for the students to pick up their projects to take them home.

::] Design Camp 08 ][19][ Projections [::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:12:03 +0000

Some of the projections of the collaborative posters…

::] Design Camp 08 ][18][ Collaborative Posters [::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:11:09 +0000

Here are all 15 posters that were designed by all the groups who attended graphic design from wednesday thru friday. Every one of these was made by 4 student groups.

::] Design Camp 08 ][17][ Airplane design [::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:07:43 +0000

A little afternoon break… Since students basically worked on the poster from 12:30 - 4:00pm… around 3:00pm I had a little exercise where we sent airplanes over into the landscape architecture area. Landscape never retaliated… hehehe

::] Design Camp 08 ][16][ Working on Poster [::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:59:58 +0000

As soon as the ideation session was complete, and without giving them a second to cool down, students were instantly informed of their afternoon project. As a team, they had to design a poster and they had to follow two guidelines:

• The poster had to announce a new feature of the CAM museum
• Each team member had to be traced onto the posters

I was very happy to see how this project got groups working together almost instantly. The engagement level was very high and the atmosphere just felt positive all time around.

::] Design Camp 08 ][15][ Post-Its [::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:42:24 +0000

One thing that remained consistent, even in the new daily strategy, was the ideation session. Rules were the same as in the previous two days, and the results were equally outstanding.

::] Design Camp 08 ][14][ DVD Covers [::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:38:53 +0000

These are some of the DVD Covers designed by the students during the last three days of camp. Half of the samples are scanned directly from their work, while the other half is photographed inside a case (you know, to give it a more realistic look). Most of the movies should be easily recognized, and those that are not, may just need a bit of a creative push… :)

::] Design Camp 08 ][13][ Working on DVD [::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:17:58 +0000

In this new version of my camp session, students now designed the cover for a DVD of their choosing. It was very interesting to see the movies that this generation cited… (I felt a bit old)

::] Design Camp 08 ][12][ a small change… [::

ajrigau — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:12:56 +0000

Well, after the first two days of design camp, I decided to make a change in strategy. In retrospect, I wonder how many of my concerns were legitimate, or me just being hard on myself, but no matter the case, the end result came out for the best. During the last three days I had the students design a DVD cover in the morning, then we would break for lunch, come back, work on the ideation session, and a collaborative poster. The results were amazing…