Good ol' Dihydrogen Monoxide

Upon additional research, I've learned that the chronic dehydration problem in the US of A is further exacerbated by how overmedicated the American population is. We have a headache, we pop a painkiller; we feel sad, we take some Prozac; we get wrinkles, we inject some Botox... Though there is a certainly place and a need for medication (serious depression for example is more than just being a little sad, and requires meds), one cannot deny America is particularly pill happy.

That said, overmedication can make dehydration even more dangerous: when we are dehydrated, our body goes through a variety of crisis management processes that can manifest themselves as headaches, asthma, high blood pressure, weight gain, depression, mood swings, etc. These all happen for a reason, but by taking meds, we are tricking our bodies into not feeling the pain that would normally alert us that something is wrong. Therefore, we are getting more and more dehydrated.

Back to design: so, I'm going to package and advertise water as if it were a pharmaceutical product (using water's lesser known name: Dihydrogen Monoxide) and make a PSA campaign around that. At first, I wanted to use Helvetica, since it's so anonymous and utilitarian looking... but I'm so sick of seeing Helvetica, so I finally settled on DIN. I am having a passionate love affair with DIN in this period. 

the label, for example, would look something like this--oh, and the kerning was fixed since this version... it's pretty horrible here.

Chopsticks Magazine Cover

I know this is not related to class, but I was just honored to win the Chopsticks NY magazine cover design competition; which means I will be joining two other designers as the cover artist for 2012. This is my proposal for the New Year's cover. Visually, it's inspired by the format of the postcards that are traditionally sent at the new year in Japan. I made a woodblock print (2 plates/colors) because it not only references a medium that was often used in traditional Japanese arts, but also reproducibility and seriality.
This cover is up against two others, both really beautiful; the magazine wants the internet to decide who gets the first cover of the year. If you want to go to the site and vote, click here, you don't have to vote for me (though I would definitely love to win). Sorry for the digression, back to school work now.

you can click to enlarge

this is one of the two wood plates I made

NY Winter Survival Kit

Here is the finished survival kit, made from three thrift shop items.
I love the typefaces I used, and they are both free: Lobster and Franchise Bold

Chronic Dehydration

So, between 75 and 80% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. We've all heard that we have to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day, but we we don't necessarily realize is that being dehydrated can cause or exacerbate a variety of conditions; including:

• Depression
• Constipation
• Asthma and Allergies
• Joint Pain
• Heartburn
• Hypertension
• Kidney damage
• Weight gain (with it's negative cholesterol effects)
• Premature aging

Drinking enough water (not soda, tea, or coffee, but plain water) is the single most important thing we can do to for our health.

This is what I want to do my PSA posters on. I finally found a topic... it certainly took long enough. Now, I have to find some sort of design direction/concept for the posters. 

Packaging & Identity

I went to the two Goodwill stores and finally decided on these three items:

• a mug
• socks
• a set of two small hand warmers

It was a rainy day, so I guess I was in the mood for comfort and warmth.

I'm thinking of making a kit of some sort... something kind of funny to survive long New York City winters. Here are my glamorous three objects:

I stumbled upon the identity for a London-based supermarket designed by Unreal studio. http://identitydesigned.com/the-peoples-supermarket/ I love how simple, effective, and utilitarian the design is. delicious.