finis

You know you're really done with thesis when your grandmother has approved it.

synonyms - work in progress

synonyms - work in progress

all business and no play...

Finished the design for my business cards. Picked up films yesterday and made plates. Ready to letterpress later today.

This most likely won't be the colors. Will be printed on Crane Lettra 220 Pearl White.

synonyms - work in progress

Option A

Option B

Will be screenprinted with a split fountain (gradient). Only two films will be required. Ordered French Paper Speckletone Sand 80lb cover. Unfortunately 100lb cover isn't available in the Sand color.

Sketch for submarine sandwich synonyms.

expenses itemized

Good Impressions
10 sheets Crane Lettra 220 Pearl White, $58.14.

Photo polymer from Boxcar Press, $43.54

Films from Alpha Graphics, $13.52

= 120.20

Alpha-Mail/Consonants & Vowels
Chipboard for both, $94.12

500 A-7 Speckletone Kraft envelopes, $59.20

3400 yards baker's twine, $18.15

= $171.47

Opposites Attract
Magnet board and chalkboard paint, $16.41

Magnets to test, $34.44

Magnets to use, $76.70

Plumbers putty, $7

Plasti Dip, $14

= ~$152.55

What do you call it?
French Paper, $30.70

Exhibition
Metal shelf, $148.40

Cork, $11(?)

Multiple small frames, ?? (still need to find)

=~$159.40

Total
~$515

thesis is expensive

Ugh. Thesis is getting expensive. Why is shipping so much!? Bought 5 more in addition to the 1 set I have. Hopefully I just need one to test on.

Still need to buy plumbers putty and Plasti Dip.

exhibition ideas

Purchased shelf pictured from Avenue Antiques in Hampden, $140 (with tax ~$150). A 14" x 14" magnet board that has been spray painted with chalkboard paint will be mounted in the center. It fits perfectly height-wise, but there is a little room on either edge of the board horizontally. Will have to work around.

All small items—Alpha-Mail, Good Impressions, and Opposites Attract—will be featured in this cabinet of curiosities. Additionally I plan on printing out definitions of synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms and framing them in small frames to be displayed on the shelf as well.

My posters—Consonants & Vowels and What Do You Call it?—will be hung on the wall next to it. I have decided against framing them as I think it will change the intention of the work, and instead will back them with cork or some other material to elevate them off the wall.

antonyms - work in progress

Opposites Attract:

1. here & there
2. now & then
3. back & forth
4. in & out
5. this & that
6. left & right
7. more & less
8. major & minor
9. over & under
10. above & below

Might not be practical cost-wise to do all ten.

Many were inadvertently generated when I started mindlessly humming this song from The Sword & the Stone.

antonyms - work in progress

Alnico magnets to purchase from here. Going to buy another set to test how they repel when stacked. At the moment the magnets when placed on a board do not repel as much as I would like. I'm hoping by stacking them less of the magnetic force will be carried to the magnetic board. $12.95 x 8 = ~$104 (not including shipping).



The magnets are not as finished as I would like, and are stamped with N and S representing the north and south poles of the magnets. I plan on using plumbers putty to fill in the stamped letters. I will also dip each stacked magnet into Plasti Dip (~$10) to create a rubber coating on the magnets and make them more finished.

Found a tutorial for rubber coating magnets here. The internet is great!

synonyms - inspiration

via

in process poster

Click to view larger.

antonyms - inspiration

Ambigram doormat, via

homonyms - inspiration

Sapling Press

Not exactly inspiration. Just amusing.

homonyms - work in progress

Good Impressions:

"Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours" -Swedish proverb

Small, intimate letterpressed cards (not much bigger than a calling card) with 4 word phrases taken from the above Swedish proverb. The blank cards are meant for giver to write a note to the recipient, and kept as a keepsake by the recipient.

bluepoolroad via Felt & Wire

I imagine the cards being blind debossed (example above) with the phrases. A possible border or edge treatment might be considered as well.

Just Vandy via Felt & Wire

I see the size being similar to these "just a thought mini notes". 32 2"x3.5" notes for $12.

By using a blind deboss, the message would keep it's intimate and subtle quality while not taking away from the hand-written note to the recipient. Additionally I see the texture of the deboss as something that can be rubbed—like worry stones. Something to keep idle hands busy during times of needed encouragement. A colored edge would allow the card to be easily found in a wallet.

pecha kucha recap

Last week, I gave an in-progress presentation in the style of Pecha Kucha. I looked at it as another project brief—a different way to get my ideas across. Pecha Kucha is a trademarked presentation style with 20 slides, and 20 seconds per slide. I quickly found I had much more I wanted to talk about than the 6.666 minutes allotted. On top of the time restriction, I also volunteered to speak in front of visiting designer, and new Pentagram partner, Eddie Opara. I was the first to present in front of him, and I tried my best to remain casual and confident. After all, I had to come across as the expect of wordplay. He was familiar with Pentagram designer, Harry Pearce's book and recommended to listen to podcast(?) of him speaking about his book.

After the presentation, I am unsure of some of the "nyms" I have chosen, and am looking to revise a few of them. I have to keep reminding myself I can continue pursuing these aspects of wordplay in my future work.

antonyms - work in progress

Consonants & Vowels, December 2010

homoynms - work in progress

Alpha-Mail, started in December 2010

antonyms - inspiration

Constellation & Co. via Felt & Wire

Starshaped Press via Felt & Wire

Dolce Press via

antonyms

Going back to Sesame Street for some inspiration on opposites.

project brief revision

After a lot of research into wordplay and realizing the incredible broad topic that it covers, I thought it best to narrow my thesis a bit. I will be focusing on "-nym's". I will be looking at 5 different "-nym" categories, responding to these through design.

1. homonyms (sounds the same, but are spelled differently. have different meanings)
2. antonyms (either of a pair of words that have opposite meanings)
3. synonyms (one of two words that have the same meaning)
4. bacronyms (the reverse of producing an acronym; taking a word which already exists and creating a phrase using the letters of the word as initials)
5. oronyms (a string of words which is homophonic with another string of words)

two other possible topics:
1. heteronyms (one of two words that have the same spelling, but different meaning, and sometimes different pronunciation too)
2. autoantonyms (a word that can take two opposite meanings)

rebus cont'd

My dad said he stood in a record store staring at this album cover repeating "stone-bun" over and over, until he finally realized it says "rock and roll".

colloquialisms/idioms

A colloquialism is a that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation, rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics.

1. characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing; informal. 2. involving or using conversation.

Some examples of informal colloquialisms can include words (such as "y'all" or "gonna" or "wanna"), phrases (such as "old as the hills" and "graveyard dead"), or sometimes even an entire aphorism ("There's more than one way to skin a cat").

Colloquialisms my grandparents said:
"I wouldn't wear that to a dog fight if I knew both dogs."
"She came right off the spool"
"Drier than the heart of a haystack"
"Fat and sassy"
"Nervous as a whore in church"