Bokeh Inspired Tutorial
Bokeh is the blurred effect you see in a photo when things are out-of-focus. In certain cases where the out-of-focus area contains a lot of light and different colors, the blurriness can create an interesting aesthetic that is pretty to look at. Bokeh has made its way from photos to the digital space as made evident by an abundance of bokeh-inspired wallpapers available for desktops and mobile phones. Here are some examples of bokeh in photography: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, Example 4, Example 5.
The goal of this tutorial is to create an abstract bokeh-inspired wallpaper like the one displayed above.
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Pantone Swatches – Finding Nemo 3D
Finding Nemo 3D is coming out Friday, September 14th! To celebrate, here are swatches for some of the colorful cast. Remember, fish are friends, not food.
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Childhood Pantone Swatch – Pokemon Edition
Here’s another addition to my collection of cartoon swatches. This time I’ve decided to make swatches of my favorite Pokemon characters.
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Branding: Brand Identity Flags
Much like a country’s flag, a brand’s identity is supposed to represent the brand as a whole. Looking at some of the most recognizable brand identities, one of the things that stands out the most is the colors that are used. Why were these colors chosen? What do the colors mean? What do they mean to the company? These are some important questions to ask when considering which colors should represent a brand. In this entry, 16 brand identities were turned into flags to represent each brand as if they were countries. The prevalence of each color was taken into consideration in making these flags.
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Typography: Comparing Typefaces
When I look around the world that lies outside, I see many different things. One thing that stands out to me is signs. My eyes naturally scan the letters that are on the signs and, aside from just reading the words that they form, I also take note of the typeface that they use. Now there are thousands of different typefaces out there, so one can imagine how difficult it can be to pinpoint exactly which one they are looking at. What makes it even more difficult is the fact that many typefaces look the same; however, if one takes the time to notice and remember the slight differences between these typefaces, it will be easier to distinguish one from the other. One typeface may have longer ascenders than the other, or it might have a bigger x-height- whatever the difference is, it’s just a matter of knowing which characteristics to look for. For this post, I will compare the Arial typeface to Helvetica, and Gotham to Avenir.
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Who Would Have Thought?
(Above) Art piece by Martin Pyper using nails and string.
When you look around the room you are in right now, how many items do you see? How many of these items do you find useful? Can that stapler be used to do something more than attach papers together? Can that pen do more than write? Sometimes we are so comfortable with our surroundings that we don’t notice things that were there all along, and sometimes we are so used to using objects for what they were made to be used for that we don’t see other possible uses for them. This is unfortunate, as beautiful and amazing things can be made when imagination is the only limitation. This entry showcases a selection of artists who have thought beyond the stapler and the pen. Their work displays what is possible when we “think outside of the box.”
Advertising Design and Arts InspirationsDesign: Under Pressure
Letterpress printing is a technique that utilizes pressure (relief printing) to produce prints. It dates back to Johannes Gutenburg’s invention of movable type printing in the 15th century (wikipedia). The technique is used to print various things such as business cards, posters, invitations, and announcements. In its most basic form, the letterpress process requires a plate that contains a raised surface of an image or a letter that is inked and pressed onto paper. The result is an imprint of the raised surface on the paper. Depending on what kind of product is to be made, there are three main methods of letterpress printing: rotary, platen, and flatbed. The rotary method is used for magazines and newspapers, while the platen method is used more for announcements, letterheads, and forms (ehow.com).
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Design: At the Press of a Button
“New and improved!” – This can be applied to anything from people to gardening tools. Something that is improved from its previous version implies that it is now better, and as a designer, few things can be better than saving time. We look for tools that make it faster to make something look good, and methods/techniques that make it easier to do something. Unfortunately, doing something the easy way can sometimes mean sacrificing quality. For example, in Photoshop, simply using the Quick Selection Tool to isolate an object might be sufficient enough to select it; however, zooming in and actually hand-selecting or deselecting pixels in detail will get you a much more accurate selection. But of course, that takes time. Wouldn’t it be great to have a tool that is a combination of ease, speed, and quality?
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Art: Just Plain Old Paper?
If people were to write down the top 5 things that come to their mind when they think of paper, the list might look something like this: white, money, pen/pencil, drawing, and writing.
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