Sunday, September 13, 2015

Weekly Update: Digital Money

Music: Kaytranada
I'll be seeing this Haitian DJ/producer on Friday for the second time. I'll definitely be in a better state to enjoy him this time. I know more of his music this time around, but I am mostly excited to see him inside, away from the torrential rains that overtook Time Festival 2014 when I last saw him. Not only that, but it's at the Danforth Music Hall and we all know how much I love that place. Can't wait to dance it up. I hope he plays this song:


Accomplishment:
I have finally completed my case study on snooze buttons. I'm pretty proud of the outcome, too. Since it's pretty long, I wonder if I should turn it into a straight-up project on my portfolio. Or maybe just leave it where it is, but create a shorter version for Medium.

I also figured out how to add a truly custom header to this dang blog, so it looks more cohesive with my portfolio site. Fancy!

Goal:
This week, I want to change the fonts (and do a general code clean-up) of my portfolio. I am switching from Nexa to a serif/sans serif pairing of two fonts from Google Web Fonts. That way, I can use them on my blog as well.

I'll also be starting the Joshua Davis skillshare. I know I said I was going to do it yesterday, but the snooze button took over. So that will be happening on Tuesday evening.

Random Thought: Digital Age of Board Games
Did you know that new versions of Monopoly don't use paper money? I know, very shocking. Monetary transactions are now done with toy bank cards. The banker has access to a sort of toy bank terminal, and all of the money is digital.


Other than the obvious problem that no one can possibly keep track of their worth without bothering the banker and interrupting the flow of the game (which already causes so much anger and fighting between friends), I used to play Monopoly as a way to learn about money and the value of a dollar. Kids these days are already finding it hard to grasp the worth of goods in our society, and now we're condoning this terrible behaviour by starting them young in their toys.

I wonder if we can use technology to fix this problem. What if there was a free app that you could download on your smartphone for the game. You could check your card balance in the app (like a banking app), see your recent purchases, and learn about spending and saving that way. Maybe this will be a future project!

Inspiration: Aaron Draplin's Thick Lines Poster Series
Aaron Draplin is a master of line and colour. His never-ending series of bold, clean logos with so much inspiration from vintage finds of the 50s and 70s always inspire me. I came across this series of six posters that define the meaning of the word simple, without being boring at all. Check some of these out:




From his website:
I was doing a workshop up in Edmonton, and upon seeing the first design of this series, a kid asked me, “But, why’d you make it?” At first, I thought he didn’t like it. “No, no, I like it, it’s just…how’d you come up with this?” he said. He was puzzled by the simplicity. And, in that little moment, all I could say was, “Everything is so complex. Posters are more and more intricate and intense. I just wanted to try something really, really simple. You know, in the spirit of the old the old stretched fabric wall art stuff from the ’70s!” And of course, he had no idea what I was talking about. He wasn’t on the scene until the late, late ’80s, the little punk.
I wasn't on the scene until the early, early '90s (still a punk to be sure), but I actually grew up with old stretched fabric wall art "stuff" hanging on the walls of my home. Which is probably why I love textile design so much. And of course you remember my Marimekko post about this stuff, too. Sometimes it's the simplest things that bring us joy.

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