Hi everyone…
So, it’s been a while since the last posting…and, that’s because we’ve been up to a few things…like, attending the New York Art Director’s Club Portfolio Review, settin up shop at the Academy of Art University’s Spring Show (a special thanks for everyone who came out), and most importantly, finally graduated grad school!!! Woooowoooo…so, now what? Well, that’s what we’ve been working on. Keep posted for more to come, cuz you know it will;)
In the meantime, we have been getting a ton responses from wonderful people who want to get involved, so, if you, too, wanna get down, send us an email at WhatsUp@TheSoftSpot.org, and we’ll be sure to get in touch.
Just wanted to thank everyone for coming out for the WHAT THE *#&! IS SOCIAL DESIGN opening reception on March 12th! It was a fabulous evening filled with inquiring minds, design enthusiasts, and soft serve ice cream cones. We absolutely enjoyed every moment of the night and got to meet some fantastic new softys. You can check out some photos and some short videos from the event on the softy crew facebook page. As the exhibition comes to a close this upcoming Saturday (March 28th) we hope that those of you who didn’t make it to the opening can check it out before its finale.
You can also catch up on a bunch of fabulous softy stories and blog postings about the exhibition…
Thank you so much everyone for being a huge part of the project, we/I/all of us couldn’t have done without the help and devotion from each of you/us!
Thanks for being a softy!
Hi everyone! Welcome back from a much needed holiday vacation. Hope everybody had their fair share of cookies, wine, christmas trees, family, and good times. The Softys are back in effect, and will be bloggin in the new year. Keep visiting, as the SoftSpot exhibition is approaching quite fast and we will have a ton of info to fill you in on as time grows near. Until then…
“It’s time to take our power away from the oil companies and the car companies and the greedheads who run them. We’re going to get smart and say no. Now is the time for a whole movement that says no. No gas. No foreign oil. No cars. No paint. No gears. No logos. No lycra. No bullshit.”
The Nada Revolution has begun, and the SoftSpot has joined. Nada bikes are a fresh take on the cycling culture coming from Project M and Maverick founder, John Bielenberg. An unpainted steel single-speed bike frame was donated to build up and custy out. Now, all you fixie enthusiasts can catch a glimpse of how Nada gets down…here’s a lil bit of my process thus far…
We designed a technique for hanging the bike frame so that we could work on it. (wooden dowel and 2 chairs=good design.) That’s Jonny washing the frame.
That’s me burnishing on some custom transfers.
Close up of custy transfers. I really need a mani.
I decided to keep the frame in it’s raw state and put a few coats of clear acrylic paint to keep it in good condition.
Jonny acting like spray paint is a deadly weapon.
A lil R&R in between paint coats.
After the long hard day of work, the frame looks great and now it’s off to get even more hooked up. Nice guy Ethan at Refried Cycles is helping me with putting the pieces together so that this thing can roll. Hopefully, by the end of the week…
Now enjoy this video…
“‘What does one call the use of random non-alphabet characters to indicate cursing? It’s a universally understood device, and is applied in both graphic and textual settings. It is such a commonly accepted staple that I assumed it must already be defined and described — but apparently it’s not.’
But it is! The term is grawlix, and it looks to have been coined by Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker around 1964. Though it’s yet to gain admission to the Oxford English Dictionary, OED Editor-at-Large Jesse Sheidlower describes it as ‘undeniably useful, certainly a word, and one that I’d love to see used more.’ As the author of the grawlixy compendium The F-Word, Sheidlower’s perspective is unique — and unassailable, if you’re wise, since he and his cronies have the power to immortalize naysayers as expletives themselves. (Don’t laugh: such was the fate of philistine Thomas Bowdler, miser Charles Boycott, and jingoist Nicolas Chauvin, to say nothing of famous typeface designer James W. Scumbag.)
Until its OED entry is solemnized, we’ll have to settle for this definition on Wiktionary: ‘grawlix, n. A string of typographical symbols used (especially in comic strips) to represent an obscenity or swear word.’ I don’t think I’ll ever look at a character set quite the same way again.” —JH from Hoefler and Frere-Jones.
FYI…
The SoftSpot’s WHAT THE *#&! IS SOCIAL DESIGN exhibit runs from March 9-31, 209 at 79 Gallery at 79 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco. Opening reception is at 5:30 on Thursday March 11, 2009. Hope to see you all there!
On recent postings on Design Observer and Design*Sponge, there has been some uproar about the fact that jury panels for most design competitions have been mostly made up of white males. I found this to be of interest considering I have worked on two well respected design competitions in the past two years. And, in my experience, the jury panels have considerably been well rounded and diverse. But, what I did find more interesting was that there is a list of “hundreds of women available for speaking at your conference”. Just incase.
As I have been working at Communication Arts this summer on their Annual Design and Advertising Competitions, all of the work and anticipation leads up to this weekend. This upcoming weekend is the first Design Judging Event to be held over a three day period. Now, this may seem like nothing out of the ordinary, but for me being a graphic design grad student, this weekend becomes a moment of truth for many reasons. First off, I have been looking over all of the work that has been submitted since day one. From the first opening of a entry package, I have become somewhat attached to what I would say are some of the most amazing pieces of design I have ever seen. Granted, I have not been alive that long to witness periods of great design, but it sort of makes me shiver when I handle an original Sagmeister piece, or an entry straight from Chermayeff & Geismar, or even an original logo illustration from Michael Schwab. Kind of belittles me, kind of sets me straight, and then kind of sets my dreams soaring. So, as the weeks have carried on, and pieces of work have been sorted and properly categorized (which seems to be one of the biggest problems, people not knowing exactly how to label or categorize their own work?!?), it has now boiled down to this first weekend of the Design Judging Event. Judges are being flown in from all over the world for a weekend full of ewwing and ahhing. I am so excited to meet the judges, all of whom are amazing and well respected designers in the industry, and to have the opportunity to witness them critique submissions ranging from book design, posters, logos, packaging, environmental design, identity systems, integrated branding, all the way to self promotion and invitations. There happens to be a lot of design out there, and some of it just happens to be not quite up to par, and some of it is absolutely beyond creative belief.
But, overall this experience, so far, has really taught me some invaluable lessons in design, some of which don’t even have to do with designing at all, but with the way you present yourself as a designer. I have witnessed probably the biggest heaping pile of boxes, bubble wrap, tape, styrofoam, plastic, foamcore, mat board, styro peanuts in my life. This experience has taught me that as a designer and participating in the evolution of the world, it is mandatory to reduce the amount of garbage that we ship, mount, wrap, and glue, box, and happily deliver to not only competitions, such as this one, but to clients as well. No matter how much I have been taught in school about Sustainable Design, this gigantic mound of debris has definitely opened my eyes up to what it means to be a part of a forward thinking industry.
But, back to the matter at hand, I eagerly await this momentous event with eyes wide open and I am grateful for this awesome opportunity. I’ll keep you posted…
And, in the meantime check out some of the following fabulous designers that I have high hopes for.
Oh, and a shout out to my super categorizing, package opening, box sorting girls…Alex and Michelle. Hopefully, the papercuts and B Forms will all add up someday ladies!
As you may or may not know, the postage rate has gone up.
This probably doesn’t mean much to anybody cause mostly we all use email for communication purposes these days. But, it sorta means a lot to the Shotty Project. FYI some of the earlier camera packages may now be a tiny bit short on return postage on the included return envelope. So, what this means is that you now have 3 options:
(a) Don’t send the camera back (but you’ll end up kicking yourself in the ass for not being a part of the project, plus you’ll feel REALLY, REALLY bad)
(b)Email us to get some postage sent to you (which will end up being a big old waste of time, money, and energy which could be used instead on say, anything else)
(c) Put another stamp on the thing (it’s cheaper than gas, a lot cheaper!)
Just want to give a shout out to all you participating softys out there…you know who you are…keep on, you rock!
Oh, and here’s a link to a good old fashioned pen pal project, register your mailing address at PostCrossing.com to meet a buddy and learn to use a pen again!
So…I have taken a full-time internship for the summer over at Communication Arts in Menlo Park, working on their Annual Design and Advertising Competitions. As you may or may not know already, but the Communication Arts Annual Competitions are the most influential competitions in the industry recognizing the best creative work being done today in visual communications. Each competition is juried by nine top professionals and attracting entries from all over the world. My job in all this is to do a whole lotta behind the scenes work. It’s all very exciting and overwhelming, and I’ll definitely be keeping you all posted!
