new opportunities

Nick Cottrell has accepted a position at CityWorks, an urban planning, architecture and outreach firm which is a joint venture of Warner Architecture + Design and Collborative Services. Fun Stuff…

something new

Paint dripped onto tables as students worked diligently to finish their designs by the end of the workshop. Before we knew it things were finally starting to take shape. Compositions began to emerge from a sea of art supplies, scraps of material and working hands. Throughout the day students learned the value of being able to work with what they had.

The challenge was simple: choose a pre-cropped square of used vinyl banner material and create a new composition that builds on the existing shapes and elements originally printed on the banner. Some students chose to create new compositions that featured images and type that appeared on the scraps. Some chose to allow the elements to serve as a backdrop. Others ignored the elements completely, using outrageous combinations of paint strokes and splatters, fiercely asserting their own independence.

One thing was certain, the underlying composition seemed to have an affect on the overall process. It became a key factor in the decision-making process along the way and allowed them to struggle with the challenge of incorporating existing elements and limitations into a design. “We’re not always painting on a blank canvas” became the mantra.

The result was a room filled with vibrant, original works, echoing the pronouncements of each banner’s former sales pitch. It was a post-modern proclamation, exuding the skills and ability of each student to reconfigure and rearrange. It seems as though the students got the jest–hopefully they will be inspired to build ideas that can flexibly adjust to a world that is changing faster than ever before.

Nick Cottrell, co-principal of istitch graphic communication, led a one-day workshop for Link, an AIGA San Diego program that mentors high-school art students. The program exposes participants to concepts and techniques associated with art and design, encouraging the pursuit of higher education in the creative field.

holiday crunch

Whether it’s your company’s annual office party or just some fun with family and friends, it can never hurt to try something new and make a splash at your next shindig. Here’s a new kicker that will be sure to raise some eyebrows!

Chocolate Chip Wontons
1 package wonton wrappers
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (approx.)
1 cup brown sugar (approx.)
3 cups canola oil

Lay the wontons on a flat, lightly floured surface and put one teaspoon of brown sugar in the middle with a few (3-4) chocolate chips on top. (It’s important not to use too much because if the sugar spills out of the wonton while cooking, it will burn in the pot of oil.) When the batch has the filling portioned and placed, dab your fingertip with water and coat the top left corner of the wonton. Take the opposite (dry) corner and fold it over, joining the wet corner and the dry corner to form a pocket with the filling inside. Next, take both (folded) corners and fold them so that they touch, dabbing them with water so they stick. Repeat this process in batches.

Heat 2 cups of canola oil in a small pot. Test the temperature of the hot oil by putting a small piece of wonton in the oil. If it cooks and becomes golden brown in about 10-20 seconds, the oil is hot enough. Then put two wontons in at a time, and submerge for about 10-20 seconds or until they are golden brown. Take the wontons out and place them on paper bags to soak up the excess oil. Before the wontons cool down, sprinkle with sugar. Let dry and enjoy!

Embrace the queue

Summer has come to an end and things have been very busy here at the studio. We are excited to be working on a variety of really cool projects. The busy atmosphere forces us to be extra efficient with our time during work and also during play. Short of having a time schedule for leisure, we prefer a more flexible framework that many people today are beginning to enjoy.

Being a consumer of media in this day-and-age can be similar to gorging yourself at a $2.99 Las Vegas buffet. This can be an enjoyable experience on occasion, but day-in and day-out, it can weigh down on your midsection–or in this case, your wellbeing. The problem is that with so much junk out there, there is a lot of sifting required to take in the good stuff. One of the thing’s we’ve noticed in more recent years is our culture’s reaction to this phenomenon, embracing the sift by providing systems that allow people to maintain an ongoing queue for the information they consume.

TIVO, iPods, Podcasts, PDAs, Netflix, and the browser home page are all some examples of this trend. The explosion of technology and information grants people access to a wide variety of media, while these devices allow individuals to choose when they will take it all in. “What you want, when you want it.” It seems as though the users’ ability to control the timing of the information has become as important as the information that is made available.

Surrounding one’s self with relevant information helps keep things focused. In a world with information flying around all over the place, recognizing and maintaining a personal queue can help a person save one of their most important assets: time.

nc

wonderful world of branding

On a recent trip to the Magic Kingdom, I found myself reflecting on how much Disneyland has contributed to my understanding and approach to the practice of branding.

From a young age, I’ve always had an appreciation for the work and creativity that goes into the well known theme park. At times the reason behind my fascination has been difficult to articulate. This time, I began to see the park in the context of communication design, which allowed me to gain a little more insight.

For anyone who has never visited the park, it is divided into 7 areas: Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, New Orleans Square, Mickey’s Toontown and Main Street USA. Each designated area has a specific theme associated with it. In addition to the rides, all exteriors, interiors, signage, kiosks, vendor carts, landscaping and costumes–even the trash cans– take on thematic elements. Sight, sound, taste and touch are all composed into a delectable symphony for children of all ages to explore. The art of communication is exemplified.

This process of delivering succinct messages via a wide variety of media and platforms is what the artists, designers and architects otherwise known as imagineers have been able to accomplish so remarkably. They are the pioneers of theme park design and have, to this day, managed to remain at the top of the field. The way in which the themes are developed and elements are distributed has laid the groundwork for much of what is being done in multi-platform communication design today by consumer touch-point laden giants such as Starbucks, Target and Apple.

I suppose the dreams of being an imagineer have the potential to be realized as I travel along my path in the field of communication design. The notion of creating experiences rich with context and creativity has always been and always will be my number one aspiration.

ttfn,
nc

south beach retreat

I just got back from South Beach in Miami where i attended the AIGA National Leadership Retreat. It was amazing! Miami is a diverse cultural melting pot and a hotbed of contemporary art and historic architecture–a perfect place for the AIGA national leadership to address issues such as cultural diversity, community outreach and the value of design.

The retreat consisted of members from each of AIGA National’s 57 chapters across the country to discuss some of the national organization’s initiatives as well as to improve the methods used by each local chapter to manage events and membership. It’s also great to get together with other designers in the field to discuss different solutions to the many challenges we face. As the incoming Communications Chair of the San Diego Chapter, I have definitely come away from the weekend with some new ideas about where we are as an organization and what we might want to focus on to get us to the next level.

Some of the issues that were discussed at the retreat were: sustainability, voting ballot design/legibility standards, the value of design and the design profession, development of a viable design field in China, youth outreach programs, diversity within the design field and within emerging market demographics.

AIGA is the professional association for design. It’s mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force.

nc

check out our new diggs

Well, we’ve managed to, yet again, re-design our site. I suppose that this is inevitable because we are constantly learning new techniques, finding new ways to improve things and make them more functional. Anyhow… You’ll find a lot more information about our studio, projects and the services we offer. Does this sound like an obvious upgrade? Well, you’d be surprised to find that most design studio websites out there lack one major component–content that describes what it is they actually do!

The home page is called “current” because it contains the blog (powered by WordPress) and a slideshow that syncs to our Flickr photostream. We want to use the “current” page to communicate what’s going on with us in our personal/professional lives. The old version of the site had these features on the main page but was a lot more difficult to make updates.

Our new istitch “Con-stitch-uancy” newsletter will provide quarterly updates to our mailing list about all the latest and greatest things going on in the world of branding. We’ll also use it to help promote new resources and tools that businesses can use to communicate better.

The new site’s (X)HTML/CSS/PHP structure is modular, efficient and fully search engine optimized. The site is also laden with alternate content, allowing access from older browsers and mobile devices. Not that we necessarily need our site to be viewed on the mobile web, but it’s good for us to get in that mode so that we can offer it to clients who do need to be accessible on the small screen.

Well… please have a look and don’t be afraid to click on the “contact” tab to let us know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by,

istitch

day after the y

wow. more thoughts to come…

y

the y conference is the most awesome AIGA event (let alone any event!) that takes place during the year in San Diego and it’s this weekend! come back next week and we’ll have some post-Y images for ya…

SAFE event

we had an awesome time attending the SAFE silent auction fundraiser “schmoozapalooza” last week and i guess it’s going to be full speed ahead until the y-conference at the end of the month. please check out the y conference website for details…