looking back on process of proj. 3

this project has proven to be quite difficult for me thus far. i have constantly struggled to find a concept that can fit all of the things i am looking for in this project, and it is finally coming together. i was unsatisfied with my first approach due to how "flat" it felt and am looking forward to working with the textures and styles i have chosen....

Untitled from josey kruse on Vimeo.

videos that inspire my next project approach

Check out my Maine Oyster Fest Website for my Graphic Design 02 Project.

http://www.people.ku.edu/~jmkruse/oyster_webpage

karim rashid

Karim Rashid's work caught my attention in so many different ways. I love how modern and unique his designs are, and the way he uses color to emphasize the style. I am always into very “bright” colors and his work and design uses this as well, to say the least. His work is so fun and exciting and bright and entertaining! I just absolutely love the contemporary style he applies to the design of furniture and lighting and whatever else. His work is amazing!

Karim Rashid was born in 1960 in Cairo, Egyt. He now lives and produces work in New York City. In 1982 he graduated with a Bachelor of Industrial Design Degree with Distinction from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canda. Over the course of his life, Karim has created over 2000 designs, including projects from interiors to fashion to art and to music. His work is in the permanent collections of fourteen museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and he exhibits art in various galleries. Rashid was an associate Professor of Industrial Design for 10 years and is now a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences globally.


Below are a few examples of his work that are my favorite and I feel display his work the best:

Hillman Curtis Lecture Series. Wow.

David Carson oh so inspiring.  

Looking at his work I just feel the energy and emotion he put into every piece.  In the interview he said that some people thought it was disrespectful to the writings that he was displaying, but I guarantee the piece got a lot more attention by being displayed like that than

 just a regular “boring” paragraph.  I love the pieces with the very low tracking and how the words just become the image. 

Paula Scher type is image.

In Paula's work it is not just typography, it is image.  From the way the letters are hand drawn to the way it's integrated “in” the space, the words become part of something else, something more.  I loved

 the pieces she did that they showed for the buildings and how the words just fit into the space; by style, by placement.  The Noise Funk pieces were also very intriguing and fun.  She said the typography was designed to look like it made noise, and it did just that.

Milton Glaser serving a purpose.

Milton Glaser's design style is unique.  He uses strong graphics and simple statements to convey his ideas.  One of his most famous pieces is the I Love NY logo. One of my favorites is the illustrative Bob Dylan image I have shown here.  The simple image has so much feeling. Besides being a designer, Glaser teaches.  He teaches to make himself feel good, and to clarify his own objectives.  Artists provide a gift to the culture, so that we all have something in common.

my final movie

this is my final movie.  overall, i like the way it turned out.  i like the emotion i created with simple grayscale text and the flow of the design overall.  i am glad that i made the animations consistent on my final renderings.  it really pulled it together. it also helped that i created depth with the repetition of some of the words.  so here it is:


final movie from josey kruse on Vimeo.

round four, getting closer

round four from josey kruse on Vimeo.

round three, still needs LOTS of work

round three from josey kruse on Vimeo.

bruce mau design | denver biennial of the america's art director

what an intriguing video. simple yet effective approach.

design observer

what an interesting site this was. design observer. observing design. i really took a lot from the main article: type means never having to say you're sorry. first and foremost it made me think about how involved you need to be in every step of the project when it comes to designing something, whether it be a poster or a business card, a book or a magazine spread. knowing how and why you got there can be a big help, and is a huge influence on the overall turnout of the piece. i have found myself having a bit of trouble doing this. i find myself having an idea and not getting as involved as i can in the research. i need to learn to "emerge" myself into that initial stage, and it is something i am going to work on. i am motivated. i haven't ever been overly excited about the font futura. i think it is has a good feel for certain things, but overall it's just not my "type"...haha, so to speak.  i totally didn't mean that. :) i am personally addicted to univers, is that a bad thing? if there is any font in the approved list that would be a close "replacement" i feel frutiger would probably be one of the best. i think in all of its different forms, bold, regular, italic it matches up the closest, but has a better fit i guess.  

the other article i read was about the top ten things that need to be redesigned.  from lottery tickets to the labeling on blister packages (gross i know), there are many things that we as a society has, how do you say?, "conformed to", and just gotten used to it looking like that. an interesting example was political signs and how they are all red, white, and blue with a flag on them that sits at the eye level of a lawn gnome, election in and election out. is there a rule somewhere that says this is how it has to be? regardless, it was a very interesting and entertaining article. check it out for yourself. i love other peoples' opinions.

http://www.designobserver.com/archives/doentry38869.html

round two, with sound

round two from josey kruse on Vimeo.

my GLORIOUS walk...in Florida

I thought the article about all of this typography was interesting. For my walk, I happened to be in Florida at the time, and it really made me look at the area in a different way. It was difficult for me to find typography that was engraved into buildings and stuff, because the area I was at was more modern I suppose. I did find some quite interesting neon signs and other fun uses of the materials around. Most of these pictures are from a place in St. Petersburg, FL called John's Pass. It is a fun little shopping area with all kinds of fun, "touristy" things to do. The others are from the Downtown area including clubs, restaurants and other businesses.Take a look and see....come walk with me...?

  

round one, definitely round one

round one from josey kruse on Vimeo.

TED

What an interesting video. I was really engaged in this seminar the entire time.  It is so real to think about.  If I looked back on my life and thought about the times I was happiest, they would revolve around art and design.  Guess that means that I am always going to love what I do.  If I had to ask him something it would be how scared he was to pack everything and get a completely new job in a world unknown. I would be scared...sh*tless! 

What else caught my eye was that article, and a certain part of it:  “There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only very few of them. And possibly only one profession is phonier: Advertising design. In persuading people to buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, in order to impress others that don’t care, it is probably the phoniest field in existence today.”  How true is this.  How sad is it?..or isn't it?  I think it is all part of the vicious cycle of life, and a part of who we are.  It is a part of who we are as designers.

tha posta

this poster really caught my eye for a variety of reasons. the color contrast is great, and i like that halftone effect done on the hands, i think it helps balance out the brightness of the poster. referring to the reading, there are many elements displayed in this poster. although not a common symbol, this is a metasymbol for just what it is saying, access. it is saying that these things are available at your fingertips, and are easy to reach. another element displayed is denotation, which is the direct meaning of a word, sign, or image, much of which i just spoke about concerning metasymbol. Image combination is also expressed in this poster with a photographic hand (even though it was altered with the halftone effect) and then an expressive illustration such as the flowers. I would also say that this poster is a metaphor for something being available at your fingertips as I mentioned before, but that "something" being a lot, more than just one thing, a whole group of things. I feel the full bouquet of flowers is representative of that. This poster is successful overall I feel, but it's possible that the idea of the bouquet could be a bit clearer, but still works.

challenge one is done!

this is an image of my final graphics poster and the link to my flash design. check it out!

view my flash project at my personal website:
www.people.ku.edu/~jmkruse/index.html

i have a dream too

i have a dream, that one day, i will have no homework...and that will probably never come true :) so in the mean time i'll keep on keepin on

a few examples

my experience at good.

what a great site!  full of fun, unique and quirky things, good.is is a great place to go catch up on some earth-friendly news and tips.  i really liked this video that re-capped the year 2008.  the facts are simple and to-the-point, and it's quite an eye-opener too.  

my final bookcovers

concept statement:
“The world is but a canvas to the imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge, for while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.”

to suggest:
to suggest fantasy and fiction
to suggest a sense of mystery
to suggest use your imagination
to suggest finding your inner child
to suggest a somewhat scary story
to suggest what’s behind the unopened door
to suggest a magical place

i have a dream

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

10:55-11:47
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm



“I Have A Dream” is the popular name given tp the public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites, among others, would coexist harmoniously as equals. King’s delivery of the speech on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters, the speech is often considered to be one of the greatest and most notable speeches in history and was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.[1] According to U.S. Representative John Lewis, who also spoke that day as the President of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, “Dr. King had the power, the ability and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a modern day pulpit. By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired, he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations.”[2]
At the end of the speech, Dr. King departed from his prepared text for a partly improvised peroration on the theme of “I have a dream”, possibly prompted by Mahalia Jackson’s cry, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!”.[3] He had delivered a speech incorporating some of the same sections in Detroit in June 1963, when he marched on Woodward Avenue with Walter Reuther and the Reverend C. L. Franklin, and had rehearsed other parts.[4]


wikipedia.com

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family’s long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.

In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, “l Have a Dream”, he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

Who is speaking, Why was/is the speech important to society? Why do you feel in is important or interesting? What is the emotion, mood, tone, personality, feeling of the speech? What is intonation, emphasis, what is loud, stressed, or soft. Where are there pauses... Is there a call to action? When listening to it what are key/emphasized words? How does it make you feel? How do imagine that the audience felt? Could there be another interpretation of the speech?

Martin Luther King Jr. is speaking in this audio clip. It is about his famous “I have a Dream” speech. This speech was important to society because he was talking about how he wanted to world to be equals, no matter the color of your skin. The tone of the speech is very serious. It is about pride and is somewhat sad when you consider things from the side of a black person during this time. He is confident and convincing and really gets the message across. The majority of the speech is loud with cheering and yelling in the background from supporters. “I have a dream” is emphasized intensely, and his voice dims down as he explains what his dream is and comes back with emphasis in different parts. I imagine the audience felt very uplifted and excited. I feel that this day gave blacks the hope they were looking for, to someday be considered as the equivalent to the white american.

movie title sequences

All of these movie title sequences were excellent choices.  Of them my favorites were Catch Me If You Can, Spiderman 2 and Casino Royale.  

Why they are my favorites:

Catch Me If You Can

I really like how the letters extend and create different doors and lights and other elements.  I also like how the people move in and out of the typography.  The music is great.  Very "try and find me" kind of vibe.  I really like the simple 2-D graphics used.  Also in this, a limited color palette helped.  The transitions in this piece were absolutely magnificent.  Very nicely put together.

Spiderman 2

I really like the use of the old-school comic book in this one...it is only fitting!  The transitions are nice, even when it goes from the 2-D graphic novel style to the more modern 3-D appearance.  I really thought they did a nice job with the characters and including photos, but still kept that sketched feel.  The introduction of names and characters was simple, but with everything else being so bold around them it ended up working out very well.

Casino Royale

This movie title sequence is just awesome.  I love when the gun shoots and the people being shot transition into one of the suits of cards and fall to the ground.  It is so interesting and visually entertaining.  I love the transitions with bullets and pieces falling and the movement this piece creates. 

youtube videos

Of all the youtube videos, there were quite a few that stuck out in my mind, for certain reasons.  They all had interesting transitions and effects that emphasize what they really want to viewer to take out.  Turning the sound on an off made quite a difference.  The background music set a different kind of theme while the type still emphasized other things.  I thought the mood and feel brought by the music was interesting, but in some cases didn't add too much.  Most of the thoughts were expressed through the typography.  These are some of my favorites:

I Love NY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbvFoX5lG9o

The whole "feel" to this video is kind of city-like to me.  It represents the blocks of a city and moving throughout.  I love how the type creates a "boxy" feel.  The transitions are so interesting.  Graphics are included in this one as well, but they aren't over-the-top.  They are just enough to add another element, but not take away from the art of typography.  The music gave it a bubbly, happy, never-been-here-before feeling and I think it worked well.

Live Out Loud-Kinetic Typography

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAAoaNMM-xc

This one was probably my favorite.  It was very simple, yet had so much energy and expression.  I feel like I got almost as much from it with the music off.  I did like the contrast between the sweet, melodramatic feel of the cello playing in contrast to the yelling.  It was an interesting transition and that I feel turned out very well.

Motion type-Almost Famous-I'm On Drugs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbwk27Nwi7c

I didn't like this one.  It had to much going on.  The background was distracting, the font choice and "glowing" elements didn't look good, and it took away from the just of the piece.  If they would have put it on a solid black or white background that would have helped from the beginning.  I think it is better to stick with one or two fonts and just play with size and emphasis in other ways.  

Experimental Type in Motion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2PVmcJhEQU

I really liked this one for many reasons.  She used a textured background but kept her color palette limited, for less distraction.  The way the words grew and shrank was very interesting.  Parts of a letter extended off and went back in space which made for interesting transitions.  I also liked the way that the a letter would fill a page and become a background for the next.  I also thought it was interesting at the end when she place a bunch of words around this square which then turned into being the bottom of the question mark.  Loved it.

We Are Designers-TVC-Typography

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KVaypqlqxI

This was another simple, yet effective one.  I liked what the music added.  The words vibrate with the sounds and you almost wonder why they are so much without the sound on.  Again, a limited color palette and use of fonts was good.  Nicely done.

The Perfect Drug Typography

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgHoJcOiMAI

I didn't think much of this one, other than I wanted to change a lot of things I saw.  The bright blue on the maroon is absolutely horrible at the beginning.  The font choice could have also been better.  I think sans serif fonts with that blocky feel create the smoothest transitions, or at least something not so close to the monospacing and serifs of courier new.  There were a couple of parts to the piece that were interesting like the use of masking somewhere in the middle.  Good concept, just needs work.

jakob trollback

This lecture series was SO interesting.  The idea of motion graphic never really interested me, but after seeing Mr. Trollback's work I was fascinated.  His ideas and transitions are so unique, and entertaining...and so POWERFUL.  My favorite video was the one at the very beginning of part 1 of 3 lectures.  It had to do with things being one thing, or another.  Most of the time opposites.  It's is something that I think we as a society fail to think about.  A lot of things are going on in the world around us that we fail to pay attention to.  I have found a new interest in motion graphics...I want to learn it myself!  

bruce mau & my manifesto

1. Process is more important than outcome.When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

This is my mantra for the week, and I chose it for more than one reason. One, I feel that when I am designing things I get lost in trying to make it what I want the end result to look like, as opposed to really engaging myself in the process, exploring, and finding other ways to find solutions. I like the beginning of the statement. If you don't explore different ideas, all of you work will end up looking the same and you will "only every go where you've already been." So true!

Bruce Mau is quite intriguing. I am in love with the list on his Incomplete Manifesto. I am printing it out and keeping a copy by where I do all my work...it's great inspiration.

reading #2

its very interesting to see all elements included in design, such as multiple meanings, like in dole, or oxygen. how can we create this in our current logo design? is it possible to include all of these in something with architecture, design and urban planning?

Bookcover Research

Definitions

Series \ˈsir-(ˌ)ēz\
1. a succession of volumes or issues published with related subjects or authors, similar format and price, or continuous numbering
2. a number of things or events of the same class coming one after another in spatial or temporal succession
Sequence \ˈsē-kwən(t)s, -ˌkwen(t)s\
1. a continuous or connected series: as a: an extended series of poems united by a single theme
2. a succession of related shots or scenes developing a single subject or phase of a film story

Sign- The simplest since it is a pattern that physically resembles what it `stands for'
• A picture of your face is an icon of you
• The little square with a picture of a printer on your computer screen is an icon for the print function
• The picture of a smoking cigarette with a diagonal bar across the picture is an icon that directly represents ‘Smoking? Don't do it’ (at least it does with appropriate cultural experience)
Symbol- Words as symbols, easily removable from their context and are closely associated with large sets of words  Nonword symbols, signs that are not words
• Bald eagle for USA
• Cross for Christianity
• Swastika for Nazism

Index- Defined by some sensory feature, A, (directly visible, audible, smellable, etc) that correlates with and thus implies or `points to' B, something of interest to an animal

• dark clouds in the west are an index of impending rain
• for a fish in the sea, the direction of greater light is the direction of warmer water

What makes a successful bookjacket?
A successful bookjacket is one that is clear, contrasting, and can catch a reader’s eye.

My Bookcovers will be a series of books by the children's author, Roald Dahl.

About The Author

Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter, born in Wales of Norwegian parents. After service in the Royal Air Force, he rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors. His short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, often very dark humour. Some of his most popular books include The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Witches and The BFG.

Back Flap/Cover Info
James and the Giant Peach: A little magic can take you a long way
When James accidentally drops some magic crystals by the old peach tree, strange things start to happen. The peach at the top of the tree begins to grow and before long it’s as big as a house. Then James discovers a secret entranceway into the fruit, and when he crawls inside, he meets a bunch of oversized friends—Grasshopper, Centipede, Ladybug, and more. After years of feeling like an outsider in his aunts’ house, James finally found a place where he belongs. With a snip of the stem, the peach starts rolling away, and the adventure begins!

The Twits:
Mr. and Mrs. Twit play some horrible tricks on each other. I bet you have never met two people more revolting. They never wash, they trap birds for Bird Pie and hate children. Find out what brilliant trick the Roly-Poly Bird and the Muggle-Wump monkeys think up for them.

The BFG:
The BFG uses some extraordinary words, but then he’s no ordinary giant. He’s the kindest giant you could hope to meet and he turns out to be Sophie’s best friend. The trouble is, not all giants are quite as friendly and Sophie and The BFG set out to rid the world of the Bloodbottle, the Fleshumpeater, the Bonecruncher and other nasty giants forever.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory is opening at last!
But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!

The Witches: One child a week is fifty-two a year, Squish them and squiggle them and make them disappear. That is the motto of all witches.
When the young hero of Roald Dahl’s story is orphaned in an automobile accident, he is left in care of his aged grandmother—a formidable lady who happens to be a retired witchophile, an expert on all witchy matters. Even though she tells him (and us) everything known about how to identify a witch, he accidentally wanders into the annual convocation of the witches of England. The meeting is presided over by none other than The Grand High Witch of the World, and the most dangerous of them all. He overhears the horrifying plans she has in store for every child in England, but before he can escape to reveal the witches’ plot, he is captured and turned into a mouse—and this is no ordinary tale. True to his reputation as one of the most gifted and popular writers for children in the world, Roald Dahl tells the rollicking story of how a mouse-hero, undaunted by his diminutive stature, and his intrepid grandmother take on The Grand High Witch and her coven.

Associated Word List
Imaginary, fun, exciting, scary, bright, fiction, imagination, cartoon, happy, children, magic, potions, fictitious, giants,
mean, mouse, nice, grandmother, reading, elementary, creative, unique, cute, simple, different, not true, dream, squiggle, intrepid, trouble, giant, fairy tale, kids, coloring, simplistic, simple-minded, crystals, swirls, childlike, humanlike, creativity, supernatural, youth, illustrated, pretty, exciting, interesting, entertaining


Key Words
Imagination- the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality; creative ability
Magic- the use of means (as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces
Giant- a legendary humanlike being of great stature and strength
Witch- one that is credited with usually malignant supernatural powers
Fictitious- of, relating to, or characteristic of fiction; conventionally or hypothetically assumed or accepted
Creativity- the quality of being created
Elementary- of, relating to, or dealing with the simplest elements or principles of something
Child- a young person especially between infancy and youth; a person not yet of age
Bright- radiating or reflecting light; illustrious, glorious
Cute- attractive or pretty especially in a childish, youthful, or delicate way

Tone
Entertaining, fiction, humorous, fun, easy-to-read, imaginative


To suggest that most giants are mean, but this one is nice
To suggest that kids like simple covers
To suggest that you should let your imagination run wild
To suggest that magic crystals can do anything
To suggest that you can “fit in” somewhere
To suggest that some insects are life-size
To suggest that anything can happen
To suggest that bright colors are more fun to look at

“True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.”
The Rainbow, By Christina Rossetti
Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier than these. There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven,
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.
Childhood: The period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth -- two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age.
Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction.
A three-year-old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm.
Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.
Children are our most valuable natural resource.

Concept Statement:
Did you ever feel like an outsider as a kid, like your imaginary friend was the only one that understood you? So many kids feel this way, and


“The world is but a canvas to the imagination”, much like these books to the children of the world. Hang on as they take you on a variety of journeys to rid the world of nasty giants like the Bloodbottle and Fleshumpeater, to see what schemes the Muggle-Wump monkeys can come up with, and to really make you feel at home in a peach with some larger-than-life insects. Hang tight and enjoy the ride as you experience what its like to let your imagination run wild.
“The world is but a canvas to the imagination”, much like these books to the children of the world.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.
Imagination is the highest kite one can fly, so let your thoughts soar! Grab a seat a we take you on an adventure through an unopened door to experience something like never before. A friendly giant, an encounter with larger-than-life insects, and a front row seat at a convocation of the witches of England who want nothing more than to rid the world of children is just a bit of what’s in store for you!


Concept Statement:
Many children go through a time in their life when they have an “imaginary friend”. They feel like this friend is the only one that can understand them as a person. They talk to them, play with them and spend every moment of every day with them.


Have you ever met a kid that doesn’t love to use their imagination? Whe

When a kid lets their imagination run wild, they can really be themselves!

Audience Persona:

Isabel is a 9-year-old girl who absolutely loves to use her imagination. When she’s not at school, Isabel spends much of her time at home coloring, drawing, playing outside, and…. Isabel’s family doesn’t live in one of those cookie-cutter neighborhoods with dozens of children around. Instead, they live in the suburbs of Minnesota without neighbors within at least a mile. As a result, she doesn’t have anyone to play with, and lately that person she turns to is her imaginary friend Bob. Bob accompanies her on all of her adventures, but its beginning to worry her mother Cindy. After a while Cindy finds a way for Isabel to let her imagination run wild without having to make up an imaginary friend, she can read a

Isabel is a 9-year-old girl who absolutely loves to use her imagination. When she’s not at school, Isabel spends much of her time at home coloring, drawing, and playing outside. She loves to let her mind dream up fun and exciting fantasies with made up characters and fictional settings. One day Isabel told her third grade teacher that she was bored of the books she was reading. She was passed the stories of Amelia Bedelia, Fancy Nancy, and Madeline. She wanted more. So Mrs. Brown pulled out a secret book from one of her desk drawers and handed it to her. “This is for you Isabel. It was my favorite as a child and I want you to have it”. The cover was exciting and fun, a little mysterious as well, and looked fantastic. She had found just what she was looking for. A book about fantasy and fun, but a little more grown up. There were finally more than 50 pages and she was excited to really be reading!

As a third grader, Isabel is beginning t in her second grade classroom. She isn’t much into reading, but loves to use her imagination in every other way. During reading time, which they refer to as D.E.A.R. time (Drop Everything and Read!), Isabel has been having a hard time keeping interest in the books she reads. They are boring to her and aren’t letting her imagination run wild enough. Isabel’s teacher, Mrs. Brown, tells her of a book called The BFG about a little girl just like herself and a big, friendly giant. Isabel takes the advice of her teacher and gives the book a try. She has never read anything so imaginative and magical, and to think that could maybe happen to her! As soon as she finishes it that week she asks for another of Roald Dahl’s books!

Sources:

http://www.roalddahl.com/
http://www.amazon.com/
www.wisdomquotes.com

who is john gall?

John Gall, Vice President and Art Director for Vintage and Anchor Books, shows that you can get anywhere in life as long as you put your mind to it.  When he started out, he initially wasn't interested in Graphic Design.  School began and he was going to be an architect, but after taking a few art courses he leaned toward design and away from architecture.  John began his work as a designer by painting signs for grocery stores.  After that he started creating cd covers followed by his most recent work, bookjackets.  John's work is very unique and fun.  Below are some examples of bookjackets he has created.  As an art director for the company now he mostly oversees designs, but still does some of the work these days.  Mr. Gall is an excellent designer and continues to create interesting work.

who is chip kidd?

When asked what he thought about the axiom "Don't judge a book by its cover" Chip Kidd's response displays a lot about his character.  What he says?  "Oh, go ahead".  Chip Kidd is quite possibly one of the most famous and creative bookjacket designers in the world today.  As he constantly pushes his ideas upon people, he strives to create a design in which readers wouldn't normally think of.  A couple examples of this are a book titled The Red in which he made the text blue, and a book called Dry that he made look wet.  Publishers don't always agree with his style, but that doesn't hold him back.  He has created over 1,000 bookcovers and continues to do so.  He gets his inspiration from everywhere, and says that anyone looking to have a career such as this he suggests move to New York City.  Below are a few examples of a series of bookjackets he has designed.

sign, sign, everywhere a sign

this reading reminded me of the guess who song, signs. it is crazy how we see even a simple object as a representation of something else.  could we make a logo today that is a simple symbol that people would understand by just seeing that in ten years?