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[mwcoz23]

Week 14 - Your Choice

Throughout the semester, we have learned about many different ideas and concepts regarding design; most of which very interesting. What I would like to discuss in this week’s journal post is the state of the world that we live in today, how it is affected by the global pandemic, which in turn effects the way different brands and products are marketed to the average consumer.

With the coronavirus, spreading throughout our own country and the world, it is hard to deny the shift in daily life we experience on a day-to-day basis. From quarantining, to social-distancing, and the lack of interaction, our lives as we know are vastly different than they were just a few months ago. This also reflects in the media we now see on television, video games, and social media. There are so many companies and individuals that are now producing their own style of facial masks and ways to stay safe and protected during this time. To me, this is considered a form of design. New masks are being designed to be more ergonomic, comfortable, and produced from different fabrics that can be more durable, more protective, or more cost effective (depending on what the consumer wants). This is just one small example of how the global pandemic has effected design economically in our country.

These new face mask designs can also incorporate art into them, having decorative print and may also be custom made. This makes me wonder, would this new found market for face masks have ever would have existed if it wasn’t this pandemic? And, if so, would it be taken to the extent which it is today? Just something I have been thinking about. Stay safe and healthy everyone!

[mwcoz23]

Week 12 - New Media

Interactive design as a whole has completely revolutionized graphic design as we know it today. It is characterized by the arrival of the internet and the access that millions of people world wide have to it. With the surge of internet use, graphic designers and advertisers alike have taken to online advertising and brand recognition. One of the main fields that has and is still propelling this work forward is motion graphics through the use of Adobe Flash Player. According to this weeks reading, its first iteration was released in 1996, and to this day is installed over 90 percent of computers world wide, which is over 600 million computers.

There is a fine line when using Adobe Flash Player for motion graphic advertising, where it can’t be overdone but done just enough to hold the customer’s attention and be entertaining. This obviously has been fine tuned and mastered over the years since the late 90s and early 2000s and is widely accepted but the general consumer population as a form of advertising and marketing. 

This idea of motion graphics has been further propelled throughout the past decade with its use in film and television. Motion graphics have been so engrained into today’s media; we are so accustomed to seeing motion graphics everywhere we look that we don’t even realize it anymore. From your favorite marvel movies to your daily news broadcast, motion graphics media is everywhere that we look. Seeing how far this has been taken in the past 2 decades, one can only imagine the direction it will be moving in the future. The introduction of HTML5 has made this type of media ready and available for the use of it on smart phones and mobile devices, and there is no telling what will be next in the future of motion graphic design. 

[mwcoz23]

Week 11 - Graphic Design

Throughout this week’s reading, chapter 10 really stood out to me the most. Specifically, the first half of it which heavily focussed on “Grunge” Design, which is defined as “celebrating the unkempt, the ragged, and the disheveled” (pg. 372). This theory of Grunge design essential takes all of the norms and standards that were currently present at the time regarding composition, and completely turned it on its head. At the forefront of this movement was David Carlson, with his work on the Ray Gun magazine from 1992-1994. The magazine’s legibility and composition was very controversial at the time, and probably still is to this day, but it it also what made it unique, and in my opinion made Carlson a Citizen Designer. A Citizen Designer is “a professional who attempts social issues either through or in addition to his or her commercial work” (pg. 425). It also reads that “the field must confront the most pressing problems of contemporary society, from global climate change to treating and preventing HIV/AIDS.” (pg. 425)

Although Carlson may not have solved climate change or treated HIV/AIDS, there is a part of that description that I believe he did address; confronting contemporary society. The Grunge design style took the current-time contemporary style and challenged it head-on, deconstructing almost every standard of its time. To me, this is what makes David Carlson a Citizen Designer.

This is also applied to the other Grunge designers of the 1990s, such as the British firm Tomato and their record cover for the band Underworld, Elliott Earls and his Blue Eyeshadow typeface (which I personally enjoyed the most), and Benjamin Savignac who co-founded DEdiCate (a fashion magazine based in Paris). All of the previously mentioned designers all incorporated Grunge design in their own unique way, and challenged the social norms of contemporary society and design of the 1990s. 

[mwcoz23]

Week 4 - Found Object

While going on a walk and looking around nature, i chose to go down an old bike path from my childhood. The bike path goes through a grassland-type area with a lot of brush and shrubbery growing. There was so many colors, with a massive range of greens, to purple, red, yellow, and blue. There was so many colors going on it was almost chaotic which kind of displeasing. The part that stood out to me and did really please me was the path itself. Just this long, narrow, curvy path cutting through this grassland of chaos. Two lines that carve through the chaos to form this nice bike path gave me an almost calm feeling. Paying closer attention to the path, i started to notice the texture of it. The texture was not so great due to the age of the bike path, but the gravel was still in-tact with a few potholes. The lines that defined to bike path caused me to start looking for lines elsewhere on my walk, and I never realized how prevalent line is not only in nature, but in our every day life. The lines within the trees in the distance stood out to me. The two lines on each side making up the silhouette of each tree, as well as the tiny lines within the bark, which also gave each tree texture. The lining of the clouds and how they make up what we see in the sky. Even the lines of each blade of grass, that collectively come together to create texture. This experience basically gave me the realization that line and texture almost go hand in hand. Line exists to create shapes and organic geometry, but also can further help in the appearance of texture in nature. 

[mwcoz23]

Week 2 - Design Thinking

After reading “Design Thinking” in the Harvard Business Review, I would define design as a way of thinking. It is a way of approaching problems in a critical manner in order to most-adequately find a solution. According to the article from the Harvard Business Review, design thinking all starts with inspiration. This inspiration is drawn from questions being asked, such as “what is the problem?” or “what can be changed?”. This leads to ideation. The article in the Harvard Business Review says that these ideas are then used creatively to ultimately solve the problem identified during inspiration. This begins with planning, making diagrams, sketches, etc. The final stage of ideation is prototyping and actually testing out the ideas that were made during the design thinking process. Once prototypes and tests are found successful, the final step of the design thinking process is implementation. This is where the vision of the design is executed and put out to the consumers and the community. On page 7 of the Harvard Business Review, in the section titled “Taking a Systems View”, it reads “Many of the world’s most successful brands create breakthrough ideas that are inspired by a deep understanding of consumer’s lives and use the principles of design to innovate and build value.”

It also says on page 6 that “The design process is best described metapohircally as a system of spaces rather than a predefined series of orderly steps.” To me, the most important and crucial space is the one of ideation. I believe so many things can stem from a single idea and branch out into so much more. Not only does this apply to design thinking, but also applies to many more aspects of life. Once an idea is formed, it can be molded and shaped into whatever or wherever our mind wants it to. This is the reason that I believe that design thinking, and design, ultimately boils down to ideas.

[mwcoz23]

Week 1 - About Me

Hello! My name is Matthew Cosmo, a 25 year old living the north west suburbs of Illinois. I am avid gamer and spend most of my free time playing video games, which of course implement many elements of design. From the way the each game plays through to the graphics involved, design is an important aspect in video games. I am also fifth year student majoring in Medical Lab Sciences, and am taking this course to fufill my art credit which did not transfer from my previous school (Carroll University). This course could potentially be applied to my career through experiment design (maybe?) and noticing specific designs that microorganisms will form under a microscope. Although I am taking it fulfill my art credit, I do have a particular interest in design amongst all other categories of art. When I was younger in middle school, I used to design logos and such using photoshop and took it semi-seriously, always taking a lot of time and making sure the logo was to the best of my ability. Its going to be great to finally learn how different techniques and practices within design are and can be applied to the logos I used to enjoy making many years ago, and that may possibly lead me to start photoshopping again. Other than that I have really no real experience with design, but I look forward to gaining that experience and learning as much as I can about the art! What inspires me is my family, graduation, and my girlfriend. In fact, I can draw inspiration from anything that can put a smile on my face or make someone else day a little bit better. In terms of design, I draw inspiration from photos and designs with symmetry and parallel lines. I was recently in the market to buy a new gaming system, deciding between Xbox and Playstation. I ultimately chose Xbox because of the way it was designed, specifically its controller, compared to Sony’s Playstation.