Since my move to Seattle, I’ve chosen to reassess where I want to go in life and currently the path of Graphic Designer isn’t it. I’m settling down with my girlfriend of nearly 3 years, working a joe-job to pay the bills, and in my off time I’ve begun to explore furniture design and carpentry.

This blog wont be taken down, but the direction will change. At some point over the coming months, it will be uses primarily to document my various furniture and woodworking projects. Likewise, expect my website www.vanianroy.com to receive a similar overhaul.

Until next time…

This is the final major update of my site for a bit, though I plan to add my new book (Enthüllung 2: Das Zweite Jahr) and reintroduce a downloadable PDF of my portfolio within the week.

Sleepy…

Now… just need to update my pdf portfolio…

I’m scheduled to show my work on Enthüllung at the Maryland Institute College of Art Commencement Exhibition show later this month (oh, and I’m also officially graduating…) and I finished everything last week. I should be taking this chance to do some professional documentation of these pieces before the show, but I’m juggling a lot right now so we’ll see. Anyway…

First off is my meat-and-potatoes book that documents the last year’s progress on the project. I don’t plan to post any shots of the spreads until the exhibition goes up, at which point the book will be available in its entirety online in pdf format. Speaking of which…

I wanted to design a sort of takeaway for anyone who is interested in my book or simply wasn’t able to get a good look at it. Thus I designed this small stack of cards that direct people to the pdf version of the book online. (as of the posting of this entry, the url doesn’t go anywhere, but it will be live the day of the exhibition opening)

Lastly, I wanted to design a few posters to hang behind the pedestal holding the book. Initially, my plan was to hang three posters from three phases of the project over the last 2 years, but their sizes varied dramatically and the older ones would have required custom framing. So instead I opted for something simple, and I also took the opportunity to give Rasterbator a try, heh.

I realize the shot is kind of crappy. You can view the digital version of the poster by clicking the image above.

All in all it’s a modest exhibition piece, especially when you think about other student’s thesis work that will be surrounding it. While my client work is by its very nature meant to draw attention, I’ve never really been one for flashiness when comes to my self-initiated projects. Enthüllung has always been a quiet endeavor, the graphic materials that are spawned from it are merely artifacts that document an element or phase in the project, so they don’t need to be flashy.

Oh, I also got my new business cards in the mail. They’re from Moo’s minicard service and they’re about 2.75″x1″ which is just enough space for necessary information. They’ve sparked interest in everyone I’ve given them too thus far, let’s hope the trend continues at the exhibition.

I also got a nifty flip case to carry them in!

So… that’s about it. The next post on Enthüllung will be shots of the hung exhibition, and after that there probably wont be another for quite a while. No worries though, I have a number of other projects that I’ll be sure to post on here in the near future *coughfurnituredesigncough*

(not on label) is a net label I launched last week. It’s primary purpose is to be a hub for my various electronic music projects, as managing a separate Bandcamp or MySpace for each was quickly becoming a big headache. I also really really enjoy designing labels for vinyl records, and the creation of NOL gave me an opportunity to design an entire identity system of them, and I’m pretty happy with the minimalism of the final product.

I’ve a number of EPs scheduled for release over the next few months, so keep an eye on it for updates.

I’d allowed myself around two-and-a-half weeks to get the book printed and constructed. To my surprise the turn around on printing took less time than I expected, and I just picked up the finished spreads this afternoon. They even trimmed them for me, whoo. I also received  a package from Mr. French (which always gets me a little too excited) that contained the stock for making the covers of the book as well as the small postcards that will direct visitors to the online version of Enthüllung 2: Das Zweite Jahr.

The poster triptych that will be hanging behind the book is just about finished. I’m hoping to have them printed and framed by the end of the week, leaving the remainder of my time to really getting the two copies of the book together perfectly.

Things are really coming together.  Hooray!

It’s finally done… Now to turn my full attention to the book.

————-

My most recent client was Alicia Sherman, a fine artist in the Baltimore Area that is set to graduate from MICA with a BFA in General Fine Arts and a minor in Curatorial Studies next month.

There are times in which some may get the impression that many fine artists suffer from a lack of organization and I’d go so far as to say a lack of professionalism. Anyone who’s shown up at one of MICA’s career fairs and witnessed the disturbingly large number of people in paint-stained jeans and dirty tee shirts can attest to this. The of coarse is not true for all artists, and Alicia is one who takes professionalism very seriously. At the dawn of her career as a professional artist, we worked together to build a very minimal brand that suited her values without competing with her beautifully organic work which can be found on her newly launched website, AliciaSherman.com.

The deliverables were few; only a logo, letterhead, and business card were created, but not much more is really necessary at this time. With these two resources, Alicia is able to maintain a high level of professionalism when meeting people in person, or interfacing with them indirectly via email or letter.

The business cards are of the european standard, due in large part to the client’s loyalty to Moo, a printing company that has received much praise for their environmentally responsible practices, and sheer quality of production. I highly recommend Moo to anyone who’s looking to get cards made as their price is more than reasonable for the quality of their work.

I worked with Alicia to create the above pattern which works as a means to break up the almost clinical minimalism of the identity. When I met Alicia a number of years ago, much of her work revolved around patterns and textiles, and she wanted to retain something of that part of her work while giving it a structured and modern feel that contrasts the rest of the brand without clashing with it. There is a clear difference between the feel of the two aspects, but both seem to compliment one another, and the pattern brings a feminine touch to an otherwise androgynous brand.

I feel compelled to mention is that working with Alicia was phenomenally easy. She originally applied to MICA as Graphic Design major, and while she eventually decided on the pursuit of the fine arts, she still retains an eye for design and shows a level of respect for the field that would take any hardened freelancer off-guard. Working with her on this small project was nothing short of a joy for myself, and I hope she feels the same.

I’ve been slacking since my last post. It wasn’t until this week that I really sat down and started focusing on the massive SketchUp model of the current Enthüllung. But anyway, I wanted to take a moment to share my progress.

What time I spent working on the model last week was devoted to “plating” the slabs of the house. I had Initially rendered the slaps as simple shapes, and I had to go in and “cut” out grooves for the C-shaped steel plates that (theoretically) allow for the slabs of the house to be supported by the vertical steel beams.

Note that contrary to the images above, the slabs are not just massive chunks of poured concrete, rather that are a system of layers of materials similiar to that of the construction of the Farnsworth House. I simply did not see a point is putting hours into actually drawing the layers if they would remained concealed in the end. Also note I know next to nothing about engineering,  this plated frame may or may not be solid, but it looks convincing at least.

This week, I began building some of the furniture for the house, most of which hadn’t been designed yet save for rough dimensions. The first was a massive (14′ x 7′ x 18″) bookcase that stands as a partition between the great room and the study area. The design is based on a modular bookcase I’d seen some time ago, but the name of which escapes me. However, said bookcase was small and meant to serve is a night stand from what I recall. The drawers of the bookcase aren’t yet finished. My hope is to have them pull out from either side so that one does not need to be in the study to access something that is stored in the bookcase.

This is the third time I’ve done a SketchUp model of Enthüllung and the first time I’ve done one without any premade/downloaded furniture. Ironically the bulk of the time spent on the model will be on the furniture, rather than the structure of the house itself.

For most of yesterday and today I worked on the bathrooms and furniture for the master bedroom (see below). The master bath contains a large concrete bathtub, suitable for a taller bather (anyone around 6′ in height will be able to sympathize with the discomfort that comes from trying to take a bath in a standard tub), and both the master bath and guest bath have concrete sinks. Rather than building a cabinet under the sink, I elected to build a shelf for storage. The bathrooms are only about half complete at this time. Both require showers, toilets and smaller things such as towel racks. I also installed the pocket doors, the ones pictured are for the guest bath, which can be accessed from either the great room or the guest room (which will be partitioned by a wooden wall later).

Lastly, today was spent mostly one designing some of the furniture of the master bedroom. I’m rather proud of how these turned out. These pieces of furniture (and well, any wood you’ve seen up to this point) would be teak, ideally reclaimed teak, that is stained a dark chocolate brown. Drawers and doors are framed in metal, what type of metal I haven’t yet decided, and the fronts are a translucent milky-white glass.

I chose not to include hardware on this furniture set, as my plan is for all the drawers and doors to have push-to-open mechanisms. The doors of the wardrobe swing out in a gate, and the doors on the cabinets above the dresser swing upward.

Phew, so concludes my first progress report on the Enthüllung 2k11 SketchUp model.