Currently

I'm in the process of reformation of this constructed identity and this blog. Right now I feel like everything is in a muddle (imagine chromosomes) and feel the need to split this blog (meiosis). And when the time is right maybe they'll come back together again.

Feel free to browse the old stuff :)

Vegan Nacho Chips

You know those annoying kids in high-school who takes million photos of themselves posing with each shot varying by a 5 degree angle? Well I'm being one of those now except with my food. So forgive me for my indecisiveness. I know (in terms of design) that it is better to be extremely selective and only choose what is necessary instead of putting every single possible angle and idea but call this blog an experiment, an unfinished draft.

Back in my younger days when my family friend used to come over to play, her dad would always buy us some form of fast food over whether it be maccas or hungry jacks, mostly maccas, but one time he brought over some Taco Bell - probably the first and last time I ever had it in my life. For me it was something different to what I was usually used to and perhaps that experience left an imprint in my memory. I don't think I liked it very much during the time but now that my tastebuds have matured and 'exoticised' my memories re-reads it as being quite delicious. We basically had these fries that was topped with tomatoes, mince, sour cream and probably some coriander (memory gets hazy here). It's probably the tomatoes and coriander that put off my younger self. I never really knew what was on the Tacobell menu to confirm what it was called. Nevertheless it has inspired me to make this. While I originally intended it to be fries as opposed to chips - I accidentally bought the wrong bag so I decided to make-do as my craving for tex-mex couldn't wait for the next shopping trip.

Pretty basic idea. Fry yo chips and add the usual nachos toppings. I made a vegan mince thing using textured soy protein, some fresh salsa (diced tomatoes, onions, coriander, salt, lemon juice) and fresh guacamole (avocado, garlic, lemon juice, green onion). I also had some vegan sour cream (Tofutti brand). Garnished with more sliced green onions and coriander. If I had some vegan cheese I'd probably have added it to get truly get that American tex-mex hit.

Dinner 20.7.12

Sometimes I wonder why I was not born Korean I could live off this food everyday. Even my dad calls me Korean. But anyways:

1. Seasoned Spinach
2. Tteokboki
3. Janchi Guksu

Strawberry Snow

This winter I've happily eaten four pints of vegan ice cream; today I had the last spoonfuls. Now that there is no longer any tubs left in the fridge my sweet-tooth craving was left hanging leaving me to feel really edgy for something cold and sweet. We recently had some strawberries that were not so very sweet so I told my dad to freeze them so I could blend them into a drink - all inspired by the fact that the strawberry container was marketed as a "smoothie pack" which sparked up some good memories back at Fuji Japanese Restaurant in Thailand where I ordered this delicious strawberry blended ice drink. And thus my experiment began:

I didn't have very many strawberries... I think it was like 3 small and 1 large one. In their frozen state I popped them into the blender and man these babies are viscious - had I not placed my hand on the blender top I swear one of the strawberries would have flown out like a shooting rock. Still, I was excited my icy delight was beginning to form. I then added some Preshafruit apple juice (I had the apple + passionfruit kind on hand) and some sugar. Blended away. I still had some strawberry ice rocks  in the blended juice but it was still delicious :) and of course garnished with some mint (makes it pretty + gives an extra hit of freshness). 

I absolutely love how the colours turned out! So bright and pink/red. For next time having more strawberries inside would mean less crazy shooting rocks lol and I'd make the sugar into syrup first so that it's all melted. I think I might try some agave syrup next time to make it a raw treat.

I wasn't really sure what to call this. At first I called it Strawberry Ice but after designing this photo and adding the dots for the wintery feel - I thought hey! It's like snow! So there you have it Strawberry Snow.

Lists

Winter School is over and I have spent the last 2 days indulging in vegan ice-cream, sleeping in, and simultaneously tumblring while watching a kdrama. Now that I've treated myself with a good dose of lazing around it's time to get back on track and make the most of the next two weeks before crazy 4-subject spring semester begins. I honestly don't know if its even possible to tick off the following before August begins given how fast the past two days have been :(


Paperwork

• Lodge youth allowance form 
• Apply for election job
• Write draft CV in German
• Write draft letter of motivation in German

Design

• Complete menu design
• Design flyer for friend's family business 
• Design letterform for typography exhibition

Personal

• Clean room
• Clothes Shopping
• Photograph more / Buy 40mm/2.8 macro lens
• Sell stuff on ebay
• Design Portfolio
• Send delayed presents
• Write Letters

Catch-up / Hangouts

• Helen + Zennings (26)
• I've been everywhere man 
• BOS18
• The Shins Zazu and Airu (25/19)
• Zine / Food Typography / Make stuff /workshop  mit Viscom Scouts

Personal Projects

• Motivation Poster
• Food art/design project
• Square meals
• Ethnic/Indigenous patterned bento boxes
• Eat your colours
• mini food photog
• Illustration
• Mum's sweaters
• Apple stickers
• Icecream
• Instant
• Revisit viscom
• Zines
• Paper Dolls
• Doodles Archiving
• Triangles
• Tangents

Yeah forget about completing that last section - I'll work on those throughout the years ahead.

Words of Web

"Being adaptable to new approaches, to question and revise your approach is as much a part of web design as creating layouts in Photoshop or HTML."

http://designingfortheweb.co.uk/book/part1/part1_chapter3.php

This is definitely something to consider during the process of design (and not just for web). It's easy to get caught up in doing the same old routine and being attached to familiar. I realise when it comes to the world of web, things are constantly happening and changing fast - I think this is where adaptability comes in handy. While its important to keep up to date with the technology, something I need to work on and think is just as important, is actually going out there (away from the screen) to find inspiration and new ways of exploring how web media can be used.

Day One

Something I learnt that I didn't know before about the process of coding (in terms of html vs. css):

• Html is used to give the functional structure (probably not the best words) i.e. paragraphs, lists, headings, links, italics etc. 
• Once html is completely done, validate to ensure it's clear of all errors (e.g. unclosed tags)
• Then css can be used to apply the stylistic and compositional features of the page.
  

                

Now that I think about it, it's somewhat like typesetting a page. Where you paste your content, sort out the paragraphs and headings then apply the paragraph/character styles.

I like this methodical rhythm to the process.

Choosing a Magazine

Being an indecisive nut, choosing a magazine (for my assignment) was so difficult! This is why sometimes complete freedom can be a pain however I won't take that for granted because I'm sure I'll miss the freedom when I really start working.

    

For a while I was tossing between Elephant magazine and Apartamento. I was actually surprised to find that Elephant magazine didn't really have its own website despite having quite a solid identity - it was basically a segment of their publisher's website outlining past issues and previews of current issue. I've never actually had a proper read of the magazine but always loved the designs shown in lectures and searches on the internet. It's a disappointment though whenever I get my hands on it - the glossy cover and glossy pages just doesn't do it for me! Especially with the lovely binding and thickness of it, you'd think they'd want the magazine to feel more like a book. Quite honestly that disappointment repelled me from choosing it even though the visual features of Elephant magazine would've been nice to work with.

Elephant Magazine Issue #5 Contents page: Always loved the design of their contents pages

Elephant Magazine Issue #3 Contents Page: Even though the designs changes with every issue there's alway something distinctly Elephant about them.

But I ended up choosing Apartamento as I thought that it would be nice to work with the interiors, people and lifestyle spectrum of magazines. I was actually reluctant to choose this magazine in the first place because it seemed like apartamento prides itself for having such a strong presence as print (I hear magnation complained of having too many readers nagging them for it) that I felt I shouldn't impose on making their online identity such a big thing as the value of apartamento lies in the fact that people are eager to get it into their hands; it's the personal relationship readers have beyond the screen that makes this magazine magical in the first place. However that said, I also noticed that Apartamento runs a fair bit of events and projects (again strong offline appeal), and sure it's featured on their website and updated on their Facebook, but considering there's this nice sense of community happening I felt that their online presence could significantly enhance this. 

Currently this is their website. When I first saw it I felt quite disappointed. I found that it felt rather empty and 'dead' (no hints of liveliness). It does its job by providing information on the maga with elements of promotion here and there but nothing more than that. Also I didn't really understand the whole centre-alignment and why the colour blue (and the red) was used; it felt so harsh for the natural aura I got from the magazine. Perhaps it was their intention for the website to feel as "homemade" as possible? 

As part of the research process I ended up taking a trip down to Newtown's Magnation to buy the magazine. This gave me a good insight to where the magazine is placed next to (competitors) and also gave me a good excuse to add more magazines to my collection (haha just kidding). I think it was crucial to understand the tactile nature and its identity as print before plunging into designing their website - obviously because you need to understand and experience the magazine in order to know what needs to be communicated. But other important questions I asked myself were: "What can I add to the readers experience of the magazine?" and "how can web extend the magazine's relationship to readers". Establishing a good sense of community and relationship with its readers by extending interactions beyond the contents of their magazine was something I felt the more successful websites did and this is from looking at my own encounters of being a reader - they were the sites I kept going back to (therefore keeping my attachment to the magazine).

Apartamento Magazine - a niche in the interiors range of magazine focusing on the natural everyday interiors of people in its rawest form - no styling no design dictate.

Some features of Apartamento I noted:

• Unique small format fits perfectly in hand
• Same sort of feel as Dumbo Feather magazine on its focus on people, 'mook' format (half magazine half book) and subdued colours.
• Use of the Clearface font for folios, footers, headings and masthead.
• Futura used for body copy and contents (centred aligned)(now I understand why such feature was so prominent in the navigation of their website)
• Underlined titles in red (this also explains the links on the website)
• Images in full-bleed and if cropped would have a border. Image captions in red.
• Font colours sometimes went crazy. 
• Also features illustrations (some in mono-colour).
• Pages were usually colour in a subdue pastel
• A black and white pattern featured on the spine

9:24

I was feeling kind of stressed so I decided to do something relaxing and this was the result. I felt like making a little logo that I could use on my photos and maybe on other work too. I recently bought hamletandstory.com but I'm still not sure if I want to keep 'story' forever. I love the word story and its meaning but I kind of like the idea of going through phases where the second word of my identity keeps changing... but would the name hamletampersand be a little awkward in words? I really like having the Hamlet & as the main part of the logo though.

Web & Past

Last year I did some web designs in a previous subject called Sustainable Lifestyles which required us to come up with a design proposal for an issue we selected. I chose an extremely controversial topic - something along the lines of the visual communication of climate change. Honestly at the time I didn't really know how to propose a website technically, so I'm glad to have now learnt the main structure of a web design proposal which includes a competitor analysis (a research on what competitors are doing with a conclusion on how we can do better), a sitemap (maps out the main links on the website), wireframes (the architectural structure of content) and mock-ups (visual design of the website).

Since the end of primary school I started taking interest in html when I was in the phase of being obssessed in customising my own layouts on Neopets for the guilds. From there I learnt the very basics of html, Dreamweaver (back in the macromedia days), copying codes and adjusting them to fit my needs. So the language of html is a familiar one though I am no where near fluent but I think those years of "experience" and play certainly helped. I can't imagine starting from scratch! Good thing is I pretty much have already broken all the rules during those years of play so now I shall be able to leave that behind and build websites the proper way adhering to za web standards. 

and for your amusement (or even heart attack) here is the past:

http://fantaisya.110mb.com/
My goodness I stumbled across this not realising that it was even still alive on the internet! I did this in year 11 for this youth business programme YAA (Young Achievement Australia). I was part of the marketing team... and we were shamefully selling "customised" underwear. I broke all the rules: table based layouts, shocking colour scheme, using gif for photos, internal scrollbar, and not to mention you are welcomed with a countdown that exceeded its limit a long time ago (you now see negative values).

Intro to Web Media

This post has been sitting in my drafts for a while now and seeing as I'm already half way into a 3.5 weeks winter school it's probably about time I post this. Intro to Web Media is the subject I'm currently doing and has certainly been exciting so far. Deadlines have of course been tight which has been tough (no time to change your mind) however I'm finding the computer tutorials excellent; I finally feel productive in these tutes (although I do notice I have a tendency to lose focus after 2 pm). The skills we're learning are practical and I can imagine applying them in the near future. There's also a nice balance between left and right thinking. I find coding rather therapeutic and it's certainly a nice break from from the usual brain-straining-creative-conceptual-thinking; coding is another kind of problem solving like a puzzle with the bonus of being able to see the results then and there (it sort of reminds me of maths something which I miss *unleash the inner nerd* haha).

I think this subject leads on nicely from Type for Print (TFP). Before I didn't understand why TFP was a prerequisite but now I realise that web design goes beyond learning the html and css or constructing layouts in a digital format. People often distinguish between the two mediums of web and print, but by understanding the importance of grids, the usefulness of style guides and how typography is essential to design - I realise the principles of print can also be applied to the context of web.

Also, another reason why this subject is a nice lead-on from TFP is because we're basing our website on a chosen magazine! By the end of winter school we will have completed a redesign of the magazine's website (not the full site however). Those days immersing in the world of magazine sure will pay off as I have a decent amount of firsthand experience of being the reader/audience of magazines and keeping in touch with their websites.

Bodhi Restaurant

I've always I wanted to try the food at Bodhi and was able to last friday (22/06). Unfortunately we missed out on the yum cha since they only run it during lunch we went there instead for their dinner menu. Did I mention that everything on their menu is vegan offering a fare of asian-fusion fine dining? The restaurant is tucked away between St Mary’s Cathedral and a swimming pool in the heart of Sydney. Its location is quite hidden so they must good to be able to get the amount of customers that they do. The restaurant is quite small but with a cosy and I must say, romantic ambience created by the dark lighting and candle lights. And woahh I didn't realise how classy it was... dressed up waiters and friendly full service. 

We started with some edamame beans (I forgot to take a photo) but quickly the mains came.

dry roasted salted peanut spices topped on fried eggplant with a celery and asian mushroom stuffing $17.50
A little on the oily side  (friends weren't too crazy about it) it was still delicious for me the salted peanut topping complemented the crispy oily eggplant well.

malaysian curry, lychee, asparagus, pineapple, snow pea, tofu, bamboo shoots and pine nuts $19
damn I missed out on the lychee haha friends got to it before I could. A good curry.

mushroom, asparagus, red capsicum, soft tofu and cashew nuts tossed in a creamy coconut lemongrass sauce in an asian pastry nest $20
Also delicious.

sour orange sago pudding with coconut cream and coconut, pandan leaf sorbet $12
Wasn't so crazy on the orange flavour... but damn the icecream was good.

lemongrass infused rice pudding with a passionfruit coulis and caramelised sugar $13.50
This was surprisingly delicious. Warm rice reminded me of eating sticky rice pudding, passionfruit nice and juicy. Serving was tiny though...

You'll notice the prices are pretty shocking (if you're a student like me) and the dishes not so massive... of course this is normal prices for fine dining. Overall the food is good! Is the price justified? Perhaps. I mean service was great, presentation is also wonderful. I have to admit the food isn't so exotic? I mean it would be exotic if you consider asian food exotic haha but I guess with an asian upbringing this style of food is pretty standard (Although as you can see there's a western twist to the dishes which made it fancy). That doesn't mean that it wasn't delicious though - it truly was. I suppose you're also paying for the excitement of eating at a restaurant in a nice location. Will I go again? When I start earning my own money. Although I would love to try the yumcha hopefully in the near future!

Catchup: Vivid Sydney 2012

Wow. This post is definitely well and truly delayed...

8th of Friday was one day exactly after I had finished the last of my assessments (A German Test) and luckily for me I was able to "celebrate" "stress-free" with my friend and a bunch of his mates (and one of his mates girlfriend and her friend also lol) at the lights festival VIVID Sydney. This was actually the first time I got to hang out with this friend. I never realised that he took an interest in photography. Funnily enough though I realised pretty much all my male friends are photography enthusiasts. All the photos here are unedited mainly because I was lazy and also because I thought there was something interesting about darkness.

This was where we began our journey! At the top of the overseas passenger terminal. I love the views from up here and it wasn't so crowdy and man it gets seriously crowdy down there I couldn't see anything! And here you have me attempting to shoot sans tripod in the dark.

Of course without any tripods at hand my friends and I grabbed at whatever we could turn into a "tripod" i.e. hand railings. Lucky for us we had a nice flat and large surface. For a while we stayed up there and I managed to capture people coming and going - all who had a camera of some form whether it be mobile, digital compacts or dslrs.

Call me no night photography pro and photographer for that matter. To be quite honest, with all the people nowadays with dslr cameras there's a little more pressure to take "good photography". But I think many people are doing that enough already and all I really want to do is just play and have fun! All of course while trying to learn and master the art and technical aspects of capturing light. Part of why I love "photography" is being able to document moments, people and capture things in a new light and perspective. So while this photo may be dark I like it because there's something mysterious to it.

Photoception! There was something wonderful about the 3 friends. I loved being able to witness the dynamics and interactions between the best mates.

My attempts at focusing at night are always a failure. Something I need to practice... It's always hard to see during night. I keep forgetting that there's auto focusing as well so I didn't quite make good use of it - although I doubt it would have helped me very much.

There were many lovers during Vivid and I managed to capture this couple. I actually really love this photo - if it weren't unfocused it would have been almost perfect. The lights turned colourful on time too. 

Avatar/Smurf man. This was a completely unintentional and accidental shot and probably the sharpest photo I took during the night haha. When I saw the result I started laughing so much because my friend was so blue he looked much like an avatar creature. He just laughed and liked it also so it was all good.

Time went by so fast and the night ended so soon. It was time to head back. Unfortunately we didn't get to go any further which would have been nice as I felt like the fun only just began here! There's always never enough time in one night for vivid.

Objects of Everyday

For me the visual documentation of everyday objects will never get old. Artists and illustrators may be doing the 'same' simple thing of drawing and painting objects and ephemera over and over again but for me, every time I discover such works there's always some new and fresh in their perspectives. Each creator brings in their own individual touch and I am inspired by that. I'm hoping sometime in the near future I will be able to do my own documentations of everyday objects and ephemera - perhaps of all the small collections I have. 

I especially love when there's a story attached to the objects - there's always something magical about that.

1. Grace Lee: featured on Anthology blog's Sketches Exclusive Series

"Patterns from my electricity, gas, water, and mobile bill envelopes. I’m pretty sure the inside of utility bills back home were white. I don’t even remember keeping them." 

"I got this top from the local ward office bazaar. It was a lucky find, because the market was being held on the day I just happened to be going to get my resident card renewed. Plus, it was only 150 yen! I love the painterly floral pattern on the black fabric."

    

2. Joel Penkman: A collection of painted still life studies.

Penkman has an extensive collection you simply must visit his portfolio!

"I love food, and I love to paint, so combining the two seemed like a good idea.

My compositions are simple still-life studies with clean backgrounds to make easier for individuals to make a connection. Food triggers memories and emotion, I like that people can bring something of themselves to the artworks. My favourite medium is egg tempera. It is very time consuming as I make the gesso to prepare my boards and grind my own paint to mix, but the results are worth it.
.... 

I hope my pictures will make people smile." - Joel Penkman

3. Maira Kalman: Cherabum and Seraphim. 

I mentioned Maira in a previous post.

I absolutely love the commentary she adds to each illustration.

There are more of these illustrations here.

4. Illustrations by Dawn Tan of Handmadelove blog: 

The Fisherman's Friend illustration is featured (along with many others) in the latest issue of Frankie.

This amazing lady does a bunch of lovely watercolour painted food pieces, is an art teacher and also runs a bunch of art workshops. She's so inspiring!

    

5. Illustrations by Christine Berrie.

The one on the left was commissioned for a dating agency. I love the way she is able to turn some objects into quirky pieces of communication. I was pretty much taken back by how simple straight forward realistic pencil drawings could be so amazing and used in a range of editorials!

Still & Yellow (Updated)

     

1. Untitled by Alexander Kent found via ignant

2. Mun 14: Table part of Slow Wood's Mun Collection

3. Curious Science Still Life by METZ + RACINE 

Pigeon Hole Magazine Final Covers

And finally the covers...

Yes the colour for the typography issue did change as I was worried that the yellow would be too striking. This colour was a bit too dull in the print but there wasn't much time for adjustment. I seriously need to learn to work at a faster pace so I can spend more time getting the print right! Print is so tough. I ended up having 3 variations of the cover for the first issue but only handed in 2 because I kind of smudged the 'k' cover during cutting and mounting. Overall I was happy and pretty much satisfied which is a rare feeling but of course there's always room for improvement! And yes my tutor did notice that the colour issue was the weakest also and that the image quality of the bird could have been better. That aside the marks were good (and would have been the best if it weren't for late submission haha...) and I finally feel like I'm starting to have some worthy designs.