The Domain Game

Robert Morris's Digital Mash design portfolio

Whether you’re a web guru or not, it may be time to brand yourself online— andoutside the realm of social media. Scooping up a domain name and creating a portfolio Website is highly encouraged for students like ourselves, so what does it take to get started?

1. Brainstorm a website name, and keep it short, sweet and memorable. A good domain name will let people know what to expect from the site. More often than not, it’s best to use your own name or your brand name for a portfolio site. However, if you have a popular name or a really complicated name spelling, you might want to think twice about using it.
2. Don’t fear the “com”; in fact, you should befriend it. A .com Website will be more successful because most people think in .com terms. A .net or .me domain can also be used, but avoid .org unless it’s actually an organizational site.
3. The more, the merrier. Take advantage of an opportunity to buy multiple domain names. This will help with traffic stealing if another person has a domain name similar to yours, and can account for misspellings on the user’s part.
4. Scope out what’s available. GoDaddy’s bulk upload feature allows you to see what domain names are up for grabs. It’s quick and easy. The nameboy search is also a good time saver.
5. Decide where you want to purchase your domain name. There are tons of registrars online, and prices vary.
6. Choose a host. The Site Wizard has a good list of what to look for while selecting one.

Purchasing a domain name doesn’t mean you have to launch a website overnight, but it lets you have some control over what comes up when you Google yourself. It’s a way of self-branding, displaying best works and putting your information out there for potential employers.

The Art of Eye Writing

The EyeWriter project combines research with creative technology to empower people with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leaves patients almost entirely physically paralyzed—except for their eyes.

An eyewriter at work / eyewriter.org image

An eyewriter is essentially a pair of glasses with  low-cost eye tracking software that allows people with ALS to create art using only their eyes. The ongoing project was devised by Members of Free Art and Technology (FAT), OpenFrameworks, the Graffiti Research Lab, and The Ebeling Group communities. They joined forces with with LA graffiti artist Tony Quan, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2003.

According to the EyeWriter website, “The long-term goal is to create a professional/social network of software developers, hardware hackers, urban projection artists and ALS patients from around the world who are using local materials and open source research to creatively connect and make eye art.”

Up close and personal with an eyewriter / eyewriter.org image

The EyeWriter project even has a DIY component to its website. You can build your own EyeWriter like this:

 

DIY EyeWriter / eyewriter.org image

 

Q&A with SlowPrint letterpress

Peter Fraterdeus / SlowPrint image

Meet Peter Fraterdeus, designer, typographer and founder of SlowPrint letterpress in Dubuque, Iowa.

The studio combines his 30+ years of typographic expertise with the quality and excellence associated with designing by hand.  Peter works almost single-handedly in the studio, producing items like business cards, stationery, holiday cards, and posters.

Feast your eyes on these creative cakes

It’s a rare occasion when a cake is just too good looking to eat, and an even rarer one when one can inspire you. Before recently tuning into TLC’s Cake Boss, the most impressive cake I’d ever feasted my eyes on was the Birthday Barbie cake my sister had when she turned six.

Barbie’s dress was two-tiered, sparkly, pink-frosted and decadently fluffy. The loopy cake frosting cascaded down her gown in such a way that she looked like a real princess, which might explain why my sister threw a fit when Aunt Lori tried to cut the first slice. But that was 1995, and what looked so impressive back then is nothing compared to now—at least in cake world.

Walle-E cake

Take Wall-E, for example. Could you seriously eat that cake after looking into those droopy eyes? I couldn’t. But I can appreciate how awesome this cake is. Kudos to the designer, it looks like it came straight from Pixar.

Lost Cake/ABC image

The Lost Cake was created to celebrate the 100th episode of the show. As you can see, it’s got the main characters on the island where their plane crashed. I guess they can duke it out for the Dharma four-pack until the Others find them.

30th Birthday Bash/ pinkcakebox.com

Here’s a topsy-turvy cake reminiscent of something the mad hatter would serve at his tea party. Or, in this case, for a 30th birthday! It’s decked out in all sorts of fitting sayings and scenarios, and my, look at the detail!

Sewing cake/ google image

Yes, it is edible. Your grandmother may have a heart attack if she sees someone gnawing on her knitting, but clear communication and a bit of fair warning can fix all of that.

5 Monkeys Jumping on the Bed/ Flickr image

This was one of my favorite books as a kid; to see it in cake form makes me a little nostalgic–and hungry! It’s chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream. Delicious.

Want to look like a professional from home? Check out these tips from The Cake Boss. Or, if you’d rather keep things simple, Martha Stewart’s best cupcakes decorating guide has some great ideas.

Guru of the Gourd, This One’s for You

So, it’s Halloween weekend. You’ve got your two-man horse costume, your windows are decked with gel gems, and you’ve single-handedly wiped out Walgreens’ candy supply. You’ve selected the quintessential pumpkin to carve and now it’s time to put those surgeon skills to use—but not on an ordinary jack-o-lantern face, oh no. You’re guru of the gourd, and this is your time to shine.

You may not be as quick as these pumpkinoisseurs, but hey, your tenacity might just take the cake. So grab your sketch pad and get ready: some superb ideas are coming your way.

1. The Drunk Pumpkin What better way to combine a sense of humor, love of alcohol and creativity?
   

   Drunk Pumpkin Party/Google image

    

2. The Portrait perfect for overachievers and for people with extraordinary amounts of time on their hands.

    

   

   Sarah Palin / Google image

3. The Geeky Pumpkin because it’s not a party without the Death Star.

    

   

   Be impressed, you must/ Google image

4. The Pumpkin Burger most likely inspired by Man vs. Food (or someone with a serious appetite).

    

   

   I'm lovin' it / Google image

5. The Predator Pumpkin bust this baby out if you’re running low on candy. Even the pumpkin-smashing  neighborhood hoodlums won’t come near your stoop. Zoinks.

    

   

   Predator Pumpkin/ Google image

Those creative juices ought to be brewing now, but I’ll leave you with Mr. Humongous Pumpkin Grower Guy just in case.

Meet Maurice Sendak, Illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are

As a boy, Maurice Sendak rallied the neighborhood children at his Brooklyn stoop to hear his film-inspired stories. Today, his tales of “how children get through the day” are recognized all over the world–only in their most famous form, illustration.

Where The Wild Things Are

“An illustrator, in my own mind, is someone who so falls in love with writing that he wishes he had written it and the closest he can get to is illustrating it,” says illustrator Maurice Sendak. “You have to find something unique in this book, which perhaps even the author wasn’t entirely aware of, and that’s what you hold on to and that’s what you add to the pictures—a whole other story that you believe in, that you think is there.”

Be sure to check out Maurice Sendak’s biography and see how his work has even influenced costume making!

Encounters with Unexpected Typography

Magic in Type

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955, making it the oldest of the Disney castles. The building was designed in the style of Eyvind Earle, the production designer for the Sleeping Beauty movie.  In this letterpress poster, freelance web maker and former Disney employee Rustin Jessen depicts a whimsical Sleeping Beauty Castle. Look a little closer, and you’ll notice each slant and curve is made of a typographical element.

Magic in Type Castle Letterpress Poster by Rustin Jessen

Tour this website: Type City

Here’s a fun typographically inspiring website - and bonus, it’s interactive! Tour “Type City” and watch as the landscape evolves. Each image  is made of its characteristic typographic elements and includes a list of typefaces used. Begin at the Paraguas Basilica and through the Museum of Natural History. Enjoy the beach, country club and city hall, etc. And the final destination? The Burgues Castle, “the Versailles in the sky of Type City.” Also be sure to check out the wallpapers at the tour’s end!

Nomade typographic sculpture

Nomade by Jaume Plensa. Living Downtown Des Moines image.

Here is a cool 3D sculpture at the Pappajohn Sculpture Garden, which stretches over nearly 4.5 acres in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. The artist, Jaume Plensa, will deliver a lecture sponsored by the Des Moines Art Center on Thursday, Noember 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Hoyt Sherman Place. Admission is free but reservations are required.

Finally, a reason NOT to wash your car!

Google Image

Dirty car art, pioneered by graphic artist Scott Wade, is arguably the most creative way to make use of windshield grime. Wade, also known as the “Da Vinci of Dirt,” creates art from the dirt that accumulates on his Mini Cooper. Wade lives on a 1.5-mile dirt road in San Marcos, Texas, and it’d cost him a fortune to constantly run his vehicle through the wash. The solution? Using the filthy car windows as canvases.

Google Image

Wade “draws” on the car by removing dirt with a rubber paint shaper—a squeegee-like technique essential to his muddy masterpieces. His work includes everything from “The Birth of Venus” to “Poker Dogs” and portraits of famous people.

Google Image

Click here to see a video of how the artist works!

Art Behind Bars: A Look at the Prison Creative Arts Project

Professional artists and novices alike have used  art as a form of therapy for decades. Today, the idea of therapeutic art is a common practice in prisons across the United States. Inmates are exposed to the visual arts as a creative and constructive means to express feelings, thoughts and visions.

The Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) is an organization dedicated to the arts in Michigan correctional facilities and statewide communities. Since its creation in 1990, PCAP has hosted hundreds of creativity workshops and showcased the work of Michigan’s prison artists, “breaking stereotypes and encouraging dialogue between people in prison and those outside.”

Here are a few examples of prison artwork. Each artist has a gallery and a biography section on the PCAP website.

"Self Portrait" by Anthony James. PCAP image.

"Country Sunset" by Brent Harding. PCAP image.

"Trauma" by Maurice Scott. PCAP image.

"Mother's Love" by Daniel Valentine. PCAP image.

3D Street Art

Sidewalk paintings captivated us all in Mary Poppins, when Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke join hands with the children and plunge into a world of animation. This scene–a combination of faith, music and magic–was the first exposure to street art for many people, but certainly not the last.

Mary Poppins and Bert. Image courtesy of Google.

Today, artists Julian Beever and Edgar Mueller spread a similar kind of enchantment (sans the leap of faith) through their sidewalk paintings all over the world. When viewed at a certain angle, the artworks take three-dimensional form.

Swimming-Pool In The High Street (Glasgow, Scotland) by Julian Beever. Image courtesy of boredpanda.com

Swimming-Pool viewed from the wrong angle. Image courtesy of boredpanda.com

"The Cave" by Edgar Mueller. Image courtesy of metanamorph.com.

Despite its steady climb in fame since the early 1990s, street art is believed to have originated in Europe during the 16th century. Vagabond artists traveled to cities to decorate paved surfaces, which often depicted religious icons and symbols.