Themplusme/back
Here is the back of the postcard for the back. It is an excerpt from one of my stories and it promotes the site. I want to do a test print and then order them for the portfolio show.
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Themplusme
So the past week I’ve been working on redesigning my blog, themplusme.com. This site is a collection of short stories centralized around my parents and my hysterical interactions with them. At my portfolio show this fall I want to do a few takeaways. One of them will be a postcard promoting my blog. This is the design I’ve been working for the front of the card.
I want to have an excerpt from the story about twitter on the back but haven’t finalized a layout yet.
Minnesota Zoo Site
I’m currently working on a press release site for the Minnesota Zoo. I finally got a deadline and more direction on design. I have the basic structure working for the home page and a new mockup for the design of the home page. At first I was somewhat disappointed with the limitations of the colors and font choice, but having messed around with it a little I’ve come up with a design I like. I probably wouldn’t have chosen to use those colors on my own, so I’m glad I was given a palette.
A random moment of sheer genius
I have been considering a take-away for my portfolio show and was researching candy packing. Suddenly, I had a fantastic flashback to my childhood. As a child my mom had dinosaur lollipop molds. We used to make suckers, package them, and sell them at our rummage sales in the summer. It was great fun, not to mention a delicious treat.
I had the idea to create/buy molds either of my initials or a leaf similar to the one in my identity and create suckers-hopefully using the colors from my identity. Then I will wrap them up and order stickers to put on the clear packing saying something like Be creative or get inspired with my contact information. Then I will wrap it in ribbon and attach my business card.
This plan really excited me. It might end up being costly, but I like crafts and it will be a fun process to design the stickers and learn how to make the suckers. I’m stoked.
Data Visualization
I want to do a project that maps out the poverty levels of kids in the U.S. I have statistics regarding each states poverty levels of individuals under the age of 19. Additionally I have longitutude and latitude of the different states. I’m not certain how to go about using this information. I was thinking something along the lines of darkening the map based on % of poverty. Another idea would be to increase the number of dots based on percentages and connect them with lines.
Data Visualization
50 great examples of Data Visualization
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/50-great-examples-of-data-visualization/
Breakdown of parts
I am going to describe the process my mouse went through to become functional in a new way. The challenge was determining whether I would arrange a pulley system to move the pieces on the mouse or attach something to the mechanism itself.
I decided to attach something to the mechanism itself. This presented some problems in that it was a very small piece where I could attach anything without it getting caught and I had to be careful it didn’t extend too far. I took a paper clip and attached it to the piece inside the mouse that rotates. I used erasers, glue and putty to keep the pieces in place. My dad helped me drill holes in the plastic pieces to better stabilize the equipment. Unfortunately all the pieces are small and not very durable so they aren’t super consistent in their functionality. I used plastic pieces cut off of a lint roller for the wheels. I originally tried to use the entire lint roller, but it was too large for the device to support so I needed to cut it down.
A match box was used to encompass the pieces and hide some of the craftmanship.
Mouse Tweaks
My project isn’t the most durable thing on the planet. I tried straightening the wire as much as possible but sometimes it catches and doesn’t move as smoothly. I had a nightmare about this last night. I brought it to class and it didn’t work. Hopefully this isn’t a premonition.
The finished product!
Once the glue set, it worked a lot better. I’m real happy!
