Student Work

05 Aesthetics Tour 3

We did polls for office hours: Mondays at 3 pm was most popular. Appointments are available whenever you need to talk, and drop in any afternoon when my door is not fully shut. Tyler has volunteered to curate our Movie Night. Monday at 6 pm was voted best. We did sketching practice, and then continued…

Aesthetic Exploration: ASAP Rocky

https://www.complex.com/music/2019/01/asap-rocky-janelle-monae-single ASAP Rocky is a person who is hip-hop artist. He grew up in Harlem named after the one of the greatest rappers Rakim. As his family is hip-hop lover, he has built his talent since a toddler. However, his financial situation was not so good that his family were vulnerable within the environment of…

Aesthetic Explorations – Biomimicry

Nature has been evolving structures for billions of years, constantly searching for better and better designs for the nearly infinite needs of living things. And it’s done and extremely good job. Biomimicry is the idea that we can imitate these designs created by evolution and use them for our own needs. The aesthetic of biomimicry…

Aesthetic Exploration: Calaveras

The Aesthetic for Calaveras first began appearing around the 17th century but has had roots in Aztec, Mayan, and Toltec cultures. Calavera directly translates to skull but has a certain style differing from the style more prevalent in American like Gothic, Biker, or Pirate themes. It stems from not only honoring the dead but creating…

Organic Design

Organic design is centered around using nature as your biggest inspiration. It has been around since humans first began making tools, as early humans were working with the forms that nature provided them. Organic design saw a resurgence in the 1930’s through the works of Frank Lloyd Wright(2). He wanted his work to “create harmony…

Aesthetic Exploration 2019: Water-cooled PC

In this day and age, technology is everything and everywhere. People can’t seem to avoid technology and it’s massive advances within the 21st century. With the development of computers and the improvement of data transfer rates within PCs, the capabilities of these machines seemed endless. Some people however, chased a different type of capability in…

70’s New York Punk

I came to the punk scene through bands like Blink 182 and Sum 41 in mid 90’s. The songs were well-produced, the lyrics were unnecessary, and the videos were intentionally childish. The trappings of traditional punk were present (fast rhythms, screaming vocals, and haircuts that were only appropriate in jobs that required hair nets), but…

Aesthetic Exploration: Product Design Sketches

Sketching by hand is not lost in today’s digital age. The ability to sketch by hand allows designers to quickly put ideas onto paper, make changes, and flesh out concepts. Hurricane Lantern sketches by Mike Serafin Early stages of design sketching often looks like this. Many simple images on one page. Often in a side…

Aesthetic Exploration: Minimalism

The aesthetic that I chose to explore is minimalism. Originating from the 1950s and prospering during the 1960’s and 1970’s, minimalism arose from the idea that art should not be limited to societal standards. Rather than being a luxury only affordable to the rich, minimalism demonstrates art in its purest form and is something that…

Super Computer

This is the Digital Storm Aventum PC. The design of this PC is very compact, yet it demonstrate superb performance. In addition, the layout of its components are aesthetically pleasing. The cooling system implemented on this PC is a water cooling mechanism that maximizes heat decimation in order to protect the critical components of the…

Rocky Mountain Underground

For all my life I have enjoyed skiing the Rocky Mountains. There’s something about the cold, fresh air stinging your lungs after hiking to the top of a fresh peak and looking down at all the fluffy white powder about to be carved up. It’s a freeing feeling that I will continue to chase for…

Aesthetic Exploration: Glitch

An aesthetic that I have fallen in love with is the Glitch Aesthetic. Glitch, in a sense, aims to reveal and enhance the beauty in mistakes that would otherwise appear messy and unwanted. It really took off in the mid-to-late 20th century. Malfunctions in technology that would otherwise be undesired are taken advantage of in…

Aesthetic Exploration – Mosaics

Mosaics are a style of art the creates a picture by using small pieces of colored stone or glass as the medium. The origins of this art style traces back to Mesopotamia, around the 3rd millennium BC. Later in the 4th century BC, they became popular in the Greek culture, usually depicting an aspect of…

Aesthetic explorations 2019

The ancient greeks were known to be one of the most influential civilizations to mankind and are known to have shaped the way we think about the world and ourselves. The ancient greeks dabbled in many things including art and pottery. Pottery was very important to the greeks as it was a means of storage…

Aesthetic Exploration: The Third Eye

The photographer has the chance to capture moments that not everybody sees and that’s the beauty of photograph. The camera is the third eye that captures memories with all the emotions with it. One of the most special days in our lives are wedding days. I can’t imagine a wedding without a photographer that’s ready…

Aesthetic Explorations 2019: Dieselpunk

The steampunk aesthetic is to steam as the dieselpunk aesthetic is to diesel. It is important to understand both aesthetics as they are considered to be close cousins. The steampunk aesthetic deals with industrial steam power found in the Victorian era mixed with attributes of Tesla and sustainable energy. Dieselpunk draws from the interwar period…

Aesthetic Exploration: A-frame Houses

A-frame houses are composed of slanted support members joined at one end to create thee image of an equilateral triangle. For added structural support there is cross member connecting the two main support at about the midpoint of the building’s height. This cross member is what gives these unique buildings thier name. While A-frame like…

Aesthetic exploration- Seal carving

Seal carving, also seal cutting, or zhuanke in Chinese, is a traditional form of art that originated in China and later spread to East Asia. It refers to cutting a design into the bottom face of the seal (the active surface used for stamping, rather than the sides or top). Also known as seal engraving.…

Aesthetic Exploration: Dress to Kill

Military inspired fashion Military inspired fashion explores a certain type of aesthetic that highlights firm structures, hard textures, metallic embellishments and earthy tones. They are directly drawn from classic military uniforms that used to be worn during World War I and II. The dusty colors that distinguish military clothing from other pieces began in India.…

Aesthetic Exploration: Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro, in its most basic form, is a contrast of light and dark without regard of color. It is commonly used to give subjects of a painting or photograph three dimensions with light falling on the subject from a particular light source out of frame. Though this technique has existed for a long time, it…

Aesthetic Exploration 2019: Beer Tap Handles

The aesthetic I have chosen to explore is the aesthetic of beer tap handles, and how they can range from incredibly minimalistic to functional works of art. Until the early 20th century, beer was typically served directly from the barrel, until artificial carbonation was introduced in 1936 thus beginning what we know as draught beer. …

04 Aesthetics Tour 2

Today we shared design notebooks and ideas for tonight’s first post on aesthetics. Then we looked at a few specific design aesthetics: Industrial Chic, Biker Culture, Japanese motorcycles, Yakuza tatoos and speech patterns, Manga, Steampunk and more. Lastly we looked at a few examples of upcycling in preparation for the warm-up project. PDF of lecture…

Aesthetic Exploration: Soviet Propaganda

Propaganda designed to sway the public opinion has been produced and distributed by many organizations, usually nations, for centuries. Soviet propaganda existed for many reasons; to bolster ideologies, to evoke emotions such as national pride or hateful thoughts of the enemy, and others. Propaganda posters generally don’t extra frills, as conveying a message is their…

Aesthetic Explorations 2019: Aviation

There are two major manufacturers of aircraft since the 1950’s whose designs I will cover; Boeing and Airbus. Boeing was founded in 1916 in Seattle and started out making wooden frame aircraft. Airbus was founded in 1970 and is a major aerospace manufacturer in Europe. This post will focus on the design on airplanes starting…

Aesthetic Exploration: Sports Bike

The aesthetics of modern sports bike attracts me a lot lately, so I chose to do some research about it. Many motorcycle manufactures make sports bikes, these manufactures include: Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Ducati, etc. Sports bike design prioritize speed and performance over comfort. This design priority, along with influences from competitive racing motorcycles, has given…

Aesthetic Exploration: Swimwear

[1] Thinking about the snow outside, getting into a hot tub becomes a relaxing thought. However, something that doesn’t cross the mind is what to wear. The general assumption is that everyone would wear a swimsuit. From this, my question became, how did swimwear emerge as a modern-day afterthought and is there an aesthetic behind…

Aesthetics Exploration: Calligraphy

[1] The aesthetic I have chosen to explore is calligraphy. I have always been interested in how people can use writing to create art instead of a picture. Calligraphy is defined as “fancy penmanship, especially highly decorative handwriting” by dictionary.com [2]. Historically, calligraphy dates back to before 500 BC and was used in a variety…

C’est Normal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk6jxg-t8dE C’est Normal owns the rights to all of these images and Jon Olsson the rights to his video blog. The aesthetic I chose was a brand called C’est Normal – this clothing brand was created in October of 2018. There are four creators behind the brand, those being: Jon Olsson Deler, Janni Olsson Deler,…

Sunn O))): From Amplifiers to Altars

Sunn O)))’s 2005 drone metal record, Black One(rateyourmusic.com) Sunn O))) (simply pronounced “Sun”) are a peculiar metal band from Seattle, WA, known for their punishing and monolithic drone releases as well as their ritualistic live shows. Their live audio philosophy reads as following: “MAXIMUM VOLUME YIELDS MAXIMUM RESULTS.” Walls of amps line the back of the…

Aesthetic Exploration: Snowboarding

Snowboarding is a popular winter sport that was first introduced to the United States in the 1960s [1]. It was introduced to the first Winter Olympics in 1998 at Nagano, Japan [1]. https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2012/09/17/how-mobile-tech-is-making-snowboarding-even-more-awesome/ The first model of the snowboard was created by Sherman Poppen, an engineer in Michigan, in 1965 as he attached two skis…

Ibrahim Alhajji

the Aesthetics of soccer jerseys in this modern age has been attractive to me and to many soccer fans. The designs are intended to to be unique, beautiful and to advertise the team. Here I posted some of the designs that I think achieved excellence.Source: https://www.soccer.com/shop/details/adidas-real-madrid-authentic-home-champions-league-jersey-18-19_RV7005492?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=1o3&scid=scplpRV7005492002&sc_intid=RV7005492002=utm_campaign=SC_Shopping-Brand_Top_Traffic_Desktop&gclid=Cj0KCQiAm5viBRD4ARIsADGUT2659Gz5rwimjWXGnKqcx4AWeDaZgDpuy48OsFCefB0_uwmaq-_0XKAaApnSEALw_wcB This is Real Madrid away kit. They wear it…

Aesthetic Exploration – Simulated

“Going outside is highly overrated.” ― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One Much of design is about conveying a message. As technology advances and the world becomes ever more accepting of tools to visualize object and events using computers it is important to value the aesthetics of simulations. This simulated by the internet artist Slam_nine that depicts, “the reaction-diffusion…

Running through Time

Source: https://sojones.com/style-trends/sneakers/154825-the-history-of-sneakers/ Today, it would be hard to imagine a world where the category of shoes did not include sneakers of any kind. In fact, the most commonly seen type of shoe is sneakers. However, the sneaker was born not too long ago. The first ever sneakers were plimsoll shoes, made in 1930 by a…

Retro Futurism

Retro Futurism refers to the creative trend from the 1940s-1960s that depicted the future. It “explores themes of tension between past and future, and between the alienating and empowering effects of technology” (Raduta). During this time, the US was in the Atomic Age, where thoughts of nuclear war took over American Citizens concerns and daily…

Aesthetic Explorations 2019: Craft Beer

In 1919, “the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition” [1]. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/prohibition-ratified This brought rise to increased violence by the hands of people like Al Capone, who was known for bootlegging and speakeasies. By 1933,…

Aesthetic Explorations 2019: Minimalism

Minimalism began as “a trend in sculpture and painting that arose in the 1950s and used simple, typically massive, forms” (1). From this, minimalism as a design and architectural feature was created and “has been deployed to refer to any object or interior featuring a marked reduction of form.” Minimalism is about adapting the ‘less…

Aesthetic Explorations: Football Helmets

The National Football League (NFL) has been around for almost a hundred years and in a heavy contact sport such as American football, safety of the players is an obvious concern. Though the players wear a variety of safety pads and other garments, this post will focus on the helmets. Since the helmet’s conception, it…

Dada – Art Against War

Following World War I, artists, reacting to the sheer volume of atrocities brought on by the war, felt it necessary to rebel against all existing standards of art and aesthetic, as a means of reconstruction. They were replacing the values of a society which created WWI in an attempt to pave the way towards a…

03 Aesthetics Tour 1

Today we went over some more administrative stuff (will it never end?) including a demonstration of how to post to this website. There’s an old post on this from last year  on how to post that is still mostly correct. We finished going over art theories, and had a very nice discussion; lots of thoughtful…

01 Intro

Today we went over the initial assignments and started on the syllabus, covering goals and learning objectives. Wendesday we’ll finish syllabus stuff, and get into definitions of aesthetics.

Schedule 2019

2019 Week Monday Wednesday Friday 1 Jan 14 Syllabus,First assignments: Catme, blog, survey, then aesthetic, upcycle artifact Art history, aesthetics definitions Upcycle examples. Aesthetics Tour 1 2 Jan 21 No class, MLK day Aesthetics tour 2 Critique introduction Syllabus agreement due in class. AesDes Perception Survey due at midnight. Blog post 1 due: Aesthetic Explorations…

Schedule 2017

  2017 Week Monday Wednesday Friday 1 Jan 16 MLK day, no class Syllabus, First assignments: Catme, blog, survey, then aesthetic, upcycle artifact Art History intro. Definition of Aesthetics 2 Jan 23 Upcycle examples, Aesthetics Tour 1 Aesthetics tour 2 Critique introduction Blog post 1 due: Aesthetic Explorations Sketching exercise, Aesthetics tour 3 3 Jan…

Final Report 2: Saxophone

Throughout this semester I had a goal of making a woodwind instrument in this class. My upcycle project had the functionality that I wanted but lacked an aesthetic. I decided to change this and improve on it with iterations throughout the semester to achieve a functional product that also looked good. I put a lot…

Construction Timeline: Lampu

Since this blogpost is late, I am going to highlight the actual timeline of this project: March 27th – March 31st – Test plywood cuts on laser cutter April 1st – April 3rd – Brainstorm and Re-design April 17th – 20th – Manufacturing (cut pieces to size, machine the insert and assemble) April 22nd –…

Final Report 1: Saxaphone

For my final project I set out to make a woodwind instrument modeled after an alto saxophone. I started this idea with my up cycle project at the beginning of the semester and I was very pleased with how it came out. I made it out of PVC pipe and was able to make it…

Main Project Report Part 1 Lockbox

For my final project I decided to make a lock box for my girlfriend Eve who is currently studying abroad in Argentina. On Valentine’s Day before she left I gave her this key and a lock and told her that I will have this box filled with everything that she missed out on in her…

Main Project Final Report Part 1: Lampu

For my final project, I decided to make a bedside lamp with an integrated drawer. I originally had the idea of making a dynamic lamp/storage unit that rotates about a metal post: However, after doing some test cuts over spring break, I realized that the time it would take in order to cut all the…

Model Boat Project: Part 2

The model boat did not come out exactly as I wanted it to, but that leaves a lot of room for improvement! The next step I envision for this project is a more high-quality boat, first and foremost. I will research building waterproof, CG (center of gravity) accurate boats this summer and hopefully get started…

Top 5 Constraints: Lampu

For my final project, I planned on making a lamp/storage unit for my jewelry that rotates about a post for customizability. These are the top 5 constraints I had with that initial design: Laser Cutting time – in order to cut plywood, I need to use the BTU lab’s laser cutter which are scheduled and…

Final Project Report Pt. 2

  Project Vision To begin, I would like to reiterate my vision for this design project. My goal was to create a handmade rod that could balance the “naturalist” aesthetic with functional requirements. In the end, I wanted to fabricate a rod that I could marvel at the visual and reliably go use on the…