New Collablog

I just thought I'd link the new 2007 collablog in case people didn't see it:

http://collablog07.blogspot.com/

Designers Network and Things

Hey all,

I have two things to mention, and they're kinda related. Now that the show's over and most of us pretty much know one another, AND most of us are graduating, I think it's a good idea to set up another blog(or something similar) that lets us network and share ideas, AND ask within the group to pass on real, client projects that sometimes we individually are too busy to work on.

For example, and this leads to my second thing, one of my friends' boyfriend is a certified fitness trainer, and he graduated last year and is starting his training business and needs the typical marketing/promo flyers, t-shirt, website, etc. So if anyone is available after the school year and during the summer, please let me know so I can refer him to you. And you don't have to do everything. But you should at least do what you know and have that in your portfolio. I found out that I have few things that I had to take care of during the summer and couldn't really commit my time to this project. So if you can do this, please please please let me know; he and I will really appreciate it. Really. This would be a great side project during the summer. My e-mail is iwlam [at] ucd.

So in summary:
1) Let's set up a network.
2) Contact me to do a real project.

Comment for questions!

Ivan

Wiki Page

Hey Guys,
I made a page for us on the Davis Wiki. So check it out and feel free to add and edit it, after all we are all about collaboration!

*sigh* =)

man, good work guys. The vibe of this group really shone through at last night's reception. I got a lot of positive feedback, and a lot of questions of when our next show is going to be!

What should we do for Friday's closing reception? Any ideas for live pieces? What bout this dance party? If so, we gotta start publicizing!

My room...midnight

Thanks to everyone who came and helped!

Chain React So Far

Here are the two parts of the piece as of now, thank you to Japheth and Justin for putting in their work. So now there are plenty of new spots to start from, if you want a spot, claim it on the comments for this post so we have a record of it. Download the two new posters below. If you want to start from one of the original 2 just scroll down from this post and download poster 1 and poster 2.

Japheth's Poster
Justin's Poster

Project Pick-Up

Hey guys,
I know several of you have expressed interest in the use of my truck to get your projects to the show. If you are interested, and since I don't have everyone's phone numbers, send me an e-mail at tiperkins@ucdavis.edu so we can arrange to get your projects to campus.
-Tracy

P.S. I have lots of tools for installing (including a power drill and hack-saw) so if you might be interested in using those this weekend shoot me an e-mail.

Chain React Call In

Those of you who have claimed spots and have been working on posters for Chain React, please make sure you get them to me by the end of today! I will be working on assembling them for the critique on thursday. NOTE: I WILL BE WORKING ON THIS PROJECT THURSDAY, FRIDAY, AND SATURDAY. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A POSTER BUT DONT KNOW WHERE TO START PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT IT.

Uncanny

Hey all! So the week following the Co/Lab show, on May 31 there will be the interdisciplinary art show, Uncanny! If anyone's interested, everyone is more than welcome to display any posters, pieces, etc. from this show or from anything really. Just let me know in advance and I'll get a co/Lab specific space set for the night. =)

More info on Uncanny:
http://design.ucdavis.edu/transfer/uncanny
http://ucdavis.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2399690855
http://daviswiki.org/UNCANNY:_Art_at_the_Cannery

Chain React - Another Starting Point

Here is a second poster for the chain react project. Japheth called the top slot already. Update: the size for the poster does not have to be 8.5 x 14, as long as you can connect to the poster next to yours in a way that makes sense.

Second Poster

First Chain React Poster

Poster 1

Alternative design for the bizcard/clothing tag

So here goes a different approach for the clothing tags. i really wanted to make use of the fact that the clothing tags can be double-sided since we can't really incorporate that idea to posters. hahaha i just imagined us sitting around punching holes in the clothing tags, putting strings thru and attaching them to t-shirts....man we'd be like a sweatshop!

*PS: I've replaced the old file to this one that is updated w/ the whole arm thing!

collabshirt

collabshirt
Originally uploaded by Saphirra.

I don't know if this is at all timely anymore, but yes, I did draw argyle.

If anyone has any parts of projects that need sewing or illustration, let me know; I'm happy to help. I'll be bringing my machine up with me to Davis this weekend to do some dresses.

I also have a crapload of crayons if there are still moulded spray cans to be made. I couldn't make it last weekend, I had to work late (late as in until 5am).

-Jen

Chain React: A Poster Project

Here's an idea that will allow everyone to make a poster how they want and collaborate with others at the same time. Have you ever done that creative writing exercise where one person writes the beginning of a story, then passes it on for the next person to write the next part, and so on? We'll this is really a visual version of that. I have created a poster, which you might call the beginning of the story, and I am looking for folks to collaborate by adding the next pieces of the story. They will assemble together like I have illustrated in the image above. However there is no limit to how large this piece can be and it can expand in any direction. The end result will be a large amorphous collection of posters, connected to each other at the border by whatever visual element, but each individual poster will be your own unique creation. Feel free to change the "story" as radically as you wish, there are no constraints except for the following few guidelines.

Here's how this works:
1) look at where the art of the adjacent poster has extended off the page (where the story "left off", right?)
2) design your poster
3) extend a part of it off the page in some way to make the next person able to transition from your art to their own.
4) repeat until we have a big 'ol collection of posters which are indiviually cool, but all still connected visually.

The size we are workin' with here is standard Legal size: 8.5 x 14. I'm open minded to other ideas about format, just let me know. I figure its sort of a cool oblong shape that will look really interesting when its all put together. Plus its small enough so that you can design something quickly and easily.

Now you might ask, how will this be organized? How do I know what side of the poster to start from, and will I be doing work that someone else is doing? That will be regulated by me like this:
I will make a post on this blog displaying the current status of the piece, assembled correctly, and then anyone interested will leave a comment on the post calling where they wish to start from, on a first come first serve basis. This way we have a written, online record of who said they were doing what. Since we only have a few weeks until the show starts, please only call your shot if you can finish the piece in a timely fashion (2-3 days or less).

This can really be a fun and exciting piece, and the more people that participate the bigger, and better it will be. Consider this to be post #1 of the project, starting with my poster. I have designed it so that there are 3 sides to connect your work to: the left, top and right. I am excited to see the stuff you all come up with.

First Poster

Exhibition planning

CALLING ALL TIM'S STUDENTS.

So it was kind of shameful of me to not have thought about Tim's teachings for this show. But I realized at today's meeting that we need the planning of this show to go as smoothly as possible. So, I'm going to initiate this by asking for help to build a simple model for this space of the Basement Gallery (as soon as we get dimensions of the space. hint hint, Semar.)

I have more than enough materials to build a frame, but I would like some people (especially from Tim's 185 class) to help me with this, as well as making tiny models of our work. Also, we need some signage and an object label system for the show, so 186 and 187 students, here's your call. I'm not going to manage every part of the planning of this show, so hopefully you guys can take it upon yourselves to help out with this. Just post an entry here or facebook to let us know that you're helping out. Sorry if I sound like I'm rambling on; it's officially past midnight.

That is all. Thanks!

Ivan

business card/clothing tags

So i came up with a final design for the business card and I like Milan's idea of using the business cards as tags for the shirts! Instead of putting holes, I was thinking maybe we could staple a knotted piece of hemp to the business cards and then use safety pins to attach to the shirts.

The image on the top of the front side is a photograph of two design magazines shuffled like cards. I once saw on TV an experiment on pulling apart two phonebooks that were inter-shuffled like this and it took 2 trucks, or 8 horses to take them apart--no, not pull them apart but break the two books apart because the bond was too strong. Kinda cool, eh?

Promotions

Also, I'm looking for someone to help me on a business card piece that duals as a t-shirt tag. And a postcard to send out. These two projects are ASAP and I'd like to collaborate with someone who might be interested in doing an engaging design. Email me! milan.phan@gmail.com

Give A Hand

About three weeks til show and there's so many good projects going on! I think its time for those who have time to help others out if they need it. I know Sam just sent out digital tiles of a whole piece that he could use help with - email him if you have time to work on a tile..

Okay! Milan

Co/Lab photo trip book cover or poster

Here's a simple little poster/book cover I made with a photo from the trip. Really any picture with an emphasized horizontal composition could be used. I think it would be cool to compile a book of some of the best pics from the trip to have out on display for the show OR we could incorporate this cover and some pics as a section of the process zine.

I drew these fellows. The idea is to have three large portrait posters, I'm thinking 18x24. If anyone wants to work with these, let me know and I can give you the high-res versions. Thanks!

Collaborators' Table-Bench

Ivan and I (Yukiko) have been working on our bench for the show. It's going to be able to fold up and out into a table for two! Here's some some fun pics of the little model we made a couple weeks ago.

Projects In Progress!

To all collaborators,
I'm excited to see what you've all been up to! Bring your work to the workshops if you can - get feedback, work on it there, etc. The process is just as important as the end product! If you've got ideas, let's hear them, and get you started.

I need to start getting together a labeling system for the show soon. So, if I haven't already listed on the right, leave a comment here and give us an idea of what you're working on and what size. Also, in the next couple of weeks I'll be asking for a title (or if its Untitled) and short description of your piece/concept, as well as who is leading it or who is participating. Right on,

See some of you tomorrow,
Milan

COLAB Website goes live!

The colab website is in presentable form. Its got some issues still but its good enough for now. By tomorrow morning, the www.colabshow.com domain name should be active. Until then the site can be found at www.projectregenerate.org/colab/
-Alan

UPDATE: www.colabshow.com is now working. Tell people about it.

Light

Kinda trippy, reminds me of Danh's class for some reason. Looks like they're almost painting with light. =)

Colab website... continued

The website is coming along, you can check it out at http://www.projectregenerate.org/colab/
Here's what we still need:
- a domain name
- content written for the about us, about the show, and about design pages
- Something to put in the cool section other than the what is collaboration text?

Any other ideas/feedback/suggestions/complaints?

Oh, and the timer is functional, is is the live feed from the blog headlines on the left side.

Anti web page design

This site is clever, low maintenance, and effective, but it breaks all the rules that I learned in my web design class. What do you guys think?
http://noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com/

a few outside-the-box methods of display

milan, I'm hoping this gives you a little inspiration for ways to display your portraits in the gallery.'
everyone else, check it out as well

COLAB website

Working on the COLAB website, demo site can be found at:
http://www.projectregenerate.org/colab/

COLAB: These Come From Trees

A Stanford student has started making and selling these stickers for some guerilla action in bathrooms and other places where paper products are consumed. Looks like it could use some design help. Anyone want to do a redesign with me? The tag line is released under creative commons with encouragement to redesign at will so no legal worries.

Le Grand Content

Responding to Trish's post, here's a thing that I found that's kind of interesting, though way less energetic and active than the typographic music video.


Here's the link: http://www.clemenskogler.net/film/grandcontent.htm

The Lions Roar

S'more typographic goodness. =)

I'd like to design...

As a way to generate ideas for project we'd like to work on for the show, lets answer the following questions:
What have you always wanted to design, but haven't had the chance to? If you could design anything, what would it be?

Lets think big here, and try not to be limited by what your own skill set lets you do - because collaboration makes all kinds of things possible.

I'll start it off. I've always wanted to design:

an album cover

a wine label

a table made of aluminum or titanium and white acrylic

a business card stamped out of metal

See something that you want to work on too? Lets get together and make it happen!

Collaboration is...

Answers to the questions: What is collaboration? What does collaboration mean to you?

• …all the creative students work together to create something creative



• …I love to work with people



• …if you’re in CO/LAB, you are the one who is really in love with design and art because you want to spend your time in this area even though there is no class credit for it



• ...combining forces and powers to create something extraordinary



• ...the cooperation within a group of people who love design



• ...the manifestation of the collective consciousness, intellect and experience



• ...positivity coming out of teamwork, whether it is with only two people or a group. It is the optimistic outlook on working together to create something super awesome and better than what one person alone can imagine.



• ...2 or more things working together, helping to augment the function or overall goal



• ...new ideas, view points that I cannot see on my own. new techniques and styles that I have not tried. Help and communication from people.



• ...the whole is greater than the sum of the parts



• ...working together with the same goal in mind. Contributing unique skills and perspectives to a project.



• ...cooperation towards a common goal, utilizing the unique talents of everyone involved



• ...unexpected/unforseeable outcomes



• ...a combined effort to create a product which is an ideal blend of the best ideas of the participants



• ...the working social contract we have with our fellow designers



• ...the combined efforts of multiple people for a singular purpose



• ...giving in and not being stubborn and pulling your fair share of the weight



• ...an amalgamation of human resources - our individual talents and interest as intellectual creatures can combine in a co-operative way - in a willing and open way- to create a powerful message. I guess what I'm expecting out of collaboration is something ou can't see happen or generate on one's own - I strongly believe that human life is a co-existing one - without others life is not complete.



• ...any activity, object, thing that is dependent on more than one activity, object, thing. A relationship or a tree for instance.



• ...like an ant farm. Creating a world in a box we're stuck in.



• COLAB: One plus Two = Three



• ...putting in all our thoughts in the oven and baking the most delicious cake



• ...the feeling you get - it is so instant - that what you are creating with someone else is so good. And ou know that it couldn't be done just by yourself.



• ...respect

Official list of Active Members and Specialty

So I don't know if I'm "allowed" to do this here, but I'm taking initiative and starting a list of active members and their(our) specialty (e.g. typography, photography, illustration, grid system, logos, poster, painting etc.). So if you consider yourself an active member (ex. attending most of the meetings, contributed work, etc.), leave a comment of your name and what you think you're best/passionate in. Also mention what kind of area in art or design or technique that someone is great at that you would like to work with.

colab with sam

T-shirt Design

Heya, here's my design. I've made a front and back design. Doesn't necessarily need to be together.

mah t-Shirt

I haven't decided on the colors.

CO/LAB in the MUSE

Muse: Co/LAB: After all, two heads are better then one

Design, art studio students will show screen printing demo on Picnic Day
By: Nicole L. Browner
Issue date: 3/29/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment


What do you get when you mix a design student with an art studio student? The answer is Co/LAB, an informal group of UC Davis students and non-students who collaborate on artistic work to better their personal skills.



Formed in November 2006 by senior design major Milan Phan, Co/LAB is an attempt to "build a design or creative community because we feel like there isn't one," Phan said.



Phan further explained that the original purpose of organizing was for a senior showcase scheduled for the end of the school year. But considering the diverse involvement experienced so far and a lack of interaction between the design and art studio communities on campus, the theme changed to an informal collaborative group.



"We felt that collaboration is one of the best resources we have during our college careers, so we decided to start this group," senior design major Adam Guzman said.



Co/LAB members do not expect to receive any units from their effort. Instead, the group has yet to formally organize with the UC Davis campus. They do, however, have loose affiliation with Pixel, a visual communication design club on campus.



The group keeps in contact through a facebook.com group, e-mail listserv and a Weblog. Weekly evening meetings are coordinated to cater to the schedules of the members and are usually held in the residence of coordinator Phan.



At the meetings, members of smaller projects touch base and brainstorm ideas for their projects, but at large Co/LAB members are working toward their May 21 show. Week by week, they take small steps in the process. Stickers and silk-screened posters are a few of the many artistic endeavors the members have taken on.



For their May 21 show, there will also be a simulated room installed and completely designed by the Co/LAB members. They would also like to incorporate a live mural, digital video or other types of visual media, all of which could use the assistance of a wide range of creative skills from disciplines other than art studio and design, specifically technocultural studies students.

Semar Prom, senior art studio major and one of the directors of the Basement Gallery, has deemed himself liaison of the two related groups. Co/LAB will be using the Basement Gallery for its show, and Prom has offered to instruct Co/LAB members on how to screen print.



Co/LAB will be holding a Picnic Day screen printing demo at the Walker Hall dye lab on Apr. 14. This demo aims to give exposure to the Co/LAB group as well as promotion for its May 21 show.



The future of Co/LAB presents many possibilities - with intentions of branching out to students with skills in many mediums, the group can grow. At this point, the club faces the challenges of advertising and creating a budget proposal for a grant.



"Working with people with different backgrounds and skills is important. If this project goes well, hopefully it will continue to foster better relationships between design and art studio departments," Prom said.



For more information, visit collablog.blogspot.com. The Co/LAB will be holding a meeting today at 6 p.m. at 217 C St.

From the other side of the Design Sucks argument, Kinda Not Really

http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/03/06/design-schools-please-start-teaching-design-again/

With UC's being a "research" institution, we can't help but learn about thinking more so than doing. It's interesting how so many students I know (including me) want a class in Portfolio design but that'll never happen because it's not research or thinking-related. I think it's even more interesting that the article is focusing on craft and the actual making of the product when I personally feel that there is too much emphasis on visuals and not enough concept when talking about design.

Anyway, worth a discuss.

-Ivan

Rules & Context

"Among the more counterintuitive characteristics of art and design is the fact that these endeavors are governed by rules. The rules of artistry (and therefore design) are inviolate and unchanging. If you don’t obey the rules, your results will be boring, uninspiring, uncommunicative, and less than compelling. In short: poor art or poor design." -Andy Rutledge

Also, there's a good bit on art versus design...

(Full article)

Are Designers the Enemy of Design?

"Design Democracy is the wave of the future. Exceptional design may only be done by great star designers. But the design of our music experiences, the design of our MySpace pages, the design of our blogs, the design of our clothes, the design of our online community chats, the design of our Class of ’95 brochures, the design of our screens, the design of the designs on our bodies—We are all designing more of our lives. And with more and more tools, we, the masses, want to design anything that touches us on the journey, the big journey through life. People want to participate in the design of their lives. They insist on being part of the conversation about their lives."

This article popped up on BusinessWeek recently, and I think its absolutely awesome. Give it a read, its food for thought for sure, and has direct relevance to the COLAB.

Click the post title for the link, or:
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2007/03/are_designers_t.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_nussbaumondesign

Collabsite in the works

Hi all! Clayton and I worked today on the Collabsite! Here's the preliminary design! We'll get the actual site up and running soon. Yukiko out.

Collabtype

Who wants to collab-develop a typeface with me, whether it's for the Collab or not?

-Ivan

Speaking of Ballpoint pens

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=19153

Pulp Fiction does Typography

This just drips coolness.

Who needs paint?

Here's a guy who does abstract artwork with nothing but ballpoint pens. The rhythm he achieves is astounding. Work like this reminds me that I should never use the excuse "I didn't have the right materials/tools/etc". There's also video of his process. Click the heading of this post to see alot of scribbling.

http://sjmusart.org/content/exhibitions/current/exhibition_info.phtml?itemID=305

Web Typography Sucks

This little presentation covers all the reasons why web typography is no good. Thorough.

http://webtypography.net/sxsw2007/

Erik Otto: Rooted Dreams Installation

This guy inspires me.

Collabodcast?

Does anyone know how hard it is to get a podcast going? What if we have a small series of podcasts for other people who want to participate but couldn't make it to the meetings? I originally suggested to get a YouTube video of someone introducing and explaining about the Collab so that we don't always have to explain it ourselves and web visitors (when the site is done) can watch the video and know what the Collab is instead of reading it on the site if people are lazy.

With the podcasts, we can do weekly/periodic updates about what we talked about at meetings for those who missed them AND/OR for us to spread ideas on what to have on the show. Since we have less than three months, we don't need to do that many updates. It's just another medium that people can use to learn about our group.

Do podcasts cost money? [EDIT] never mind, it's pretty easy. the work goes into editing. But still, what does everyone think about this?[/EDIT]

-Ivan

About Students and Money (Mostly)

http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/003092.html

It's long, but interesting to read and ponder. Discuss if you want. I think the part where the guy mentioned that just gluing a bunch of pieces of paper together is not pushing the limits, which is true, but it's kind of sad how this is what I'm doing right now for Danh's project, and that's probably the most professional I've gone with my projects.

-12:48am

Just a little thing I worked on

Just something I worked on at tonight's meeting. Gonna use the radials as a T-shirt design. But now, it's more like for a wallpaper pattern or something.






-11:28pm

not dealing with collab, but something I thought might look cool screenprinted.

Stupid Scanner Tricks

As of late I've been using my scanner more often. I know it's something that i've ignored to a large part when it could've both saved me time and made my final product better. Anyone have any useful techniques or fun tricks that are scanner related? Or is the scanner not even a part of your workflow? Let's hear it in the comments.
-Clayton

Stuff like this makes me happy

Here's an article from Core 77 that paints a fairly happy picture of the job market out there. It also is a bit of a challenge to young designers.

http://www.core77.com/reactor/02.07_choe.asp

Contribute

Hey all, so Milan made a point about using this blog to express our comments and things about the Collab, the Collab Show, or just Design in general. So what say we all try to make comments about other people's work or opinions about certain topics? I think it would be an amazing thing to see if this blog updates a couple times a day and it becomes a thriving forum of really interesting ideas, concepts, inspirations that we would throw around and get some Collab pieces out of it as well as an expansion of each and every one of our design styles?

So with that said, I'll get started. This is really generic, but what are the things/people/ideas you like about/from design?

My list:

logos/branding
typographic posters
lines
typographic motion graphics
Josef Muller Brockmann
Stefan Sagmeister
creative type made from objects

Hm.. that's all I can think of right now. What about YOU guys? I know, it's kind of boring and leaves little room for discussion, but if you guys don't know who Josef Muller Brockmann is, check him out. And I want to know other people's favorite designers/artists, too, so I can check them out. Comment or post an entry of your own.

-Ivan

Workshop Suggestions

This post is a prompt for you all to think about what projects we can do together. It can be something that ends up in the show, or not, but the idea is to take advantage of this really great group we have! Seeing everyone is eager to work with each other is pretty exciting, and actually having something to show would be even more "wow".
So, is anyone interested in doing a photoshoot conmigo? Or maybe a group phototrip to the city?
Also, I think it'd be fun to do mobiles of found objects/material. Maybe next time.
Also, this link was super cool! Mini-environments. (I have a fascination with working with natural materials)

Is there anything you guys have in mind? Set it up!

UPDATE T-shirt entry one (working image?)

I'm not entirely sure about the placement of this on a shirt, but I thought I could get some feedback on this so far. It's three colors but could easily be changed to two.

The Same

Click to get a much better view. The text part could be a shirt idea.

-Ivan

Two Heads

Two heads

project 1 done?

There went my night.
Lots of photoshop and lots of textures and lots of hours later.
I'm not sure if I should put something in the background. If I end up doing so I'm thinking about something really faint, if at all.

[Project ONE] - Progress

wee. This is what I worked on instead of homework - which then lead to very little amounts of sleep. But anyways, we had noticed in the past meeting that if we held one of the posters vertical it looked like a face. I kind of played around with that. The second's playing with type.

Project 1 Progress

Here's what I've got so far. Amazing how being at work inspires you to do non-work related things...

Project 1 progress

Are we allowed to post progess here?
I don't think I'll wait for an answer.
Hopefully I can get this colored before Thursday, but I really should get back to work.
Give me feedback.

Telephone Pictionary- Thursday 2/8

I scanned a couple of the Telephone pictionary booklets and posted them on flickr:

• Rain in Davis means snow in Tahoe


• Love your skin

Design/Inspiration Sites

I was thinking it'd be a good idea to put together a list of sites that we visit on a regular basis. A personal favorite of mine is www.core77.com. They have good discussions in the comment sections of their posts and they also link intersting articles. So, email me your favorites and we'll get them up.
-CDM

Balla Dóra Typo-Grafika

Check out the Balla Dóra blog link on the sidebar. It's a collection of amazing typographic designs, especially the Jazz Festival one posted today. We should do something like that, where we have the same text but graphically interpret it differently.

The Collablog

Welcome to the Collablog!

Hopefully, this will be a happenin' blog to discuss Collabusiness and Collab related things. Collab members are encouraged to join the blog and submit your entries.

—Ivan