Feb 27

Its been real, its been fun. Its been funreal.

Well, if you’ve been following my blog which I know few of you do… you’ll want to know that my new blog is at a new address now, and I will no longer be posting here.

Here’s the new link:

Steed’s NEW Blog (and website!)

ciao!

Posted at 3:41pm

Feb 25

Dear friends, I need your help... and your poetry.

You know you’ve always wanted to be published, and this just might be your big chance. I’m embarking on an indie book project that requires your assistance. Allow me to explain. I’m putting together a collection of poetry written by people in their teenage years (yes… you know you have some). I’d like to think its less of a book and more of a collaborative art project. One that hopefully lots of people will get involved with. Continue reading!

Why are you doing this…

You’re undoubtedly thinking, who would want to read a book filled with nothing but teenage poetry? But that’s the whole point. No one would, and that’s why the idea is so great. But really, there’s a dual purpose to the book. For one, its a chance to give a voice to those misunderstood, bitter, past versions of ourselves. I’m looking for the most authentic, overly dramatic and ultimately cringe-worthy teenage attempts at self-expression. The more bitter or embarrassing the poem, the better. Secondly, it will give me a chance as a budding designer to try my hand at book design. Aside from the content, every aspect of the project will be handled by me: typography, size/format, layout, imagery, materials, printing and production.

Ok, how do I get involved?

To ease what could potentially be an embarrassing process, I’ve created a website with that will allow contributors type and send their entries to me anonymously. There’s no registration or anything like that, no ads or hoops you have to jump through. Just a blank box where you type in your poem and hit send! I can guarantee that your poem will be kept 100% anonymous as I will not have a way of knowing who wrote which poem. If you don’t mind that I know which poem you wrote, just go ahead and email it to me. Don’t worry, I won’t judge you. Snail mail entries will also be accepted, particularly if there are some bits of artwork that you would like to accompany your poem. Send them here: Ben Griffin, 352 S 3rd E, Rexburg, ID 83440 USA. Short stories, essays, photos, doodles or other artwork are also welcome, though the main focus of the book is on poetry. Obviously I will need to read and screen poems before they get put into the book, but just make sure that you don’t include any information that you’d rather not see published. If you would like credit for your poem just mention it in the same box where you submit your entry. You can also get involved by telling your friends. The more entries received, the better the book is going to turn out.

That’s all good, but what do I get out of it?

Good question. Well, I can’t offer any kind of cash prize or anything for entries, but I can promise that anyone that wants a copy of the book will get one, once everything is said and done. I’ll keep you up-to-date by posting updates about the project periodically. Also, feel free to email me about the project status at any time.


The 3 rules for participation:

1. Be Legit
Any poem(s) that you submit must be written by you and must have been written during your teenage years. Also, please don’t submit poems written by other people unless they give you permission.

2. Don’t Sue Me
There’s little chance that this book will ever be published by someone other than yours truly, but if it somehow does, it needs to be understood that by submitting any work you essentially give up your creative right to those specific pieces. Not that you wouldn’t mind parting with them, right? I will not, under any circumstance, edit your entries (outside of typos, line breaks/formatting, etc) or claim to have written your poem or any of that type of nonsense. Just don’t sue me. Thanks.

3. No Regrets
This project is about looking back and laughing, and at the same time being able to reinterpret and appreciate how hard it was being a teenager. Though the concept may come off as tongue-in-cheek, its very important to me that the tone of the book remains respectful, and that all the poems are handled with dignity.

Thats it! Its pretty simple. As with all collaborative art projects, the success of this endeavor relies upon everyone doing their part. Please take 5 minutes out of your day and send in an entry! One last time, here’s the link to the website where you can enter your poem.

Lets do this! Thanks friends—

Ben Griffin
Posted at 8:00am

Feb 24
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes… I’ve been going through my portfolio and noticed a lot of my work hasn’t changed since I was a freshman. So I’ve been spiffing* things up a little bit. On a similar note, this blog is going to be absorbed by the new portfolio site that will be living at steedgriffin.com in the very near future. My blog will still be accessible on the site, but the new link will be steedgriffin.com/blog. I know, its super complicated. And. I’m heading to New York in a week. Don’t get excited, I’ll come back, undoubtedly empty-handed. But right now, that broadway rhythm’s got me, so everybody dance, capiche? And if anybody knows someone that knows someone that’s looking for a designer in NYC, let a little bird know, so that he can let me know. Danke. *the word “spiffing” is owned by Ryan Mudrock, the flintstone version of Ryan Murdock.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

I’ve been going through my portfolio and noticed a lot of my work hasn’t changed since I was a freshman. So I’ve been spiffing* things up a little bit. On a similar note, this blog is going to be absorbed by the new portfolio site that will be living at steedgriffin.com in the very near future. My blog will still be accessible on the site, but the new link will be steedgriffin.com/blog.

I know, its super complicated.

And. I’m heading to New York in a week. Don’t get excited, I’ll come back, undoubtedly empty-handed. But right now, that broadway rhythm’s got me, so everybody dance, capiche? And if anybody knows someone that knows someone that’s looking for a designer in NYC, let a little bird know, so that he can let me know. Danke.

*the word “spiffing” is owned by Ryan Mudrock, the flintstone version of Ryan Murdock.
Posted at 3:05pm

Dec 17
Happy graduation, self! Well, its all over. I’m officially a graduate. Who would have thought it would come so soon? Seems like yesterday I was enrolling in my first graphic design class with Bro. Graybill and now all of a sudden I’m trying to put together a professional portfolio to take out into the great big world of design. About a month ago I bought myself an Eee PC 900HA netbook as a graduation present. I’m so thoughtful. Its got a 160gb hd, 2 gb of ram, and a 1.6 ghz processor in less than half the size of my macbook pro and less than the cost of a fancy ipod. It can surf the web. It can do youtube and gmail. It can even pump out world of warcraft. I love everything about it except the awful Eee Pc logo that was on the top casing. That was easily solved with a trip to the vinyl shop. He’s since officially been dubbed Archimedes. After the owl of course, not the mathematician. Duhz.

Happy graduation, self!

Well, its all over. I’m officially a graduate. Who would have thought it would come so soon? Seems like yesterday I was enrolling in my first graphic design class with Bro. Graybill and now all of a sudden I’m trying to put together a professional portfolio to take out into the great big world of design.

About a month ago I bought myself an Eee PC 900HA netbook as a graduation present. I’m so thoughtful. Its got a 160gb hd, 2 gb of ram, and a 1.6 ghz processor in less than half the size of my macbook pro and less than the cost of a fancy ipod. It can surf the web. It can do youtube and gmail. It can even pump out world of warcraft. I love everything about it except the awful Eee Pc logo that was on the top casing. That was easily solved with a trip to the vinyl shop. He’s since officially been dubbed Archimedes. After the owl of course, not the mathematician. Duhz.
Posted at 9:00pm

Dec 16

This was my final assignment for Motion Design. We had the task of creating a short promo piece about one of four BYU-Idaho Activities programs: Ultimate Frisbee, Film Festival, Guitars Unplugged or Grand Pianos Live. I chose the latter. I had a vision for what I wanted this assignment to look like very early on, so it became more of trying to match what I could pull off in AfterEffects with what I saw in my head. The motion almost mimics the motion of a pianist’s hand when he/she hits a note. There’s a very definite start and a sort of fuzzy end, with some notes being clearer than others. It was a relief to be allowed more time in this assignment (no more 5 second cap). It helped a lot in the pacing of the piece, which is crucial considering its essentially tied to music. Speaking of music, the piece I chose for the background score is the last 30 seconds of Claire de Lune by Debussy. Hope you enjoy it.
Posted at 2:37am

Dec 7
Posted at 2:40am

This is all work from an old project that I forgot to post. The challenge was to create an identity (specifically a wordmark) for the urban hotel EVOLVE which has recently sprung up in a repurposed building in a developing Chicago neighborhood… hypothetically. Its target audience is young, hip professionals who want somewhere cool and budget friendly to spend the night. For the assignment we had to have two unique concepts and apply them in ways that would be appropriate for the hotel. The next images are some highlights from that project.

This is all work from an old project that I forgot to post. The challenge was to create an identity (specifically a wordmark) for the urban hotel EVOLVE which has recently sprung up in a repurposed building in a developing Chicago neighborhood… hypothetically. Its target audience is young, hip professionals who want somewhere cool and budget friendly to spend the night. For the assignment we had to have two unique concepts and apply them in ways that would be appropriate for the hotel. The next images are some highlights from that project.
Posted at 2:40am

Posted at 2:32am

Posted at 2:31am

Research for an «EVOLVE» concept.

Research for an «EVOLVE» concept.
Posted at 2:30am

Nov 23
The Last BFA Day. I am finally done. The BFA show opened on Thursday, Nov. 20th. I’m really happy with how everything turned out. Thank you to everyone that came and for all the great comments! The exclusive After-BFA-Soirée was also very nice, Lizzy orchestrated the whole event. For my project I decided to research digital interface design and how it could be applied in a modern and practical way to a suite of fictional applications. The majority of my research was based around the idea of an adaptable menu that would automatically adjust its content based on the current screen and the needs of the user. I originally thought that my project would be very similar to designing a web site, but I found that accessing information on a mobile device such as an iPhone and using touch-based gestures only was a new challenge and needed to be handled in a unique way in almost every application. The five applications that I created are called ToDo (a calender and scheduling application, You Are Here (a GPS application), DrawBridge (a physics-based building block game), Decor (a wallpaper gallery and preferences utility) and Ventriloquist (a novelty/toy application). The five apps were created under the umbrella identity Tapagram Technologies— a fictional iPhone application developer for which I designed the logo and basic identity. My project consisted of presenting the five applications’ basic features on boards as well as showing demo walkthroughs of the primary functions of the applications. The show will be up in the Spori gallery for the next three weeks or so. If you get a chance you should definitely check it out. I will try to post more close-up shots of the display and perhaps some of the motion pieces that I displayed on the computer.

The Last BFA Day.

I am finally done. The BFA show opened on Thursday, Nov. 20th. I’m really happy with how everything turned out. Thank you to everyone that came and for all the great comments! The exclusive After-BFA-Soirée was also very nice, Lizzy orchestrated the whole event.

For my project I decided to research digital interface design and how it could be applied in a modern and practical way to a suite of fictional applications. The majority of my research was based around the idea of an adaptable menu that would automatically adjust its content based on the current screen and the needs of the user. I originally thought that my project would be very similar to designing a web site, but I found that accessing information on a mobile device such as an iPhone and using touch-based gestures only was a new challenge and needed to be handled in a unique way in almost every application. The five applications that I created are called ToDo (a calender and scheduling application, You Are Here (a GPS application), DrawBridge (a physics-based building block game), Decor (a wallpaper gallery and preferences utility) and Ventriloquist (a novelty/toy application). The five apps were created under the umbrella identity Tapagram Technologies— a fictional iPhone application developer for which I designed the logo and basic identity. My project consisted of presenting the five applications’ basic features on boards as well as showing demo walkthroughs of the primary functions of the applications.

The show will be up in the Spori gallery for the next three weeks or so. If you get a chance you should definitely check it out. I will try to post more close-up shots of the display and perhaps some of the motion pieces that I displayed on the computer.
Posted at 12:34pm

Nov 19

This is my second motion piece. The criteria for this assignment were to A) create an interesting transition in B) five seconds or less with C) audio. Success? Only fate can decide. Fate and Bro. Memmott.
Posted at 11:53pm

Oct 31
I won something. I got first place in the graphic design category for my Oasis concert poster last night at the BYU-I student art show. The catvertizements also won an honorable mention. Aw. I was pretty happy. I never win anything. Except jury duty. Photo is courtesy of Miss Lizzy House herself.

I won something.

I got first place in the graphic design category for my Oasis concert poster last night at the BYU-I student art show. The catvertizements also won an honorable mention. Aw. I was pretty happy. I never win anything. Except jury duty. Photo is courtesy of Miss Lizzy House herself.
Posted at 5:33pm

I won something {else}.

This is my very first motion design project- the criteria for this assignment was to make an interesting countdown within 5 seconds. It was a little daunting since this was my first exposure to After Effects, but I had a lot of fun animating this and I am very pleased with how it turned out.

I won 3rd place for this piece in the Motion Design category at the BYU-I Student Art Show.
Posted at 5:27pm

Oct 22
BFAB I’ve been quiet for a while. You can blame it on my BFA project. We’ve been at odds for some time now, my BFA and I. Finally starting to come to terms with each other’s goals… its my goal to slay the beast and its goal to make my life as stressful as possible. I think both are being accomplished equally well. Oh wait no… just the latter. For my project I’m creating a fictional software company that makes applications for iPhone. This entails designing the interfaces of 5 different applications as well as an identity system for the company including collateral and website. Sounds fun right? Yeah that’s what I thought a month or two ago. But fun or not, its more about getting it done. It doesn’t help that I’m leaving for NYC the first week of November. Ah well.

BFAB

I’ve been quiet for a while. You can blame it on my BFA project. We’ve been at odds for some time now, my BFA and I. Finally starting to come to terms with each other’s goals… its my goal to slay the beast and its goal to make my life as stressful as possible. I think both are being accomplished equally well. Oh wait no… just the latter.

For my project I’m creating a fictional software company that makes applications for iPhone. This entails designing the interfaces of 5 different applications as well as an identity system for the company including collateral and website. Sounds fun right? Yeah that’s what I thought a month or two ago. But fun or not, its more about getting it done. It doesn’t help that I’m leaving for NYC the first week of November. Ah well.
Posted at 1:01am

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