Break Time #15

I have had a song stuck in my head for days. This song even permeated my dreams. This song is terrible, and I have no idea why it inhabited the cells that make up my brain. Amazingly, this song was lifted from those cells, and I did not have a song to perform today's task of taking the chorus of a song in your head, and rewriting it about something in your vicinity. I chose to put the ipod on random and came up with Death Cab for Cutie's - "Crooked Teeth".

His chorus is:
Cuz you can't find nothing at all,
if there was nothing there all along.
No, you can't find nothing at all,
if there was nothing there all along.

Now, I have a terrible monitor at work. This thing weighs as much as the average elephant, can display as many colors as an elephant's skin. So I wrote my chorus about my monitor.

Well, you caan't seee the colors at all,
thiiis mo-ni-tor is so very old.
No, you caan't seee the colors at aaall,
thiiis mo-ni-tor is so very old.

I wrote out how to drag the words out to fit the way it's sung. If you want to hear it, check out the song on Amazon here or on Itunes.

Break Time #14

Today was fun! I had to recreate my name by using letters and numbers, except for the actual letter that was in my name! Naturally, I did this in Helvetica, and I was very tempted not to change the a in my last name, just because the a is so beautiful, but I was able to use it, upside down, as the e in my first name! Enjoy!

Break Time #13

Today, I had to create roller coasters for bugs using items in my vicinity. You’ve seen a majority of my desk now, and even though I rearranged it yesterday, I still have all of the same items.
Ride 1 would be the “Leap of Faith”. I have the tall lamp, that if I attached a rubber band to it, I could used as a bungee jumping station. I could also use it as a high dive if I filled my coffee mug with water and put it at the bottom.
Ride 2 is “Graviton”. I would dissect my mouse and just use the shell of it as one of those gravity spinner rides. The bugs would load in, and then I would twirl it around above my head for a minute.
Ride 3 is a true roller coaster called “Stratosphere”. I took the rattle toy, and created a bunch of hills in it by stretching it out. That would be a fun ride for some bugs.
Ride 4 is the kiddies ride called “Look at the lamp and touch it”. That is pretty self explanatory.
Lastly, Ride 5 is just for mosquitoes, called “You’re Lucky”. I would take my scissors, and rig a sensor to them to snap closed when a bug is detected. The mosquitoes would have to fly through there as fast as possible and cheat death. If they made it, they’re lucky, if not, there is one less mosquito to bite me.

Break Time #12

Today I had to rename things in my office. I had to look at the item and blurt out alligator when it was really my cell phone. This concept was a challenge because you look at the item and the correct name pops in your head and I had to force myself to rename it. This same concept plays out in logo design. When you, or other people are evaluating a logo, then instantly make up an image in their mind, and it always sticks. I can’t look at the FedEx logo without seeing the arrow. It’s impossible for me to avert my eyes from that beautiful negative space. This lesson was a great one because it taught me that I need to think on my feet quicker and try not to distract myself with images I create in my mind.

Break Time #11

Okay, so I'm a little late on yesterday's post. Rather and type out an excuse, I'll just finish the post. I had to create a band out of items in my office. This was pretty fun because I do have a lot of bubble wrap, but that's not a very fun instrument for the coworkers. I have had that McDonald's commercial stuck in my head. The one where he makes a tune out of various things at Mickey D's, especially the part where he shakes the bag, and his friend "Hoots". Everything else makes sense except the Hoot! Who Hoots when they are satisfied with a Big Mac? Who is ever satisfied with a Big Mac?

Those life mysteries have led me astray in the post. I had to create instruments and then arrange them in "sections" for playing. Up front you have the two hard hitters of the group, the drum and bass. The tall tube of glued tape rings serves as a good drum, and the Cowboys canteen serves as the a hooting thing and can sound like the bass. Next we have the high tones of the child rattle, giving the tune a little bit of Latin flavor. Then we have the strings providing the tune with a little bit of class, or hick flavor, depending on the way you pick the strings. Finally we have the clicker section with the stapler and staple remover. To stifle the obvious joke, no they would not cancel eachother out. There you have it, the Desk-estra.

Break Time #10

I have always wanted one of these old school bugs. There is just something that says "artist" or "cool guy" about these cars. Maybe it's because you usually have to rebuild these cars, so your personality and the cars begin to meld? I don't know. Either way, these cars are fantastic, and I had fun designing paint jobs according to the words: Pain, Irreverence, Confused, Athletic, and Bored. In case you were wondering, yes, that is Comic Sans on the pink one! Talk about the irreverence that car shows to anybody with an eyeball! Also, the athletic one has a headband on, but it doesn't show as well in the compressed image.

Break Time #9

What can kids do better than adults? It depends on the adult, I guess. I don't feel like I'm truly an adult yet, but I guess that is the young side of me that doesn't want to stop drinking out of the gallon of milk.

1. live without a care
2. sketch without a purpose
3. climb a tree
4. learn and explore
5. not worry about clothing choices
6. deviate from rituals and traditions
7. run faster, jump higher, play harder
8. think of more items for this list
9. adjust to uncomfortable situations if they can find a friend
10. participate in all kinds of sports
11. entertain themselves without technology (although this is fading away)
12. dream up creative and outrageous solutions to problems
13. be loyal
14. sleep in on a Saturday
15. enjoy foods that would wreck an adults stomach
16. use their imagination
17. voice their opinion
18. keep a full head of hair
19. believe in the goodness of mankind
20. win a staring contest

Break Time #8

I am chained to my desk and everything electronic is dead. How do I tell the guy next door that I’m bored? Simple, the Bouncy Ball Express. All I need are some pens, paper, rubberbands, and some of those fist size bouncy balls. Since the lights are down, we’ll need glow in the dark balls.
The hallway in which I work is pretty simple. It’s just a long hallway, with one small hallway at a right angle. From my office I can see this side hallway, so I can effectively communicate with them by tossing the ball from my door. If I need to talk to the guy down the hall, I just have to angle the ball slightly, and let it fly! Since they glow, we can use the light to write/read the note, and you can know who sent you a ball to begin with. This style would also involve office wide participation since some messages would need to have a couple of middle men to reach their final destination. When the power comes back on we’ll have formed a better bond through teamwork, and we’ll still have our voices because we did not yell at each other. Getting the print out of the printer is going to be pretty tricky though.

Break Time #7

I was given a set of road signs to redefine. It was tough. The meanings are so ingrained that it's tough to think of alternate meanings.


This one has a couple of new meanings.
No Aggies Allowed.
You must start counting with your index finger zone.


Math Zone ahead.


Red Ninja is hiding somewhere ready to kill you.


You are now entering a poop zone and you're gonna smell like it for the rest of the day area.


Your favorite song is about to play, and you're gonna get distracted zone.

Break Time #6

I really really really wish I could have built this one. After three days of looking I could not find a coke can anywhere to build my racer with! So I just drew it! This car would dominate! It would have the normal hole in the front, and then it would have a hole in the back for improved aerodynamics. The spoiler on the back would keep the car low to the ground when it was burning up the competition.

73 is my lucky number, so the car naturally needs my lucky number.

Break Time #5

Circles are everywhere and I had to find them. The tricky thing was to find them, and frame them all the same way. It was interesting trying to get the smaller objects to focus correctly and for me to hold still.

Break Time #4

It's tricky to rock a rhyme, and create symbols for abstract words. I was tasked to use 4 straight, same length lines, and a circle to make pictograms for the words Pressure, Delirious, Lucky, Suspense, Dangerous, and Joyful.



Pressure: This was a softball just lobbed at me. I don't have much to contemplate about it.
Delirious: I found out a new meaning for the word. It is "wild with excitement". After I learned that, it didn't take me long to figure it out. Funny thing about perspective though is that those lines look so much longer than the pressure lines next to it. Trust me, I double checked.
Lucky: This is the word that gave me the most trouble. I wanted to try and represent a "lucky penny" but the lines were to long to fit in the circle. What do you do with a lucky penny though? You pick it up. So the lines are hands picking up the penny.
Suspense: Horror movies came to my mind instantly and the feeling of being trapped in the movie. There is no way out, and the walls are closing in as you realize you're the latest victim.
Dangerous: I wanted to spend a little bit more time on this to see if I could think of an alternative to the ever present "Warning" symbol.
Joyful: You're elated and generally flying when you're joyful.

This whole exercise make me think hard, and quickly. I only have about 15 minutes for break, so the brain has to be on overdrive. These skills directly translate to the workplace. Whether is a color change to a logo, or a whole new piece of packaging, I gotta be on my toes.

Break Time #3

Today, I had to create a Professional Swiss Army Knife. This is basically a thing with everything I can't work without. This is what I came up with.



I had to really thing about what I would need at work, and how much my work revolved around the computer. The whole thing could be used as a mouse. The rectangle is the scroll pad, and there are the traditional right and left click buttons. Dang it, I forgot to add the side buttons for the "expose all windows" on a Mac. The one thing I with I really had was the bluetooth stylus pen. It's like the one used on the Wacom pad, but could work without the pad. Also, the flash drive is 1 Terabyte, that would hold every project I have every made or thought about making.

Hand sanitizer I can't live without. Not that I'm a germaphobe, but there are times when your hands just feel funky, and they have to get defunkified. I like the "Cool Breeze" smell.

There would also be a screen that would indicate connections and battery life. There is nothing worse then not being about to see the life capacity of your battery. The rest would just be filled with essentials such as refills of Exacto blades and staples.

Honestly, who needs a corkscrew on a utility knife? Are you going to come in from using your tool and open a bottle of wine for your lady?

Break Time #2

Today, I had to find to things that were misplaced in my office. How did these items get to where they are? Let's find out.

1.
The book itself has many homes, this just being one of them. It's like that friend you had in high school that would come to your house and look in your fridge w/out asking, but you still welcome him in.

2.
This guy is just asking to run away from his proper place.

3.
This is bubble wrap, it never has a proper place, except within arms length of a chair for spontaneous popping.

4.
I don't have a book shelf, so this awesome piece of work goes on the floor.

5.
This piece of paper was looking longingly to hang out behind my door, so one day it just flew off my desk.

6.
Sharpies ALWAYS show up in the weirdest places.

7.
I was attempting to staple an gnat I caught to a piece of paper as a warning to other gnats, so my stapler wound up on my light table.

8.
This piece of junk doesn't deserve a home.

9.
I needed to tape my eyelids open just to stay awake at work. I need a 5 hour energy. No sugar, no crash.

10.
Random pile of junk. Yes, those are tape rolls glued together. Yes, it's about 2 feet-ish tall. It's so tall, that I can't put it on my angled light table anymore, because gravity kicks it over.

This should teach each and everyone of you, that there is always a justifiable reason why things are not in their place. You just have to be creative with that justification. After all, the floor is the biggest shelf in the house.

Anyone want to share a reason why something is out of place? Leave it in a comment!

Break Time

This is going to be simple. On my break, during the work days, I'm going to work through Stefan Mumaw's Caffeine for the Creative Mind. I will perform the task from the book and post it here. So as not to give the entire book away, I'll just post a brief title. If you want the book for yourself get it here.

This is July 8th's sketch. The task was to "Pimp my Wagon".