I had the wonderful opportunity to present a project at CSCA last night. The basis of the project was to create a compelling printed piece for non-profit Local-Matters, that can either be left behind or mailed, to solicit funding from business.

I had 5 minutes in front of an audience of about 100 and 4 judges to present my ideas. I had to practice quite a bit in order to be concise and clear about my ideas. Although I did not win, I had excellent feedback and wanted to post a few spreads from the book.

Finally Finals

Well, you don't need much introduction... So, here they are!

Just checking in

One of our extensions for the project, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is a QR tag system for trailheads. I've mocked it up for visualization. Also, we've decided to go with Troika logo I posted, just flipping the "A" on the end. I'm really excited about this whole Merrell project is going and I'll post the final print ads tomorrow.

Collage it up 2.0

As always, slaving away on the Merrell project. Here's the second ad comp. The three part series is due Thursday at 8am. Hope the rest comes together smoothly.

Collage it up

Today I took a break on the Troika boot logo and went to work on the first ad. The idea for the series is to have three different hiking journals by three different people hiking different terrain. We pulled topographic maps of specific trails and parks and researched wildlife and climate for accuracy. It's an assemblage of a hiker's memory on the trail. The hike was made easily and comfortable with their Troika boot and as the viewer scans the page they're tempted to find their own trail.

An extension of the project could be a website with QR tags on trail heads. A hiker simply takes a photo of the tag and their GPS coordinates are posted to an online trail journal. This can actually serve another purpose; safety. Imagine a hiker going in for a hike and not reappearing. If they post their coordinates they'll be easier to locate if missing.

Logo rough

I've just completed the first draft of the Troika boot's logo. It's still not what I'm looking for, but it's closer than I've gotten previously. The problem is mixing the technical aspects of the shoe with the natural elements it will be encountering. Here I am trying to use the type to show technicality and the color to show the nature. I'm not quite sure where to go from this so I think I'll sleep on it tonight and try again tomorrow.

Recyclable Saturday

Heating my score line

Sanding the rim

Finished projects

This Saturday I welcomed the weekend with an awesome recycling project. I've seen glass bottles converted into drinking glasses before but I wasn't sure of the process. My friend's mom answered the question for me when she bought a bottle cutter. Basically, you grab a wine bottle and score the circumference of it. Once you have a solid line you can hold the bottle over a candle flame to stress the glass. Once the bottle has heated for a few minutes the bottle "magically" separates at the score you made. To get the cup portion into drinking order (because let's face it, no one wants to cut their lips with glass while taking a swig of OJ) you sand the top. This glass took about 20 minutes of solid pressure. When it looks right, run your fingers over the rim just to make sure you won't get surprised.

If you're looking for something more than a plain glass you can buy etching cream and use stencil, handmade or pre-cut, to decorate the surface. Just brush a thick layer of the cream on and let it sit for a minute. Rinse it off and you've got one fancy glass. If you're like me, you also like mushroom decals from 1983. That little glass is my new pencil holder at work. This was a very fun project and I'm glad I got to recycle some bottles I had lying around the kitchen. I recommend it to all adults. And remember: WEAR THOSE SAFETY GOGGLES!

Mechanic Wanted

We're working on the schematics of the hiking boot right now. Primarily, the retractable 1" spikes are controlled through an air bellows system. We've referenced patent number 5,588,227 for the project, invented by Mark R. Goldston, Jon L. Bemis, Daniel M. Wickemeyer and David Potter. I want to be clear that we're not stealing this patent from 1992. We're referencing and modifying it to fit our specific needs and changing materials used in hopes of making it as light as possible. The structure is arranged differently in the shoe and the overall functionality in completely different. With that said, I'd like to introduce our first sketch, courtesy of Ellen. We've outlined the main parts and noted their purposes.