blog

Just a thought

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:43:32 +0100

A random thought about typing to a person--

IF THIS IS CONSIDERED YELLING....

then wouldn't this be the same as whispering?

Think about it.

Fill the Cracks With Art

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:53:19 +0100

If you've ever walked down The Drag here in Austin, you might notice that sometimes the cracks in the sidewalk are filled with colored tiles, like little mosaics for passersby to see. There's not too many of them, but they do add a bit of color to the otherwise normal, drab cement. I think it would be really interesting to see little pictures on the tiles.

Amateur and professional artists and even little children, just whoever wants to, can take on the challenge of painting such a small tile piece to be placed into one of the greatest places to shop in Austin. The project doesn't even have to just be on The Drag; it can extend to other places as well.

We could go into a grand scale and arrange the pieces to take up a full walkway, like a floor mural, similar to those collage portraits that are comprised of many little pictures like the one seen here. Then people can walk all over it to see their artwork as well as many of the others. It would be a really nice addition Austin's unique, artsy vibe, and the whole thing would be one big community project.

Electronic Kiosks

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:52:19 +0100

I know that Las Vegas and many other tourist attractions use a lot of electronic billboards, especially in their airports. UT uses similar bulletin screens at the Union, SAC, and lobby of the Communications building.

We have several outdoor kiosks around campus that people can staple their paper ads to. I know at least some of the kiosks are for student organizations only but there are many ads for roommates/housing, special events, jobs, etc. If you walk up to one of these kiosks, the papers are everywhere including on top of each other and there are countless staples and gum paste stuck in them. It's really just a big, unorganized mess!

My idea would be to make these kiosks into electronic bulletins just like those seen at the Union. While I don't know how cost efficient it would be to install and maintain them, they'd certainly be a lot nicer and organized to look at. The ads could rotate around the kiosk or simply appear/disappear for another ad to take its place. The kiosk could be divided into 3 sections with the middle being the biggest for student organization announcements, and the bottom and top would have a smaller area for non-UT related ads. All the ads would get a fair chance to be seen.

This would eliminate all the wasted paper and the unappealing look of the gum paste (and maybe even chewing gum?) stuck on the kiosks. Students orgs and others would simply log onto an AdSpace database, upload their flyers, and set a timer for how long they'd like their ad to be on the kiosks. There would be options like being able to post your ad to all the kiosks or just those in specific areas.

Keep Calm

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:51:27 +0100

I just recently moved out of my house for the summer into my apartment for the fall. The girls who are moving into the house after me were bringing in their furniture and decorations when I noticed the famous "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster on the mantle. I had seen different variations of the poster and decided to make my own.

In this piece, my inspirations were the "Keep Calm" poster and the British 1st edition cover of my favorite book (besides Harry Potter!), George Orwell's classic, 1984, which can be seen here. I used a variety of textures, blending options, and gaussian blur for the green background and cream colored font, and created the two tone silhouette of Big Brother using the cutout and curves features on Photoshop.

F is for Facebook

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:50:27 +0100

Oh, how time passes when you're seeing what you're friends are doing on Facebook. Thank you Mark Zuckerberg, for creating the biggest distraction from homework. Guilty as charged! This site is procrastination station!

I wanted to create something vintage in Photoshop so I chose to play with The Scarlet Letter idea and make a vintage F to place on Mark Zuckerberg's shirt. I played around with different textures and blending options to make the F look like a vintage patch that is sewn on.

Social Media Nails

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:49:07 +0100

"Social media...let your fingers speak to the world"

From left to right: Blogger, Myspace, Twitter, FourSquare, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Google+

While I was checking my Facebook and Google+ this evening, I noticed that my nail polish was chipping and decided that I should probably give myself a manicure this weekend. That's what inspired me to make this image. The hands/keyboard picture was taken from google, but I "painted" the nails in photoshop with the logos of the current most popular social networking/media sites.

I couldn't find a google image that I liked that was similar to this but using a Mac. It would've been neat to create a manicure that had black nails, with the white Apple logo on just the ring finger.

Be in the air, Not off the map

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:34:01 +0100

Google+ has this nifty little feature called Hangout in which multiple people can video call, watch Youtube, and play games together. It's already serving as such a useful and efficient tool for group meetings when people are out of town for the summer.

Skype and other platforms have included 1-on-1 video calls for a while now. But we still can't talk or video chat with people on the ground when we're up in the sky on an airplane. Or well, we can video chat through the internet like on Skype, but it is frowned upon. Airline operators say that using your cell phone on an airplane interfere's with signals, but while we may find it enjoyable to Skype or make calls on an airplane to pass the time, there's no doubt that your chit-chat is incredibly annoying to the passengers around you.

Perhaps we can figure out a solution to that? What if we invented a headphones set that had a unit attached that included a microphone that would completely encase your mouth like some sort of soundproof suction cup?

The drone of the airplane wouldn't be able to penetrate the chamber so that your voice comes through crystal clear (or as close to clear as you can get). The guy snoring in the seat beside you wouldn't even be able to hear a word you say, so all the other passengers remain content with the silent plane ride.

This would make it very easy to pass time on a long plane ride. You wouldn't be disappearing for a few hours (unless you wanted to) because you can still keep communication open with friends and business contacts. It'd be easy to call your friend who is picking you up from the airport or a taxi and let them know exactly when you'd be landing.

The same headset unit would be perfect for home and office use as well if you need to call someone but must stay silent in the room you're in.

Red=stop, Green=go

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:31:17 +0100

Who decided that red means stop and that green means go? If you're colorblind, you wouldn't be able to determine either one, so using those colors would seem relatively useless. What would you do if a traffic light was purple, orange, and turquoise, or some other colors that partially colorblind people can see? How confused would you be if you came to a stop sign like this?

Why Are Doorknobs Round??

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 04:03:43 +0100

Why are doorknobs round?? Or really, why are there still doorknobs that are round? They're just so inconvenient!

If you've just put lotion on your hands, your hands will be sliding all over the knob, making it greasy and even harder to turn. You might become trapped in the room you're in until your hands dry up some or you find a more resistant cloth to turn the knob with.

Or, if you can't use your hands for some reason, like if you're carrying a big, heavy box, you have to deal with the hassle of putting down the box, opening the door, and then trying to lift the box back up. We all know how hard it is to lift up a loaded cardboard box when you can't get your hands under the bottom. Let's just hope you don't hurt your back bending over to pick it up.

Why not make doorknobs square? with ridges? made of rubber? Anything so that sweaty, greasy hands can encounter some friction with the knob so it's easier to turn.

Of course, you could just change all your rounded doorknobs to lever handles. Then, if you can't use your hands to open the door, you can at least use your feet to push the handle down and push the door open relatively easily. Doesn't it make more sense to use lever handles instead of round knobs?

Thumbprints: the New ATM

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:34:14 +0100

If no two thumbprints are exactly alike, then is it possible to ditch the paper forms of IDs like your drivers license or passport and just use machines that scan your thumbprint or full hand?

What about holding your credit card information all on your thumbprint? If you wanted to buy something off Amazon, all you'd need to do is hold your thumb down on the keypad of your laptop in order to download your credit card information and verify your identification.

The police would easily download your information if you were in an emergency or got pulled over. Credit card fraud would eliminated. Establishments that sell alcohol would know for sure if you're of legal age

No more keeping track of multiple credit cards and IDs. You're whole life could exist right at your fingertips. The possibilities are intriguing and also very scary...