Good Design: Ten Commandments by Dieter Rams

Yesterday was day two of teaching my basic design and theory class at Southern NH University. We spent quite a bit of time considering the role of the designer and what makes "good design". It was a particular talkative group, and I left class pondering Dieter Rams and his "Ten Commandments". Even though Rams specifically speaks about industrial design, I feel his thoughts can be applied to any of the design fields.


The Ten Commandments of Good Design by Dieter Rams:

Good design is innovative
Good design makes a product useful
Good design is aesthetic
Good design helps a product to be understood
Good design is unobtrusive
Good design is honest
Good design is durable
Good design is thorough to the last detail
Good design is concerned with the environment
Good design is as little design as possible

All I can say is hell ya!

DIY: Emancipation 101 Selected for Lunafest!

I was pretty psyched to find out this summer that DIY was selected (out of 900 entries) to be one of ten films screened as a part of Lunafest 2010. This festival is sponsored by the Clif/Luna Bar folks and travels across the US, showing in over 140 venues. All money raised from Lunafest goes to charities and community organizations, including the Breast Cancer Fund. Please support the festival if it comes to your area.

Student Work

Over the last several years of teaching, I've kept examples of student work (high school and college). I recently put together a short reel of some of my favorite videos, motion graphics, and animation. I feel so fortunate to have the privilege of working with so many talented young folks. Simply amazing! Special thanks to all the students who contributed to this reel.

Inspiration for "American Made" | Robert Rauschenberg

I've started work on a new animated short called "American Made". The title definitely gives a bit away about the subject matter. Once again, it will be a bike extravaganza. As I've been story boarding and getting ideas to paper I spend quite a bit of time looking at other work to get inspired.

I never get tired looking at the work of artist Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008). Maybe it's something about his ability to bring different kinds of media into a cohesive, singular piece of work. I especially appreciate his use of found images, and collage materials that are used to structure a visual story. I've always felt that the most fascinating works of art are the ones that follow a narrative (yes, my film making biases coming through), and allow all people (regardless of background) to leave with some feelings or thoughts on what is attempting to be shared by the artist. Ok. Now for a completely random Rauschenberg tid-bit... I recently read on Wikipedia that Rauschenberg was rumored to have romantic relationships with both Cy Twombly and Jasper Johns at some point in his life. All I can say to that is... Wow.

Season's Final Weekly Riot: Video Park 09

Every year Crotched Mountain (yes, this is, honestly, the mountain's real name) puts together a park specifically built for photographers and videographers, and invites New England's best riders to attend. This years highlights included rails designed with neon and fire eaters.

The Weekly Riot #008

I've been busy this winter spending days on my snowboard shooting footage, at a local ski resort, for promo and broadcast videos. The video above is one of a series of videos done for Crotched Mountain. The Weekly Riot #008 was shot during the traveling snowboard competition called The Main Event. To see some of the other videos, check out Crotched Mountain's vimeo site.