Final Flash Project

Here is the final version of my flash project:

The trails of the words and glitches are not present in the Flash file, but I couldn’t get this to work anywhere on the Internet. I was very happy with my end result. I made changes based on the final critique to the pacing and instead of “FABULOUS” scrolling horizontally, the letters “flashed” into place to make it convey the word better.

I learned a ton about pacing and planning design based on a storyboard through this project. I tried to string the words together so they flowed instead of looking like they were broken up into chunks. The only thing I would change is my ability to share this project with people. I’m sure there’s an easier way to do this that I don’t know about! Despite the frustrations, I’ve really enjoyed learning Flash this semester.

ART 115: Advanced Typography Flash Project

For this project, we had to pick a quote and put the words in motion using Flash. I chose one from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.

So, for the second time this semester I have battled with this program. I’m pretty happy with my current draft, but there are a lot of glitches/pacing issues to hash out. As much as I love to hate Flash, I think it could be great to put info-graphics in motion — that’s something I’d love to try out. Here’s my current draft of the project (this is NOT a final version). I’m really unsure of what’s going on with the file I uploaded to YouTube.

Typography Project 1: Calendar

Final Versions of my calendar designs:

July Analytical

Analytical August

Analytical September

Intuitive July

Intuitive August

Intuitive September

Synthetic July

Synthetic August

Synthetic September

Project Synopsis

Back to reality

In 2010, I was lucky enough to visit somewhere around 30 cities in at least 10 different countries. That is far from normal. Real life is not jet-setting around the world with your best friends, no matter how much I wish it was. So here I am, sitting in a cafe eating Mediterranean themed food, wearing my Italian pashmina scarf, drinking vino and saying “ciao” and “grazie” like a pretentious little bitch. I’m not trying to be pretentious, I swear. I’m just holding on to every little shred I have left from my fabulous former Italian life.

Cin, cin! (Cheers!)

Homesick for Florence

Even though it’s been a mere six days since my return to the United States, I already miss Florence so much it hurts. I haven’t been awoken at 4:00 a.m. by Italians yelling in the street as they leave the club next door. I haven’t seen the Duomo. I couldn’t cure my hangover with a kebab. I haven’t tripped on cobblestone. And most of all, I haven’t seen some of the best friends I’ve ever had. It’s killing me.

I regret not blogging while I was gone. However, I vowed to get everything I could out of my abroad experience, and I did. I spent some time on the computer while I was away, but the majority of my time was spent actually seeing Italy and Europe. It was to say the very least, the best experience of my life. Here’s a quick taste of my experience (more to come once I finish sorting through the thousands of pictures on my harddrive):

Me with my Italian teacher during orientation

Sunset in Lido di Camaiore

Leaving London

After a few frantic moments when I realized I had arrived at Chicago’s Midway airport while my flight to London was set to leave out of O’Hare, my flight and travels went smoothly and I arrived in London safe and sound. I’ve also met some fun people who are also on my program. We spent last night searching to no avail for a club with a tree in it. Despite asking everyone we passed on the street, no one could direct us to the club (and we were a bit worried that the ones who did answer us were directing us to a Rainforest Cafe). We never found the club, but we found a fun bar with strong drinks and a nice terrace where we could talk and people watch. We’ve been having a great time in London but most of us are just ready to get to Italy. Don’t get me wrong: London is amazing. I love, love, love all of the hipsters and the awesome accents. I just really want to get to Italy. And two nights in a city like London is just awkward and it’s definitely not enough time to experience a city. Aside from the extremely touristy group tour (and by group I mean crowd—there about 90 people on my program) I don’t feel like I’ve seen what life in this city is like. Yes, I saw some amazing historical monuments—Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, etc.—but I much preferred the free time after the tour. Ari, Christina, Brett and I wandered around the city mostly without looking at a map and we ended up getting some cheap local food (Pasteys) and enjoying the city. I also didn’t get a chance to take very many pictures, as we hardly got off of the bus on the tour. I’m glad to be here in London, but I’m seriously excited to arrive in Italia tomorrow!

——London photos coming soon!——

Bittersweet Week

In exactly one week, I will have said my goodbyes to most everything I own and know in the States until January. And in less than a month, I’ll be living and going to school in the beautiful city of Florence, Italy (pictured above). Prior to arriving in Florence (a.k.a. Firenze—I’m making a sad attempt at learning some Italian before I take my language placement test next week), I will have spent a few days in London and two weeks taking intensive language classes in a small city outside of Pisa. And I cannot be more excited. Or scared.

Drawing= strugglefest

First off, I’d like apologize for being such a negligent blogger. Has it really been since the beginning of May? Wow, I suck. I don’t really have an excuse for being MIA, other than it’s summer. And I’ve been taking Drawing I and Macroeconomics at the local community college, so that has kept me pretty busy. I will also be leaving in August to study abroad this fall in Florence, Italy, and there has been no shortage of forms to fill out and things to buy in preparation for that. Plus, I recently got my wisdom teeth removed (OUCH),  which left me loopy and in vegetable mode for about a week.

Anyway, the one thing that has kept me busier than anything else is drawing. The class meets from 8:00 a.m. – noon three times a week and there are homework assignments, but it’s not just that. It seems like I take at least twice as long as everyone else on every assignment. Yes, I have my usual issues with procrastination (I’m blogging at 2:45 a.m. Hint, hint). And yes, I also have my usual issues with being a complete perfectionist. But mostly, I have issues with having no prior drawing experience. My classmates have ALL taken some kind of drawing course before this summer (trust me, I’ve asked). So they are essentially taking a refresher course while I’m learning at full speed. It’s been a struggle, but I’m pretty proud of most of the work I’ve done so far. And I’ve completely fallen in love with charcoal as a medium.

It sounds cliche, but drawing has really made me open up my eyes and look at the world around me. I felt the same way when I started taking photography classes, but this has taken it to a new level. I used to look around me and see interesting lines and points of view. Now I look around me and I see lines, value, texture and depth in everything. It forces you to appreciate everything you look at. I haven’t had time to do many photo shoots this summer (bummer), but I’ll be you anything that my sense of composition has improved. I would definitely advise anyone hoping to be an artist in any medium to take at least one class in drawing.

Here’s a look at my progress in the last couple of weeks:

Playing with line and charcoal on the first day.

Dear lord. This is just excessive.

Dear lord. This is just excessive. http://bit.ly/3IGV1m

Tacky, tacky, tacky

I’m sorry if I sound like a snob, but some senior pictures are just ridiculous. Really? You can’t tell me having a replicated, more serious version of your face above your shoulder is in good taste. Is his face supposed to be the moon? I really don’t get it. It’s just bizarre.