Thesis Progress

Today (in hopefully the next 45 minutes or so) I will be presenting some initial concept work for my thesis. I am still looking at the growing rate of cremation and how funeral homes can still make the same amount of money as they did on burials. I am looking specifically now at the future of the cemetery and making it a place that people might actually WANT to go to (I mean, to visit. Well, I guess to be buried there as well! But not immediately..) So here are some initial concepts and thoughts...

UC ID Seniors 2010

For our capstone show, our class has split into various committees to organize, plan, and promote the event. I joined the graphics team and we are responsible for designing all posters, t-shirts, giveaways, and designing a book of all of our work. Here is a poster design idea to show to the class tomorrow.

Egg Saucers-Happy Easter!

A few things to talk about today...

First, spring is here! So it was time to change the blog banner to a more spring theme...although here in Cincy it has felt a lot more like summer than spring!

Secondly, please go see How to Train Your Dragon. It is simply amazing. You won't regret it...my favorite animated movie since Bolt. I might even like it MORE than Bolt!

And thirdly, aren't these egg saucers adorable!? Imagine showing off your beautiful dyed eggs in them!

Check out the other products at yoyo ceramics...quite beautiful!

Becoming a young professional...

Its Monday...
Originally uploaded by kennymatic

Tomorrow is my first ever full time job interview! And while I will not be wearing a Storm Trooper outfit, I will be wearing some sweet new threads I got last week.

I have spent the day readying all of my materials, reading up on Kids II, and doing overall research... and I have to say, I am pretty excited!

Atlanta, here I come! Wish me luck!

Canada's graphic identity

I have been visiting Canada the past few days with some of my best girlfriends, and it has been a great time! One of the things that always strikes me about Canada is the overwhelming presence of the maple leaf...

At first I thought that this was due to the extreme national pride that most Canadians seem to embody. Don't get me wrong, I think that this is definitely part of it. But when I look at the actual ways that the maple leaf symbol is used, I think that it is just a much easier symbol to integrate into a graphic identity. Red white and blue stripes and stars are a lot more to handle...probably the best recent use of the American flag is the Obama logo.

Do you think if America had a symbol closer in comparison to the maple leaf that it would be seen more often in branding?

Thesis Proposal

Last Friday we presented our thesis topics for our class and a few faculty. I got really good feedback from my presentation and everyone is excited to see what I come up with. Take a look at my proposal, if you like!!

Click here to download!

Sometimes I think I am crazy for choosing this topic, but I feel like there are SO MANY opportunities, and it is a very emotional problem, which I also like.

In other news, the new Gorillaz CD, Plastic Beach, is A-MAZING. Check out the video for their first single, Stylo...

They did an amazing job transposing the characters to 3D without losing any of the character of the hand drawn style. Usually, I think that some of the character of the original designs are lost in translation when going from 2D to 3D. Example: the concept art for How to Train Your Dragon that I posted last week. After watching the trailer for the movie, I don't think the 3D characters have the same quality as the hand drawn designs.

Way to go, Gorillaz animation team!

How To Train Your Dragon concept art

REALLY inspiring video of concept art from Dreamworks's upcoming film, How To Train Your Dragon.

On a side note, here is a little teaser of something I am working on for my portfolio...