Quirky + Architecture = Quirkitecture

Recent Work

2011-12-14T21:43:00.001-05:00

Currently at work, I have 5 projects under construction with all of them due to completion at relatively the same time. The project above is the Belleville Public Library, which shows the building as it existed, my rendering, and as-built. The project is currently in the final moments of its construction. Below is Regency Plaza, which shows the projects as it existed, my rendering, and under construction. The project is 90% complete and I will upload the final image upon its completion. The other works still under construction are the Motorcycle Mall, Park Savoy and a residence I worked on. It is very exciting to see projects being built.

aa+merica

2011-08-10T09:27:00.002-04:00

We may now call ourselves aa+merica from now on. Blame it on the new trend of adding a “plus” to a trademarked name. A few years ago savvy marketers coined the ending “ing” to make our favorite websites sound more like it came from Communist China. Ping, Bing, Ning, and oh yeah I guess Ing would count, too. Taking its hint from Google (the once former ultimate super power of a search network) America wanted to step out of the shadows and join into the current trend of adding a plus to its name.

All kidding aside, our country is acting like the current social media website of Google+. Government members are only sharing their information within their own circles. They formed clichés and are all focused on their own networks and profiles. They do not care for anyone outside their network, especially you. Their other circles of government have the same privacy settings that a college student would use against their own mother. You on the other hand are outside their networks and mean nothing to them.

It is a shame that government can’t operate like the old MySpace where data could be easily streamed and lacked censors. Remember those days when we use to take revealing MySpace photographs of ourselves and post them. Oh wait; we had Weiner and his well um weiner.

I personally would model government after Facebook. Instead of taxing our hardworking farmers, we should tax Farmville. Because remember, if Facebook was a country, it would be the Fourth Largest and it probably has one of the world’s lowest debts.

Genesis of the Internet

2011-06-22T14:51:00.003-04:00

This is my original Creation:

1: In the beginning Internet created the URL and the browser.
2: And the Earthlink was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Google moved upon the face of the search provider.
3: And Internet said, Let there be smut: and there was smut.
4: And Internet saw the High Speed Internet, that it was good: and Internet divided the High Speed Internet from the Dial Up.
5: And Internet called the High Speed Internet 4G, and the Dial Up he called 1G. And the dial tone connection sound and telephone were the first generation.
6: And Internet said, Let there be a photograph in the midst of sexting, and let it divide the Weiners from McGreevys.
7: And Internet made the photograph, and divided the sextings which were under the photographs from the sexting which were above the photographs: and it was so.
8: And Internet called the photograph Smut. And the photograph and the sexting were the second generation.
9: And Internet said, Let the browsers under the mobile be gathered together unto one place, and let the iPhone appear: and it was so.
10: And Internet called the iPhone cool; and the gathering together of the geeks called he Geniuses: and Internet saw that it was good.
11: And Internet said, Let the browser bring forth aps, the herb yielding seeds of Farmville, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12: And the browser brought forth aps, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and Internet saw that it was good.
13: And the aps and the mobile were the third generation.
14: And Internet said, Let there be instant complete in the search line of the Google to divide the what you were looking for from oh damn who would search that; and let them be for iamges, and for searches, and for generations, and years:
15: And let them be for auto complete in the search line of the Google to give smut upon the search: and it was so.
16: And Internet made two great smuts; the greater smut to rule the hardcore, and the lesser smut to rule the softcore: he made the stars also.
17: And Internet set them in the auto complete of the search to give smut upon the earth,
18: And to rule over the generation and over the search, and to divide the smut from the paid sites: and Internet saw that it was good.
19: And the softcore and the hardcore were the fourth generation.
20: And Internet said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open social networks.
21: And Internet created great Myspace, and every possible social network, which the browsers brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every weird site after his kind: and Internet saw that it was good.
22: And Internet blessed them, saying, Be my friend, and multiply, and fill the newsfeeds in the browsers, and let your friendlists multiply in the earth.
23: And the friendlist and the newsfeed were the fifth generation.
24: And Internet said, Let the Browser bring forth the living social network after his kind, profile, and like thing, and beast of the browser after his kind: and it was so.
25: And Internet made the site of the browser after his kind, and profile after their kind, and every thing that “creeped” upon your profile after his kind: and Internet saw that it was good.
26: And Internet said, Let us make Facebook in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the tagged photographs, and over being friended by your mom, and over the drunk texts, and over all the Tweets, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the profile.
27: So Internet created Facebook in his own image, in the image of Internet created he Facebook; like and poke created he them.
28: And Internet blessed them, and Internet said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the social networks, and subdue it: and have dominion over the status updates, and over the foul things you post, and over every living thing that moveth upon your profile.
29: And Internet said, Behold, I have given you every friend’s profile, which is upon the face you may stalk, and every indecent post, in the which is the fruit of a smut yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30: And to every beast of the earth, and to every chick of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every “green herb” for meat: and it was so.
31: And Internet saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the Facebook and the Twitter were the sixth generation.

Tear Down This Wall... I Mean Mall. - Xanadu (American Dream)

2011-06-14T14:07:00.004-04:00

I took a summer course on Social Media Marketing for my Master's Degree in Professional Technical Communication. For this assignment, we were to select a client and create a social media marketing proposal and develop strategies in marketing. Having an architecture background, I selected Xanadu (now known as the American Dream Meadowlands) as my client.

In my proposal, I suggest a public teardown of the façade’s paneling, similar to the Berlin Wall. I think using artists and various sculptures to publically make art of these panels could create a promotional marketing scheme for the new owners (Triple 5). These panels could be auctioned off and sold for profit for the state and help recover some of the financial costs to the State of NJ. Inviting the public to help remove the panels could also bring additional income and help relieve the resentment against this structure. I could see something similar to Gordon Matta Clark, in which certain panels are removed in an artistic manner to create insight and glimpse’s to what is behind the exterior.

An act like this might be one of the few ways for the new company to move past the Xanadu image. With a name like American Dream, the company is already set up for an ironic slap-in-the-face insult to what an American Dream actually means. So far, the only progress on this site is a verbal makeover. I would love to see a financial and physical renovation for this eyesore, Imean project.

Battle of the Buldge

2011-06-02T16:52:00.001-04:00

The Redesigned Food Pyramid and my concept below.

Golden Triangle

2011-05-25T23:08:00.004-04:00

Diagram for the future of social media broadcast.

Recent Project

2011-05-24T14:04:00.006-04:00

This is my most recent project at work (above). It probably my best rendering to date, but not my favorite. I have learned a lot more on how to render propoerly and how to make a project more realistic. My favorite render of all time (for work at least) has to be the Motorcycle Mall night render. Knowing what I know now, I would have a much more realistic render with better quality.

A Year Off

2011-05-24T13:49:00.002-04:00

This has been a really busy year for me. I completed my Internship requirements and duration period So I will begin taking my Architecture Registration Exam soon to become a licensed professional. I took some time off from school to concetrate on getting things in order and to reduce the financial burdens of school. Graduate School is twice as much per credit than my undergraduate, which to me seems outrageous. Plus there are not many scholarships or financial aid packages avaible to me since I am an employed white male with no disabilities.

That aside, I find it funny that after taking the time off from blogging, school and whatnot to get my life in order, I am in the middle of a giant change. My roomate is going away for a long time, so I had to switch to a cheaper 1 bedroom apartment. I will be moving on June 1st from Belleville to Nutley. I am in the process of studying for exams, and I am going to finish my degree this Fall. I am eager to finish school and will be taking two courses this summer.

I have been keeping up with my weightloss and body building, and the changes are significant. I stopped writing my weightloss blog a while ago as well. Physically I also look different, I shaved my head. This gives me a "tough guy" appearance which contradicts my personality.

I will be very busy this year, which is good. I find that I study better when I am busy. It makes me more motivated and mentally brings me into work mode. I will be adding more to this blog over the next few months including projects I am working on at work.

Cozzarelli Cirminiello Gingerbread Holiday

2010-12-10T12:53:00.001-05:00

My Other Company's Christmas Card

2009-12-17T17:12:00.002-05:00

Listen with music! I designed and created it.

Blogging

2009-12-13T22:31:00.003-05:00

I have recently been working on another blog tracking my weight loss. I am not going to post the link since this is my professional blog and that is my personal blog, but I have found that blogging has helped me keep on track of my weight loss goals, as well as keep me entertained while dieting. My friend and I started our weight loss blogs exactly 30 days ago, and we have blogged on it everyday since then.

It is very interesting to see how we each blog differently. I include comic strips, create fun lists and tips, and focus on my emotions in each posting. My friend, a girl, is focused on what she eats and what she has to do for the day. We both read each others posts daily and keep motivating each other, but the methods of how each of us blogs reflects our focus on diet. Her situation is different than mine in that her school's program is very intense and time consuming. So it makes sense that her tracking her workload and her food intake as being the two most critical aspects of her diet. In my case, I work 9-5, have to take care of a dog, have online homework, and workout each night. So my blog is to keep me motivated to keep working since I have a pretty set routine each night, while her blog is more about balancing various workloads and temptations.

The blog has become a really crucial tool and it has been used for a variety of different genres of writing and communication. In my personal blog, I have kept my focus and in 30 days, I have lost 20 pounds. In my professional blog, I am keeping up to date on current events and tracking my professional success. The combination of the two methods of writing has been truly unique and quite beneficial to me as a person and a writer!

PhotoSynth

2009-12-13T19:58:00.001-05:00

Photosynth is a real beauty of a program which takes photographs and compiles them together to create an image which is not pixel driven! It basically allows for a 3d version of compiled photographs to create a scenescape which may be manipulated beyond the capabilities of video! It is a must see.

Theories, Models, and Metaphors- Oh My!

2009-12-13T19:31:00.003-05:00

A theory is an analytical structure intended to bring forth insight on a general topic or observation. A theory is necessary to explain the association of how things work. Theories should establish a universal typology, yield insight due to the typology, postulate sequences and relationships, and address operational issues to how individuals compose. The ultimate value of theory remains within the domain of its context. The applications of theories are necessary for information processing to produce a better understanding of relationships between social and application boundaries. Data collection, instruments, and procedures followed develop a foundation for the case of theories.

A model is the rule that is used to account for data. Models are important and relate to theory because they are derived from one’s own research or from a literature review and the research of others. A model is a rule that is use to account for the datum. The key elements in model building are the data used for the basis of formulating a model and the appropriateness or correctness of the model lies in its capacity to reproduce or account for the variability in the data.

Metaphor is an important aspect of research because it is used as a strategy of discovery and reveals a relationship between the subject and vehicle. As model develop and become more complex, breaking their standard formulas, they become noisy where there are extraneous factors preventing the genuineness of the result. The social sciences have noise in that they deal with human beings and the way they change whereas the physical sciences can use mathematical and a definite measurability. The key role of a metaphor is to distinguish or filter the noise, revealing the signal (root) of the data.

Newark Visitor Center Design

2009-12-11T14:17:00.005-05:00

This was my submission for a Newark Visitor Center Competition.

I did not place, but I thought it was a great layout!

Qualitative Research

2009-12-09T22:10:00.004-05:00

I am not a very statistical type person, especially based on the genre of work I do at my firm. I am mainly a designer- pretty good if I should say, but I am pretty weak construction wise. I am more fascinated with aesthetics and the quality of the product versus cost and construction. Through my job I am learning both, and know the limitations of the implementing a design under those constraints. In architecture school, budget and construction were theoretical so I was able to go all out in my design, but at work I must meet the client's needs.

My research topic is manly qualitative for PTC 604 as that is my comfort zone. Bernard stated that a research topic should be something the researcher is interested in and thus this is why I chose to write about Futurism in the Digital Age. However, after performing the statistical portion of the class, I found out that I actually enjoyed doing this type of research. I am pretty good at math and recognizing patterns, so this type of data came relatively easily. I have never taken a statistics course, so I am pretty new to this entire genre. My only comparable class I took was during my undergraduate- economics. This class was by far the most difficult class I had ever taken during my undergraduate, yet I was able to get an A for my final grade. I was not very sure how, but I was always able to get the answer without really knowing how or why, but somehow it was the correct answer.

I have had similar occurrences when I use to study science in high school, I did not really know the proper way to do something, yet I did very well because I recognized patterns which led me to the answer even though I did not really understand the formulas or the theory.

For a qualitative researcher, I find it is important to date your theories, as quality is based on the time period it is referring, and quantitative may exist in both time and law.

Company Christmas Card!

2009-12-09T21:47:00.005-05:00

I was in charge of creating my company Christmas card, and this year I decided to go "green" with it and make it a digital video. All of our holiday cards have been based around a tree design and this year was no different, except that we were also saving a tree in the process!

AIA NJ Intern Architect of the Year!

2009-11-10T13:01:00.005-05:00

I was named the 2009 AIA NJ Intern Architect of the Year!

This is the newsfeed on the NJIT website.

This is the biography I submitted:
"Since the first word Jason uttered, he has dealt with the adversity felt by all architects when conveying their ideas. Born with a speech impediment, he was forced to channel his ideas and creativity through the use drawing or signals while talking in order to key others into his thoughts. After many years, Jason had to rethink, rehear, relearn like an architect years before entering NJIT for his undergraduate degree in architecture.

Jason’s mental filtering & strong level of concentration mixed with the visual communication skills he developed while living with his speech impediment has cultivated a highly creative & perceptual personality. It is with his good-will & nature that Jason has not looked at his impediment as a crutch, but rather as an instrument to aid others in overcoming their obstacles.

During college Jason was a member & Freshmen Retreat counselor for the Albert Dorman Honors College, a member of the Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society, an artist in the NJIT Art Society, & a peer mentor lecturing students in Adobe Photoshop & 3d Studio Max. Jason studied abroad in Siena Italy during the summer of 2008 & completed his degree one semester early earning the academic distinction of Magna Cum Laude. Jason was nominated & won honors many times for his studio work. Jason won 2 design competitions- a playground in Newark made from recycled material & a renovation of commuter section of the college cafeteria.
Jason was scouted to perform renderings for T.M. Rybak & Associates (TMR) in March of 2006. He worked during the semester & summers. In December 2008 he was hired full-time after graduating. His work on projects have included: renderings for the NJ Devils Executive Offices (Prudential Center), design development of a renovation & logo design for the Colonnade Apartments (originally designed by Mies van der Rohe), & marketing campaigns & town presentations for a proposed YMCA in Carlstadt.

In 2008, he was crucial in the transition & office management of Bertone Cozzarelli Healthcare Architects (BCH) after they relocated to share space with TMR. He established cohesive logos, websites, brochures, & marketing campaigns for all the companies including the firm’s construction management group and collaboration firm. He facilitated the technology integration between the companies as well as consolidating, updating & organizing the firms’ libraries.

Besides graphics Jason has worked on several key projects for BCH including being the architectural design of a new 100,000 s.f. motorcycle showroom and working on two pro-bono project: a new Bloomfield Stadium (Foley Field) & the Belleville SOHO Park.

Jason has been crucial in the technological evolution of the firms, including providing input on integrating green design. Jason meets with clients, develops ideas, & creatively represents the finished work both in 2d and 3d. He has experienced all levels of the field including drafting, design, development, office management, graphics and meeting with inspectors, planning/zoning boards, construction managers and clients."

Sample Work

Design Rendering (Above)

As- Built (Below)

Futourism: Hybrid Hypertext Architecture and Virtual Voyeurism in the Digital Age

2009-11-07T21:46:00.002-05:00

This is a conceptual formula I developed for my research paper for my graduate study class PTC 604- Futourism: Hybrid Hypertext Architecture and Virtual Voyeurism in the Digital Age

Formula 1: Ratio of Use and Access to Exploration and Education in relation to technology.

Futurism is the precedent of social and technological change; its zealous obsession of technology is a mere precursor of today’s mania, attitudes, and cohabitation with the next generation of technology. This research proposal will analyze events between Futurism and the Digital Age in order to document the subsequent integration of the Digital Age into the next stages of mankind. The car and the computer are both responsible for transforming the boundaries of microspheres for human connectivity on a totally individualistic level at the start of their respective eras. The key to the car’s, computer’s and now cell phone’s success over other technology, such as the train or the plane, is that these mass produced products promote personalization and create ownership so that users confide to these technologies to provide an escape from reality.

GSA Representative

2009-10-24T20:11:00.002-04:00

I was elected as the Graduate Student Association (GSA) Representative for Professional Technical Communication.

This means that I am responsible for representing the student body of my program for the entire graduate studies at NJIT. I will attend bi-weekly meetings and create a feedback report for the director of the program based on the responses of students who participated in the study. It will be important to help gain awareness and representation for the program in the NJIT graduate studies. My role is going to be challenging as I work full time and go to school. I also have other meetings and clubs to attend, but I will do my best to be as active as I can in the program.

I want to thank everyone who voted for me, and I will gladly answer anyone's questions so please e-mail me at jrp22@njit.edu if you need to speak to me.

Graduate Student Association (GSA)

2009-09-30T22:21:00.004-04:00

I am running for GSA Representative for Professional Technical Communication at NJIT. I am running in hopes of bringing the online degree closer to the campus and to bring awareness of the program. I am currently running unopposed, and last year we did not have a rep for our department. I will keep everyone up to date on the MSPTC Community page on Moodle.

AIA Design Awards

2009-09-30T22:03:00.003-04:00

This is my firm's submission for the AIA Design Awards. It is also my first architectural design to be built! I am very honored that my boss allowed me to design a building as an intern. I am also very proud of the final product. I cannot wait to see it built.

Am I my dog's Person?!

2009-09-30T21:37:00.008-04:00

In December I rescued a dog, which I named Blue. The shelter Noah's Ark had rescued him from a kill shelter in Kentucky who was going to put him down due to overcrowding. When I met Blue (his name was Frankie for Frank Sinatra) he was a mush. He was extremely submissive and I knew he would require some work. When he got home, he was very destructive; he ate my cell phone, charger, shoes, socks, pants, my Dish Network remote, among many other personal elements.

I was extremely nervous that he would never stop his destruction habits. I worked hard with him and developed a bond with him. It has been a while since he has eaten anything of value, and in March I moved into an apartment with him. This was a culture shock for both of us. I grew up in Ogdensburg, NJ and had a large yard with a doggie door for Blue to use. In Belleville, I was in a one floor apartment with him with backyard, but no fence. I started walking him and taking him to the doggie parks.

In June, I signed us up for Doggie School and after several weeks we graduated. He is a very obedient dog, and loves to do what he can to make me happy. It is a very strange feeling to have something dependent on me, but I am reassured of how much I mean to him by his dedication to me.

After watching the movie Bolt, the dog in the story refers to his owner as “my person”. I wonder if my dog considers me as his person? Blue has developed a strong bond with me, and has started to imitate things I do to him. He hugs me when I get home and leave (a trick he taught himself) and he has started to squeeze me when he does this. Last week he started to smile when I praised him. He sleeps in my bed with my every night and is excited to see me wake up. Another trick he started was to bring a squeaky toy to bed and he imitates my phone ring in the morning by squeaking it in my ear to wake me up – like I do every morning to my phone. He also brings his bone to bed when I am working on HW and sits like me while I work and he chews his bone.

For this docile creature (who I may add never barks) he has gotten to be very protective of me. At the dog park a Pit-bull jumped on me and growled, so Blue came over and toppled the other dog over. I have never seen him be aggressive towards another creature (except for ground hogs and for some strange reason Golden Retrievers).

I am very happy that I could change the life of a rescued dog. I am certain he was put up for adoption due to his destructive nature, but it was his previous owner’s loss at a wonderful dog. I am grateful the shelter, Noah’s Ark, spent the money to bring Blue up from Kentucky so that he would not be put down.

Pondering What it Means to be Peist?

2009-09-30T20:59:00.005-04:00

Over the course of the past month, I have needed to prepare two biographies- one for class and another for an application for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) NJ Intern Architect of the Year. For my PTC 604 assignment, I decided to talk about an issue I have dealt with for a long time, but never was comfortable discussing – my speech impediment. And for my AIA Intern Architect nomination, I was forced to gather all my awards, honors, community service, and other key notes of my life.

While digging through all my files, I found my speech interim reports from elementary school. The earliest report I had was from December 1991 and it stated

“Jason has an articulation disorder characterized by numerous substitutions, distortions, additives and omissions. Work needed for optimal production of /H, /G, /K, NG/, /F, V, /S/, Z, SH, ZH, TH/, /L, /CH/, /SH/, /J/, SL/, K, BR/, among several additional sounds. Test needed for auditory perceptual skills."

I was shocked by how many sounds I had to work on, especially since by this time I had undergone over 3 years of therapy. I was told by my parents and my speech therapists that I was very difficult to understand as a child. Struggling with the impediment was not easy, and I was often neglected in school by my teachers because they would not push me or ask me to repeat myself. Either through their compassion for my struggle or for their incapability to understand what I spoke, none of my teachers realized that I could not read aloud until I was in the middle of third grade. I was rarely called upon to read to the class and I was often stopped after a sentence or two and told I did a great job, even though in my mind I clearly did not. During the time when my fellow classmates learned how to read, I was able to comprehend the text of what I saw without actually knowing how to pronounce the words. I did well on tests because I understood what was needed from me and I just had to circle the answer. In this limbo I existed on a literate level but was unable to combine orality with literacy.

After completing this very mentally straining assignment for PTC, I had to switch gears for my methods of analyzing myself and prepare my application for my honors. I find resumes to be very crucial documents, yet I have been afraid to update mine. I think the one page layout makes me want to change the entire layout every time I update it, especially when I have fit as much as I could onto that one page.

To my surprise, I found preparing my application more stressful than my PTC assignment. I was shocked by this because I thought that I would feel more vulnerable for discussing my speech impediment. Getting my resume and my application together felt very formal and I did not realize how many things I did in my life over the past view years. I also did a lot of research on myself to see what people would find on Google when they search my name. Luckily everything that came up I found to be acceptable. Using this tool, I was able to include things on my resume that I would normally exclude because it would be tough to prove- like my world record in Minesweeper (however, before you get too excited, I am tied with a couple hundred people).

I find out soon if I won the Intern Architect of the Year, so I will keep everyone posted!

Blogging Blockage: I'm Back

2009-09-27T20:18:00.002-04:00

After struggling for a while with blogspot, I have finally been able to get my account to operational status after for some reason I was locked out of my account. So ready to start blogging again!

"Eulogy to the Classroom"

2009-05-03T19:13:00.002-04:00

"Eulogy to the Classroom"

Quietly I die in this room.

How appropriate!

When we die, we die in sterilized rooms.

We sit beneath the burning fluorescent lights, slowly cooking, heavily sweating, awaiting the release from our prison. When will it come?

Body heat, body sweat, body odors, our amassing forms a cloud of oppression of hot and smell.

Pink floors. Pink walls. Pink desks. Pale occupants, near death. My eyes wander more. White wall. Brick wall. CMU wall. Walls, walls, walls! No windows, no life! Enclosure, entrapment.

STERILE, CLEAN, LIFELESS!

One-hour twenty minutes. One-hour twenty minutes before freedom, from escape out into the cold air. The taste of freedom, of fresh air, before confinement in another room, a less pink room, but a room yet the same.

These sterile environments are our death chambers, our rooms we waste dying.

Enthralled with the speeches, the speeches about life about our past and about our humanity, I seek escape. How can we talk about, be passionate about life, when it’s confined into sanitary, inert spaces.

We challenge life, our notions of what it means to exist, yet we accomplish nothing here. How can it be expected when surrounded by such lackluster?

Neatly in rows we wait, await, waiting- what for? Why do we stand these spaces? How can one live for eight hours confined in a pink room, without the desire to destroy its structure. To break apart the rigidity, introduce humanity into the room.

Anger grows. Rebellion, I scribble graffiti on my desk, hoping it will take personal offense.

Suddenly, an idea!

I stand, tossing my chair

Tearing apart the rigid pre-determined grid

With the disruption of my chair, now on its side

Next went the table, and then I ripped apart my neatly stapled packet.

The classroom stood some applauding while others were appalled.

Soon more desks, more chairs were tossed by the pupils, while others scramble to reassemble.
Fear, rage in others!

Shocked, but with adrenaline, the teacher tosses her papers about the room.

More papers fly in the air. I scramble, pushing aside the students who are attempting to remain order, trying to put together the grid, which they seek comfort.

I begin tearing apart the legs of the table, like a lion eating its prey, to ensure permanent and a painful death to the pink table. With limbs thrown about, the other young eager students, too, begin tearing apart the carcasses of the furniture.

We rip apart our sterile room, breaking apart the fabric of familiarity and rigidity that has haunted us for months.

Broken electronics, smashed furniture, torn clothing, bleeding cuts from pieces gone array, the only remnant of structure left was the chalkboard upon was written

“Freedom, alas”.

Then upon this pile we ascended. Sat down and we LEARNED.

atTUNEd for Learning: Pod-classing

2009-05-02T16:53:00.001-04:00

This is an image for a paper I am working on for PTC 603. The idea is the podcasting is a better learning environment for school.

MSPTC Portfolio

2009-03-15T14:47:00.007-04:00

Figure 1: Technology Image

Figure 2: Technology Passsive Icon

Figure 3: Technology Active Icon

Figure 4: Index Page (allows MSPTC and Architecture)

Figure 5: Sample Interior Page

Figure 4 and Figure 5 are two sample images of how I want my porfolio to look.

Figure 6: Final Index Page

Figure 7: Final Interior Page

Sample Photoshopping

2009-03-02T12:49:00.003-05:00

Before

After

This was a sample photograph that I only Photoshopped using various images. Nothing in this image was rendered using my most commonly used program, 3d Studio Max.

The REAL WORLD aka work

2009-03-01T22:10:00.002-05:00

So I have begun my life on the workforce. I decided to stay with the firm I have worked for since March 2006. I was lucky to have found a job in this market, especially in architecture. I am working for two firms inside my building and I am a shared resource for all things computer based. I have not been able to do as much architecture designing as I would like, but what I am doing right now is very valuable. At my job I have been responsible for all the graphics, brochures, and now the website. I have really begun to use my skills and develop them into a more professional manner and the MSPTC program has greatly helped in keeping me in touch with technology and writing. I do not think I would be employed right now had it not been for the skills that have started to develop from this program.

As a side note, I took a major “Green” step and I will be taking the LEED exam for Architecture on June 6th.

Design Showcase

2009-02-12T23:31:00.002-05:00

This was a design showcase I created last year for architecture.

My little boy Blue

2009-01-20T21:33:00.002-05:00

This is my new puppy that I adopted from a shelter last month! Sorry for the break in blogging, but I have busy at my work.

Blog Log

2008-12-13T22:23:00.003-05:00

After blogging for the last few months, I have been able to express myself as well as show my talents to the online community. I always thought blogs were rather too personal to do online, but after writing about the elements of technical communication, I have begun to see that a blog can be more than a personal rant about the world. In the coming months I hope to blog more about architecture and my life as I start to enter the job force, as an architect. Come January, I will graduate from my undergraduate program at NJIT in Archtiecture.

Architecture has long been a challenge, taking up many hours of my life, and has left me rather stressed. Typically in a semester I would pull 4 all nighters, usually two of them being consecutive. All this work has paid off well, as I was selected to present my project to the Dean of my college and many well known architects. This presentation was the climax of my college career as people saw me as an architect rather than just a student.

I am still pursuing my graduate's degree in Technical Communication this upcoming spring. I am glad this degree will be online, as I am intending on working full time. My next goal in life is to find an apartment near Rutherford and move out of my home in Ogdensburg. My home town has long been in a recession, and I am noticing the affects of the economy on all my friends who stayed there. So many of my hometown friends are unemployed and unable to pay for gas (maybe not now with these great gas prices) but the fact the my once weathly friends are now broke and at home is alarming.

I have managed to keep some of the personal parts of my life out of this blog, but every now and then I would include a more personal blog such as with my struggles with certain aspects of technical design, and I was very glad to share my experience of designing a logo. I feel much stronger with Blogger now, and to my surprise was able to get the CSS code to work with me and created a template for my posts that I was happy with. I learned the reason why none of my coding was working was the fact that I was trying to post my design on my studio computer. This computer was run on a network and was missing certain security protocals to allow me to finalize the post.

I moved all my blogging to my laptop and have had much more sucess with the writing. I find it much easier now to upload my photographs I want, as well as edit all my codes. This was the template I was using prior to this post.

And this is my template, after I got the code to work the way I wanted it to.

I had imagined my blog looking like this for a while, and I even added my counter to see how many hits I receive. Its cool to see that since I added the counter I have already had over 300 hits. That is quite impressive if I have to say so myself. This blog is much more me.

I definitly believe blogging has been really theraputic (not sure if this is a spelling error but I decided not to run spell check on this blog, so you readers can begin to see who I really am in regards to my spelling. In my first post I talked about how bad of a speller I was and wanted to see if I still have as many mistakes as I normally do.)

I truly enjoyed myself this semester with expressing myself with this blog. I hope that I continue to write in it and keep everyone posted of my experience with starting my career!

Jason

kr3c Promotion

2008-12-12T12:48:00.011-05:00

I have spent the last few weeks designing a logo for a new company, kr3c. You can see a variety of my designs in Logo Designs and the Final 4 Logos in those blog posts. I rather quickly came up with a logo design and posted it to the company forum for review and comments.This logo was well received by the company, but one of their concerns was the subliminal message of a less than symbol instead of it being read as a k. They also felt red was aggressive and wanted something more subtle. I took their criticism and offered a wide variety of designs (under Logo Designs) I tried to offer a wide variety of logo designs, and threw some out their just to see how people felt about them. I had surprising results, as people really liked these two logos in addition to my original.

I was rather surprised by how well these two were received. The orange one above began as a humorous logo of an implied heart with the k and the 3. The other was very scientific, which was seemed to work well with a technology based company. After the reviews of these additional logos, I selected two logos the first one I created and the orange one. I created minor variety between these two and posted them to a poll. I offered a variety of the initial one, showing it in blue and with the k apparent in one version and hidden in the other.

k is clear
hidden k

With the orange one, I showed it in both blue and orange. The selection was almost unanimous. People really liked the logo with the implied heart in blue. I was surprised by the results, as I anticipated it being a close vote. I personal like the first logo I designed best because it is very architectural. After this vote I finalized the design and modified it slightly.

I decided to connect the r to the the because before it was floating in the design. After connecting it, the logo had a better flow to it.

Before

After

During this time period there was a lot of discussion on the company board about the company being a green company. A lot of people expressed interest in including a green element to their work on other company elements such as websites, templates, and other business materials. I then went and added an additional logo focusing on green design. In this one, the "heart" is surrounding a leaf.

My final contribution to the logo was uploading the design the companies wiki page under the Graphics section. Since adding the logo, the company has incorporated it into all of its documents and its website.

I am very happy with seeing other people's finished products incorporating my design into them. This whole process could not have been completed without the feedback of the company. I am glad to see the company moving towards green design. I cannot wait until the company has completed all its documents and is ready to launch.

Collaboration

2008-12-01T22:07:00.006-05:00

During this semester, I have been collaborating with my PTC 605 classmates through online websites. Our class has been using Moodle, Wikispaces, and Delicious to network with one another and communicate about design.

Prior to this semester all my online classes at NJIT have been through an online site known as WebCT, which was orientated towards individual learning in an online environment. Moodle, varies a lot from this program, as it creates a “class” atmosphere. I feel like I got to know my online classmates through their profiles and avatars with Moodle.

The Moodle forums and chat collaboration are two features I took advantage of as a design tool. During this semester the forums promoted a class effort to collaborate as the topics lent themselves more to this process. In my PTC 601 class all the forums were orientated to individual responses and were more focused on answering material. The topics covered in PTC 605 asked for more of an opinion and asked us to gather information to share with our classmates. Our class offered very useful links and suggestions about each others projects and postings. I used the forums to get feedback on the design of a logo I created for our pretend company kr3c. The fast responses and insightful suggestions aided in the overall design of the logo as well as ensuring a cohesive agreement on the image we created for the company.

The chatroom in Moodle was something we discussed early on, and as a class decided it would be used on an as need basis. The chat was beneficial in seeing how other students were doing, especially when we were able to discuss our struggles with various aspects of the course. I think the chat was more beneficial as a social aspect rather than an educational aspect. In a class I feel it is necessary to socialize with the classmate to improve how you feel towards your own work. Instant feedback about how people feel about your work and being able to complain about how difficult something may be to execute, aided me in being able to produce the work that I did. I had selected initially to have the chats on an as need basis, but reflecting back on the course, it would have been more useful for biweekly student chats and a teacher student chat once a week.

The PTC 605 Wikipage collaboration was a difficult thing to comprehend right away, and I have to admit I was scared to tackle it. Our class created a WikiSpace on aspects of design. I selected to discuss Figure Ground and created my first page independent of everyone else’s page. After everyone in the class made their first page, it became the goal of the class to edit and unify each other’s pages into a harmonious, yet well written website. I took on a personal effort to unify as much as I could the overall visual content of the pages. I added a logo, ensured all the formatting was the same, made cohesive heading topics, and added the author’s name to each page.

Original Posting

A month later

I found WikiSpace very difficult to use in terms of what the preview of the site showed me and what it actually published. Most of my edits were edits to my edit because it would add many spaces to the page, or place the image stuck in the middle of the text when I wanted it to be independent. I am not sure if this was a problem specific to my browser and operating system, but looking at other people’s edits, I noticed a similar pattern to mine of needing to reedit a revision due to spacing issues. I also wish WikiSpace allowed you to comment on the changes made after posting them. It allows you to note the changes made while you edit it, but once it is posted those comments cannot be modified. I often would forget to include what I did on the post mainly because we had so many edits to make on the overall project.

I think the class as a whole did a great job in adding content to the pages, and for the most part no one created anything drastically different from one another, so making it cohesive was easy. I would have liked to have seen a collaboration prior to adding content on the overall goal and basic rules we wanted to follow. Small things like do we include sources or do we start the posting with an image rather than text could have blended all the sites together faster. But I saw the whole process as something we all worked on and everyone took the aspects of each page we liked and included them in our overall design. I do not think one individual would be able to pull together the design we did. The personalities of the individuals are evident in all the entries, and each page offers a different perspective that you would not be able to get from just one individual working on the site.

The final project, which was to design the documents needed to start up a company was a very interesting collaboration. I initially selected to do the trade show images and products, but took the initiative to do the logo after no one had selected it from the list. I wanted to give my classmates the opportunity to design the logo, as I have done several logos for my work and competitions. I realize how important and difficult designing a logo can be, especially with trying to make one that everyone can be happy with. I also realized that a logo would need to be done ASAP and was afraid to take on the logo due to my hectic architecture schedule.

I posted my first logo design the day after my proposal was accepted, and instantly got feedback from my classmates on its design. They pointed out small things I would not have thought about such as a subtlety of an implied less than sign in the logo. I then came up with seven more varieties of Logo to see what direction people were moving in. After seeing the general consensus I narrowed the choice down to two logos with a little variety of each and created a poll on our kr3c Wikispace. I knew a poll would force people to select and option and would give a concrete decision with what the class wanted. The poll lead to a landslide choice making it easier for me to finish the assignment.

I would not have created the logo I did without the forums and collaboration. I would have selected my first design and would not have modified it. The opportunity to collaborate tested my design skills and helped produce and better clearer product.

Logo Promotion

2008-12-01T16:14:00.002-05:00

...and the final logo design is

and for the green inside of you...

NJIT Website Usability Testing

2008-11-30T23:17:00.009-05:00

My college, New Jersey Institute of Technology, has been undergoing a dramatic change of its image since I started here back in 2004. Such new additions as the campus center and a dramatic increase in its branding have started to change the image of the school from a simple commuter school into a real college campus. NJIT’s master plan includes the purchasing of Central High School and even a hotel, but before NJIT started their aggressive plan, they took an early step with a redesign of their website.

NJIT consulted with mStoner to prepare the first drafts of web usability tests to which the web service team made revisions. These documents outline a method for doing a field study for the implementation of actual usability testing on the NJIT web site directed at high school students. The team documents the user’s name, age, their ethnicity, year in school, and contact information before beginning the website questionnaire and prior to the test the users must fill out a consent form. The questions are directed at the student’s experience with other college websites and then ask the students their opinion on the NJIT website. They also ask the user to attempt to find certain information about NJIT on the site.

I found these protocols for the test lacking. The test is only directed at high school students, and does not look at transfer or graduate students for their opinions. The “high school generation” knows for the most part how to navigate a website, but if you were to ask their parents how to navigate the website, the results may have been very different. I remember my parents wanted to know the address of my dorm my freshman year of college. They had my room number but not an address to mail me information. They spent a long time looking at the website in search for the address of dorm and were unable to find it. They were forced to wait until I got home to give me a present for college. I would have liked to see the same test also asked to the parents of undergraduate students, as well as a separate test given to graduate and transfer students.

I found the questions posed by the survey rather uninformative. I would have asked more pointed questions about whether you would not attend a school if they had a poorly designed website, or is the website a deciding factor in your choice of college. A lot of the questionnaire was directed at aesthetics of the website, and not so much content. I have always found the NJIT website overdrawn and boring in terms of its content. I would like to see shorter paragraphs and more images on its pages. I would have asked the student if after viewing a page, if he had actually read the entire page. The tasks take the user only to how a new person may view the webpage and not into more complex situations such as where would you choose a meal plan.

Had these test been for another commercial site, the usability test would have varied. The test would focus more on how the user would order something online or find their nearest store or distributor. The test group would have looked for a larger audience of mixed regional locations, ages, and genders. The target audience may depend on the type of store. A large website like Amazon targets almost everyone, whereas Abercrombie and Fitch would target a younger generation. Overall, though, a commercial site may need to be more functional rather than aesthetic. I would have to say in comparing the NJIT website to Amazon that NJIT really attempts to brand itself, whereas Amazon brands its products.

Image driven website (NJIT is the product)

Product driven website (Amazon is the venue through which you find your product)

Blog Design

2008-11-26T23:05:00.009-05:00

I am an aesthetic person; my schooling for architecture has drilled into my head an acknowledgement of what is good design. I find it very difficult not to notice small things wrong with design such as bad ceiling grid layouts, molding that does not meet an edge properly, to stairs that do not meet ADA requirements. Design is something everyone lives with everyday, and we all to some degree understand what makes good design from bad. Our big struggle is trying best express ourselves with what options we can. Our clothing reflects our personal style, yet we all can wear the same shirt differently. We have set selections or options at our hands, and it is our opportunity to make what we have ours.

I have been told many times that I have great potential as a designer, and that I am imaginative. I know how to really think outside the box but I sometimes have trouble executing it to its fullest. I struggle a lot trying to express myself, and have found it at times very difficult, yet this blog has allowed some freedom of expression. I intend on using this blog for a long time, especially once I enter the work force and have some more free time to write.

Since the beginning of this blog, I have done my best to include my personal style in everything from my writing to the color schemes and templates I have used. I really am proud of what I have accomplished with this blog and often send the link of it to family members and friends to read. To me this blog has evolved from a quick writing assignment into something very personal. I really enjoy the act of writing and designing at the same time.

My First Blog Template, used to match some of the facebook and twitter colors.

Later template used to match the various colors and symbols in the digital poem I analyzed.

Blogger has many limitations to its default templates, yet I know I have been making each of the templates my own. Much like the clothing analogy from before I did not let the template make my blog, I made my blog make the template. In the past two weeks I have been researching and working on HTML script to begin to enhance my blog to reflect more of who I am as a designer. I found it painfully difficult to really modify the existing script and make it my own. If I was to design a website from scratch, it would be really easy for me to make it a strong design, but I have found it hard to really rework the script of Blogger. The process has resulted in many errors with the script that I knew should work, and under most normal circumstances my code would run beautifully, yet with blogger I kept getting error after error.

I have realized after working for two weeks on trying to get my code to run, after many, many tutorials that I was concentrating too much on the script and lost my personality. In my last entry I had been stressed with trying to get codes to work and with my other classes that my entry had lost a lot of who I was (minus the fact I was up for over 48 hours working on my studio project.) In the final few minutes before my blog was due, I decided to go with a random cityscape template to reflect the fact that I am an architect. Though this template added a lot of visual style, it did not in the slightest allow me to make modifications to it. Even deleting a line seemed to cause errors in the code. This template reflected me in theory, but it really didn’t because I had lost a lot of my freedom I had come to enjoy with Blogger.

The beautiful yet limiting CityScape template

My studio design.

In my latest attempt I have been searching for a template that didn’t force itself to be protected and to overwhelm my viewers with the fact I was using a third party template. I kept it simple, as I feel my entries should be the main focus of the website and not a flashy wallpaper or rounded edges. I got this template from this website and really enjoy how it reflects the logo I created for my class with its colors. I even changed my tradition J.Peist logo to match the color scheme of this template.

I feel much more confident with using these templates and allowing more time and freedom for the content of my postings rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. I know I am not yet strong enough with my coding to be able to pull together a product I was happy with and would have most of my code from tutorials anyway. As a designer there are certain things we accept as standards (or as templates) from the paint colors we chose to the style of font we pick. All these choices come from pre-made standards that are meant to be at our disposal. I truly welcome these standards for their ability to free ourselves from the need to design every aspect of what we do. I enjoy that their as clothing designers out there making various shirts for me to chose from. Even though I am wearing someone else’s design, I am at least satisfied with the fact that I chose that particular article of clothing to wear.

Current Design

Final 4 Logos

2008-11-25T14:55:00.005-05:00

Here are the final four logo choices.

Web Writing

2008-11-21T22:05:00.004-05:00

I recently submitted an online resume to a company I was interested in and needed to redesign my resume for the web. I chose to include hyperlinks for everything from companies I have worked at, to awards I won, and even my e-mail address. I felt that the people who would read this resume would get a better sense of who I am, and with less work, because it was much easier to click a link to learn more.

The web expands the capabilities of direct media interaction versus print. However, I found it funny that I still formatted my paper in an 8.5X11 style. I notice that most web pages stick to standard size paper because it is the general medium for when information comes off of the web.

The five basic things to address in writing for both print and web are:

Audience: It is important to make sure the language fits the audience and applies to a large amount of the population since it is the internet and is available to most.
Visuals: It is important to include graphics to allow the eyes to rest on something. It is hard on the eyes to read off of a screen and allowing the reader to rest can let you have a longer entry.
Format/Organization: Frequent breaks in the bulk of the information, and keeping the text closer together so it does not spread across the entire screen makes it easier and more comfortable to read.
Descriptions: Putting some sort of a preface to the page or introduction lets the reader know if the page is for them. If you can capture their attention early and let them know this is the page for them, then they will stay; attention spans are shorter on the web. To keep the readers attention, use active words rather than passive words that make the reading seem to monotonous.
Structure: Breaking up the page and allowing a person to skip around to exactly what they need instead of having to read through the entire page encourages someone to read it, otherwise the large amount of information can seem daunting.

The key to doing anything on the web is to keep it short and simple and to break it up into manageable pieces. It is harder to keep someone’s attention on the web than when the same information is in print. This article expands upon this short list with 10 tips for web writing.

Logo Design

2008-11-10T18:38:00.003-05:00

This is my first attempt at a logo design for a company.

Variations

Flash Forward

2008-11-05T22:15:00.004-05:00

Ever since I started designing websites, I have always wanted to learn Adobe Flash and how manipulate a web page to my personal style. Flash is unique because it as limitless as imagination. While taking a programming course at NJIT my freshman year, my professor told us HTML is going to be a dead language in the near future. Her next big language was Java Script, which she painfully made us program manually. Having programmed in Java and knowing basic HTML, I see a lot of limits to designing. I feel constrained to frames and borders. Sites using these languages only allow for scrolling to change perception, and with very minor purely aesthetics such as changes a picture to black and white while hovering with the mouse.

From what I know about Flash, I see it being able to handle and truly excel the next generation of “touch” computers. Since I do not have the understanding of Flash (yet at least) I decided to take a look at a well-designed Flash website to see what the future may hold. This site LAB by Mathieu Badimon really explores the environment of Flash. He is able to transform the conception of a website or application into a bold, graphic representation of a “3d” world. He creates seven applications (or for a better word, environments):

1. Elastic Spiral: Similar to a Round Peppermint Candy where the user can control the amount of rotation for a spiral
2. Liquid Form: Two cell like spheres (which can be randomized) can move about and merge and separate from one another
3. Warped Text: The text can be warped by control points
4. Action Chess: A series of tiles appear over smaller squares when the mouse moves about the grid
5. Gravity Ball: A ball can be tossed around the screen and can dent and insert itself into the ground. Seems to work like real gravity.
6. Block Clock: A funny name, but this application is a clock that is formed form a stockpile of rectangles which fall back to the pile after the number changes.
7. Corner Drag: Plays with the concept of perspective, where the word “drag” can be pulled about a box in perspective. The font is distorted to look like it is also in the perspective.

Each of these pages allows rotation of the space to allow control over perspective and give depth to the understanding of implied 3d space from a totally 2d application. This control is a subtle introduction of the human experience to the page, as humans like to tailor things to their perspectives. When looking at a ledge we get on our tippy toes to peer over, when we want to read something we may crouch.

The colors are really eye popping, using a strong color palette mixed with really well executed hues of gray. These pages really use a lot of things popular with graphic design today, such as vectors, simplicity, and forced perspective perception. Today it is popular to rely on design rather than valueless glitz and glam, and this designer really understands how to graphically demonstrate his design standpoint. It is evident even in his choice of a sans serif font to reduce the imagery to its most basic comprehension of his intention.

Badimon manipulates Flash and the flaws of it to his advantage. The most common complaint of Flash is the time it takes to load, but Badimon distracts the user to be almost unaware of the fact the interface is not ready and is merely running through a loading sequence. I enjoy how he switches the letter of the words between + signs, and rotates them to the letters once the sequence is loaded. He is able to understand that people do not like for a lack of a better word “dead air”. When there is a visual silence, people will start their bored sequence and begin to distract themselves while their desired application loads.

He is clear with the navigation of the site as he numbers each of the application and pages, and organizes them in a basic grid. The few problems he has with the navigation is the integration of a few of his ideas, such as the bar on the bottom and sides which distorts the perspective. This bar could be better highlighted or emphasized to make people aware of its capabilities. Also I was confused by the www label not for its destination, but for its lack of graphically being integrated into the overall composition.

Web 2.0 The Next Generation

2008-10-29T02:20:00.007-04:00

New Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, and Wikipedia break the barrier of self-involved websites and allow for editing and personalization through open source. It is moving the website beyond a website and towards a network.

My generation (I am 22) has been privileged, as we grew up with Nintendo, computers, the Internet and even cell phones, yet we still briefly experienced their predecessors such as Pong, typewriters, encyclopedias, and those rotary phones. My generation is at the cusp of technology age where we had the advantage of experiencing both old (analog) and new (digital) technology. When I entered grammar school, my class was the first group to have a computer class. We were using an early version of Apple and the program Logo. This program would make shapes through the use of a turtle that would move with commands like right 90, forward 50 to draw shapes. (This must have been my precursor to drafting in AutoCad.)

I had a computer in my house since I was 7 and the Internet since I was 10. My first experience at Web 2.0 was in 1995 nearly a decade before Tim O’Reilly discussed it in his blog. This program known as America Online (AOL) is a communication program that allows people to communicate almost anonymously with one another. Its later version AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) as well as its variants MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger brought instant communication to the computer. These applications freed themselves from the standard Internet browsers and introduced a more personal experience. Its users created profiles, chose profile icons (an early version of an Avatar), as well as their fonts and their colors.

The evolution of technology comes naturally to my generation. In fact, I had no idea the Internet was undergoing a change to a new typology of design and interaction. I don’t view Web 2.0 as a new version of the Internet; rather I view it as a different sector of experiencing the web. I witnessed what we now call Web 2.0 in its earliest forms. I had a MySpace profile before it was big, a Facebook account when it was still required to be a college student to use it, and was sourcing Wikipedia on my papers before it became taboo.

To me the true evolution of Web 2.0 is when the Internet can break the box of being framed by monitors. The current issue with the Internet is over-stylization and spamming. The downfall of AOL (though I still use it to communicate) began when it started to run ads that would overtake your screen and sudden bursts of sounds for these ads squeaked across your speakers. One major deterrent was spamming by spam bots. While chatting with your friends, an unknown screen name would IM you with a sentence like “hi, how r u” and when you respond, it would flag the text box with spam. A lot of people were looking for the next big thing to replace AIM. When I talked to my teenage cousin, I was surprised to find the do not use AIM to communicate, instead their solely rely on text messaging via their cell phone to communicate.

The Web is not at a Web 2.0 state yet, rather we are in a Web 1.5 generation. The sites like Flickr are merely beta versions of what is capable. The next step in experiencing the Internet is literally experiencing the Web. The computer is merely an application through which we experience a digital representation of information, I see the future of the Internet as something more personal and real. The adaption and freedom from confined standards will redefine our society and the tools we use to express ourselves.

Map of the Internet Growth

Delicious Bookmarking

2008-10-21T20:24:00.006-04:00

I bookmarked several technical communication related websites that are useful for users. Delicious is part of the Web 2.0 network which looks as the Internet as a community rather than individual websites. It shares information across several domains in order to expand the capabilities of research. Delicious is part of something known as folksonomy. Folksonomy is social indexing of information through the use of tags. A tag is a generalization of the topics covered in the website or article.

There are a lot of capabilities using this tagging system. Today I went to the websites Flickr (a photo sharing network) to find images of the De Young Museum for my architecture class. This site allowed me to see some personal photographs of the space that I would not easily find elsewhere, even in magazines. With Flickr the tagging of photographs can also be tagged with a location. By locating the photograph, the images can be seen on maps such as Google Earth. The capabilities of a democracy taxonomy are crucial for our growth as a culture. This type of network can occasionally receive spam or graffiti (falsified information). As long as the information being tagged and data included on websites are monitered, then the network will maintain its integrity. I learn a lot through Web 2.0 websites like Wikipedia. I notice I have been using the term "Wikipedia it" rather than "Google it". I crave instant results when searching data, and when I want to know the little tidbits of life, Wikipedia offers it.

I tried to include several of the topics covered by technical communication. I bookmarked websites which cover Logo Designs, How to write for an Audience, Visual Design, and how to write an Effective Blog. I looked for some fun and interactive websites for the users, as the Internet offers more possibilities for learning. People who are researching technical communication will have the ability to expand their knowledge of many different visual and technical aspects we use in writing. One of my favorite links tells you the dont's of website design. This site shows you examples of Bad design and then good design.

How to animate using Paint and Movie Maker

2008-10-12T13:18:00.011-04:00

I am writing a tutorial on how to animate easily using two common programs found with a PC.

First. Locate Paint under the menu Program>Accessories>Paint

When paint is open you can add text using the text box

You can add shapes

When you want to add a stock image such as this lion, open a new paint application by going to

Program>Accessories>Paint

Now you willl have two pain windows open. On the new window open the image you wish to copy into your design.

Now you can use shapes and text to begin to animate your image. Save each step in the animation as a new file.

Once you have your images ready open Windows Movie Maker. Programs>Accessories>MovieMaker for 2000-XP

Programs>MovieMaker for Vista

Add your pictures to the collection. Use shift to select many. CRTL to selects specific images.

Drag your images into the Video category in order you wish to animate them.

You can drag the timing of each item to change how long each image runs.
Play the video for your animation. When finished publish your movie. It may look like this.

The Birds and the Bees of MP3'ees

2008-10-12T03:32:00.003-04:00

I always find humor the best learning method. So I took a humorous route to educate people about MP3s. Please note video uses audio.

The images for the video were created using Adobe Photoshop; however any imaging program such as Microsoft Paint could have been used. I created a few animation GIFs for this such as the seen when the word MP3 moves like a sound wave during the music making scene, the scene where the numbers are filtered to the ear and the scene where there are police sirens and Codec nagging. A GIF can be created using this FAQ and the program Adobe Photoshop. I also found a few stock images online to be used. Yes, the lion, the squirrel, the bird, and the bee are all clip art.

I used Microsoft Sam a built in audio reader and found a program that converts text to MP3s. I wrote a script and inputed it into the program to be read by the computer. For the boy's voice I used a higher pitch than the dad's voice. I also found free stock music online for the beginning and the end. I used a slice of the music found in the audio I needed to listen to for my class. This music was the scene where the MP3 moved like a sound wave. I choice this music because I found it funny as an introductory audio to the clip I needed to listen to in order to create this video.

I then used Windows Movie Maker and created the audio first. Then I began to add images and create more images to fill in the gaps. For the "animation" I create an image and then altered the image in Photoshop, saving it as a totally new image. I utilized a zoom affect on movie maker to save me some time in animating for the scene of compression. Lastly I added some credits to the end and published the movie.

It was a lot of fun animating this movie and I worked on trying to educate but have it be as funny as I could without going too overboard.

In a GIFfy

2008-10-10T22:05:00.008-04:00

CLICK IMAGE TO ANIMATE!

These is a sample GIF I created. Watch these other videos to see another type of animation using windows movie maker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKSAmB9QV8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd3b74fXGic

Reintroduction of the Human Element to Fonts- Segoe

2008-10-07T14:15:00.011-04:00

Font choices can either make or break a paper, logo, presentation or any other graphic. From what I have learned through architecture, personal experience, and a few graphic design courses is that a font should evoke the topic matter. I prefer to choose standard fonts that can be found on most computers. This prevents the substitution text dialog that will appear when the other computer does not have the same font as you were using. Usually it will replace your perfect font with Times New Roman and will ruin your formatting. I have had many experiences when presenting a PowerPoint where the formatting is destroyed due to substitution or having to use an older version of PowerPoint. These presentations were totally illegible and make presenting them very difficult for myself and the audience. I recommend always choosing a standard font, or to PDF your file when presenting on another computer!

I have been taught that you should only use one font type in anything you produce. This presents a clearer argument and prevents distractions between changing fonts. My graphics teacher in high school stated that a paper should only use the bold, italicize, and underline to vary the style of the text (of course you can use an artistic licensing when the subject matter allows for variation!) He said that a typeface family allows some more flexibility and that variations in text should happen in the same family. An example typeface family is Arial, Arial Black, Arial Narrow, and Arial Rounded MT Bold.

I read an article "Avoiding Typeface Terrors" by Kathleen Burke Yoshinda and was surprised by her standards for choosing a typeface. In the article she states that a Serif (with ending strokes on the letters, aka typewriter fonts such as Times New Roman) are perfect for long lines of text because it is easier to read. A San Serif font should be used for headings and short lines of text. She recommends using both when writing.

This Is An Example

Of the way to chose a typeface based on the reading "Avoiding Typeface Terrors" by Kathleen Burke Yoshinda

I disagree with her. I prefer using a constant font throughout the paper for both headers and body. It provides a much clearer argument to the paper when a person does not switch visually between fonts. I usually bold a header. I choose bolding over underline because it is "less stuff" to clutter a paper. Also while writing this blog I learned underline in Internet terms means hyperlink!

This Is An Example

Of the way I prefer to change between headers and body text within a paper.

At work I have been crucified for using a Serif font on our Christmas card. Architects love everything modern and stick to the cleaner more modern fonts like Arial and avoid kitschy fonts (even holiday fonts on their cards). For a lot of their documents architects will use a San Serif font and one that may evoke some sense of drafting text. Before the computer architects hand drafted all their text using a clear set of standards from point size to spacing. I have not had the privilege of learning this dead language but I have seen the modern remnants of this education learned by the older generation of architects. They pick fonts like Stylus because the text takes on a hand drafted quality.

In the article "Avoiding Typeface Terrors" Kathleen states you should choose a typeface based on three characteristics of Legibility, Readability, and Personality. I thought it would be fun to analyze my personal “architectural drafting” font Segoe.

Segoe was developed by Steve Matteson and the company Agta Monotype, but now is registered with the Microsoft Corporation. It is categorized under the human style of writing using a San Serif approach.

Legibility: As a general rule when selecting a font (as discussed in the reading) cover either the top half or bottom half of a sentence. If the text is readible, then it has a strong legibility.

Segoe has a strong legibility considering that is a handwriting font. The font families of the scripts are not a legible but are still rather legible considering their style. As far as the handwriting scripts this is one of the most legible styles that I have encountered.

Readability: The text is rather generous with the spacing of the letters to maximize white space. All the scripts separate capital letters which adds some extra room visually. It has a large X height meaning that the height of all the letters is consistent. The letters without stems such as a, e, v and n reach nearly as high as the stemmed letters such as l,t, and k and the dotted letters such as i and j. This font is not easily readable at font sizes below 6pt due to its handwritten nature.

Personality: Segoe is a friendly typeface. It is playful and different yet is rather legible. I usually avoid handwriting fonts, especially cursive types. I find the loose script approach as closer to real handwriting. I find that most people when writing in script use print capital letters. By doing this there is more breathing room within the text. I may be biased to this font because it is the closest to how I write in real life, but I find that Segoe varies itself to make each word have its own uniqueness to it. Segoe is a break from the monotone text types.

Hats of the Independent Blogger

2008-09-27T17:19:00.014-04:00

Writer: Bloggers, in essence, are writers. They take on the role of digital journalists, using the newest media (the Internet) as their tool. The one difference between bloggers and journalists is a blogger does not need a professional degree to write, in fact the statements that they make are never truly final. Bloggers can go back and edit older articles that have already been published without much consequence, while a journalist must formally write a retraction. A blogger has more freedom in their writing, but at the same time may not be as credible as a writer.

Researcher: Bloggers research trends, people, companies and technology. Research is important in order to stay current and accurate with posts. With the every updating information available on the internet, outdated news will not be prioritized by both bloggers and people who research for a living. Bloggers vary from researchers because they can cite their research with just a website, while a researcher needs to cite using MLA or APA format.

Reader: Blogging is not just about writing, it is about reading and staying aware. Bloggers get inspiration for their writing styles through books, magazines, and websites. This is important to realize the writing style associated with the genre of their website. Bloggers and readers read to become educated and keep in touch with the world. Readers and bloggers both must analyze what they read to determine it validity. A misjudgment in judging holds a bigger risk for a blogger because they may talk about what they read in their blog

Designer: The web is a harsh judge of design: crude and poorly executed websites have fewer visitors because of their poor impression Knowing web design is not imperative for bloggers, but knowing how to style a site is crucial. Templates for websites allow some freedom for bloggers, but a true web designer has more possibilities with the overall concept of the site. Web designers can also dedicate their own url where as bloggers who use premade websites need to use the name of the site in their url.

Anchor: When a blogger publishes their stories, they are news anchors for what they are writing. Bloggers need to present themselves to the world much like a news anchor, but without the worry of maintaining a perfect physical appearance. Bloggers personalities can shine through with their writings, and several visitors will buy into their persona.

Ghostwriter: As a blogger, some chose to act as ghostwriters and not allow much insight into the person behind the writing. Adding personal pictures, or ever your name is optional. Some people may even use their pseudo screen name as their name. Writers for corporate blogs are more like ghostwriters because they are paid to represent a broader image whether it is a corporation or celebrity identity. Several bloggers may pretend to be celebrities and act write like the celebrities they are impersonating. On the Internet anyone can assume the identity of whomever they wish.

Activist: Most blogs have a purpose behind their creation. Some people assume the role of an activist to express strong beliefs and to educate people. An activist on the Internet can network with other activists to help spread their word worldwide. People who are activists in their communities cannot reach the larger network of people that blogging allows. Bloggers have more access to images to share via their blog.

Trendsetter: Along with keeping up to date with the news, many bloggers will research and display the newest technology, fashions, and trend, in essence starting their own progressive trends. A writer has the possibility to set trends in all fields, even lingo. A famous blogger Perez Hilton has successfully people’s opinions of celebrities on several occasions. The one difference between bloggers and other trendsetters is blogging allows for direct connection to the trends through links.

Customer Service: Answering questions on blogs called (Qlogging) is implemented on corporate blogs as well as website blogs. Some personal blogs will answer fan e-mail and respond to questions posed. As customer servers, bloggers have the freedom to answer what they wish, whereas people in the customer service industry must pleasantly respond to all questions posed. Also on a blog, writers can respond harshly to comments.

Spokesperson: Blogging is selling oneself to the Internet world as a spokesperson for what you write. As a spokesperson, a blog can develop fan base which will expect a certain quality and attitude towards the blog. The difference between spokespeople in real life and on the Internet is that Internet spokespeople do no need to live the way they write. A person can write about being a vegetarian without needing to avoid meet in life.

Lovers Typographic Journey

2008-09-23T19:22:00.005-04:00

*fireworks rise* Fireworks night is nearly over *falls away*

all over *fireworks rising* the city" *tears apart*

* a & i fall spin change color to form...* I am warm in bed

*a & i shift to form* in the afterflow *text glows*

*text disappears* You have gone

*dramatic pause*

to the bathroom *fades*

*fireworks* A late flurry of stars lights up the window

*bang* i watch them go out with a bang *fades*

*letters tossed up in the air* They have only *fades fast*

*apppears pink, then orange, then yellow* just come

*dramatic pause anotehr word is added* down *changes to blue*

* n falls down to form...* from heaven *words diassapear one at a time*

written by mamasonic

This poet takes us on a visual tale detailing a date with someone the poet loves. The tale is dramatized using kinetic text which adds a visual character to the poem as if it was read aloud through the use of transitions, text size, color, and rhythm. The use of the firework transition (normally abused with Microsoft PowerPoint) is thoughtfully explored by the author who illuminates his story with the rapid speed, quick transitions, and unexpected twists which we all experience while watching a firework show. His colors explore the various moods by using a particular color family. He uses the warm colors (yellow and orange) to experience light while counterbalancing the light with cool colors (pink and blue) to demonstrate the dispersing of light. His transitions from red, orange, pink, to blue repeats throughout the entirety of his digital poem. They not only symbolize the colors of fireworks but more importantly the fading of light to dark.

He uses a hierarchy of speech though the text size, in which the poet emphases the important portion of the poem such as in “You have gone” and then downplays the details” like “to the bathroom” in order to create suspense. The rhythm of the poem implements pauses built into several of the slides in order to keep the watcher/reader in suspense. The poet also incorporated several key moments when letters of the text play an integral role in the words to come. The letters “a” and “i” were brought across three frames to help connect the lines of text. Originally I had though the poet chose “i” as a narrative, but realized the i was never capitalized, distinguishing itself from the first person singular.

Being an architect and not a very good poet, the message of the poem was clear to understand even without the animated text. However, being a visual society this poem would be overlooked had it not been digitally choreographed. I find digital poetry more inflicting of the intentions of the artist rather than leaving the meaning up to the reader. It is often a complaint that a book is always better than a movie, after analyzing this poem I am left with the question is an animated poem better than a text version?

Fireworks night is nearly over
all over the city
I am warm in bed
in the afterflow
You have gone to the bathroom
A late flurry of stars lights up the window
I watch them go out with a bang
They have only
just come down from heaven

Kids Vs Adults

2008-09-16T21:12:00.016-04:00

comparison of website design for the ages

WHITEHOUSE HOMEPAGE

Adults

Purpose: The adult version focuses on the current events and details of the US economy, politics, and cultural impacts. The adult version is more global with the content. The website focuses on current events, but does not even mention the current election.

Icon: The key figure of the website is President George W. Bush, and this will change after the upcoming election.

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Site Design: The influence of the website is adults who want to keep in touch with the current events and President Bush. The site is written for someone with an education and a current understanding of the world around them. The main emphasis is on the global market and several events. Currently the focus is on the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. The overall visual design is strong, and the web designer has a clear vision for his representation of the US Government. The design is strong and formal representing a sense of stability.

Overall Attitude towards Reader: The adult version for the Whitehouse website is clear as a current events blog of President Bush. The character and representation of the political figure of President Bush and the overall imagery of the Whitehouse are directed towards the audience who wishes to understand these two American icons.

Webpage for Biography of President Bush for Adults. Includes State of the Union, Current Events, Biography and Speeches.

Children

Purpose: The kids website focuses on educating children on the rudimentary elements of government with heavy emphasis on the overall culturally and political ideas of the US government and the presidents. The subject matter focuses on peculiar facts and details as well as broad generalizations of history and politics.

Icon: On the kids version, the main icon has always been one of the Presidents pets. For President Bush, its his Scottish Terrier Barney. Socks, President Clinton’s cat, and Buddy (his dog) were the icons I remember seeing as a child in elementary when I visited the site.

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids

Site Design: The influence of the website is children who may wish to get to know the President. The site focuses on the family life and pets of President Bush. The current events are general to topics children would understand such as the Olympics. The site is written in a playful, yet informative manner addressing the facts with some flair. Children would be well educated and have fun learning on this site- as was the intention of the web designer. The overall visual change from the formal adult version to the child version was done so by reducing the text amount, including images with everything, and the introduction of color and various fonts. The site does not go to the kitsch style of children’s web design and remain the same dignity presented in the adult version.

Overall Attitude towards Reader: With the adult version, the President was the focus, whereas the child reader becomes the focus of this version. Everything about the children’s website is person driven, whereas the adult version is icon driven.

Webpage for Biography of President Bush for Kids. Includes Biography, Facts, and his favorite subject.

Reference Reading: Characterizing Audience for Informational Web Site Design

facebook VS. twitter

2008-09-06T11:32:00.010-04:00

Which Corporate Blog Blogs as Much (and as well) as its Users?

facebookBlog vs. twitterBlog

Round 1: The better audience?
The Facebook corporate blog is intended for all users of Facebook. However its original audience (college students) is still reflected in the blogs lingo with titles like “Check Out the New Facebook” and “Platform One Year(ish) Later”. The Twitter blog also addresses the users of its website. A twitterer can be almost anyone and there is a broader demographic and the blogs topics is reflected with topics for everyone. There is a direct market with Facebook, whereas Twitter focuses on reaching out to everyone. The readers of the Facebook blog may no longer just be college students, but at their heart they are still a part of the up and coming generation.
WINNER: Facebook
Facebook (1) – Twitter (0)

Round 2: More pertinent?
Facebook’s blog focuses on the evolution of the website. The blog is only directed to Facebook issues with some charitable events Facebook participates in tossed in. Twitter’s blog uses statistics from twitters sent and markets to their growing needs. Some of the statistics reflect political, social and economical trends. They also introduce new products and new applications for using Twitter, as well as describe the evolution of their website. People using Facebook’s corporate blog will be impressed with the evolution of the website, but twitter also shows this evolution and much more including several impressive statistics and reflections of the world’s evolution as well.
WINNER: Twitter
Facebook (1) – Twitter (1)

Round 3: User interaction?
Facebookers reply to the blog individually and it will post their comments on their profile wall. Facebook does not show all the comments to the blog on the actual blog page, and users cannot view the opinions of others. A person has an individual experience to the corporate blog, whereas people on the Twitter site can twitter their comments to each of the corporate blogs. Everyone can read what their comments are. Twitter has the more direct experience which reflects their opinion of showing to everyone what you are currently doing and Facebook is more secretive so that only your friends can see your comments about the blogs.
WINNER: Twitter
Facebook (1) – Twitter (2)

Round 4: Which Blog Blogs the Most?
Facebook’s blogs are about half a page in length and are posted 3-4 times a month. The twitter blogs are a little shorter, but are updated every 3-4 days. Twitter blogs the most about the most varied topics.
WINNER: Twitter
Facebook (1) – Twitter (3)

Round 5: Who is prettier?
Facebook’s blog interface is intergrated into the website with the same style as the rest of the site. Facebook just underwent a new design and these improvements have made the website easier to navigate. Twitters blog is rather simple with limited graphics. With the new interface and overall continuity of the blog, Facebook is more in touch with its overall graphical experience.
WINNER: Facebook
Facebook (2) – Twitter (3)

Round 6: Overall Experience?
Facebook’s blog is much more of a log of the history of the website. Facebook as an application itself has a lot to offer its users and has been under constant evolution. Users who read these blogs will remain up to date with all the possibilities of Facebook. Twitterers have one purpose when using the site, and that’s to inform people of where they are, what they think, their mood and whatever personal statements they wish to make. The blog reflects an overall community and is a log of not only the site, but of trends. Facebook has more opportunity for expansion and with its new update has begun to fill in the gaps of possibilities for communication websites. Twitter, though rather interesting, is still one dimensional in its purpose and blog.
WINNER: Facebook
Facebook (3) – Twitter (3)

Final Round: Which is More of a Blog?
Facebook keeps users in formed of changes to their company’s image (its website). Twitter blogs about itself and the world around it. Facebook is direct with its purpose and its audience, whereas Twitter orients itself to social and personal trends. Twitter is more globally aware and Facebook is more personally aware.
WINNER: Twitter
Facebook (3) – Twitter (4)

Why Would an Architect Try to Become a Writer?

2008-09-05T14:28:00.015-04:00

Two years ago I told my online friend about a spelling test I took when I was 12. This test was about the rule i before e except after c something I never grasped, especially since my last name, Peist, does not follow this rule. I took the test and smiled to the teacher when I handed it in. She said “Wow, you’re done early let me grade it for you now.” I stood by her side as she gasped and then began to use all the red ink in her pen. My paper looked like a bloodbath after a war, marked with a large 0 with a sad face inside it glaring at me in all its unhappiness. “This can’t be my grade!” I protested. “Oh wait, I made a mistake,” she said, “I forgot there are only 19 questions, worth five points each.” She scribbled out the zero and replaced it with a 5 with another unhappy face in its belly. After that I promised myself I would work my hardest the next semester to spell everything correct. I did just that and recorded the following three marking periods with “100’s” on my report card. When I told my friend this story I said, “I never want to mispell another word again,” to which she laughed, “lol, u just mispelled misspell!” From that moment on I took on the challenge of becoming a writer!

Receiving "Most Improved" Plaque