Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Steampunk Bucks



Here's the gist: If a "Steampunk Era" ever happened, currency would definitely be required. Rightfully so, the main pioneers of technology would have to be honored on these bills. The currency is and will be for the remaining bills with values in Scientific Notation only because it just feels accurate for the period. This is the first bill in honor of "The Cogmaster". All three of the bills for my project will depict the most respected people of the Steampunk Era:

-Cogmaster Corduroy McAllister: The Inventor of high quality cogs for the populace.

-Steamstress Molly Dorsteshire: The Pioneer of Steam, Piston, and Hydraulic Technology.

-Siegfreed the Tinkerer: The original creator and master of Steampunk Robotics.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Save Me!







As I've said before, my issue is focused on the preservation of honey bees which are being killed off by a disease called "colony collapse disorder". This disorder, caused by both a virus and a fungus, kills off the entire hive and puts our honeybees at risk for severe population decline.

I made a stencil and used it for both indoor and outdoor purposes. outdoors, I stenciled by piece using powdered sidewalk chalk in various colors. for inside use, I used my stencil and some spraypaint to create posters to hang around public spaces.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Mony Bunni- Take it to the street










My topic for the "Take It To The Street" project was conflict diamonds. Like most people I was unaware of this topic until the movie "Blood Diamond" in 2006. After I saw the movie I started researching blood diamonds and was disgusted with what I found. I couldn't believe that these diamonds were funding this much destruction. Of course I was 18 at the time and was no where near needing to think about diamonds. Now that I'm 22 and more and more of my friends are starting to get engaged the topic has been coming up more. Almost every woman I know wants a huge diamond engagement ring but all I keep thinking is that a children in Sierra Leone are literally dying for them. In the 90s over 15% of all diamonds being sold were conflict diamonds. Now the percentage is a lot less, but the fact that any are being sold at all is appalling. I originally wanted to spray paint a bed sheet with a stencil of a child with a machine gun but after the feed back I got last class I decided against that. I decided to then do a poster that was a riff on the typical diamond ads you see and post it around Jeweler's Row.

Home is where the heart is


My project for taking it to the street involved looking at foreclosures and its effects on the idea of home and habitation.

Today we are living in a crazy time, from the housing bubble that occurred roughly 5 years ago and to the recent bust with multiple homes across the united states being foreclosed. This has all affected everything in out economy today, everything from the price of a home, to credit, and

I wanted to create signage that branded homes or locations as areas of Foreclosures. I created a graphic of a home:
This graphic combing a home and a lock conveys the idea of a home that has been foreclosed.  The red box was used to insert text with common warm sayings of home, example: home is where the heart is, home sweet home.

I used the font Copper Black, I felt it was welcoming and bold enough to see. 

I then made this image:

Image size 12x18

The worlds Foreclosure and the bottom copy Living the American dream call to attention of what does this idea of home and the goal of attaining it mean? When the motivations mean that homes were bought with loans and credit that should have not been given, I want the viewer to question that of what does this do to all of us, and how does this fit into the social construct of the American dream. 
I posted them around the suburbds that I live in:


This last one was actually a home that was being built, but because of the recession the construction stopped and and it has been vacant ever since. I added it in just to see how it compares to the ones with homes and the ones that are sort of indicators of the area.


Matt Suggs - Taking it to the Streets

Design Brief

My project tries to get consumers of fast food to realize how much calories

they are in taking through that food. Through my project I have given people the

information on what their calorie intake will be through what they are eating.

Also I wanted people to realize how much physical activity it would take to burn

off those access calories. During my “taking it to the streets” project I put out

‘coupons’ that give people free calories with the purchase of their meals. Also

included in my ‘coupons’ there is information on how to use those calories and

how to get rid of them.








BIRD HELP - John Gregg

DESIGN BRIEF

Bird Help

I grew up with the idea that the nature around us was to be revered and that we are as much a part of nature as the flora and fauna. I was taught to try and leave no footprint in today’s parlance and that we have a great responibility given our destructive powers to help preserve and foster the natural world. My parents were well ahead of their time, understanding progress continuing in the status quo means the eventual demise of nature and ouselves.


I have chosen the issue of bird migration through the Chicago area because it is a cycle far older than our city and yet few people are aware of it or the high toll it takes on the birds. Thousands of birds are killed or injured every year as they fly through the Chicago area each Spring and Fall. Most collisions occur when birds are distracted by lights or reflections in high rise buildings. However,

Chicago is progressive with it’s Lights Out Chicago campaign which encourages tall building management to turn off the lights on upper floors. The Chicago Bird Monitors come to the aid of hundreds of birds each season and attempt to keep tab on the numbers of killed birds


IDEA: I want to raise awareness to bird migration through Chicago as well as to inform people as to what actions to take if they’ve found a bird which as been injured or killed.


FORM: I plan to make cards, 3x5” which will include a rendering of the bird, it’s name and date that it was found. I will include information about the species as well as their migratory habits. There will be a short description of the CBCM and how to contact them.


The cards will be laminated with a hole punch in one corner. I will attach the cards to existing structure such as posts with large rubber bands on the sight where the birds were found. Some cards may be taped directly to the sidewalk on the sight. I may employ other methods of securing the cards dependent on the location. Finders have a choice to leave the cards in place or to carry them away to have a record of the bird, the event and CBCM’s information.









Guns Kill People

For my project I wanted to explore the issues we have with firearms in this country. Especially since firearms are becoming more legal in the city of Chicago and although it might pose certain benefits it is still important people know the consequences.

I used stencil graffiti to target the public and project my idea on the public space.

This was a test with the first stencil

This is the second stencil - a revision from the first test run

The two above are on North Ave. The second one is a shot of people walking by viewing it.


The Two above are behind the fence of a busy street, under the L platform.




The shot above are arrows leading from a street into an ally. One show shows someone who followed the arrows and views the image.



Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Money, money, money.

I'm a cynical man with loose ethics and even looser morals. So I chose to do something involving satire, or something humorous. Nothing fancy and no preaching; just a ton of post-it notes and about three bucks in change.

My "topic" is money and all the wonderful things for which it is used. I stuck a coin to a post-it, then stuck the post-it to something people will see, then wrote a smartass comment on it. Who knows, maybe people will think about where their cash goes and where it comes from. Or maybe they'll just do their laundry.