Remodeling my place.

I've built two materials / color palettes, with crossover of certain elements that I already have, or wish to use regardless of scheme. Haven't decided which palette to go with, yet.

Version 1, the original, based on my preference for black/grey.

Version 2, based on more tropical / floral, to match future wall art.

Below is the wall art -- in canvas print and framed print -- that I'm planning on hanging, and perhaps rotating. I take a lot of photos, so I can't think of a better way to use them than to rotate them on my wall, seasonally speaking. And yes, I have many winter and fall color photos, too, so I'm good to go on the concept.

My thinking here is that Version 1 feels more like a gallery, while Version 2 is, obviously, warmer and feels more flexible.

Comments, anyone?

Officially official: Portfolio site now live.

Well, I've finally completed it, though the journey was an odd twist.

I was originally going to build my portfolio from scratch using Adobe Muse, and in fact some three years ago or so, I had a template front page figured out.  But then Muse left beta and became a paid app, so that left me hanging in the wind.

I then started working with a jQuery template, but it really was just an image template which therefore required hard coding for the overall layout of the site.

At that point I was going to build it in Google Web Designer, but then I realized that I didn't have the time to build it from scratch.

So I decided I might grab one of those free templates, and I found a really good one that was minimalist and all.  But then after fudging around with it, I realized that it would still take quite a lot of time, first to read through the documentation, then adjusting all of the parameters by hand.

So finally, I decided to go to Wix.  Of course, I started the project, and then let it sit for a couple of months.  But last week I finally got off my bum and worked at it, and in four days I've finally completed it.

My portfolio website.

Now granted, it's currently hosted at Wix and has ads for Wix, because I'm not going to pay $5 / month at this point to host with my domain name that I own.  Eventually that'll change, I'm sure, but for now, it's good enough.

The obligatory screen shot of my portfolio.

Blast from the past: Wash. County Museum

I've been going through past projects, converting some 3D CAD files to Sketchup files, and putting in some extra work into adding flourishes, rerendering them and adding some extra stuff with Photoshop.  Back in the day, I relied on AutoCAD's built-in Max, and before then, the stand-alone Max to render.  Things are a lot easier and better now.

Here's one project that got the once-over treatment: Washington County Museum.  

When I first started working on this, it had been modestly designed.  In fact, it was ugly.

The project was never completed in the way it was intended because of a lack of fundraising to cover the total cost of the work, so the highlight of the project was axed.  Had they waited to start the work until they'd gotten enough funding, it would have had a spectacular entrance area and retail sales space, giving the museum a leg up for future growth.

Oh well.

Designing houses.

Something I'd love to do, is design houses.  Something I love doing right now, is finding properties online, grabbing their contours from Google Earth via Sketchup Pro, then modelling ideas.

This one, just completed.  After modelling, I exported and rendered it, then added some flourishes via Photoshop.  Took all of about 4 hours.  Obviously designing for a client with a program takes a lot longer, and this is just a facade exercise.

It also serves as a break from doing the stuff that I'm supposed to be doing, namely, re-building the ol portfolio and getting it sent out to the printer.

The construction process, realized.

We're just finishing off the construction of All Classical KQAC radio station's new home.  Over the period of construction, I've taken periodic photos of the reception area, and here's a layout of this process, shown from bones to finish.

After stripping down existing, the metal studs come up.

The soffit (curved) is built separately and lifted into place.

Add sound insulation and gypsum boards; ceilings get ducts and pipes.

Some things get painted, prior to flooring.

Flooring installed, all walls painted.

Built-in and custom furniture, and lighting is installed.

Using a ribbon analogy in design.

Working hard at a design right now, and am currently focused on an analogy of ribbons for directional flow: 3D ribbons, flat surface ribbons, and ribbon panels.

A preview of an upcoming build.

Excited about this one.  Still working the design, but the overall theme is set.

Portfolio.

I don't do much in the way of hand drawings, even though I sketch out ideas in scribbled notes...but this is the finish portfolio (screen capture) I'm now using (template via flashxml.net).  Created it in a pinch (overnight) for an interview for some contract work.

Healthcare packaging - an actual magazine.

I was googling for some direction for a graphic design project on drug packaging, and stumbled across this: Healthcare Packaging website and magazine.  Turns out - and I've known this for some time - you'll find a lot of trade publications available online for free.  No doubt, it's the advertising that fund these babies.

Quick list:

Building Design and Construction has a free digital edition, that can also be downloaded as a PDF;
Concrete Construction has access to articles online, but not a downloadable PDF;
Metal Architecture has downloadable PDFs;
Boutique Design has viewable/downloadable PDFs;
Eco-Structure has viewable/downloadable PDFs of their issues and articles online;
EcoHome has archived issues in viewable/downloadable PDFs, and current issue articles online.

Retail preliminary designs.

Based on a couple of different ideas. All preliminary, at the moment.

An explanation about Kurokaeru, and what "No Design Limits" means.

No Design Limits means that there are no boundaries of what can be designed: graphics, furniture, architecture, interiors.  Here's a sample of work that is outside of the graphic design work currently being targeted for building up Kurokaeru's Cafe Press store -- real and unrealized and simply conceptual design studies from over the years, from recent (top) to older (bottom).

There is no reason to stay within the boundaries of design professions, since many of the same principles apply, including form, color, spatial layout, thematic identity, and of course, a personally fostered style.  Whimsical folly is a major theme.

Favorite graphics and general design websites

• Smashing Magazine
• Dezignus
• Core77
• DesignCrave
• Mayang's Free Textures
• Vyonyx's cutout people, trees, textures and background references