Blog 5 - Locovisual

 Art Deco is a design style which flourished internationally throughout the 1930s; the James Smith Building is one of many Art Deco style buildings in Wellington. Though erected in 1907 the building was refurbished by Wellington Architects Joseph Dawson (1877-1956) and Jack King (1900-1972). King and Dawson were responsible for several Art Deco buildings erected in Wellington in the 1930s such as 255 Cuba St (1932) and the Ford Motor Company Workshop (1935) in Lower Hutt. When the James Smith Building was redesigned in 1932 it took upon an Art Deco style exterior facade when the firm owning the building decided to modernise the appearance.[1] New Zealand affected by the Great Depression was struggling economically in the 1930s King and Dawson as a firm were no exception from the hardships[2]. When Art Deco was in vogue it portrayed a sense of luxury, modernity and refinement, and perhaps as a style was aspirational to James Smith Ltd, King and Dawson, and the many other people and places that adopted it at the time, such as Napier following the 1931 earthquake.
 It is quoted in a Victoria University Research Report,
           

  “This Art Deco, or modernistic style, was in retrospect, probably the most successful of the pluralistic tendencies of the 1920’s and 1930’s which, simultaneously provided a modern image, while still incorporating traditional standards of planning and composition.”[3]
 

The design of the James Smith Building retains the scale and proportion of the original building, however groups of striking vertical lines and detailed plasterwork, along with a stepped skyline mask the underlying Edwardian profile of the building.

[1]
Kelly, M. (2005). Art Deco Heritage Trail. In Art Deco in the Capital. Retrieved May 31, 2012, from www.wellington.govt.nz/services/heritage/pdfs/artdeco.pdf.

[2], [3]
Gardyne, S. 1981, VUW research report as citied in; Kemp, N. 2012, King and Dawson: an historical study, 1906-1981.


Images photographed myself.

Curatorial

  

 Modern architect Louis Sullivan once said,

“It was the spirit animating the mass and flowing from it, and it expressed the individuality of the building.”

The idea that a building’s spirit animates the mass as well as flows from it seems a rather “cyclic” notion. However this quote embodies the idea surrounding my model. This project was inspired by two precedents. The fluid motion of vapour in a wind tunnel, juxtaposed by the Mayan Pyramid Chichen Itza. The curve and the straight line. It was my intention to merge the very fluid forms in the wind tunnel image with the very rigid and straight forms that make up the pyramid. This was achieved by arranging a set of curves from shallow to deep and wide to narrow. From a front or rear view of the model the overlapping curves form a very fluid pyramid shape, almost as though the pyramid itself was in the wind tunnel. From a side view it exposes the straight lines that make up each curve and the flat “tops” of each curve, it gives the model a very “structured” presence like the pyramid however the height of each curve juxtaposes this structure by forming a slow curve.
 The “spirit” of Chichen Itza animated the general form of my model, however the manner in which it flows from the model embodies the form of the wind tunnel.












(2011). Ancient mayan pyramid. (2011). [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.tripsgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Ancient-Mayan-Pyramid.jpg

(2005). 2005 pagani zonda f s . (2005). [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/2005-Pagani-Zonda-F-S-Wind-Tunnel-1024x768.jpg  

Sullivan, L. (n.d.). Brainy Quote. Retrieved May 15, 2012, from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/louissulli250783.html.

DSDN101 - THE CLIP - Poster

 As a group we were given Conflict Records as a company to design a poster for.
 We quickly discussed our strengths and Alec and I decided to conceptualise the poster and Shunyao and Yitao could aid in the actual process of making it (Adobe PS and ID). We took advantage of the mixed media and decided to use a photo for the main part of the poster, we thought a black and white still of a Wu-Tang W being raised amongst a crowd captured the essence or "feel" of Conflict Records.
 As for the logo we thought it would be a good opportunity to incorporate colour, we decided on yellow as it was striking against the photo. For the typeface we decided on a Times New Roman-esque font which had serifs, we felt this was appropriate as it had a very strong masculine connotation. We also changed the kerning to make both words "fit" with each other.
 We decided our demographic would be anybody who was a "discerning listener of urban music", hence, a person in our target audience would be able to relate to the photo instantaneously.
 Finally, for the slogan, we were unanimous that slogans are "cheesy" and can turn the consumer off so we decided on a simple, "Beatn' since '92", "beatn" being a pun to beat as in beat up (to go with Conflict) as well as the musical definition of beat. The font was chosen to contrast with the other fonts and we chose to keep it black just to keep it out of the foreground.


Group members:

Alec King-Tabute Au
Changhwan Lee (myself)
Shunyao Cui
Yitao Wang

One Word Film - DSDN101

One Word Film was a major challenge for me.
I'd never used Adobe Flash before and I was sick for the majority of the project. Excuses aside, beef was my word of choice. Not beef like the kind of meat beef but "beef" beef, also this was amusing to me because I am a vegetarian.
 I'm not sure it turned out the way I envisioned but I am satisfied for my first attempt on flash!

My field of research for DSDN171 – Blog 2 is Art Deco; it is a style of design that originated in Paris in the 1920s and quickly spread internationally through the 1930s.

1. A book with single author

 This book explores the beginnings of the Art Deco movement from France where it made its first public appearance in 1925 at the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Induestriels Modernes to the rest of the world by the 1930s. It also discusses whether Art Deco was a “backlash” or an offshoot of the previous Art Nouveau, furthermore other influences which helped shape the movement from “Egypt to the imagined future...”.
 This book documents Art Deco design in many different things from decorations to furniture and therefore it is useful for my research.

Duncan, A. (2009). Art Deco Complete: the Definitive Guide to the Decorative Arts of the 1920s and 1930s. London: Thames & Hudson.

2. A scholarly journal article

 This article discusses how there was a lot of Egyptian influence in France during the 1920s and how this has influenced the Art Deco movement. It mentions how Egyptian influenced fashion and the discovery of Tutankhamen played a role in shaping Art Deco. It also goes on to discuss how the idea of luxury and decadence of Ancient Egypt was carried through into Art Deco.

Elliot, B. (2008). Art Deco Worlds in a Tomb: Reanimating Egypt in Modern(ist) Visual Culture. South Central Review, suppl. Special Issue: Staging Modernism, 25(1), 114-135,176. Baltimore, MD, USA: John Hopkins University Press. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/226841368

3. An edited book

Napier was struck by an earthquake in 1931, during the global rise in popularity of the Art Deco movement. Naturally when reconstruction began, Art Deco was the style of choice for its architecture. This book and also the city itself is an example of how the movement spread globally.

Galloway, A., McGregor, R. (Ed). (1996). Art Deco Napier: a Design Guide. Napier, New Zealand: Napier City Council.

4. A website

This website explains both what Art Deco and Art Nouveau are and what differentiates the two. It breaks down the principles of each movement and puts it into laymen’s terms calling Art Nouveau “flowery” and Art Deco “streamlined”. Though it is not a detailed insight into both movements it allows the reader to quickly and easily grasp the fundamentals of each. Thus it is helpful in my research.

Art Deco vs. Art Nouveau. (n.d.). [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.mentalfloss.com/difference/art-deco-vs-art-nouveau/

.5. A picture

The Chrysler building is arguably one of the most iconic pieces of the Art Deco movement. Its architecture incorporates a crown which has a radiating “sunburst” arrangement of triangular windows; this kind of ornamentation is quintessential to the movement. Furthermore the crown is made from a stainless steel alloy which was very reflective and advanced for the time; the Art Deco movement embraced the use of modern materials. Therefore, this image is very relevant for my research.

Highsmith, C.M. (2007). Chrysler Building Detail, New York, New York [image]. Retrieved from: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010630430/

INDIVIDUAL WORK - DSDN101

Individual Work.


For individual work I chose Isometric/Axonometric Projection. And an original GameBoy as the subject.


I decided to go with Isometric Projection as it is a commonly chosen method of technical drawing. Furthermore I wanted some practice as I haven't drawn anything in Isometric projection since Year 10..
Isometric Projection was first conceived by Professor William Farish in the 1800s but only began being widely used around the 1920s. To this day engineers, architects, industrial designers and even artists employ this method of drawing as it conveys the object in an accurate manner in which the eye can not naturally perceive.
There is no "vanishing point" so this makes the subject appear both more and less realistic at the same time; the subject has proper measurements, however this is not how we would actually see it.
The idea that the object can be drawn whilst retaining its proper dimensions is one of the reasons why it is a commonly employed drawing style in product design, and this is also why I decided to have a GameBoy as my subject; simple in its overall shape but enough detail to employ in an Isometric projection.

Note;

The image was originally composed horizontally. I uploaded it rotated 90° as an aesthetic choice.

TOUCH and DRAW - DSDN101

Touch and Draw.


Now this provided a much greater challenge.. after a couple of weeks making drawings that fit into certain guidelines, we now had to make one with very little rules. At first I thought easy! however a lot of time was spent looking at the blank page... Where to start??

I thought to myself, how to best capture the essence of the item.. What better way than to actually use the item's "essence"?

After some debate with other students on whether the object is actually allowed in the final composition, I decided to submit two. Apologies, Sam, for not clarifying this before the deadline.

SECTION - DSDN101

Section.


A lil' more interesting..


My lighter appears again, the actual section of my lighter is both what I imagine the inside of my lighter looks like as well as what other lighters look like on the inside (from smashing lighters open in the past). I think the outcome is pretty convincing, if I may say so myself.

DRAW - DSDN101

Draw.. Bang.


Rather straight forward. Its my lighter.

HATCH - DSDN101

So.. Hatch eh?


I found my freehand drawing not competent enough to put out consistent patterns neatly and consicely. So I decided to be formulaic and use a ruler and slowly remove negative space.


Smudging and fingerprints turned up after I jacked up the contrast on Ps but I decided to leave them in because I liked them.

IDENTITY - DSDN101

For Identity I chose the painting of the horse and cart (apologies for not knowing the name), my 5 items; spray can, vivid, bearbrick, lighter and keys all adhere as well as break up the composition of the lines found in the painting.

Design Personae

camera shy?

  My name is chang, I'm from Mt Zion (Mt Eden), Auckland.

I decided to come to design school to gain skills and higher knowledge. These I lack.
By skills I mean things like drawing and other hands on stuff, however I also mean my perception.. There's been a lot of talk of changing the way we look at the world in our lectures and its exciting, I’m constantly trying to perceive things in a different light, and hopefully through design school I will be able to hone my perception into something a little more “design-orientated".
When I say higher knowledge I refer to the history, philosophy and whatever else is considered “important” in design. I’d like to pay respect to the greats, hahaha.
 To be honest I draw a lot of inspiration from “Hip-Hop culture”, KRS-ONE, dondi, Futura2000, the Wu-Tang Clan, King Kase2 (RIP), Seen, Niels “Shoe” Meulman the list goes on..  I guess one of my more relevant (though not Hip-Hop related) inspirations would be Tinker Hatfield.
Hatfield is a designer for Nike. He joined Nike in 1981 and he designed some of the best and most memorable/coveted sneakers for Nike, air max 1, 3, Jordan III, IV and XI are amongst my favourite of his creations. Hatfield was/is always one to combine functionality with great aesthetics to his designs, he drew inspirations for his shoes from many different things but always executed them in a tasteful manner.
 I guess this is what I’m aspiring to be, producing good design that is aesthetically pleasing, but not compromising in its functionality.

Chur.

Soundbite

So, Helvetica huh?

Interesting stuff though probably not so new to most of us at FYD..

The only soundbite that I noted was from the beginning where one designer said,

"The world is a place of visual disease, which we as designers must clean up."

Hahah, to be honest I'm not totally sure whether this was what the person actually said, but at least that was my perception, I liked it, and I'd like to think that's what he said.

(:

Hello, World.

Design School yo.

Time to get school'd.

Knowledge Reigns Supreme.