Scanner in action

Here's a video of the scanner in action. This video is nothing fancy, but it does the trick. :) Enjoy!

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Dora and Diego's Animal Rescue Center at the Children's Museum!

For the past month we've been collaborating with the Children's Museum of Indianapolis on some fun stuff and I've been really loving the job. We helped them out with their new Dora & Diego interactive exhibit for toddlers. It was pretty magical to see the hustle of the museum on the final day of construction when everything came together. You can always count on the Children's Museum to put together top notch stuff, but I was giddy to see the tiny little hut where our contribution was going to live. For our part we created a screen animation that sits in the Animal Rescue Center portion of the exhibit. The animation features Scan the Scanner who identifies and diagnoses little stuffed animals that are placed on the scanner. This project was so exciting to me because it combined my love of cutie design and animation with a fun, tangible experience for little ones. Let's just say that I am really excited about any new opportunities where we can do more stuff like this with RFID tags or other interactive trigger systems.

The entire exhibit is full of great interactives for toddlers. I would absolutely recommend stopping by if you get the chance to visit the museum between now and Aug 14th.

Here's the hut. I dont think it could be an cuter. Between the two scanners is a first aid station with bandages, ice packs, stethoscopes, and magnifying glasses then on the table there is a tiny little bathtub with two pedal operated dryers so you can clean the animals.

Here are some cubbies where you set the animals to rest and get food and water.

Scanning... Scanning... Here we go!

Eric, Taha, and I installing our portion into the hut. As we tested, Taha was such a rock star making little tweaks and updates on the fly. Great job to everyone who worked on this interactive! Kevin Marshall at the Children's Museum, Eric, Taha, Kyle, and Dan all did such a great job.

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35th Wedding Anniversary Party Invitation

This is a big year for my family. We have a new birth, a wedding, and a landmark anniversary all to celebrate. In April my parents will have been married for 35 years! My sister and I wanted to throw them a fun to-do this year since we were unable to help them usher in the big 25 in style.

Now, we had planned to have it in April, but with the new baby's arrival set for April 6th we all decided to move it to early June. I just finished up the invitation tonight and figured I would share. It was a lot of fun to make. We wanted it to have a bit of a retro feel, come across as fun and casual like the party we're planning, and include personal touches about my parents and their wedding. Back in 1975 when they were married my parents did a lot of dirt bike riding on their Triumph and their wedding flower was the daisy.

Sis and I are really looking forward to hosting a special day for our parents. Yay for 35 years!

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Just playing around with the alphabet.

Here's a work in progress. Once I find something I'm happy with, this might be good subject matter for another gocco run.

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Invitation Revisions

***SEE REVISON 3 at the BOTTOM OF THIS POST***
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Thank you SO much to everyone who gave their opinions, impressions, and suggestions. It was great feedback. Here is a first round of revisions where I focused on the following:

-playing up the ticket theme
-keeping the visual interest of the asymmetrical design
-keeping the information organized and easy to read making the title, sara and robs name, and the date/time the dominant information
-minimizing the feeling of currency
-reducing the overly formal feeling, while maintaining the elegance fitting to a wedding

I'd love to hear feedback based on these revisions. Did the changes do what I set out to accomplish. Are there other areas where maybe I've missed the mark or something still feels a bit visually unsettling? Thank you so much for your time and your thoughts.

***UPDATE***

Mindy, I hear what you're sayin about the address, that was the thing I pissed around with the most during my quick little revision stint this afternoon, then I decided to give up and mow the grass. ha Anyway, I was afraid to cram too much stuff on the left, but I think it's better than having it along the bottom. On the reception card the address isn't necessary, and i suppose since there will be a map and directions on the back, I could leave it out of this one... hmmmm... it certainly would fit nicer. I'll talk to the bride to be about it and see what she's cool with. If she does decide she wants it all on the front, here's a better arrangement.

Shelly, thanks! You're so supportive :)

Brian, oh yes, the dog will get some love on the opposite side of the Wedding card. It wouldn't be Sara's wedding without it!

***UPDATE***

Here is the third round of revisions where I focused on the following:

-re-creating the "admission" block to fit with the elegant design of the rest of the ticket better and punch up the decorative border.
-adding the dotted divider between the admission stub and the rest of the ticket to visually enforce the ticket theme.
-incorporating the date into the design a little more while still keeping it separate and easy to spot, also added the Saturday back into the date.
-adjusting the title font to something with a little more punch
-changing the wording in the copy to say "dinner" as opposed to "reception" to avoid sounding repetitive

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Wedding Invitation

----------Final Invitation Design Posted 9/29/08----------

It has recently been brought to my attention that I never posted the final designs so here it is!

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Invitation Back

Invitation Front (Option 1)



Invitation Front (Option 2)



Invitation Front (Option 3)

The idea behind the invite was a ticket theme, an idea that Rob had, but that Sara wasn't crazy about. After we talked about an option where we could make it look less like a sports ticket and more like a broadway show or almost circus-esque ticket she thought that would be very cool and different. Her other request was to involve her dog in some way.

Also in the envelope there will be a reception card that is the same size as the invite card. It will be a similar design but will say "reception" instead of ceremony and the back side will be a map and directions. There will also be an rsvp postcard that will be themed accordingly without being too matchy matchy.

Anyway, your reactions and feedback would be GREATLY appreciated, not just to make sure that Sara and Rob's invite is the best that it can be, but also because we'll most likely use these elements in future designs.

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Bored Bird

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Grisette Logo

Recently I've been dabbling in t-shirt screen print design. Mostly I've been putting designs together for specific events, but I also have quite a few little designs that I created just for fun. I thought I might try and take them around to local boutiques to see if there is any interest. I figured I should put them under some sort of name or label, so I decided on the name "Grisette". There were several aspects of the term that appealed to me and seemed to fit with the type of designs that I am producing. Here's a draft of the logo that I'm playing with for the label. Hopefully soon I can put together a few experiments with my own screen here at home. The process is so interesting to me. It'll be a tight squeeze trying to do anything in the bathroom downstairs, but we'll see how it goes. If nothing else, it will give me a fun project to work on once it starts getting cold outside.

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