Digital Wallpaper by Strukt

Time to get back to blogging.

I stumbled on this digital wallpaper via notcot and absolutely love it. I've seen a lot of awesome projects using projection in and on surfaces and buildings to create unique spatial experiences. I'd love to get my hands on a projector (and countless days of free time).

Hirzberger Events - Digital Wallpaper from Gregor Hofbauer on Vimeo.

Mathematical! Rhombus!

This cartoon cracks me up. Pure silliness.

Molly v. Sasquatch

I really got a kick out of playing with Living Sasquatch, an ad campaign for Jack's Links Beef Jerky. I've seen this technology before in demos, but never got to play with it myself, so this was fun. You print out the footprint that orients the 3D Sasquatch and can queue up actions for him to perform. Your webcam connects and the program recognizes the footprint, putting Sasquatch into your view.

I wanted to stage an epic battle, but without anything real to keep Molly focused she just kinda did the usual fat cat thing. You can see it here. My only complaint is that you don't have an "embed" option after you save a video.

Anything is Possible

I took yesterday to create a new presentation of jennasteely.com. I've used javascript in the past for image swapping, but the code was tedious and difficult to update, so I wrote JS off as something for someone else to do. But I really wanted to add some interaction again.

Some discussion on image galleries:
Dislikes: small images, pop-ups, anything that opens over the main content, having to rely on a "next" button or having to click a number, waiting for effects to finish (i know its only fractions of seconds, its still a hassle if I have to watch your image unfold and zoom and then X out of it to get to the next one)
Likes: quick transitions, big images, the ability to click anywhere, fun and snappy interactions.

When it comes to image galleries, I guess I'm kindof a snob. I look at a lot of portfolios for inspiration, and generally I don't like how most of them function. So when I like one, its extra special! In the past I merely stacked my images because I felt it was better to scroll than having to rely on people clicking through to see my work-- i didn't think I had the ability to construct something cool and dynamic, but look at what a little fiddling can do.

I really like the transitions on Pearlfisher's site so I hunted down a plugin called slideViewer 1.1 and figured out how to integrate and control it. I'm sure any reasonably decent coder out there is laughing at me, but hey, I'm proud of it! The best part is that it just takes an unordered list in your HTML to create the gallery, no tricky intergration bullshit like I've done in the past. (cough thanks for nothing 51-327 cough)

The finishing touch was making and adding a preloader. Essential because it tells the user to just hang on, don't leave, something is happening, while the images load. But i've never done it before so figuring out where and how to place it was a little irritating, but you'll see its doing what it should do now.

The result is a sexy image slide, that is quick and snappy, (the best part is going from the last image to first... mmm) you can click anywhere on the image, and have an alternative navigation at the bottom. Woohoo!

Appreciation for the Book Arts, Part One: Letterpress

My last semester of college, I took Letterpress & Bookbinding. Here's a reflection on my experience. Introducing part one, Letterpress.


Though my design education I've had plenty of exposure to typography (four semesters of it, I love the stuff) but never had I really considered the history of it. Sure, I've had my lessons on typographers, took design history, and so on, but that all seemed so ...outdated. I imagined pre-computer design as painfully laborious and thank god I don't have to do that.

I was born digital. I grew up with computers. The first ever GUI was born a year before me. The typography I do and love all comes from this box I'm sitting at right now and that's how I have always thought about it. In comes Letterpress.

I'm typesetting little bits of lead to make words and sentences. Under the instruction of Joe Dicey, the fantastic little guru of the letterpress lab, I learn how to assemble all these pieces, like a great puzzle, into a beautiful work of design.

It is time- and labor-intensive, my hands are covered in ink and lead dust, and I'm inhaling all kinds of toxic chemicals. But I find that I am absolutely loving this process. To truly appreciate the past, I needed to experience it for myself.


A really tricky part was faking accents. Our Univers wasn't made for french. I had to take the accents from a rare face called "Hunt Roman" and shave my letters down to fit the accents on top. (the big accent was an upside-down "v", cut on the lead saw to fit)

In the end, I produced a simple two-color broadside. It may not be the most interesting and beautiful design I've ever created, but everything that went into its making makes me appreciate it. And, it makes me appreciate work from the past, now that I know how difficult it is to create experimental form from such a structured method of production.

The sad part is that I graduated and can't take further advantage of the incredible lab that Maggie Mo sits on top of. I hope to find myself in a letterpress lab again some day.

Oh, The Times They Are a-Changing

This picture sums it up. I haven't gotten too emotional yet, but we have graduated and are dispersing into our unknown futures! Its a somewhat scary feeling, but one of promise and excitement. I look forward to a bit of a break in my safety net before choosing my next adventure.

To my girls: its been a hell of a year. 4 best friends=4 happy roommates. How special and rare is that? Love all around.

I really despise moving. Back to packing!

Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno

I stumbled on this via swissmiss and instantly felt a mix of bafflement and amazement. How dirty, yet innocent, and true. And artfully produced. And hilarious. There are fascinating paper sets and bizarre costumes. Who is behind all this?

I ran Isabella Rossellini through Wikipedia and found that she is the daughter of Ingrid Bergman, one of the loveliest actresses of all time, and Roberto Rossellini, an Italian filmmaker. Born in '52, she yields a long career of modeling (the face of Lancôme), acting (Blue Velvet), writing, activism, and now filmmaking. She was even married to Martin Scorsese for a spell.

So I found that this clip is one of several short films concieved and performed by Isabella in a series about animal sexual behavior. There are two seasons of Green Porno (I think 16 episodes total) and they are all available to watch through the Sundance Channel.

If you're in to biology, or creative filmmaking, or just weird sex, check out the rest of the series!