UX / UI / IA & Design Research
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A set of posters 22 in x 30 in of inspirational quotes that helped guide and direct the Marginlia : The Hybrid Textbook thesis project developed at the Art Center College of Design : Media Design Program.
Marginalia: The Hybrid Textbook : http://people.artcenter.edu/~cbecker
An exploration of materials that are potentially conductive. A sketch book of process and notes that indicate the use, screen print possibility, cost, and aesthetic quality of the material plus whether or not it can conduct electricity. An on-going exploration into mixing conductive powders and materials with inks, paints and glues that could be used for paint or be pulled through a screen. Initial material choices was dictated by whether or not I thought it might have some conductive aspects. I essentially started with shiny and metallic inks, paints, and glues in the hope that some of them would possess conductive qualities. The process has helped me have a greater understanding of the electric qualities of materials and also the aspects of experimenting to make new hybrid inks.
I have found that powdered graphite will conduct electricity but is a variable resistor so a concentration of powder in ink at the right amounts is essential to making it work. Also I have been debunked by copper and silver powders mixed with gesso or clear base screenprinting ink.
These experiments drive at the idea that designers understand the world through making so my experiments in making conductive ink have given me an understanding of conductive material and its potential use in media especially print media.
check out thesis website : Marginalia: The Hybrid Textbook
Marginalia : The Hybrid Textbook from Chris R Becker on Vimeo.
Marginalia : The Hybrid Textbook is a thesis project that examines what happens when tangible print media connects to its digital counterpart through networked pages, writing based input devices, and screen based margin extensions. Unique to the page is its ability to contain extended meaning through design. Tangible print media such as books, textbooks, magazines, periodicals, newspapers, and comics are threatened by screen based technologies because they connect to the vast content on the internet. As screen-based networked technologies like The Kindle, The Nook, or the iPad reinvent the use of and interaction with screen media, The Hybrid Textbook establishes a third form somewhere between the physical page and the screen display, dissolving the separation between physical and digital, and engaging the opportunity for seamless interaction with both. By harnessing the unique affordances of physical and digital, the hybrid textbook establishes a space to engage the cognitive modes of ‘deep attention’ and ‘hyper-attention’ within education.
Marginalia is a prototype and design research project that examines the experience of a textbook with a fold out screen margin extension. A book jacket system that explores the physical interactions with tangible print media as a link to the social interactions of studying, communication, and reflection afforded through networked screen technologies. The prototype connects and layers realtime communication and historical marginalia on top of the physical margin through an extended, networked, stylus/pen compatible, interactive margin space. The shared margin space allows a user to add a digital history onto the physical object, allowing the artifact to become a ‘Consumer Spime.’ The marginalia prototype engages both built and speculative outcomes of a textbook and a screen stimulating the potential of tangible print media coupled with digital media for sharing and leveraging connection and communication.
Google Sketchup models of the exhibition space and layout.
Evolution Drawing and Illustration for the progress of the computer. I believe that the computer and human interaction with these object should become as seamless as a book or a sketching pad and that the use of pen and paper should not have to be abandoned to work with the computer.
Little Green is a bi-monthly sustainability-themed cocktail party in downtown LA. There are creative cocktails, inspirational talks and elegant guests galore!Our focus is hot green topics and ideas relevant to Southern California. We aim to entertain and connect both the experts and the curious!
Cocktails section: Little Green couples green cocktails with green conversation.
Mission: We explore gentle revolutions, knowledge and reflections. Engaging the sustainable in each of us.
Logo
Branding
Collaboration with Heather Knight
when I was 17 I swallowed a toothpick
A Friend had made me laugh and I sucked it down. Right into my stomach
The toothpick caused a lot of pain but the emergency room didn’t know what to do they gave me some antibiotics and some pain medication and said ” Hopefully you pass it”
for 3 month the toothpick maneuvered its way through my system working hard at making it through all the twists and turns. How ever it path would become impassible
However the toothpick became jammed and then pierced its way through my intestine masking and feeling much like an appendicitis. The surgeon went in for my appendix and instead came out with a toothpick.
Moral: Don’t use toothpick its not worth the pain and aggravation. But it does make for a pretty cool scar
Water Levels : JPL interactive exhibition from Chris R Becker on Vimeo.
An interactive display exploring Carbon Dioxide levels and ocean sea levels. The user controls an interactive knob that represents sea level rise. As the sea level rise, land mass maps are shown and interacted with through the control of the knob.
An interactive sign requireing users to look their existing cellphone camera to see what the smokey sign reveals. A project that uses in infared let
Secret signage was set up at the LACMA for their annual Halloween Party. http://www.lacma.org/membership/Muse.aspx
Inferred Test.
Signage. Mindshare Labs is now Syyn Labs. http://www.syynlabs.com/
To the naked eye, the happy halloween sign is not visible. How ever digital cameras have a optical range that sees more in the ultraviolet and inferred spectrum’s there for the digitial cameras on phones can then see the sign and take pictures of it.
Project was a collaboration with ideas from the NASA/ JPL Juno project, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-222, with Dan Goods , http://directedplay.com/, a project trying to find ways to explore the Science that will be used in the mission to Jupiter. Heather Knight , http://www.marilynmonrobot.com/ and Myself.
A wall decoration for the computer programming division at JPL. An einstein / E.F. Schumacher quote rendered in binary using powdercoated steal disks. A project done with Dan Goods http://directedplay.com/ for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory http://www.nasa.jpl.gov
A information design piece about the Port of Los Angeles concentrating on the import vs export that travel between the Port and the rest of the world. A commentary on the amount we in the USA consume.
Since the beginning of Hello Kavita in 2007, singer/guitarist Corey Teruya has always had a clear vision of where this band was going. With 70’s music on the brain and plaid shirts in style, Corey needed to assemble the best local musicians Denver had to offer. Starting with Luke Mossman on guitar and Ian Short on keyboards, Hello Kavita managed to start a buzz, do some live shows and record 2008’s “And Then We Turned Sideways”. A few months before the release of “Sideways”, bassist Jimmy Stofer and Leor Manelis on drums joined the group completing the final lineup of Hello Kavita.
HK have continually sought to explore “modern seventies” music, a unique combo of 1970’s style songs and 70’s style recording techniques with a indie twist. “To A Loved One”, their latest full length release has gotten the band some well deserved attention nation wide. With record sales in high demand, HK have toured up and down the west coast and are headed to the mid west in early spring. Their shows continue to captivate crowds with emotional lyrics and raw energy, relentlessly redefining themselves and their body of work.
A Music festival associated with the organization : Mosaic.org . Non-profit work where all proceeds go to other non – profit organizations that are helping humanity in some way.
