co-operation » Joan

Cool Shit Series: RSAnimate videos

Joan — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:14:24 +0000

For this week’s Cool Shit, I shared the RSA’s fun, illustrated video narrated by Phillip Zimbardo — The Secret Powers of Time.

Click here to view this video.

Here’s another video worth watching —

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.

Click here to view this video.

Some info about the RSA:

The RSA: an enlightenment organisation committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges. Through its ideas, research and 27,000-strong Fellowship it seeks to understand and enhance human capability so we can close the gap between today’s reality and people’s hopes for a better world.

Mary Choueiter, Graphic Designer

Joan — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:19:10 +0000

Mary Choueiter is a graphic designer hailing from Beirut, Lebanon. She brings with her a vibrant sense of play and exploration, which she applies directly to her design work. She is fascinated by both physical and digital media, maneuvers her designs between 2-D and 3-D space, and spends countless hours cutting, scanning, digitally manipulating, and printing on paper. Her sense of play is what drives her to transform a mundane act, such as punching a hole through a piece of paper, into an immersive visual gesture on an epic scale. With a solid background in print design and typography, she particularly enjoys exploring the power of type in alternative spaces (eg, 3-D space) or as a building block in creating a pattern that meaningfully transcends the boundaries of written language.
Mary has received a Merit Scholarship from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon while completing her BFA in Graphic Design. She later completed an MFA in Digital Media at the Rhode Island School of Design and has worked at places such as Lippincott (NY), Wolff Olins (NY), and Atelier Hapsitus (Beirut).

We recently sat down with her to chat about her work, experiences, and inspiration. Here’s what she shared with us:

Where do you get inspiration from?
Mainly my inspiration comes from conversation. I’m always emailing friends in Lebanon and teachers that I’m still in touch with. Looking at other people’s work also gets me excited to make something good, but at the end of the day it’s just talking to people that inspires me. I also read a lot of fiction–mainly children’s books, and that helps to give my work a sense of play and a sense of humor.

Did you always know you wanted to be a designer?
I wanted to be many things. At first I wanted to be a doctor, like my dad. And then I saw his thesis and decided against it because it was a big book! I wanted to be a belly dancer. I wanted to be any form of person who buys things and sells them for twice the price…which I know is terrible, but I think that’s my Lebanese side–I’m a merchant by blood! And I think I went into design because I was meeting very interesting people as I was growing up, and I knew I didn’t want to be an artist–I wanted to do something that’s related to commerce and doing something for people that they could use. Design felt like the right place for me to be…the right challenge.

Why did you decide to live and work in New York?
The first time I came to the U.S. was in 2007. I visited Boston, New York, and Rhode Island, and I fell in love with how tiny Rhode Island was, went to grad school there. I didn’t think twice about New York–I thought New York was just like Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, but only bigger. A naïve perception! Then I freelanced and did an internship for a performance artist during the summer, and I realized New York has exactly the type of energy that keeps you on your toes and puts energy into you! Walking around after work just looking at the buildings, visiting museums, meeting new artists, all of it is very inspiring.

How would you describe your particular style of working?
I’m not very linear in my work. I do my research in the beginning and ask a lot of quetions, but the way I sketch is that I just put down ideas, even if they’re half-baked or just an image that I found interesting, and then I bring it to the table. And again, the conversation that ensues helps me move forward with the work and refine it even more.

What are some challenges you’ve faced in design?
Your creative process–you can’t switch it on and off, but you’re really working in an environment that is 9 to 5. So, that’s been a challenge…how to be patient with yourself and patient with where you’re working. Just sit there and try to be engaged within a certain range and not be like “Oh, the inspiration is going to come.”

How do you see design changing as a field?
I see designers as these great minds that use all aspects of their brains. They can be programmers and designers and musicians that make amazing things. I find that design is becoming less and less about specializing in one thing and more and more about being this one super-human brain that can do everything.

Some of Mary’s work:

Rooster, Peacock, Fa3lan

Beirut, Lebanon 2006

Rooster 1943, Peacock 2005 and Fa3lan (nonsensical word that rhymes with the Arabic pronunciation of Lebanon) – Mary’s undergraduate thesis project at the American University of Beirut on the highly debated stories of Lebanese History. Mary authored, illustrated, designed, and created the typography and calligraphy for this five-part publication.

Enlarged to Show Detail

Providence, RI 2009

This series of anaglyph prints (48in x 48in) explores the concept of random arrangements, pattern making, physical and virtual, and a back and forth between analog and digital work processes. Mary repetitively punched hundreds and hundreds of holes into Orbit gum packages to create patterns that eventually became different color swatches. Enlarged and projected in the 3-D cave at Brown University, the work lends itself to immersive visual color fields and constantly rearranging, random patterns.

Beirut Exhibition Center

Beirut, Lebanon 2010

Arabic and Latin custom typography for Beirut Exhibition Center main signage. Beirut Exhibition Center is designed by L.E.FT.

Sehnaoui Shelving, Tiling, and Door Handle

Mansourieh, Lebanon 2007

Villa Sehnaoui was designed by Atelier Hapsitus in Mansourieh, Lebanon. Mary designed a shelving system in the house based on the Arabic names of the villa owners, Hend and Maurice. She also designed the tiling detail and door handle for the entrance of the villa.

Writing Meander

Providence, RI 2008

Sandblasted Mahogany featuring a Latin and Arabic type composition. The composition was originally laser cut at Bud Saggal’s Precision Laser Cutting in Providence, RI.

See more at Mary’s website

Jungyeon Roh, Illustrator

Joan — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:11:35 +0000

Jungyeon is an illustrator hailing from Seoul, South Korea. Her colorful, imaginative work brims with humor and personality. She describes herself as being the “long lost daughter of Andy Warhol”, as she spends most of her days in the print shop working from “dawn ‘til dusk”. Although silkscreening is her favorite medium, she also enjoys working with digital media, drawing, and painting. Jungyeon’s work has been featured in Communication Arts, Print magazine, American Illustration, 3×3, and CMYK, among other major publications. Awards include: a gold cube from the Art Directors Club and silver medals from the Society of Illustrators in both N.Y. and L.A. The New York Times, Movado, and Playboy are among her clients.

We recently sat down with her to chat about her work, experiences, and inspiration. Here’s what she shared with us:

Where do you get inspiration from?
Mostly, I get my inspiration from food, people, and environment. I used to have an obsession with dieting–when I was 21, I tried to be skinny. I ate nothing but cabbage and water to lose weight, but in the end I gained more weight! And I realized, “Oh, I shouldn’t do that. I should eat healthy and treat my body well!”

What were some challenges you’ve faced since moving here from Korea?
Growing up as a young woman in Korea, it was hard to find my own voice because society is more rigid and traditional. And as an artist, I really should have my own voice. Since moving to New York, some challenges I’ve faced were loneliness, isolation, and having no family or belongings. But all that really helped me to find my voice well. As an illustrator, I think I’m a storyteller, so everything from my experiences and in my life can be my work’s source.

Why did you choose to specialize in silkscreening?
I enjoy doing silkscreen because of the clean lines that come out. Planning is really important for silkscreening. You need to make separations–from 2 to 6 colors–before starting. It’s really precise, and requires a lot of planning, so that I can get perfect registration. Illustrators and cartoonists spent most of their time alone at their desks. I do, too. But silkscreening is very active and requires a lot of energy, in addition to giving me plenty of interaction with other people. It also requires a fine arts-based skill set too, of course, which means it’s not easy to do quickly. I’m like a athlete-illustrator! That’s why I love silkscreening.

Why did you choose the character of Miss Eggplant?
The reason I chose Miss Eggplant as my character is because all girls can fit in her costume–skinny girls, fat girls, black girls, white girls, asian girls. They can all fit in her costume–if it were Miss Cucumber, only skinny girls would be able to fit. So, in my Miss Eggplant book, she dates all kinds of different American boys!

What would you describe your style of working to be?
My particular style of working is playful and full of humor. I like making my books interactive with foldouts and other paper folding styles and techniques. I use both silkscreen and digital printing for my Miss Eggplant book, and there’s accordion style binding as well as a fold out poster in the middle.

What’s your favorite place in New York City?
My favorite spot in New York City is Babycakes! I can get gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free cupcakes there. Carrot and Pumpkin are my favorite! The tiny store has really pretty decorations too. Whenever I hear about Babycakes, I get really excited.

What do you find to be inspiring about New York?
As an artist, New York is the best place to live in. This place is busy and fast, but people are rewarded for their efforts with success. New York always makes me work harder, and I am thankful for every morning when I wake up and open my eyes in this city. It is full of cultural icons and I find myself creating something new from these influences. I am learning new ways of thinking, seeing and creating here. I want to share my good fortune with other people through my art.

A peek at what the silkscreening process is like:

Some of Jungyeon’s work

Miss Eggplantʼs American Boys

Digital & Silkscreen/ 32 pages of accordion binding/ 8 editions/ 2010/ 13”x10”/ 6 to 8 colors

Miss Eggplantʼs American Boys tells the story of Miss Eggplant, a representation of veganism, who is from an Asian country and came to America to meet various American boys. The basic story is from the song “American Boy” (2008) by Estelle and every page illustrates the lyrics.

Society of Illustrators LA 49 Graphic Novels/Comic Books Silver, Society of Illustrators 53 Book Category, Creative Quarterly 22

All the young girls

New York Times Op-Ed Townies blog, November 2010/ 3rd of 4 series/ Ink and digital

Being a Korean/ Chinese girl living in New York City. Columns by Mary H.K. Choi.
Communication Arts 52

Desire Series #04

Silkscreen/ 4th of 4 series/ 2009/19”x24”/ 5 colors

Frogs wish to be women. They go to Buddha’s hospital to make their desires come true. Buddha gives the frogs plastic surgery, and while they are under anesthesia they dream of becoming women. But after their surgeries, the frogsʼ faces remain the same.

Society of Illustrators Annual 52 Comics/ Sequential category, Creative Quarterly 18 Silver, CMYK #49, Showtime Nurse Jackie Season2 Ep11.

All about the Public Bath

Silkscreen/ 10 pages of accordion binding/10 editions/ 2008/ 9”x6”/ 2 colors

This book is an instruction of how to act when you go to the public bath. The public bath is a representation of Asian cultures. This is the story of a Korean girl’s funny experiences at the public bath.

Today is Sushi Day

Silkscreen/ 10 pages of accordion binding/10 editions/ 2008/ 9”x12”/ 5 colors

Sisters who are sushi masters go to a rotating sushi restaurant and teach American people how to be master sushi eaters.

ADC 89th Annual Gold Cube, Society of Illustrators Annual 52 Sequential/Comic category; Silver, Society of Illustrators 2010 student show, American Illustration 28, 3×3 Illustration; Annual No.6 Student Distinguished Merit, Creative Quarterly 16 Illustration Student Gold.

See more at Jungyeon’s website

Optical Illusions

Joan — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:56:14 +0000

Photographer/artists Georges Rousse and Felice Varini create meticulous 2D works of art that appear as planar shapes floating in 3D space when viewed from precise vantage points.

Georges Rousse:

Felice Varini:

Lego Store Opening @ Rockefeller Center, NYC

Joan — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 14:25:59 +0000

On June 29th, the new Lego store in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center opened its doors to the public. In hopes of catching the tail end of the Grand Opening festivities (held over the course of the first three days), we took a trip over to Rockefeller Center on Thursday to explore the new Lego store and witness the exciting outdoor activities.

Here are some of the sights and sounds of what went on that morning:

Click here to view this video.

On the BP Oil Spill

Joan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:34:46 +0000

We’ve all heard of BP’s Deepwater Horizon by now. It’s the underwater oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, spewing up to 2.5 million gallons of crude oil into the gulf every day — leading to what may be one of the most dire environmental disasters in U.S. history.

Needless to say, the oil spill has not been a boon to BP’s public image. But how exactly has Deepwater Horizon affected their brand, and what measures have they taken to defend it? We took our cameras and notebooks to the streets of New York to get a sense of what people know about the spill, and how that knowledge has affected how they think of BP. In our interviews, we presented people with the following questions and images:

What are your thoughts on the BP oil spill?
What do you think about BP’s print ad? (Here is the ad that BP ran in the June 2nd issue of the NYTimes)
Do you now trust other oil companies over BP?
How do you think BP can rebuild their brand?

Not surprisingly, BP has not been very successful in their attempts to minimize the damage to their brand by the Deepwater Horizon spill. Here’s what one interviewee had to say: ”Why don’t they show this (points to images of oil soaked wildlife) and say we’re gonna fix this instead of showing pretty images (points to BP’s NYTimes ad) and saying it’s not that bad?”

A few clips of my interviews:

Click here to view this video.

Has the Deepwater Horizon spill permanently damaged BP’s reputation? Exxon may have recovered their image following the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, but that spill (previously the largest oil spill in U.S. history) has been utterly eclipsed by Deepwater Horizon. Exxon may have been able to help us forget about their 11 million gallons of spilled oil, but will BP be able to pull off the same feat with their 120 million (and counting)?

Perhaps at some point in the future — months, years or decades from now — BP will ultimately wipe this gigantic black stain off their record. But would that be a triumph of marketing, or a failure of human memory?

On the Benefits of Being Stupid

Joan — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:27:18 +0000

You’ve seen them on billboards and bus stops, in magazines, and on the subway: advice that would make your grandfolks shudder.

Launched by Anomaly London, Diesel’s “Be Stupid” ad campaign spans print, outdoor ads, and the internet. Most of the ads in the campaign feature photos of attractive young models engaging in various stupid behaviors, all supported by an array of catchy slogans pitting smartness against stupidity:

It’s clear which of the two sides Diesel takes. But when I first saw the ads, I wondered, does “stupid” mean spontaneous and creative, or reckless and inappropriate?

I set out on the streets of Manhattan to ask the general public about their opinions of the Be Stupid campaign. One elderly gentleman railed against the immorality of the campaign and its celebration of the obscene. “This is…it’s immoral. They’re taking chances with photographs. What do they think they’re doing? You can’t do this and then be shocked at, you know, a wife beating or something.” he told me.

But not everyone was so opposed to the idea of “being stupid.” “I think it’s more about opening yourself to new styles or something like that,” said one young woman in her early twenties–right in the bullseye of Diesel’s target audience.

The target audience for this ad campaign doesn’t seem confined only to age groups–other young people I interviewed just didn’t get Diesel’s philosophy at all. “I guess I don’t really get it,” said another young woman.

Apparently, being stupid means different things to different people. Individual factors, such as age, gender, cultural values, and socio-economic status surely play a part in how these ads are interpreted. For some, “stupid” can mean idiotic, irrational or a lack of intelligence. For others, it can mean to be funky or fresh, outrageous, or to act crazy and have a good time. It’s also interesting to note that both the ad agency that created this campaign, Anomaly London, and Diesel’s Creative Director, Wilbert Das, are both European.

A few clips of my interviews:

Click here to view this video.

For Diesel’s target audience, it means living life without regrets and giving in to a sense of freedom and creativity. For others, it means, well, being stupid.

In the eyes of the latter group, the campaign’s accompanying video ad might seem particularly set on preaching a gospel of stupidity. Is Big Brother commanding you to BE STUPID?

Click here to view this video.

One blogger in Europe picked apart the campaign in an insightful analysis. Based on Diesel’s ad campaign, would you rather be SMART or STUPID?