DP-Graphic Design Goals

I would like to work for a socially conscious design firm that works on campaigns with non-profit organizations to provide the public with needed information. I think I would prefer it to be a small firm with more than just designers working at the office. I don't really have a specific medium or type of work that i'm interested in. I think I'm more concerned with who the work is for. I don't ever want to be in a position that forces me to work for a company that I don't believe in.

I want to live somewhere warm without any of these miserably cold, depressing winters. I want to live close enough to work to ride or walk. I would prefer a bigger city that is near some sort of water that is not a pool.

DP-Question for Degree Project

"How can information architecture help educate interested parties about the truths of the meat industry and the role that it plays within our lives?"
(question by Adam McBride)

How can information architecture be used to educate interested parties about the meat industry's effects on our lives, the environment and animals?

"How can the organization of information and linear narratives help educate interested parties about the meat industry and the role that it plays within our lives, the environment and animals?"

Visual Advocacy - Cat Brand

Maggie's is a brand that aims to encourage an emotional bond between pet owner and pet. The brand addresses this issues in two parts. The first deals with the misconceptions that cats are independent creatures that do not need homes. The second part facilitates interaction between

DIC Post

Title
Save the Abandoned Cats!

Description
Save the Abandoned Cats! was created to deal with the overwhelming number of cats that are being abandoned and relinquished daily in Kansas City. The reason people give for abandoning these cats are numerous but the cause is a lack of emotional connection between owner and pet. Many preconceived notions about cats lead to a misunderstanding about the needs and required care for these pets. It hopes to change the way we think about our pets while encouraging and facilitating interaction between owner and pets. The brand challenges the way we think about cats by the associations of cats to humans while also including a game component.

Visual Advocacy - Direction?

After looking through my past projects throughout my time here at KCAI. The projects I most enjoyed seem to be in three groups. I enjoy image making that are hand rendered or real environments and photography. Examples would be the info arch website (Recyclables), Image making class (self portrait), user experience (battledore). I also like dealing with typography in book formats. I like the consistency, organization and the fine tuning thats involved with setting type. Examples would be Typography classes 1-4 and specifically the russel wright project, gertrude stein, bembo, conference. And I also enjoy interactive work particularly building websites, navigation, user play. Examples would be sound and motion (interactive piece, and information movie), multimedia xp (bike website), info arch (all).
Some criteria for this project is that I want to fulfilling a need in the community. I want it to facilitate some reaction in my audience and in the end improve their life in more than an aesthetically pleasing way. I want to try to avoid the issues that I have pursued in the past so as not to be redundant or caught in a grove.
Last semester I began exploring the idea and meaning behind image making. So much of the images produced today our merely decorations that have only aesthetic value without any true meaning behind them. Perhaps it is the product of a poorly educated designer or a creation of our image stimuli environment that over produces meaningless images to sell products that do not and never will enhance our lives. I don’t think I want to continuing this project but I think this idea of levels of meaning is still really interesting to me and applicable to many different things.
I defiantly want my project to be something that is “real world” so people can imagine it actually being used. I want to focus on a group that doesn’t get a lot of attention and could really use some help visually organizing things. I don’t want to work to closely with the group I’m making things for because I want it to be my own design and not me working for a group.



Projects I liked in my design classes
Recyclables
Motion piece about natural vs organic
Bembo
gertrude stein
Russel wright
Battledore map
Sewing Interactivity
Umbrella’s from type
box picture
Bike Website
Conference
Type 4 experiments


Projects I didn’t dislike
Bike manual
Conscientious omnivore
Vote Poster
National geographic
Story of the City
coffee (navigation)


Projects I hated
Ziba
Again
Book spreads about sports
semiotics

Visual Advocacy - DIC information

Title
Save the Abandoned Cats!
Cats Off
MinusOne
MinusOne[family]
Throw Aways

Description
[insert title here] was created to deal with the overwhelming number of cats that are being abandoned and relinquished daily in the Kansas City. The reasons for abandoning these cats are numerous but the cause is a lack of emotional connection between owner and pet. Many preconceived notions about cats lead to a misunderstanding about the needs and required care for these pets. [insert title here] hopes to change the way we think about our pets while encouraging and facilitating interaction between owner and pets.

Visual Advocacy - Prototypes

My solution to this problem is to create a brand that address both of these directions. In hopes that it will reach a larger group of people because every cat owner purchases the basic cat essentials such as litter box, kitty food, collars, toys, food bowls, cat food, treats and litter. So by placing it in mainstream shops it will have a better chance of reaching this audience.
This prototype is a medication for tick and fleas that is branded bug spray as a way to humanize it. at the top is a common flea and tick remover for comparison.

The litter box is branded potty trainer to reinforce the idea that kittens and children have to go through similar processes when they are young.

so this another way of addressing the how we think about cats its a suggestion sticker that makes a relation between cats and people through birthday’s.

This is a potential treat container that is branded candy because it is the equivalent to treats for cats. So in this way it humanizes the item. It also has the peek-a-boo game which touches on the other direction for this project that encourages owner and pet to interact through play. This could also be applied to paper bags.