Evan Roth

Evan Roth is a designer & media artist deeply rooted in the realm of graffiti, open source development, and popular culture. Born March 5th, 1978 in Okemos, Michigan, Roth developed his ambitions as an artist early on. By the time he graduated from the University of Maryland he received B.S. degree in architecture. After graduating he moved to Washington, D.C. for two years to work as an "autoCAD monkey".

Soon he traveled back to New York to get his MFA from Parsons The New School, graduating valedictorian. While in school he began to hone his craft, developing projects under the name "fi5e", namely Typographic Illustration, Explicit Content Only, Graffiti Taxonomy.

After he graduated he worked on open source projects at the Eyebeam OpenLab for about two years. Open source technology is a method of development that bares the "goods and knowledge" of a product to the public, specifically its inner workings and how it was created. This is done most notably with software development and even some hardware development as well.

One would assume, given Roth's dedication to open source and graffiti, that the designer's motives were certainly that of raw, personal freedom. This came together most prominently when he collaborated with OpenLab fellowship co-worker James Powderly and formed the Graffiti Research Lab in 2005. The GRL was designated to be an art group dedicated to supporting graffiti artists and protestors in combination with open source technology to be utilized in urban communication. Much of the projects led by GRL were documented on video as well as accompanying instructions for viewers to take on the same projects for themselves.

One of most notable projects was the invention of "LED Throwies", which were small LED lights used for the purpose of non-destructive, graffiti-based light displays. Another great achievement was a project entitled "L.A.S.E.R. Tag", which was a system set up that allowed for graffiti writers to non-destructively tag (or write on) the side of a building via a projector and laser pointer.

In 2007 he helped form the Free Art and Technology Lab, which describes itself as "an organization dedicated to enriching the public domain through the research and development of creative technologies and media". The projects done by the collective are often in relation to sociopolitical statements. One project entitled "China Channel Firefox Add-On" allows you to surf the internet from an IP address located in China; many sites, such as ones containing information about Tienanmen Square, are blocked off and your connection is terminated for 10-15 minutes. Projects such as these signify the new technological movement that designers such as Evan Roth are leading with regards to graffiti and political statements.

Today Evan Roth lives in Hong Kong with his wife's work is posted on his own personal website, www.evan-roth.com, which details just about all of his work since the beginning of his career. He currently teaches at Parsons The New School for Design, specficially courses on visual programming, internet fame, even "geek graffiti", a course that has come under fire from anti-graffiti city council member Peter Vallone, Jr. Roth's work still continues on as usual, just completing a video for Jay-Z's latest single "Brooklyn (We Go Hard)", an open-source video that displays typographic illustrations of rappers Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G. using only the word "Brooklyn". The video has been a great success, just like much of Roth's portfolio as a designer, artist, and political activist.

Lyle Owerko

Lyle Owerko, on first sight, is credited as a professional photographer.  However, by the end of his guest lecture, he had proven himself to be much more.  He is a designer and an artist at heart, who has inadvertently touched the hearts of many around the world solely through his work.

Owerko believes that any designer over time naturally develops a creative consciousness, or becomes more aware of their surroundings as source of influence for their work.  He also states "the golden rule is to follow the gold", or to just simply flow towards what is guaranteed success.  This key rule, as well as building a degree of trust amongst your clients and colleagues, is vital to enjoying a successful career.

Although very soft-spoken and humble, Owerko is a very focused artist in his own right, and in a way a humanitarian, as the gold he himself followed brought him a great deal of trust amongst citizens of third-world nations all over the world, some of whom have received substantial financial support due to his photos and other works.

Blog Commentary: Week 9

Core77: Red Bull's DJ Table

Very interesting design. Functionality as well as simplicity. The the table is designed for vinyl-oriented DJs and listeners. The entire table just looks like one piece, but still has the necessary grooves and design to serve a great purpose.

Seth Godin: Marketing lessons from the US election

Seth again applying the concepts of the Presidential campaign to every life in general.

Core77: Manfrotto's fold-flat tripod

Economic thinking in the form of great compact design. Done by imaging & staging company Manfrotto, this handy tripod is a great example of supporting photographers & videographers on a budget.

Seth Godin: A friend in need

Is a friend indeed. This ties into this quote by Dr. Thomas L. Garthwaite, "People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel." Leaving a personal mark on anyone can go a long way in terms of progressing your business as a designer.

Nusrat Durrani

Nusrat Durrani worked literally from the ground up to get to his position as Senior Vice President and General Manager of MTV World. Growing up in India, Durrani was raised in the midst of a giant sea of culture in and outside of his own country. In 1993, Durrani recalls seeing a television network that was aptly titled Music Television, or MTV, for the first time. Immediately he was infatuated with the network, researching for the next four years about MTV and trying to find his way in to be part of it himself. This passion got him through having to basically restart his life in America and struggling his way into the company's New York-based headquarters during the harshest winter the city had seen in 100 years.

As the surprisingly mild-mannered and down-to-earth Durrani states, "finding a passion isn't a science, it's an art". By this, he means one cannot calculate how to excel in a field that they love, it must more or less express itself naturally. This is an important concept for anyone who chooses to take up any job or life for themselves, as it will be this artful passion that will get them through the almost imminent hard times that life will bring them, and ultimately a great deal of success.

Julius Caesar Project: Research

Synopsis:

A tragedy by William Shakespeare.  Portrays the conspiracy against the Roman dictator, his assassination and its aftermath.

Symbols:

Dagger

Roman Column

Roman Statue

Bloody cloth

Julius Caesar Project: Storyboard

Blog Commentary: Week 6

Seth Godin: What does this remind you of?

Very true assessment. Companies and sellers often tend to try to reinvent the wheel when releasing a new product, which more often than not works against them. Sometimes it is best to just do what works. Actually, most of the time it's best to do that.

Core77: Apple design, old vs. new

I remember using one of the earlier Macintosh computers in my house when I was a kid. It is true that Core77's assessment of the design of macs being awfully similar throughout the generations, however I believe that is due to the fact that Apple has always held onto the concept of simplicity and whatever is not needed is to be left out. So extra broader design is simply not necessarily, and so it is not exhibited. We see this concept especially now with the newest macs, in which Apple stresses the fact that they were design with fewer manufacturing pieces than before. Again, the company truly has mastered the assertion that less is more.

Blog Commentary: Week 5

Core77: Deserve Your Dream: Design Education and Advocacy, by Mariana Amatullo
Amazing artwork.  A simple yet powerful design with a profound message.  A lot of cases in contemporary design this is a key concept that goes a very long way.  Even the simple text at the bottom contrasting with the relatively "giant" blood splatter image drives the point home.  This is something that can work very well in the area of advertising.  Even if it's just advertising a serious subject and not just a product.

Seth Godin: Nine steps to Powerpoint magic

Certainly great tips to handling your presentation, especially in a class like New Media.  Basically the main point in these tips is to simply give a genuine presentation, like you actually enjoy whatever it is you're trying to "sell".  And if you don't enjoy it, act like you do.  It'll make the biggest difference.  

Core77: Youtube in SuperHD

Very clever.  Even funnier that it's a Rick Astley video.  I would not be surprised if Youtube made HD, or at least super high-quality video available to stream in the near future.

Core77: Harman Kardon Makes Crystal Bling Speakers

These look pretty nice in my personal opinion.  Harman Kardon is known mostly for its speakers, but these are a distinguishable design that, according to the article, blend "bling" and "steampunk", which is bound to attract at least a small group of individuals looking for a set of speakers for their computer.  Very interesting.

Blog Commentary: Week 4

Seth Godin: What advertising can't fix

Microsoft very well could have generated a great deal of buzz with the Jerry Seinfeld commercials if they weren't so weird and borderline terrible. This seems to be an ongoing trend in television advertising; doing commercials with quirky storylines that I suppose are intended to be funny or entertaining, and hoping the advertise the product solely off a "quirky" commercial. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Microsoft should've left it alone.

Core77: Foldaway furniture, part 1

An interesting and possibly useful concept. I can't imagine some of the furniture, particularly the bed and chairs, being all that comfortable or practical as foldable material, though. But then again I haven't tried it myself.

Seth Godin: When you stand for something
Another example of a lesson in everyday life applying to the world of design and business. You are seen as much more respectable when you make a clear stance on something and stick to it, rather than bending your own rules for the sake of trying to make everyone happy. This concept in the long run is impossible and unattainable, so it is better to know your limits in certain cases and stick to it.

Blog Commentary: Week 3

Seth Godin: In search of value

Indeed, the stock market is in quite of a slump this week, with Wall Street seeing a sharp drop, AIG Auto Insurance in need of $40 billion to survive, and the government takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. However, one thing that my Global Studies professor mentioned on the topic is that this sort of activity can actually turn out to be a good thing, in a way, for particular groups of people. Houses will be much more affordable for buyers and ironically enough will lead to a great deal of jobs for Finance majors who will be needed to oversee the mass amount of financial activity in suffering companies.

Seth Godin: But you're not saying anything

In my personal opinion, the fact of having something like interchangeable logos (or interchangeable anything) is ultimately no excuse for relying on another factor that will make you "different" among your competition.  Of course, you will want a logo that is "welcoming" to consumers, but having several aspects of your company relatively original can never go wrong.

Seth Godin: The small-minded vision of the technology elite

It's interesting to see in retrospect the very limited outlook of someone once so prominent in the computer industry like Ken Olsen, and how reaching beyond that outlook can greatly expand the prosperity of such an industry.  I'm sure nobody really foresaw a company like Apple becoming such a dominant force in the industry as it is.

Nussbaum: Did Innovation Cause The Crisis on Wall Street?

I wouldn't necessarily say that innovation caused the crisis on Wall Street, but rather theinadequate testing of the new "innovative" practices by those businesses that caused it, as Nussbaum mentioned.  This is the biggest keypoint of trying anything new, especially from a technological standpoint; to actually test it and evaluate it before actually putting it to practice and releasing it to the public.  It's like if McDonald's shelled out frozen beef on their hamburgers...they have to be properly prepared for consumption.

Blog Commentary: Week 2

Seth Godin: How often should you publish?

My answer is "just enough". This is highly subjective. Something like the New York Times needs to have out a new publication of news reports everyday. The most popular musician of the day? Not so much. Their music runs the risk of losing value. If you put out a new publication or product too rarely, people may tend to forget about you and will lose interest. Although if you're comeback is strong enough, that interest can certainly flock back in droves (i.e. Apple & the iPod). If you put out something new too often, you might also cause your fanbase to lose interest.

John McCain and Barack Obama--What Is Your Innovation Policy?
Obama's whole campaign seems to run off the idea of innovation. His own catchphrase has been that of "change", or running the country under a moderately different set of rules in opposition to what I assume is just the past eight years under the Bush administration. So far, he is doing a much better job of convincing people that he will bring about change than John McCain recently has been. In the realm of design, this is half the battle when picking up clients and jobs, simply convincing people that you truly have something to offer them as a designer.

Sound Project Part 1

Objective:
Become acquainted with the aesthetics of sound design as applied toa branding problem acquire an introductory working capability with digital sound editing and manipulation software. This is to be accomplished by creating a soundbite to be used for a podcast radio station.
Notes:
Cloud computing: computer works with its files stored on an internet server instead of an internal hard drive or other storage system. Allows for work to be done easily and (relatively) safely at any location.

Ethnographics: study of a particular community or several communities.
Ethnographics plays a major part in the sound design project, which again is meant to create a sound clip that will appeal to the listeners of a fictional podcast station designed for a very specific group of people.  In my case, this podcast station is podcast Radio Crate Diggers, a station dedicated to vinyl record collectors. 

In research of this particular community of people, according to The Record Collector's Guild, a great majority of these people reside throughout the United States, primarily across the east and west coasts. Another great segment of this population is located in and around the United Kingdom, which certainly does show a great appreciation for vinyl and all music in general.

As a vinyl record collector myself, I can say the main objective and appeal of a podcast station such as this is simply for the sake of music appreciation, as well as expressing the sentimental value of owning vinyl, as it is a form of media that has spanned across generations and even still makes an effort of resurgence to this day.

As for the 6-8 second sound ID that will be created for this podcast, I would like it to capture the essence of your typical vinyl record: music and spoken word that is scratchy, dusty, pops & clicks, occasional skipping and even shifts in the pitch to emulate the results of a "warped" (or distorted) record. Examples and my own personal test runs of this will be included in the next entry of this project.

Blog Commentary: Week 1

Seth Godin: "Learning from a summer intern program"
In my personal opinion, Seth's tactic of using Facebook as a method of evaluating the personalities and capabilities of possible employees was a very intelligent move as part of his role as an employer. Moreover, his description of each group of these interns was even more interesting:

• The game-show contestants, quick on the trigger, who were searching for a quick yes or no. Most of them left.
• The lurkers. They were there, but we couldn't tell.
• The followers. They waited for someone to tell them what to do.
• The leaders. A few started conversations, directed initiatives and got to work.

It was interesting to evaluate these interns by their natural interactions with others as opposed to a basic interview, where an employer is more likely to become situated with each intern's "representative".

Seth Godin: Time

Time is a very important factor in any field, graphic design included. Specifically, meeting deadlines and simply getting things done in an organized fashion go a long way and will certainly be a deciding factor in how well your career fares as a designer.