Artist Statement

Peter Baston/ Studies in Interactive Typography

As a graphic designer who has become addicted to typography recently, I am particularly interested in how type design can operate interactively. My work mixes visual language and interaction with a playful and entertaining attitude that looks to engage the viewer. The typography is inspired by nostalgic games and objects, which have unique forms that influence the design of the type. The specific game that I choose for inspiration is crucial to my design process and guidelines. It allows me to think critically about how I can approach the type design and create engaging objects that imitate the form of the inspiration.
The inspiration for the Maze Typeface came from the plastic ball-and-maze games. The Maze Typeface explores the use of individual interactive maze games as inspiration to design the forms of the letters, while the actual game is redesigned, letting the individual letter be the maze. This creates a connection between the maze game as an individual interactive object and the games together as a collective way to create type.
The Wooly Willy magnetic drawing game was the inspiration that fueled the form and interaction of the Wooly Type, where the user can draw mustaches, hair, etc with a magnet and lead shavings on Wooly Willy’s head. The letters of Wooly Type are made up of simple symmetric and geometric shapes. This allows the viewers the ability to treat the type with their own individual approach. For the Wooly Typeface I am creating a large-scale replica of the game surface and including magnetic shapes of the letters so that the user can stamp individual letters to create words. Once the individual has created the word then can then use the Wooly Willy magnetic pen to create their personal type treatments.
My infatuation with typography and new found interest in product design has created a hybrid influence of two-dimensional print and three-dimensional spatial design that is defined by a set of rules, which affect my design decisions. In Type Addicted, a book by Victionary the preface describes the effect that “ Typographic designs are like pillars of a stage where story tellers give their best stories.” I look to let the viewer engage with the work, allowing them to express their typographic story.

Final Vinyl

Wolly Willy Typeface

Wolly Willy Typeface : The first round for the wolly willy typeface idea. This typeface uses symmetrical forms and simplicity so that it is easily treated with the magnetic lead. The typeface will go through a redesign for some of the letters and shapes but keep its simplicity in form. Each letter will be cut out via a vinyl cutter in magnet material so that it can be stamped on a wolly willy esk. board and used with a magnetic pen to create interactive type through type treatment.

Wooly WIlly is BACK

Wolly Willy is back and I'm going to make a typeface. I want to incorporate the form of the magnetized iron in my next typeface design that can be made into an interactive piece.

Herman Miller Collection - Reading Response

Herman Miller Colletion

We are lucky at the U of O Portland campus to have pieces from the Herman Miller collection in our building. It is an amazing collection of great furniture designs put into production with a high quality and standard in mind. I find it very innovative and an inspiring business approach to furniture design because Herman Miller did not look at market structure and how the public would take to the furniture, rather the designers and manufactures at Herman Miller knew that if great furniture design was produced no matter the cost that it would be accepted well by the public who needed and continues to need good design. I think it is very interesting also that most of the very famous furniture designers are actually architects who have used their knowledge of good architectural design to create good furniture design. The designs of Eero Sarenin , Alvar Aalto, and the Eames brothers have inspired me to look into furniture design and maybe even save my pennies to buy one of their amazing designs.

Maze Type Posters

Uppercase and Lowercase posters for the maze type that will accompany the maze game installations.

Motivations

10 / 29

The motivations for my type work have to do with form and function. It is a study of type as an art form and as a functional and informational medium. My work is developed by inspiration from nostalgic objects or fads that I can translate into my type design. From the type design I want to take my type further as an installation or interactive piece in which the viewer can “play with” the pieces individually as a game and collectively as a function of type. I also want to investigate the uses of recyclable materials in my work because I want to investigate new ways of applying recyclables into design and how these materials further the product design.
Recyclable materials are another issue that I want to deal with in my type design. I feel that many of these materials have great form and texture that would inspire some of my type design, which would then translate into the installation work. The inspirations come from the idea that we as a society that consumes and throws away, needs to realize the use and function of recyclables. I would want to create a type that investigates the forms and there for could be made into an interactive installation that shows how all of these different materials could be put to use, and I think that type design is a great medium for this informational installation. It not only can express the meaning of what I want to communicate but also illustrate through the installation the beauty and use of these materials.
I want to further research fads of the 80s 90s and so on to investigate nostalgic objects that can be used in my type design. I enjoy the ability that type has to really effect the mood of the project, poster, etc (in this case an installation) showing the correlation of form and function in type.

Current Inspirations and Influences

Non-Format - Really cool London based firm of two designers that deal with experimental type as well as print design. http://www.non-format.com/

Oded Ezer - Experimental type designer influenced by hebrew culture and typography. http://www.odedezer.com/fonts.html

Cassie Klingler - Designer who's MFA project dealt with type and legibility over time. http://www.thatgirldesign.com/

Victionary - "Type Addicted" and "Printwork" both books I just bought dealing with experimental type and print layout and design

Books I want - Victionary "When Space Meets Art/ When Art Meets Space"

"Area_2" by Phaidon Editors

Victionary "Simply Material: Exploring the Potential of Materials and the Creative Competency "

Hawaii Design - London Based design firm based in Print, Installation, Environment, etc. http://www.hawaiidesign.co.uk/main.html

Design Manifestos / America

Reading Response 10 / 26

The “First Things First” 64’ manifesto is a piece that I believe pertains well to the time that it was written. I think in 1964 there wasn’t as much thought included into design as we have now in our society. I like the ideas that he is bringing to the table talking about how we as a society should be creating design that benefits ourselves instead of constantly and solely selling objects. The 00’ design manifesto is a call to designers to detach themselves from the lucrative market of commercial design and focus on solving social and world problems. I believe there is definitely a happy medium when it comes to design. I think the author attacking bad design created to sell dog biscuits and leaving out great design that is promoting other types of commercial business like photography, footwear, etc. that is furthering design techniques and creating capital therefore making it possible for these design firms to do not profit work to help out society in a large way.
The excerpt from Jean Baurillard’s “America” I think is a shot at how our culture as Americans is very detached from the goings-on of society. That because of digital media and the introduction of technology that we are somewhat less aware of what we are doing and why we are actually here. I’m just taking a stab at it cause I didn’t totally get the piece but it was an interesting read anyway.

Recyclable Materials and Type Inspiration

10 / 26

I have been researching type books looking for more inspiration that I can work from as a starting point for my BFA project. I recently found a book designer/ publisher/ design firm that has great print design that is called Victionary. Their books display unique and innovative book layout, design, and type design. Type Addicted and Print Work are the newest editions to my collection, both of which have really inspired my type research. I want to develop type design that involves recyclable materials which inspires the type design. Recyclable materials are a very inspiring subject to me because they can be used in such an innovative manner requiring the designer to incorporate design techniques and research design solutions that fit the recyclable forms and textures. Not only do I want the recyclable materials that I choose to inspire the typeface design but also the use of the material in the installation piece which the viewer can interact with. The interaction should be created in such a way that it is promoting the use of the recyclable material and its practical and artistic uses. I want to accomplish this either through the installation piece itself, or through an interactive book/packet that can be given away and used by the viewer to use the type in other spaces.
I have taken inspiration from such designers as Eded Ozer and his Hebrew inspired experimental type design. I have also been researching the studies done by Cassie Klingler. She did a MFA on typography and studies of legibility over time, which I think is fascinating. I especially like the uses of various materials that she used to develop her studies on legibility. Another firm that I have followed for a while now that deals a lot with experimental type in print and editorial design is the London based firm Non-Format. This firm has a very distinctive and clean style that gives off a very interesting mood to the viewer, a subject that I really want to explore.
As far as interaction through typeface design, I recently was talking to a designer friend of mine that talked about a study done with type that characterized the over use and waste in our society. The designer created promotional packets that functioned as stencils also which read “Over Use” that could be used by people to document the waste of materials and over use in our society.

Art and Function with Type

10 / 25

I have been thinking more about experimental typography and what the function of it is… if there always is such a function. I want to incorporate the artistic ability that typography has with the informative function of it. Basically creating experimental type that incorporates form and function, although the function may not always be legibility, it can involve a strictly artistic function for display and installation. I really want to experiment with interactive type, I want that to be a focal point to my thesis, which I am hoping and going to make it so I can install type design in an interactive setting.
So I guess, at this point I am narrowing my ideas down a little. I want the project to be about experimental typography that incorporates an interactive focus, which I can install of course. I want to incorporate the captivation that I have with experimental type, involving the different moods that different type gives. I want to create interactive pieces from this maze typeface that are limited edition products that can function individually as a maze and collectively to create type. This is where I need to research for my inspirations more. To find products, toys, places, etc that inspired me and give me a feeling that I can then transfer into type design, which then is transferred into the installation or interactive process. More than anything, I want this BFA project to center around the places, activities, objects, etc. that inspire me to work in digital art and transfer all of these inspirations into my experimental type.

Interactive Maze Type

10 / 20

Typography has always inspired me, although I didn’t always know it. Recently I have been really inspired by the mood that typography brings to my work and to the work of others. I want to create typefaces that have a distinct mood and identity to them, typefaces that really inspire people and make them feel nostalgic or happy or sad. I like the idea of how much emotion and feel that typography carries when it takes such a backseat to the design work that it is describing. I want to make type the art and have the graphic pieces compliment the typography. I have been inspired by the grocery store games that you buy out of the 25-cent machines. It gives me a sense of nostalgia that I want to develop into my typography. The idea of a very limited edition piece really speaks to me in this medium because it is contrary to the low-cost multiple of how the original object is made. I want to experiment with new mediums of production that are very beautiful, simple, elegant, and really display the form of the object nicely. I was thinking about researching types of wood and types of metals that could be 3d cut and 3d scanned to create very sleek looking maze pieces as a medium for my typography. The individual letter pieces would look great as a mock of the actual maze game they would work very well individually as a a game and a type piece and also work very well together interacting as a type project. I want to also bring this project further as a whole piece that could function as a labyrinth game, which also functions as a table that the viewer can interact with. I really want to explore the idea of interaction with typography and the installation of the typography to display the pieces. I also want to incorporate recyclables into my type design and then install them in an interactive way. I want to develop type to investigate ways that we can recycle by creating experimental type that originates from the recycled products. The interactivity of typeface design is very interesting to me and I want that to be a very crucial point of my BFA project. I would like all of the typeface design that I create to be inspired by objects that can be interacted with. This creates an interesting collaboration of style and form.

Photography

(1) Image was taken of a garbage burner in Salem Oregon.
(3) image is a winter shot of a lake between Eugene Oregon and Bend Oregon

Dieter Rams

I enjoyed the interview of Dieter Rams on designboom.com. He is a very interesting guy and seems very down to earth. His design was very ahead of its time and although I do not currently practice product design, he inspires me to start. The portable record player for Braun really is a cool concept to me because he really researched form and function to create something drastically different from what was being made at the time. The Braun design revolutionized product design; when the way objects were being designed and produced weren’t intuitive and thoroughly researched. Dieter Rams recognized the design issues and created solutions that were drastically different and very well received for their ingenuity.

1st Round Maze Typeface - Full

The Project Continues...

So I have thought up some more ideas of how I want to conceptualize my BFA project.  First of all I want my project to be fun cause thats a big reason why I am a designer. I want it to be interesting, inspiring, and engaging with the viewer/ person who is interacting with it. So, I want to focus on typography and how it can be used interactively. I want to investigate new functional materials for the typography design to function with. I also want to find more inspirations for typography design (like I did with the maze game), to be able to adapt into a interactive environments. 

For the maze typeface I would like to develop each letter into its own maze game for the whole typeface. I want to limit the production into very limited edition high quality pieces that can be used individually as games or together to interact with the typography. I want to create each maze game letter with the 3D printer using wood and a thin piece of glass on top. Very simple and sleek.

Bauhaus and UO design

The conception of the Bauhaus and the inter-workings of the program have really inspired me. I think there is a lot to learn from it, which can be applied to the conception of the University of Oregon campus at the White Stag Building. First of all, the language of vision and installing the knowledge into the student that enables them to express their sentiments about theirs and others art and design. This is, I think, already being installed into our program, and has been taught during our under graduate work. Speaking for myself at least, I believe that we need to continue this education by critiquing and discussing our work as well as work that is being concepted. Secondly, the Bauhaus greatly valued the research into the concept and development of the art/design. The Bauhaus really stressed the standards of producing art and design to bring the art/design to a high level. While the Bauhaus stressed the importance of bringing students closer with economic problems of production, I want to go further by thoroughly critiquing the social issues and/or practical problems that we face with the integration of art and design.  Finally, I believe that, since the Bauhaus teachers were forced to wok on projects while they taught, it created a great way to expand their capacity for further educating the students. We as students of art and design not only need to focus on the issues regarding the BFA project, but must also focus on art and design problems that come up during the progression of our BFA, which then can manifest themselves into art and design pieces that can be shown with the BFA project. This would add more interest into the BFA project and take it to a higher level of researched and concepted design. 

Art and Technology

            The combination of art and technology is a very expansive subject. To me it highlights the research of inquiry as stated by Irwin as he discusses artist/ scientists into a category of the passionately curious. I enjoyed the part of the reading that discussed how art can be viewed as an experience; and that art is the actual experience that the person is having while viewing or interacting with the object. The experiments that involved the creating of environments and the documentation of the person’s experience in that environment are very interesting. I know for myself it would be very hard to simply sit in a dark room with no sound or sense of depth or space. But I found it more interesting that their most impressionable experience after leaving the room was the sense of the world around them from the trees to the streets, the author’s sense of observation was significantly increased. Like Irwin explains about his walk home after the anechoic experience in the room; nothing was different around him; yet he seemed much more observant of his surroundings.  Wortz explained how the anechoic experiences provoked many other experiments with perception also. After the experiments with situational behavior and environments, the artists/scientists worked on the research for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to begin the research for the habitability of space during long-term space flight. This artist’s study was very beneficial to the advancement in space-flight environment research. It is inspiring that the research and passionate inquiry into the study of situational behavior lead to the benefit of the space program. 

Art and Technology

the BFA project

At first my ideas for the BFA project were focused around my interests in the board sports culture and critiquing the culture. But since we had our discussion about work I have changed my ideas. For a while now I have really been following typeface design and photography and I want to create my project around the interaction of typeface design, beginning with the creation of the entire maze typeface and then creating product pieces that can be interacted with. I would like to do a few studies of how you can interact with typography and then possibly document my research in a book that I design and create. This is my first idea, we'll see how long it is before my ideas change again...

Work Ideas

With this cool new space that we are creating in the digital arts studio I want to adapt some of my photography work to the space. I think taking the Night and Day photo collage that I made and separating each piece and hanging each picture somehow to give the pictures depth would be a really cool work for the space at some point. I just need to figure out how I will create a platform or some way of rigging the wires so that I can move the whole piece at once. I really like the idea that all of the pictures themselves as individuals are interesting and as a whole it becomes a really great piece with depth. 

1st Blog Post..ever

So this is my first blog/ first blog post. YEAH! I am starting this blog for the U of O digital Arts BFA and I will be posting my process on the blog every week, also including some goodies and cool links that I find when I'm browsing around. So stay posted and I'll keep you posted on the progress. Heres a cool site to check out (www.welcometothecloud.com) , this guy has some sweet work, Pierre Nyguen. I am a fan of the films piece and his Paper Cut typeface.