Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Perspality

Reality is what we perceive...or is what we perceive, reality?

This week's readings definitely gave me new, enlightened perspective (no pun intended) on illusion and how the human brain interprets visual information. I was amazed at how easily we can be tricked into seeing things that don't really exist just by altering a few parameters or juxtaposing different colors and shapes. Two of my favorite illusions from this site are the rotating face masks and reverspective. I also found this short video a bit of fun as well. Enjoy!

P Squared - Perceive, Perspective

Hello - this is the first time that I have really done a blog. I have tried one before, but oddly enough, thought the lay out for the site was a little find my way around. This will be a good challenge.


Today for work I attended a Women's Conference. It was a great conference and focused on our career paths and where we want to go and how to get there. It was interesting because the topic of how women perceive things is different than men. Just like what we were talking about in class last week, our eyes all see something a little different.


This weekend I had the opportunity to take my Aunt and Uncle (who drove from MN) to various places of CT and NYC. Below is a take on perspective. Enjoy!

Comic Books, Reimagined

Covered, a blog featuring classic comic book covers redrawn and reimagined by contemporary artists, provides an interesting look that the aesthetic decisions made by individuals in this media over the course of several generations. I've never been a big fan of comic books, but I appreciate the illustrations and their effect in bringing the story to life. These new renditions range from fairly close approximations to adding or omitting large portions of the original work. It is intriguing to see what aesthetic choices were made in an attempt to retain the feel of the drawing, while still applying a personal touch.

Award-winning website - Sikorsky.com

I have been working at Sikorsky Aircraft, a helicopter manufacturer based in Stratford CT, since I graduated from QU in Spring 2008 with a degree in English (I had been interning previously).

Although I work for Marketing and Sales at Sikorsky, my desk is conviently located in the Multi-Media Services department, and I actually sit right next to the individual who recently oversaw a complete and total re-haul of our company's website - Sikorsky.com

The previous website was very outdated from a visual design perspective and did not get across the incredible diversity of the products we produce. There was no flash utilized (not that there needs to be to have a good website...or anything...) and the page formatting was very inconsistant (our company logo was all over the place, and on some pages not present at all).

There was also little interaction to be made with the person viewing the site, which is an especially important aspect to have in our business (helicopters should be exciting!)

This new website, which launched in 2008, does a stellar job, in my opinion, of incorporating elements of flash, video, text and sound without being too overbearing and also engaging the customer/viewer immediately by letting them easily select and discover more about whatever particular helicopter model interests them.

Sikorsky.com has won numerous industry awards and has set a benchmark for our competitors to achieve (Eurocopter, Bell, Agusta Westland).

I would love to get some feedback from whoever reads this, which I can then bring to the attention of the site's designer that I sit next to and give him some unbiased feedback.

Thanks!

Monday, September 21, 2009

A Zapper for Pictures

Not that any of us are planning to be paparazzi, but an article about a Russian Billionaire who installed an anti-photo shield on his yacht. Apparently "lasers sweep the surroundings and when they detect a CCD, they fire a bolt of light right at the camera to obliterate any photograph."

I also wanted to take a moment to point to an entry I did on my blog for 501a. I linked to a website featuring "15 Best iPhone Applications for Web Designers." Perhaps someone not in that class might be interested in this list.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Storytelling

I love how this blog marries illustration and photography with text to tell stories in really beautiful, surprising ways. I especially appreciate her take on visiting Monticello.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Welcome!

Hello everybody,

Welcome to the class blog! Post frequntly, share, browse and comment...
I look forward to see your findigs!