Just a quick follow up on the last blog I actually found an article with Richard Garfield describing his experience with the first set, Arabian Nights.  I think it's interesting he decided to base the set off of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, a collection of tales from the Middle East from around 800- 1300.  He checked out books from the library to connect the set as much as possible to the events. I hope you all enjoy the article as much as I did!

http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/78

Hope you guys had a good week!  I've been talking about the card game Magic the Gathering and how awesome along with the application of graphic design so I present to you, the creator.  He has a wacky sense of humor and he actually ended up making a card of himself!  It's very amazing how he was able to take his idea of a nerdy card game and turn it into a huge success!  It's interesting to look the first expansion set, which he designed by himself without a design team, Arabian Nights.  It's definitely come a long way.  It's very cool to look back at the older cards and compare them to the more recent sets

With the release of the Apple iWatch, after it's anticipated release for months, here is some information you might want to know about it.  I do not personally own one so here are some basic facts pertaining to it.  It connects with your iPhone to send the user notifications from their device which is only a slight tap on the wrist.  It's very customizable with many different colors, and materials for the watch itself and the armband.  Overall I from what I read it seemed to be a device with promise and it seems to be successful.  I'll give you guys links to some articles discussing what people like, and what some didn't like about Apple's new device.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/9-of-the-biggest-complaints-about-the-apple-watch-so-far/ar-BBjeRfg?srcref=rss

 http://goo.gl/MhlKyn

Happy Monday everyone... or is it?  There are so many ways one can express themselves in photography and the photographer must not let what people may think what is and isn't "normal" limit their creativity.  To show this I found some bizarre (but cool) photos.

http://awesomestuff4all.blogspot.com/2012/11/unique-photography-pictures.html

 

 

http://weddbook.com/media/818870/professional-wedding-photography-unique-creative-wedding-photography-profesyonel-dugun-fotograflari

 

 

http://grandefratello.forumfree.it/?t=49799068&st=210

 

 

 

Silhouettes are very awesome photos.  They withhold information from the subject in the way it's mysterious and interesting but not infuriating.  I love this photo because it has a feeling of movement and it's subject is martial arts.

I wanted to talk a little about Minecraft; we've all heard of it (hopefully) and those who have no clue what it is, there is the trailer for it!  It's widely considered the most successful game of all time due to it's popularity and it's total sale to 19,435,297 people.  At first glance it may seem a little underwhelming but it's success comes from a number of contributing factors.  First off is the public demand for different styles of games and how it has evolved over time.  Originally 8 or 16 bit games were the first type of games due to early technology which faded with the rise of 3D graphics but in the last couple of years, 16 bit games, such as Minecraft, caught the attention of many viewers.  What makes it appealing to such a wide audience of people is its versatility.  With many player made plugins and mods, people can do anything from advanced fighting to exciting pvp.  I've had Minecraft for about 2 years and I would recommend it to anyone.

The natural tool for digital manipulation always seems to be Photoshop (or Adobe Photoshop to be more specific).  I had to do a photo project, taking pictures of an event and doing simple modifications to 30 photos turned out to be very meticulous!  Instead of using Photoshop, I decided to use something I was much less familiar with, yet perfect for the job at hand.  I used Lightroom because it gave me the opportunity to modify one picture and copy the effects onto each picture with similar lighting and contrast.  It was very successful at creating the changes I needed!

I love this picture; it's very beautiful and holds a calm and peaceful tone.  The picture seems very symbolic, saying we, as humans hold the Earth in our hands.  It's our decision to make, whether to hold it securely protectively, or to carelessly drop it.  The focus is on the globe and the hands making them stand out against a blurred background.  Flickr is a great place to find beautiful pieces of art by the way!


Check the photographer out on Flickr for more of her work! https://www.flickr.com/photos/laurazalenga/7839542138/

Just something else also I thought was cool!  This is an awesome abstract background I found and I love how vibrant it is from the deep dark blue to the bright yellows and reds!  What makes this picture great is the person sitting on the wave, giving the image emphasis by isolation.  With the tiny person on the wave the picture has depth, drawing the viewers eye into the background

The very cool thing about the card game Magic the Gathering is that with every set they release, they animate a video to market the set.  They incorporate some of the cards from the set, animated.  They also include a story line to encourage new players to give the game a start and to immerse the existing players.  Here is a video with the trailer from the sets Theeros, Born of the Gods, and Journey into Nyx.  As always, enjoy!

Wanted to show some creative and unique types of typography.  They are exciting, fun, and whimsical and I hope you enjoy!



 

 

For more awesome and cool typography go to: http://creativecan.com/2012/03/creative-typography-and-text-effect/

After my last post I found this really neat website which allows anyone to get a high quality custom logo.  The website is called Logo My Way.  It allows people to create contests, prices ranging from a minimum of 200 to 1000.  The website asks you a few questions about your business and then creative people from all around the world compete to create the logo!  I thought this was a very cool application of graphic design!

Here's the website for you guys to check it out! http://www.logomyway.com/

Everyone has seen the Amazon Logo (or at least they should have) and it represents the company pretty well.  It's very simple and it's very easy to identify that Amazon is a web based company.  Nothing else to note here? Wrong!  There are some cleverly included symbols included into the logo.  The arrow is supposed to show a smiley face, representing all of Amazons satisfied customers.  It also represents Amazon's goal of delivering every product from A to Z.  Just a fun interesting fact!

This is an absolutely amazing photo I saw while looking at "Star Trail" photos on Flickr.  I love how the slow shutter speed blurred the lights of the cars and the stars to create the streaking effect seen here.  The vibrance of the light creates a lot of contrast against the dark night sky, adding visual interest.  The photo has a great illusion of depth with both of the beams of light diverging at a vanishing point in the horizon.  Hope you guys enjoy it too!


More of the photographer's work, Matt Molloy, if you want to check it out: https://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_molloy/

Wanted to show you guys something different and cool!  I love this because the text in the bottom has excellent emphasis with leading lines drawing the eye into the graphic in the center.  A lot of it looks like hand drawn art scanned in which has a very cool sharp look to it.  It's very vibrant and it has a lot of movement to it, creating a happy cheery mood for the viewer.  Just looking at this makes me feel excited!

Hey guys, I hope you all had a fabulous day!  I was looking at surreal photography and this one caught my eye!  I love the angle at which this photo was caught, almost seeming as though she is hanging off the world.  It's very bizarre and whimsical; what's not to love about it?  There's emphasis on the subject and there's leading lines directing your eye to her.  The subject is in clear focus and overall, great shot!

As always, here is the link: http://balisticterrorbunny.deviantart.com/art/Dreams-edge-180917027

Monday's can be rough so here is an inspiring photo, taken by Michael Reed, to help you guys through the week.  I love the depth he creates with this photo with the subject in emphasis in the foreground.  The high contrast black and white sepia effect helps connect the photo connect to a larger idea; in this case it's memories.  I hope his defiant gaze into the wide expanse of the ocean will help all of you make it through the week!


To check out more of his work: http://www.thedphoto.com/inspiration-fix/inspiring-photography-of-michael-reed/

It's almost Friday guys and I wanted to show off a logo for a fictional company I created a while back.  I absolutely love drinking tea and with that I gained my inspiration!  When one thinks of tea, it's origin, china, naturally comes to mind!  On both sides I wrote "Tea" in traditional Chinese to reflect this origin and to create a sense of balance.  I picked the color scheme of green and red because they are complimentary colors, creating contrast.

It's hump day again today to all you who aren't frustrated when they see the term "hump day"!  Went out today to take a photo-shoot and I managed to snap this HDR picture which a edited in Photoshop later to create this eerie effect.  What completes this photo for me is the high contrast appearance it has, emphasizing the subject, the old building, and furthering it's creepy appeal.  Let me know what you guys think; any constructive criticism will be appreciated!

Hey guys!  I hope those who got snow enjoyed shoveling, I sure did!  Wanted to show you all this cool thing cooled OzoBot.  It's a robot designed to follow lines on a paper or a screen and depending on the color of the line, it goes different speeds.  I hope you all enjoy the video!