Mapping What Is Already Mapped

Our latest project for digital studio was a map, well no not really it's not the latest, we did it a few weeks ago, I'm just behind the ball on updating! (I'm trying to get better, really)

We all had to map greater Ann Arbor and get a few specific roads (the main ones pretty much), University Campuses, the Botanical Gardens, the Huron River and such. I came into this project pretty skeptical, I mean, 20 students all mapping the same area? I assumed we were all going to have similar projects. I was wrong. Of course, we all mapped the same areas, but all had very different ways of going about it. Glad I was wrong, the end results were very interesting and varied.

Ann Arbor Map (click map for full view)

London Underground Map
I decided to base mine on the London Underground subway system maps. For all the information that they convey, they are deceptively simple, and iconic because of it. I really liked how all they used is color and circles to convey where the tubes go.
I decided to borrow/rip off this idea for my Ann Arbor map. At the beginning and end of every road is a colored circle. Each road has it's own color so you can follow it from it's start to end easily with your eyes. The highways surrounding Ann Arbor (M-14, US- 23, I-94) are thicker lines and bolder, two tone roads to give hierarchical importance. The key clearly explains what the colored areas represent along with the text over the specific areas to specify say, which garden is which.The compass is incorporated into the red and blue Underground logo, which now says Ann Arbor of course.

My map is obviously not intended as a replacement for an actual map of Ann Arbor, mine is way to simple and stylized as a graphic to work in that capacity.

I'm pretty happy with the end result, although it could use a bit of reworking layout wise to incorporate the logo and key overall. They seem to float a bit. Otherwise, I'm very happy with my map.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep posting!

Video Pieces

Roughly one month ago I said I was going to update that weekend. That weekend is happening now, it will be glorious.

I've done some work with video this semester for my TMP III (time based media) class. We're using Final Cut and started super simple. Text and still images. We had to tell a story (that's kinda another part of the class, story telling using these mediums).

This was my first video, The Story of The Film (So Far), using text and found images.
It moves quickly to heighten the sense of pointlessness of a mid film summing up. It's also an homage to Monty Python's Flying Circus. I also realized I had previously posted about this movie, but it's nice to have all my video work in one post for easy viewing.



My second video is a stop motion type. I took lots of images of myself and sequenced them together (it's like a video flip book, or stop motion if you want to get all technical). It's called Pocketed Words. I made it for my fiancee, Kara Mia.



The third video I've done this year is actually a video, like the real movin' pictures like in Hollywood! It's an expansion on the ideas I explored in Pocketed Words. My professor (Tirtza Even) encouraged me to explore where on my body I took the words from and play around with the deeper meaning of of "i love you". I'll explain a bit after the jump/video (I only wanted to use the term 'after the jump' because I see it all the time on websites now and I wanted to be in vouge too!) This is called, Close To The Vest. Again, for Kara Mia.



I explored the meaning of my pockets and where on my body they were in this by the level of the pockets on my clothing and proximity to my skin. So 'i' started out on my jacket pocket above my left side (above my heart, on purpose), 'love' was one layer down in my vest and 'you' was in my shirt pocket. So as I went deeper into the intensely personal phrase of 'i love you', I literally was moving closer to my heart and bearing it. Tirtza loved it. Kara did too!

I've got lots of digital work and some ceramics work to show you as well in the near future. My current week should be significantly less crazy than the past few! Thanks for reading!

P.S. I'm making a longboard (a long skateboard made for cruising, not tricks) with the U of M chapter of the Industrial Design Society of America. Learning, finally (not thanks to U of M A&D, more on my dissasifaction with my education quality later), to use the laser cutter! Sweetness. But no seriously, this place (U of M Art & Design) has no focus, with no majors everyone is just kind of floating around aimlessly. I'm frustrated and thinking of transfering, see the Chchchanges post before this one.