[Image from Sleevage]

I’ve been thinking lately about the complexity inherent to the process of abstraction, this in order to simplify the conceptualisation stage (of design). Interestingly, I’ve spent most of my time to study the basic shapes, this in order to focus on those meaningful details which give meaning to those qualities we live our daily lives with and —somehow— help define ourselves too.

Typies

Most design students start putting their portfolios together at the end of their education–indeed, most schools offer their “portfolio class” during the final semester. Bad idea. What you should do instead is start your portfolio the first semester of your design education. Here’re 2 whys and 2 hows:

Why #1:
Everything you will eventually want to put in your portfolio will be a)lost b)stolen c)broken d)all three. Bottom line: when you’re ready to “put together your portfolio,” you will invariably have nothing to put in it–it’ll all be gone. So it’s a good idea to capture your work as you do it, and put it into a format that can easily be tweaked later.

(By the way, we know that nothing we can possibly say here will actually make you follow this advice. But ask any recent grad what they’d do differently and listen to them respond, “I wish I documented my work while I was doing it.” Promise.)

Why You Should Start Your Portfolio Now @ Core77

CeeLite™ is the world’s first company to manufacture and market commercially-viable Light Emitting Capacitor (LEC) technology, which is destined to redefine the way lighting is used today! CeeLite’s advanced LEC technology turns any surface into a light source. Ranging in size from cell phones to 3’ x 6’, CeeLite LEC technology creates new markets where lighting was previously impossible and replaces traditional lighting where flawless surface illumination is required; in floors, walls, ceilings and within unconventional objects.

TIME magazine’s Best Inventions 2006 is something I’m sure will bring attention to their products. You might have noticed them in various places like an “interactive illuminated window display featuring Madonna at H&M’s New York City flagship store, a sound-activated, illuminated drum set for the Red Hot Chili Peppers latest concert tour, the CNN Headline News set, Moog synthesizers, Firefly PC keyboards and Back-LiteTM jackets, as well as illuminated advertising on bus exteriors for CBS Outdoor in New York City.”

I haven’t played with this product yet but this is something that could be really useful for putting lights where you usually can’t. It could replace a masking curtain. Im sure there will have more potential in the architectural world because it can go indoors or outdoors. It can be mounted on various material and bend in different ways. It produce almost no heat and the brightness can be programmed via their proprietary board. The CeeLites line’s of stuff offers superior brightness than standard electroluminescent products. I’m sure it doesn’t come cheap but maybe in a few year it will find it’s way in a theatre somewhere.

..CeeLite
..TIME Best Inventions 2006

On the website, video objects is describe as follows. “Video objects” is a custom software to perspectively distort video content in realtime. The pre-distorted videos are projected from one video projector onto multiple real world three dimensional objects. The resulting projected imagery seems to be sticking on the surfaces of the objects. The source videos can be adjusted to the respective objects on the spot with a projected helper grid or an imported 3D model of the real world setup. Once the system is aligned the projected videos can be exchanged in realtime by drag and drop in a VJ-like manner.

I haven’t use a lot of video software but this is something that could be really interesting for Video Designer. There is a clip available here. From what I saw, it seem really interesting to be able to “bend” the video onto three dimensional surfaces. This could create very interesting texture on scenery. Moving images on a scenery is something that I am very interested in as a designer. From an email I sent to Christopher Bauder, he tells me that the software might be available as a commercial product by the middle of next year. Customized versions of “video objects” are produced upon request. You can find their email address on their web site.

..w-h-i-t-e-v-o-i-d
..We Make Money Not Art

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