Inspired by Nicholas Felton's Personal Annual Reports, I wanted to explore the different criteria and measurements that would be important to me year to year. Using data already compiled by iPhone health app, bank, Google calendar, MyDelta and others, I used Canva to brainstorm graphic ways to display the info. Taking this several steps further, it would be cool to get the display to automatically pull the data from those sources. Annual Report 2017
Using Adobe Illustrator to make images and Photoshop's timeline to animate them a bit, I poke fun at my own birthday. Animated Birthday
For Design 3, I wanted to explore making an original font in Illustrator. After doing a little reading, I decided to start with my own handwriting, as some tutorials suggest. I scanned a print version of my name, then drew and polished it in Illustrator. (Bézier tool!) There are products that facilitate adding a font to glyphs; if I can get a free trial of Fontself Maker, I want to load a font this weekend, just to follow through. If I can't find a low-cost (or free) tool, I plan to learn how to add an original font manually, using this tutorial. Next week, I plan to continue work with Illustrator to add letters and adjust the ascenders and descenders on my letterforms. Original font
For Design 4, we are getting cozy with Bootstrap 4! Staring at all the old mugshots and notes on my desktop, I decided to organize it into a Sources page ... what I wish I had when I started research to do an article on how new imaging technology is impacting engineering for Engineering Georgia magazine.
This is the Sources page.
This week, I decided to play with Legos! (But first, I had to make some.) Working in Illustrator, I started with an isometric projection (a grid of intersecting lines to use as guides for the x, y, and z axes), then drew the first one-square lego. This step isn't too hard, since it's basically just a cube with a cylinder on top. The trick is getting the shading and gradient right, so that the three-dimensional image continues to have three dimensions when the outlines are removed. Take a look at my workspace.
Once I had the basic one-, two- and three-square blocks created and grouped, it was time to play. By manipulating front-to-back placement, I practiced "moving" the blocks along the Y and Z axes, as well.
The final product is, what else My Name.
Last week, I worked with gray-scale shading to make 3-dimensional shapes (hooray for Legos!) This week, I wanted to build on that and work with color gradients, while still striving for a 3-D image. Using Illustrator, I made this logo for a fictional company. It’s meant to resemble a coiled ribbon with variegated colors blending into one another.
The blending is purposely thrown off, as the next primary color begins to show at the top of each curve of the ribbon. Faint shadows give the feeling that the ribbon is hovering. Ribbon logo.
In my job at the Peanut & Mycotoxin Innovation Lab, I help create infographics and have them translated into 16 local languages for farmers and extension agents throughout Haiti and Africa. Some of the languages are fairly obscure and take a while to obtain. With each new translation, I have to rework an entire page of our website to add an element to a column (a short-coming of our Adobe Experience Manager system). This week, it occurred to me that I might make a placeholder piece of art a Coming Soon logo that I could replace as I am able to acquire each translation. I used colors, fonts and art elements from the series of graphics to make the “Coming soon” icon fit with the series. I purposely made the banner a bit off-center, so it wouldn’t be too square.
The changing seasons are making me think a lot about color. This week, I made templates that might be used in the rotating banner of a small organization’s website. Specifically, I was thinking about a scenario in which an employee of a Senior Center is tasked with updating the website to highlight new activities offered there, but the worker doesn’t have the time or expertise to do much. Working with a fairly common 1080-pixel width, I designed four simple banners in fall colors (Red, Orange, Green and Brown.) that the hypothetical employee could open in Photoshop, update the text, save and load into the agency’s Wordpress site.
This week, I wanted to try my hand at designing a script for a VUI. I imagined a voice-driven app that would give visitors information about conditions in Athens as they enter town. Hundreds of thousands of people visit downtown Athens every year, and on the way into town for a show, sporting event or meet-up with old friends, many have the same laundry list of questions it’s tough to answer while driving. Working with Google maps and other apps, “Driving into the Classic City” would help a driver find parking, hit the ATM and call a venue to ask a question. To listen, sign in to Sayspring, choose "Driving into the Classic City" and click "Preview."
I am a TERRIBLE artist. That is not going to change.
But, in an effort to grow more confident with sketching, I recently bought an Apple pencil. As I work through the capabilities of the device (which are limited by my lack of skill), I’m learning how to make pen-and-ink sketches, watercolors and abstract line drawings. Shading is just as impossible for me on the iPad as it is on paper. Here are a few of my efforts: Violet , Red Barn , and Tractor.
