Design Philadelphia Buttons

This is my second year interning for DesignPhiladelphia. Last year I designed the laser cut event signage, and was part of the team that designed the illuminated outdoor signs that were placed at all the events.

This year one of my tasks was to design the promotional buttons. They are all "d"s and if you flip them over they are "p"s too. They are worn in pairs to spell "DP" for DesignPhiladelphia.

Each button is a photo taken in the streets of Philadelphia. Hopefully locals will recognize a few of the letters taken from the signs that they have been looking at for years.

The DP team will be handing out the buttons and other goodies tonight in Old City during First Friday, so please come out and show your support.

Check back for more posts about DesignPhiladelphia between now and Design Week, October 7-13, 2009!

10,000 Photos!

The photo above was named "IMG_0001" by my camera. It took me a bit by surprise to see the photo counter on my Canon 20D roll from 9999 back to 1. I probably would have saved the shot for something a bit more interesting had I known.

I reluctantly bought the camera in Colorado when I was working for the College newspaper. I realized I couldn't keep up with developing film every week. Back when I was working for Joel Meyerowitz Photography I noticed that I had taken 2000 photos, and thought that was a big deal. Rob, a coworker, said "some people take that many photos in a week," which somewhat lessened the accomplishment. Well Rob, a person would have to take one photo every minute, for eight hours a day, for seven days to take 2000 photos! I'm happy to have chosen quality over quantity.

Recently my photography has been centered mostly around presenting and promoting my design work, and less on fine art photography. After taking 10,000 digital photos I have to think there are at least a few good ones.

See more of my photos on Flickr

Waking Up to Industrial Design

Hey, wanna see something weird?
I made a short film about how sometimes I get a little preoccupied with my work. I wanted it to be a film about me, but I couldn't find a director of photography to film it. My solution was to have an actor play me. Adding to the weirdness is the fact that the actor playing me is a woman.

The project that I am currently borderline-obsessed with is my Vegetarian Deer Mount. The half finished sculpture makes an appearance in the film. Occasionally I wake up having had surreal, project related dreams. This film is an exaggeration of that kind of morning... and it's supposed to be funny. Look for the finished deer in a few weeks.

Book Light

Part of the junior ID class has taken on a project that addresses the human factors issues in the UArts library. One of the most noticeable design flaws is the lighting. The florescent lights are standard tubes, fixed to a 3o foot high ceiling, that cast a dim green light over the work areas.

This is the first of many concepts for creating an environment that students want to be in. The Book Lights are inexpensive and easy to construct. Elegananly simple, it has only one flatpack piece, plus bulb, socket, and cord. The warm glow comes from a CFL that illuminates at a low temperature, guaranteed not to scorch the books.

Allen Shelf

Flickr for more photos

This is the first prototype for the Allen Shelving system. They are light shelves with surprising strength. They have the look of two layers of honeycomb stuck together, but are made from one solid piece. The different sizes of honeycomb pattern give it a random looking underlying structure, even though the pattern is even and uniform.

The shelves were named for both the Allen Wrench and Allen Ginsberg. The first thing that was placed on the shelf was a book of Allen Ginsberg's poetry, and the honeycomb pattern looks like the head of an Allen Wrench. My system for naming objects I design is quite profound, don't you think?

Lemonade from Lemons

So, I was documenting how to make a lamp so that I could post it on instructables, when I stopped drilling into the LDPE and started drilling into my hand with the most savage looking bit known to man. Unfortunately I was making the instructable for a class, so I had to do it even though I was bleeding profusely from the thumb.

To kill two birds with one stone, I decided to switch the focus of my DIY projcet to fixing my f-ing hand. Thus was born the How to dress a shop wound instructable... I hope you never have to use it.

Made of China

Fine china is used as a ritual object in many households; being used only a few times a year on special occasions. Traditional design is challenged with the Made of China line of fine tableware. Maintaining traditional materials, while using the design language of disposable items questions the elevated status of fine china.

The full line includes porcelain plates and dessert tray, hand-blown glass water bottle, silk napkin with printed "wrinkles" in silk packaging, and silver "disposable" utensils.

This project was a lesson in traditional crafts. Learning to create and produce multiples of high-end, craft based products, using traditional techniques was one of the greatest technical challenges I've faced so far.

Download the PDF presentation to see the full Made of China line.

Write Like Jesse

Now you can write ransom notes and other nefarious documents in my hand writing! I made the font so that I can maintain continuity between my concept sketches with handwritten notes, and presentations designed digitally. In the end it looks very similar to how I write with a pen; so much so that it's creepy to see things that other people have written with it.

I encourage you to download "Write Like Jesse" and write things with it that I never would!
(and email them to me JesseHGerard@yahoo.com)