Thesis Group: Team Awesome

Team AWESOME

Advisors :
Sheila
Glen

Students :
Dan
Fan
Lanlan
Min
Stewart
Tom

Goodbye Hektor

28 October. 05:59 PM
Stewart

Just a few thoughts on independent projects / collaborations. Laptop battery ran out. In the lab downstairs. This keyboard sucks. Juerg is leaving soon. Lots of old files from past students on this machine!

1: Touch Wall
Collaboration with Tomas. Long term project of multiple stages beginning with very simple y-axis wall interaction and leading up to more complex savable / sharable / editable things. Some stages will be complete by end of fall semester. Full project completion by graduation.

2: Music Video
Collaboration with Stina for the Die Romantik song “Narcissist’s Waltz.” About 4 minutes long. To be completed in December. Also satisfies requirement for our music class.

3: Web Site
Collaboration with Sebastian and Mike for new Fabrica.it. Currently determining schedule. Will likely be completed before spring semester. (I should check on this!!)

4: StegaLevel
See http://stewdio.org/stegalevel. Need to figure out how to hide an image within an image. Also need to complete new typeface for use in the Levels window. Will be complete by this semester’s end.

5: The Senate 3
Loose idea to make a third “Senate” guide book with illustrations suggesting “manly” body postures.

Will have to think more… revise. Add. Edit. Etc. What are you all up to?

TOUCH TOUCH

20 September. 11:42 PM
Tomas

It will rule, I am pretty sure. But we might land somewhere else than we thought (might not be the drawing on the wall). I think it might be helpful to set some goals for ourselves

Graphic Resign

20 September. 12:40 PM
Stewart

Tomas, our touch wall will rule. But how do we resolve our want to make a fun tool and the need for it to meet certain interface design challenges? (Just thinking about the “flame” article Dan gave us.) Arrgggg…. Wish we had more time to think about this thesis presentation. Too much too soon. BTW, of course I’m into your thesis !

OK, HERE I GO

05 September. 2:47 AM
Tomas

So you’ve got me Stew

Evil Dark

03 September. 11:30 PM
Stewart

I really liked your “whisper” comment about your own work. Pulling in an audience to tell them uncomfortable secrets. But the “smell of a dead cat” caption? Wow you are evil! Do you like Tim Burton at all? I’m a sucker for Edward Scissorhands. Maybe you should email his office and start collaborating with him. Cause that would make you a rock star!!

Have you seen this David Shrigley music video for Blur’s Good Song ? It’s a bit sad and sweet. And then suddenly it gets very fucked up. Another favorite.

Do you think your work will be mostly animation this year? Is there a way to translate your motion work into a book or website? (I guess the last project for Networks was a bit dark, no?)

Ok ok. sleepy sleep. Brain is faultering. Tomas, I totally want to read your letter!!

Daniel Har …

03 September. 11:08 PM
Stewart

Unfinished! You’ve got some great examples that totally backup what you’re saying. I’m particularly fond of the Flaming Lips: Boombox Experiment that you showed me. Especially the line Wayne Coyne says around 01:45 about “They’re songs that we’ve recorded yet they only really get performed once there’s people running the tape players.” The conceptual thinking is great and the act of performing is just plain fun, like when we were making iSight feedback and other happy stuff in the studio. Awesome.

So seeing that your PDF has the registration marks and stuff… How do you feel your thesis book will be different from Jeff’s or Rob’s? (I know it will be different I’m just throwing it out there to start discussion.) Where’s the division between when “unfinished” feels like an invitation and when “unfinished” feels like it’s broken. Ok maybe unfinished is the wrong word for me to be focussing on…. But like… Your “I think that graphic design is” project was incredibly successful because it was such a structured invitation to participate (and even experiment!) but the Grove Street Cemetery book felt a lot more finished to me. I know that a reader’s interpretation is always a death-of-the-author participation in defining the context but how subtle can you go and still transmit that message? (It’s likely what I’m saying doesn’t matter at all.)

Even though the “Do Hit Chair” is probably my favorite image (that dude’s expression is perfect!) I think the Walker Art Center may be the best example to have in your letter because it’s more “traditional” graphic design so it has to negotiate between that world and a more experimental one. But how do you feel about “American Idol” or similar TV shows that rely on home-viewer participation?

I’m just babbling. Sorry sorry.

Hello Again

03 September. 08:17 PM
Stewart

I can’t call this final. I can, however, call it bloated and in need of assistance. But it’s got captions for the images, a bibliography, and generally all the pieces it needs. It’s too long and needs to be clearer but I am much happier!

I present to the group HELLO WORLD 4 !

thanks stewart

Give a face to things… yes that’s a good way to put it! My problem is “how” >:-J One of the things I would like to experiment with is… can the visual form of something I create simply be informed by things that I see? And less a result of logic (what I think)? I would like to find out what would happen. (methodologically)

How would you give life to a robot? I’d luv to see if a robot could be designed to create its own life…!

Getting Closer… Slowly

28 August. 02:45 AM
Stewart

Ok, this is more for me to have a record of iteration than to broadcast to the everyone… HELLO WORLD 3 contains full image captions and I’m starting to flesh out the bibliography. As for the actual statement of intent… That’s got a long way to go. A lot of trimming and more sense making needs to happen. I expect to have “final” version 4 ready by Thursday. Word.

Lan Lan

25 August. 02:07 PM
Stewart

It seems like you want to give a face to things. Perhaps not literally, but somehow take an object (or typography?) or a place (the Tufte map), or characters (the animated figures), and breathe a little life and emotion into them. (I feel a similar drive but in a much more computer-centered way… I want to bring robots to life!!) So… bringing something to life and then making it a bit psychedelic? Do you see that as mostly being motion work? Animation? This is pretty cliche, but have you seen Pink Floyd’s [The Wall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd_The_Wall_(film)??)

Must eat / drink / nap. I think I have a few more of your PDFs in my in-box… What do you all think of our own thesis topics? And I hope to catch up and have something readable to post very soon!

Fan !

25 August. 01:46 PM
Stewart

I really like what you said to the effect of “diagrams can be reality too.” That’s nice! Over the summer I was looking at images with Glen Cummings of bizarre music diagrams. Most of them still contained notes on a staff but the staff lines were usually stretched and skewed or were actually circles… Maybe Glen can bring some in to show?

I really like the idea that we 1. naturally do something, (like singing perhaps). Then we 2. document this as best we can by inventing a language or diagram structure (like written music.) It then becomes possible that the creation process is dictated by the diagramming process and not the original art! That’s interesting. Like maybe a music passage gets written a certain way because it looks nicer not because of the sound. Ok, maybe that’s taking it too far, but I know I’ve definitely re-worded sentences when setting my own type because it makes the rag look better. Same idea.

Version 2

24 August. 01:47 AM
Stewart

In order to meet the August 10th deadline I submitted this hastily composed ZIP file:
HELLO WORLD 1. I’ve been rethinking and revising at a snail’s pace. So far I’ve managed to make a collection that’s much messier, yet closer to what I’m trying to articulate. Here is a super raw in-progress look at what’s taking shape: HELLO WORLD 2. I’m hoping to have a cleaned / edited / finalized version next week. What are you guys up to?

Early Ideas

22 August. 02:08 AM
Stewart

Here are some ideas I’m working with (among others). The first is the Stewdio Bio which became part of my summer letter. (How’s the prototype looking for my new website?) The second is the old Groundhog Manifesto which says some irritating things that I now disagree with. But I think the form of the manifesto

Lets get our thesis on

21 August. 11:33 PM
Stewart

Hello World. We should figure out a good way to make use of this page. Or any page. Or any resource. Maybe we should just get together for a pint once a week and discuss where we’re at? Go ahead and post another “scrolling text” module above this one blog-style.