the meliorist, assignment the last

You can't kill the metal
The metal will live on
Punk-Rock tried to kill the metal
But they failed, as they were smite to the ground
New-wave tried to kill the metal
But they failed, as they were striken down to the ground
Grunge tried to kill the metal Ha!
They failed, as they were thrown to the ground

while the design isn't exactly what i was hoping for, in the end, i'm glad its finished. this entire experience has been a positive one. the semester culminates to the most stress i've ever endured and yet i still find time to sit down and work on these designs. the interest factor was huge for me; far more than any other class i took. right from the first day i had an incling it would be that way and my incling was proven right. Thanks to Michael Jorgensen and his amazing insight into the techniques behind design and typography, i learned more of design with your lessons than i all the other classes combined.


so long, NMED 2005


No one can destroy the metal
the metal will strike you down with a vicious blow
we are the vanquished foes of the metal
we tried to win, for why, we do not know

I wish I were a hippy

who are these hippies and what the hell do they want?

born of the 1960's revolution against the norm, the speak when spoken to rhetoric that had existed for so many generations. Men suddenly began wearing long hair and growing wild beards; youngsters dressed like peasant folk and wore bright, psychadelic colours. everyone looked dirty and unkempt, bathing, afterall, was for the bourgeois.

the generation gap that was created between parents and children became immense, and no one above the age of 35 or so could even comprehend, even fathom the changes that were happening in popular culture and society. a new, gain-ridden grungy sound emerged in music, rock and roll took a turn for some of the most experimental periods in musical history. it came as no surprise that certain bands that had gained popularity earlier in the late 50's and early 60's were now changing their mindset to form to the experimentation in drugs and culture. The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd were all born and reborn in these hippy times, and some of the world's most wonderful music followed.

it all culminated to the summer of love, 1969, years of oppression and conformity were thrown to the wind so that the kids could be free. At woodstock, folk music and brazen guitar solos trumpeted out to the baked audienced, stewing in their own sense of purpose and a lot of LSD. the hippy lifestyle has no bounds, depends upon peace and love and caters only to those willing to take a plunge and explore your own mind's eye.

Then, all at once, as quickly as it came about, when the change was cemented and the society changed course, the hippy died, and the metal moved in. Fashion, music, opinion, interest; all of it changed forever because of the refusal of a small group of baby-boomers to follow in the steps of their mothers and fathers.

many claim to be hippies today, but the title is as redundant in today's culture as the term "punk" or "ska" or "grunge". there simply are no hippies anymore, no room in this trendy and narcissistic culture we've come to know, and thats truly sad.

the calgary tower, a staple of the city skyline for over 40 years. everyone in canada knows the calgary tower, perhaps seconded only to the CN Tower in Toronto. i chose to leave out the 2-3 sentence description on the actual poster for this very reason. i felt it took away from the aestehtics and the designed layout i created for the image itself.

this was easy, took me no time at all, i just used the paths tool to outline the tower and then create the psychadelic waves in the background by rotating a single path over and over like a hand on a clock face. snazzy.

finished, finally. I foolishly decided to switch the design of the background almost half way through and created hours of extra work for myself. in the end, its worth it and I'm happy with the layout, but I only wish i could have seen the switch coming before it was too late.

i mean literally late, this thing got handed in the class after it was due.

Alphonse Mucha 1860-1939

While the artwork is stunning, take a look at the framing of many of the paintings. In most cases, the framing of the artwork is as important to the design and look of true "art nouveau" as the image itself.

Boom

sometimes the internet speaks and there's really nothing you can do about it. as you can clearly see, the image above is a negative image. this of course should no be and i'm left somewhat frustrated after having spent a while trying to figure out how to put images inside text like that. Furthermore, the link doesn't even take you to the full-size images, but instead an empty page of void and nothingness. don't bother clicking on it.

i guess it doesn't matter, i like the image on the left more anyway

so i come up with a custom header to put at the top of this blog, only to find out that you can't do that. damn.

Whether or not I follow what may expected of me with a degree in my hand, the lessons I've come to realize here in my escapades in Lethbridge are priceless. They say experience lends itself closer to knowledge than any book can teach. I'm not sure who they are, maybe I made that up just now. The truth remains; before one can go about designing the next trend of our time, one must first know how to control their own abilities. Comfort in your skin, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

I don't agree with our society or the aspects it does and does not value. I don't agree with the emphasis we put on 'things' or the way we hold celebrities on a pedestal higher than that of even our elected officials. The whole concept of consumer fetishism appears backwards to me, and yet I enrolled in a program that teaches me how to perpetuate it.

This font poster was more than an assignment for me. In fact, the design began before it was even assigned. Learning to harness all the whizzing thoughts and passing images that are constantly flashing through my mind is something I can only do through trial and error; gaining experience and insight into the background of design is just now something I have learned to do.

On one hand its exciting to see the fruits of my labour finally coming together into something I can be proud to show to the vastness of the internet, in all its glory. On the other, its a cold reminder that I'm learning how to continue a festering tradition of want and desire above that of honour and dignity; the ideology of "he who dies with the most toys wins" over the supposedly inherent good us humans are capable of.

its a 'Ketch22' I suppose.

Logos: Biff! Zwok! Kablamo!

Logos in business have every potential to become icons in societal culture. Examples exist absolutely everywhere you look in any typical urban centre, its unavoidable. Think of your favourite consumer product. Now think of the logo it uses to sell its name. The iPod has its Apple, the Nike has its swoosh. Even environmental and ethical organizations like the World Wildlife Fund use logos to sell their ideologies.

In the end, thats what it's all about, really. once you get the people onboard, ready to recognize that a particular object that exists in everyday life is associated with your name, you can sell just about any ideology you want. within reason, of course; don't expect to see Apple selling the idea of slave labour anytime soon.

The logo represents something that didn't exist just a few decades before today: the visual Onomatopoeia.

We all know what an Onomatopoeia is, even if you can't spell it, even if the pronunciation of the word completely contradicts its definition. this is grade four business, the word that represents exactly what it sounds like when you say it. Bam. Pow. Crack. Flush. Tinkle. Boom.

the visual onomatopoeia, therefore, sounds pretty much like you might imagine. a visual representation exactly what it looks like. a logo, if you will.


couldn't tell you why i wrote this little blurb...

Sometimes, a project can become more than just a project. Sometimes, it can become an exploration of your own imagination and really light some kind of fire under your ass to try out all of the things you've learned in your experiences...


This latest assignment, the poster ad for a particular font, proved to be one of those sometimes. I don't know why, but once i started playing around with different elements and colours and ideas floating in my head, it was more fun than anything to keep adding to it all.

it isn't done, but i've had some conflicts with different design choices to use. negative or positive space, for example.
Just little things, like these two buildings, for example. this particular bit of the composition happens to be very important, but deciding whether to use the positive space example at the top, or the negative space example at the bottom has been more difficult than i thought.

More to come

You would be surprised how difficult it is to make a good composition from your body when all the colours contrast with so much gusto. figuring out how to make colours that don't fit together work in a composition is a challenge to say the least, but its almost worth it somehow, pushing yourself to improve one's accute sense of colour understanding.

Assignment 3

don't ask me why these three look grayscaled; after exporting my AI files to JPEG, it seems to have messed with the fine lines of the original...


There shouldn't actually be gray, those are interlaced black and white lines. i swear.

this took me a couple hours of solid work, coming up with a-symmetrical compositions is harder than you'd think. the symmetry categories were a little more entertaining to come up with.



the contrast's weren't

four obscure sort of shapes. I have the strangest feeling that you might be able to identify one of them...

Value: 0% redux

Ooops, forgot to post my frequented websites:

gfxartist.com - digital art communit, users post there artworks using various digital mediums

pandora - internet radio site; you basically input a song title or artist and it plays a list of music that is similar to that genre or sound

torrentspy.com - I'm a pirate every once in a while, but who isn't today?

typographi.com - an entire site dedicated to new fonts and typefacing

iso50 - design site by Scott Hansen; built on flash and graphic art, very cool.

cheers

In-class Exercise: The golden mean

each box is .618 the height and width of 50% the height and width of the overall box, the spaces between each box stay true to the mean.

Value: 0%

Value: 0%



I am asked to provide, and so you shall recieve.

My name is Joshua Cameron Paul. I'm aware I have three first names and completely comfortable with it. I was born in Calgary in 1985, making me 21 years old.

After school, I go home and I sleep, usually. If I'm not asleep, I design tattoos for friends and acquaintances, play my guitar, play the various gaming platforms that are strewn about the floor or listen to a collection of my music through some very cheap speakers still rockin' from the 70's.

Back in school, I sit in my New Media classes and attempt to find some interest in what you all are saying. I chose new media because I've always been drawn to eclectic lifestyle of design. There are so many different facets to the profession that no one specializes in any one thing. I guess at the base of it all, I have a really hard time invisioning myself behind a small cubicle-style desk working for a huge mechanized boss type so I can save up enough time for two weeks vacation every year. That ain't me.

Grabbing a job that will allow me to fund my life instead of the other way around; that's me. That's the answer to what my goals are, what aspirations I have for my life, where I'd like to be in X number of years. Not a lot of time on this planet, make the most of it in the one shot you get.


Really, whats the point in working 40 years for some company that makes an ungodly amount of money a year and still manages to pay you 60,000 a year? My goal is to LIVE my life, not just survive it.

As far as my career goes, you can pretty much read everything above and make your own opinions of what sort of career I'm looking for...

"Technicalities"

photoshop: out of 10; 7-8

dreamweaver: out of 10; 7

premiere: out of 10; 4

As a new media student, we all have access to a digital still camera. I don't actually own one, though.

First post, first blog, first submission to the digital world.

I don't blog. I don't like bloggers. I don't like the trendy receipt attached to each and every web log post. Of course, there are exceptions to my distaste; a certain new media requirement, for example. This requirement states: Josh Paul will blog, and blog often. Just don't expect to get too much out of it; I tend to leave my personal opinions about school and life in general to my person in a real journal.

I guess I just don't like how connected everyone has become to everyone else. I mean, sure there have been advances in technology and communication because of the internet and everyone's addiction to it on one hand, but we've all become dilluted and dillusional on the other. No one is special or significant or original or unique in the world we've created for ourselves. The digital revolution has brought about a large pasture for all of us to graze in. We've affected our media and people's perception of it, our music and people's appreciation of it, our personalities and people's lack thereof...

Ironic that you'd find me in a digital new media program.

I also love art. The purest form of human creativity exists in art, I think. Pulling something directly out of your subconscious and transferring it (albeit sometimes slightly different than you imagine) is the only really true example of who we are inside; the purest way to read someone's mind. Everything else has become dependent on the code of a computer program that someone else created for you. This blog, for instance.


For you, teach, I will blog as often as I can. Most likely when I feel a touch of boredom or come across an interesting link or video in my internet odyssey. I won't be revealing to you too many personal details of myself, and, if I do, they will be shrouded most decidedly in some opinionated observation that I've made once more of who we are and what we've become.

Perhaps I'll end up revealing a lot about me in the end. Keep your wit sharp.