Chosen One
July 30, 2010 | Filed Under Design | Leave a Comment
E’yen Gardner is a local author that has just finished his 3rd book, Chosen One. So far, I’ve had the pleasure of working with E’yen on each book. We decided not to use photography this time around and I’m very pleased with the outcome.
I can’t wait until Chosen One hits the shelves!
Humbly Submitting to Change – The Wilderness Experience
August 11, 2009 | Filed Under Design, kcato. | Leave a Comment
I had the pleasure of working with an amazingly talented writer, E’yen A. Gardner. Eyen and I grew up together at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. We share so many memories of the youth choir, vacation bible study, and Sunday school.
E’yen’s first book, Humbly Submitting to Change, was released today! It’s available on his website and also at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Please support Eyen’s vision and his wonderful gift. I’m definitely looking forward to working with him really soon.
Spark a Conversation at Ignition 2.0
March 30, 2009 | Filed Under Design, kcato. | Leave a Comment
Artwork by Phong Nguyen
The Fuse Factory Electronic & Digital Arts Lab, a not-for-profit arts organization in Columbus, is hosting its second annual juried exhibition featuring artists working with digital and electronic media. Ignition 2.0: Conversations takes place on April 18th and 19th at Junctionview Studios, located at 889 Williams Avenue, Columbus OH 43212. The exhibit showcases the works of fourteen artists from Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Zanesville, Gahanna, and Whitehall.
True to the exhibit’s theme, conversations, much of the work in Ignition 2.0 involves direct or indirect viewer interaction, whether it be human-to-machine or machine-to-machine. For example, Thomas Winniningham’s “Give Me Pop Art” has viewers type into a computer a single word, which is sent to a file that has been configured to post drawing tasks to Mechanical Turk. The images created by Mechanical Turk users who sign on to complete these quick drawing tasks are projected as a composite image in real time.
Other works requiring the viewer’s direct input include Bill Shackelford’s “Blogged”, Nathaniel Hartman’s “Noise Machine #1″, and Debbie Rosenfeld and Jonny Roller’s “Conversations with Color”. “Blogged” monitors blog traffic to the work’s website and runs air from an air compressor into a 6-foot balloon every time someone visits the site, filling the balloon until it bursts. “Noise Machine #1″ uses sensors, toggle switches, and potentiometers to monitor the viewer’s interactions, which in turn impacts the sculpture’s movement/sound cycle. In “Conversations with Color,” viewers send text message responses to questions posed by six different abstract digital prints; their messages trigger the projection of additional images or quotes onto the wall space above the prints .
While not requiring direct interaction, a number of pieces adhere to the exhibit’s theme via reflection upon the nature of conversations made possible by the internet. Jane Ries’ “The Man Project” is a compilation of over three hundred male photos retrieved from their Yahoo! personal ads and categorized according to a system based on facial expression, clothing, hairstyle, and body language. Anthony and Sandra Fontana’s photo installation “We are Avatars” explores the social capital one gains via participation in social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, represented by the placement of images taken of exhibit attendees.
“With the meteoric rise of online social networking and advances in communications technology, the theme of conversations seems quite apt,” said Dr. Alison Colman, founder and Executive Director of the Fuse Factory. “It is amazing what artists are doing with these technologies now, not just in terms of technological expertise, but also in terms of reflection, critical exploration, and play.”
The opening reception will take place from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm on Saturday, April 18th. The exhibit will open to the public from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm on Sunday, April 19th.
For more information, please visit http://thefusefactory.org or call 614-483-3873.
Case Study: Carl McKinney Photography
November 9, 2008 | Filed Under Design, Web, kcato. | 1 Comment
“Carl captures vivid portraits, rich details, and genuine moments for the most wonderful people in the world”
I’ve had the pleasure of working with an enormously talented photographer, Carl McKinney. Carl is a wedding and lifestyle photographer located in Columbus, Ohio.
The first phase of this project was to create a brand that represented Carl’s personality and professionalism. Within minutes of our initial conversation, Carl dot was born.
Put simply, Carl dot means it’s just Carl, period. Carl is always the same sweet, genuine person every time you see him. He also brings his warm spirit to his clients and body of work. Therefore, it was important that we incorporated these qualities into his brand.
Next, we began working on Carl’s portfolio site. The objective was always to bring a simple, yet fresh design to the Web. To do this, I incorporated Flash, Mootools, JavaScript, and some fancy CSS styling.
Below are screen shots of what I’ve captured so far. We’ll be launching the new site soon (I promise). Thank you Carl for a wonderful Web design experience. 
Have You Seen Helvetica?
August 26, 2008 | Filed Under Design | 2 Comments
Last week, Peedie and I watched a lovely documentary about the most popular sans-serif font of all time, Helvetica. The font originated in Switzerland but has been an international typeface classic since 1960.
Helvetica is widely used by most graphic designers because of its modern appeal, simple yet bold construction, and most importantly, it’s easy to read on screen and in print.
As a designer, I’ve done some serious time with Helvetica. It’s one of two fonts I rely on when designing Web interfaces: Myriad Pro and Helvetica. Gotta love ‘em. They’re both powerful typefaces that can communicate messages seamlessly.
Look around you. How many logos do you see that use Helvetica? Until I saw this documentary, I never knew Helvetica was staring at me on a daily basis. On our road trip to IKEA, we counted over 20 logos/signs that used Helvetica.
Here’s a snapshot of Helvetica’s lengthy resume:
Can you think of anymore?