I thought I was the only one

I have been teased, on occasion, for taking my fascination with color a little too far. When they were visible (my last two apartments have had open closets) I organized my clothes according to color. This year, I went so far as to organize my bookshelf according to hue. I'm not one of those people who feels it's necessary to design every inch of my life, but I couldn't resist this strange compulsion. Somehow, this is the most logical order system for me and my books.

But I recently came upon this article about other people who do the same. Some have even taken it to the level of art form!
Anyways, I was reminded of this today when I walked into studio and noticed that one of the other girls (who had just moved her things into studio) had done the same thing. And we had a good chat about it.

It's confirmed. I'm a design freak. At least there are more of us.

illustrious beginnings

So I haven't posted in a while . . . mostly because school started and things just seemed to get busy right away.
I'm going into part one of my comprehensive project studio. Finally, I'll be able to design something! Last term was spent doing some research and actually coming up with ideas for the project. I finally settled on a daycare. I think I'll enjoy working on it. So many people, when they have the chance to determine what they want to design, pick something very cool and unique. A restaurant, a high-end retail space. Something that you can throw a lot of money at, and, of course make it really amazing. I chose something that, on the coolness scale of things, isn't very high on the list. But really, that's why I think it has so much potential. It might be a bit of a challenge to make a sophisticated design out of something like a child care center, but I'm looking forward to it. I've been doing my research, and I've seen some really well done examples, so it can be done.
Yesterday afternoon I spent some time in studio looking at children's books. Really, it was part of my research! We were all working on precedent studies, and besides just looking at built environments, I was interested in looking at the illustration styles of the books we all remembered and loved from our childhood. Curious George and TikiTikiTembo and Babar and Madeline and Courderoy and Where the Wild Things Are and the Pokey Little Puppy and Richard Scarry and the Velveteen Rabbit and Goodnight Moon. Good memories!
So that's what I've been up to recently. Besides all the site documentation and research interviews, putting all my building drawings into CAD. More of that today . . . but the brainlessness of it is okay when you can blast the music.
David also asked me to lead a girls' group for RUF. Yikes! I was really nervous about it, but it's going alright. My first reaction was more along the lines of: "Me?! What the heck do I know about anything?" but that's not really the point. We're actually using a book by Michael Horton that covers basic tenets of Reformed theology. Good reading.
Anyways, I really do have to get back to work. I was going to work in studio today, but I think I'll just do my drawings at home. It's so much nicer to have free-range access to food and see my roommate.
So, it's back to CAD and tea for me.

I am taking a creative break at the moment. I'm supposed to be working on some presentation boards for my Dad, but wasn't feeling terribly inspired. I hate it when that happens. Usually I can run through a magazine or two and things start to click. So I started thinking about some cool things I've been entertained by recently . . .

I watched Casino Royale the other day and I really liked the opening credits sequence. And, in case you haven't seen it, it didn't involve nekkid women. The graphics were kind of retro and, I thought, clever. They used playing card motifs throughout and had some fun with it. Personally, after I see the creative work that some people generate, I would love just to be a fly on the wall in their studio for a while. If you haven't seen the movie, I'd recommend it for that sequence alone (but I get excited about little design things like that) -and the gritty black and white opening scenes. I enjoyed the rest of the movie too. However, I find that sometimes I tune into the wrong things. Justine can testify to that! -I am easily distracted by furniture. "M" has some nice Barcelona chairs in her flat, and there is one tender scene in which the female lead (I suppose properly I should call her a "Bond girl") has a bit of a breakdown in the bathroom and I caught myself thinking "Ooooo. That is one nice toilet. I wonder if it's Duravit?" and then had to steer myself back to the drama at hand. One thing I did notice though, was prevalent product placement. It begins to bother me when I know I'm being beaten over the head with a particular brand. For example, I don't like it when I actually notice that "Bond . . . James Bond" is driving a Ford? And then realize I was supposed to notice, when the next car that drives by is, surely not, a Ford again? Undoubtably by design. It happened a few more times with different things, and later found a complete list of "partners" when I was trying to find more information on the designers of the title sequence. I'm glad that at least I didn't notice all the namedropping I was supposed to.

But as for some good advertising I've seen lately, Adrian showed me the Sony Bravia comercials. In order to sell the idea of "colour. like no other" they've enlisted bouncy balls on the streets of San Francisco and paint exploding over buildings. Lovely.

That, and the Target commercials this past Christmas didn't use the usual bells jingling in the background for their music; instead they used music from Goldfrapp's Supernature.

It's the little things that make the difference. Really, it doesn't take much to make me happy.