on eating ants and crickets....

today i stumbled upon a truly wonderful blog: the lovely package. i've always been a sucker for well-designed product packaging and this will be added to my blogroll to supply a daily fix.

this post isn't about packaging in general, however.... it's about the design of UK gourmet food shop "edible." they specialize in very unique snacks. specifically those of the arthropod kind.



really? i want a peppermint ant lollipop. it's just so beautiful. i don't know if i would try the salted and crispy worms, but the toasted ants don't sound so bad. and thai curry crickets? delish. toffee scorpion candy? yes please.

all of the creepy crawlies are completely safe to eat (or so they say. the "detoxified" squorpians seem a little risky, though) and have been farm-raised on a special diet of grains and cereals. it creeps me out a little, thanks to my western ways, but i would still try it. i actually looked up the GBP conversion to USD ($5.77 isn't so bad for chocolate covered giant ants, if you think about it...) and even checked out government regulations on border control.

the black and white packaging really gets me, though. it creates such a straight forward, clean presentation, don't you think?

like it would be almost okay to eat a handful of salted scorpions at the next movie night with the girls.....

back in the game

oh man life is gooooooood. it's hard to find things to be negative about when it's 75 at 6:00 and the sun is still shining all warm and happy like. 

plus, i skipped my afternoon class to get dairy queen with arissa. 

i needed it after yesterday... i had a bit of a panic attack around 9pm when i realized i had absolutely nothing for the department of academics image aside from a few sketches. mhmm. after i stopped hyperventilating... i made a cup of earl grey and got down to business. actually... once i had my idea, i could've gone to bed but i knew i wouldn't have been able to sleep thinking about the project. so i stayed up till 3 working. phew. 

i met with dr. chenoweth and he really liked the image/concept/symbolism throughout the piece. i need to tweak a few things like font placement and color palette to make it specific to olivet, but other than that it's done!

i'm not sure if i'm allowed to post the final image, so i'll leave you with a sneak peek:

ta da!

new colors and header... whoop whoop! i didn't change the layout because i'm a fan of how everything is situated, but the new palette is a nice change. 

for some reason the quality of the header design doesn't seem very sharp, but when i try to upload a higher res image it doesn't mount. blahohwell. and what is with that little box around 3 sides but not the 4th? i know enough about technology to be frustrated when it doesn't work the way i want it to.... but not enough to know how to fix it. sigh. web design here i come... next semester. 

and that is all the designing i've done for the day. unfortunately, it holds no importance in the real world. i've done a few sketches for my senior show stuff, but again, not as important...... as... designing a corporate logo for olivet. mhmm. 

last week i had a meeting with dr. gregg chenoweth, the university vice president, where he asked my to design a new image for the office of academic development. it will be used for the next 5 years, and potentially the next 20 if i do my job right. yeah... HUGE deal. i'm actually not at liberty to discuss the project because it will be revealed to olivet's staff and faculty in two weeks so i'm kind of pulling some secret agent stunts. um... yeah. 

sad (terribleawfulhorrible) thing is i have nothing. nothing at all for the biggest project of my life thus far. annddd i think that's my problem. the magnitude of this design is scaring the ideas straight out of my head. i mean this is no poster hung in the student center or some radio station banner. this is a corporate logo! hopefully i'll get a rough comp done within the next 24 hours.

i can't decide if i want to do a happy dance or keel over from fright.

spring fling

aaah spring break. 

although majority of my campus co-eds are basking in the sun rays of cabo, i'm just fine spending the week in indiana. it is going to be a very relaxed-yet-productive week, i think. 

relaductive if you will. 

aside from the standard dental checkup/haircut/binge view of all the episodes of the soup and chelsea lately i've missed, my main plan for this week is to create. i'll probably start by painting the face of my lovely blog. kiss the green, blue and gray goodbye because i'm feeling something a little more festive.... possibly my new favorite hues marigold and coral. mhmm.

from there, i need to brainstorm big time. after break there's a meeting for all junior art majors "to discuss preparations for your senior show" as the email i received friday states. the ominous senior show is a senior thesis of sorts for art majors at olivet. simply put, it's a two week showing of a senior's work, with a thursday night gallery opening/reception/party. if only it was that simple.

there are three venues for the show: brandenburg gallery, strickler gallery, and higher grounds coffee shop. shows also range from solo, double, or triple artist. and although there is no official ranking system, a solo show in brandenburg is the best. a triple in higher grounds means you're not so good.

i really, really want a solo show in brandenburg. this preliminary meeting starts the process for determining that. we have to come to the meeting with a portfolio of current/show concept work, a one page paper describing our show concept, and an artist statement relating to current themes in our work. 

 

at this moment in time, i have nothing. rumor has it that those with the most planned out info typically get the gallery spot they want. let the brainstorming begin. 

(feel free to pass on any ideas. mhmm.)