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Participate Pg 6-39 Response

Participate lays out some interesting thoughts and ideas surrounding user generated content. One that took out to me the most was the idea that by using user content you are taking away the control of content by large corporations. This was shown in the 2006 MTV Europe music awards where a designer projected original user generated content over a loud speaker as a kind of fake protest. Anyone could submit content to be projected and thus made activism accessible for people that didn’t want to leave their house. Democratizing media culture in this way breeds ideas that are not controlled and manipulated by larger hands and makes for projects that unique and engaging.  It also seems like a lot of projects that come out of user generated content tend to be less for profit, like the sketch book library or the re shuffle gallery. There is a great sense of community in these types of design projects that isn’t apparent in traditional branding or marketing campaigns. The non profit projects with user submitted work are very inspirational because of the care and devotion that is given into creating an experience not concerned with dollar signs.

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Reading: Design Studies Introduction

Some interesting points were made in this weeks reading of design studies. The text describes how design for most of the duration of its life has been more intuitive then research based. However in modern design we have reached a point where design is starting to become more user centric and driven by data and research. Design as a practice is the use of applied arts so it makes sense that the majority of design relies on intuition. In modern practice though design is doing more than just making something pretty or appealing. Design is now enhancing the quality of our lives and needs to be driven though research and theory. Its interesting how being a designer in the 21st century isn't just a career based solely in aesthetics but rather adopts principles from multiple disciples. In order to be a successful designer is necessary to understand research processes, user centered design, sociology, and psychology of the audience you are designing for. Design has also become heavily reliant on historical context and referencing. Instead of just making something look appealing based on your own design sensibilities its become active practice to draw on whats in the cultural subconscious. Contemporary designers have to wear many hats and in our rapidly evolving culture we have to rely on a balance of research, intuition, theory, and practice. 

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Library research exercise about neutron stars

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For this project I decided to rebrand the DMV 

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Here is a rebrand project for the PSU group A&O connect. 

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This is a series of post cards I made illustrating the highest mountains in the Pacific NW

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This is a illustration I made for a close friend. 

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Here is an icon series I made for the TV show Arrested Development

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This is Rad Grandad, a character I made up and illustrated for a fictional card game.

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The Architect and The Painter

This film was an inspiring and interesting story that shed light on the idea of being a multidisciplinary designer.  Ray and Charles Eames went to school for architecture and painting but are famously known for their chair design. College is a institution that often pigeon holes students into thinking that their degree is going to define the rest of their career but this has proven to be a fallacy. This idea of choosing a set career path for the rest of your life seems so fatalistic and uninteresting. Why can’t one have a career that touches multiple disciplines over a long period of time? This is exactly what the Eames did and were quite successful at it. Although there were known for their chairs they did everything from creating films to designing event spaces. Its impossible to categorize either of them into a set discipline and the best way to describe their career is simply a creative one. Design is appealing for this reason because trying to define design as a career could produce 3,000 different explanations. There are so many areas of study thats it almost overwhelming but also reassuring. Its overwhelming because the opportunities are almost endless and trying to figure out which ones to devote time to is a lot to decide. However the reassuring part is that I will probably work on something new and different for the rest of my career as a designer. The Eames weren’t restrained by their respected fields of study and that gives hope to aspiring designers that its always okay to go and try some other artistic endeavor.

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Bio

Hi everyone my name is Aaron Ughoc, also known on the internet as uglyhawk, also known in real life as ugly. Im a 23 year old graphic design major at Portland State University and aspiring future meme. Im somewhere between a junior and senior in the program and cant wait to graduate and move on into the real world. I grew up in southern California and moved to the NW 2 years ago which was probably the best decision of my life. When I’m not slaving away over an illustration for the Portland State Vanguard or serving tables I like to draw, hike, play guitar, and drink whiskey. Most of my work in the GD program this year has been heavy in areas of illustration and branding, I think in my heart thats what I want to do with my life. However I also recently found I have a passion for building websites and am also trying to teach myself animation in my down time. In reality I have absolutely no idea what I want to do as a career but I know I want to live a creative life that’s constantly changing and throwing new challenges at me.