Day 8 - Graffiti Photo Shoot

So I told you a little bit about 1 of my classes, Corporate Branding. My 2nd class this month is called Digital Photography about, dang, you guessed it, Photography!

Everyone in class was issued a Canon Powershot camera, which is a surprisingly powerful point and shoot camera. Luckily my roommate is awesome and has a Nikon D40 on hand. I'm extremely jealous, it's just an awesome tool to have. Original photography is such a valuable asset to great design.

So for our first project we had to pick a "niche" in photography to study. I did landscape photography, more specifically urban culture and such. So I was assigned a client to create a concept for, Benjamin Moore paints. So today I went to downtown Orlando to check out some graffiti art in the area to help out with this.

Check out some photos I got, these will eventually be retouched and improved on to create the concept I'm talking about, so stayed tuned for more on that.

Day 7 - Logo Development

One week into the 30 day challenge and so far so good. Woot!

So this month I'm in a class called Corporate Branding... it focuses on the branding schemes used by modern companies and the theory behind the choices they make. As part of this class we're re-branding a golf course. Their focus? Renewable energy.

I got to do the initial brand sketches and see how it turned out from there, so check it out:


Early sketching ideas:


Decided concept:

The group liked the idea of playing on a shape or form that looks modern, to reflect the idea of renewable energy, yet have other things that suggest the history of golf.


Some vector progress with some font ideas:



Eventually we decided the shape was too representative of a "fruit-like" shape and was too complex. So, we simplified it a bit and went with something that was a bit more modular and versatile.

Here's the final style guide.



So with this logo we were able to create an entire rebrand for a mock golf course, and I gotta say, it's been a really cool experience going from A-Z. There are a bunch of other assets we made to support this, such as this website and web banner:

Web banner:


Website:


These are the only ones I have as they were created by me, but there are others the group contributed, so I'll post those another time.

Why the Red Sox rock my socks

I remember when I was just a little tyke. A night at my dad's house meant loud and thunderous rants, cries, and cheers exploding from the living room. A quick glance at the TV exposed why; the Red Sox were playing. All I could do was roll my eyes and wonder why a baseball game could drive a man so mad.

Now I understand it exactly.

Sure I'm a New England native, but these memories of my dad made it almost impossible to avoid becoming absorbed into the Red Sox nation. And I love every second of it.

86 long years of waiting tested our loyalty as a fanbase. Generations of passionate fans banded together praying to see the day when the great "curse" would end. And end it did, in arguably one of the most exciting playoff and world series ever. A wave of relief fell upon the dedicated Fenway Park faithful when the Red Sox were once again declared the champions. And after 2007, the voice of the Red Sox Nation only grew more strong.

Baseball is unlike any other sport for many obvious reasons, but people still can't seem to understand why I enjoy it so much. Baseball definitely takes a level of patience that I don't expect a lot of people to have. However, it's enduring these long and sometimes uninteresting innings that always pays off in the end. Baseball has the ability to drastically change in a split second, and I can't tell you how many of these moments I've witnessed that have litterally possessed me and launched me out of my chair in excitment. It's kind of like watching a bomb you know is active, but the timer isn't existing. Staring at it isn't exactly exciting, but when that thing blows it's going to take you by complete surprise.

The 2009 season has shaped up to be an interesting one... I remain optimistic that we can remain a contender for a spot in the World Series. It's definitely going to take a bit more work and some more consistancy. However, a pluthra of injuries and shortcoming performances from some players leave me worried. Nonetheless, nights like tonight prove that the Red Sox have a bag of magic in their pockets that can rear it's head at any time. In an astonishing 9th inning rally, new member Victor Martinez was able to come up huge in delivering a clutch run. Combined with the acts of Ortiz's 6th inning blast and Pedroia's double off the wall, it was a reminder of just how much the Red Sox can deliver in moments of seemingly obvious defeat.

I can't wait to see how the playoffs unfold, and what jaw dropping moments will ensue. It's great to see the Yankees and Red Sox so competitive this year, as just about every game has been a fight to the very last pitch. As the regular season gets closer and closer to concluding I only expect this rivalry to get dirtier. I know it always give me a good oppurtunity to brush up on my photoshopping skills! *evil laugh*

LETS GO RED SOX!

Day 5 - A Sad Day for Music

Well folks not much to say today, other than the remembrance of a legend.

So as some of you may or may not know, Les Paul died today.

Les Paul was basically the father of music today. He invented the solid body guitar which founded a new generation of guitars and the loud and bold sound we know of in rock today. He was 94 years old and died in his home of pneumonia.

Music is extremely important to me and it's sad to see such an important contributor go, but at least he lived a long a fulfilling life. RIP Lester William Polsfuss! May the sound of guitars rock the souls of many generations to come!

Day 4 - Unwrapping ME!

Last month we had a class called Digital Video Project, which was the 3rd and final class of our video creation classes. We were given a month long project where we had to create a documentary based on ourself. In addition we had to cover a process we went through in a previous project. The whole thing had to be under 5 minutes. It was created using Final Cut, After Effects, and contains screen captures of me working with 3Ds Max and Photoshop. Enjoy!

Unwrapping Max Avedisian from Max Avedisian on Vimeo.

Day 3 - Infected Mushrooms

Hey all, another blog coming at you. Nothing too post-worthy, but a great band none the less. Figure I would expose a badass music group to you guys, they seem to find themselves coming at my eardrum time and time again. Infected Mushroom is a psy-trance group out of Sweden currently residing in LA. They're renowned worldwide for their interesting and unique approach. Their discography is pretty extensive at this point and they've got another album under wraps. Which is great because I can't wait!

I mostly like it because it's very rhythmic and not too lyrically intensive, which is perfect when you find yourself doing long hours of work. It's just great background music.. if you check out more than one album by them you'll see what I mean... their style changes drastically from 1 album to the next, it's like hearing a different band every time, very refreshing...

This is the latest single from them titled "Smashing the Opponent" from their new album due out in September. It features Jon Davis from Korn... pretty cool considering Korn and Infected Mushroom are on pretty opposite spectrums of music. A great song though, so check it out.



That's it I guess, if you like what you hear definitely make sure you give their other stuff a listen.

Hope you guys had a good weekend, see you tommorrow!

Day 2 - Hidden Cell Phone Features

Well here we go with the everyday challenge, I came across this article that had some interesting facts on cell phones and their hidden features... check them out incase you ever find yourself in a jam!

FIRST*
Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find Yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an Emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to Establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.*

SECOND*
Have you locked your keys in the car?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys In the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot >From your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).*

Editor's Note*: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over
a cell phone!'*

THIRD*
Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys **3370#.* Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.*

FOURTH*
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following Digits on your phone: *#06#. A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. If your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

As for me, I'm just hanging out in West Palm Beach this weekend. About to get some sushi later. It's nice to get away from Orlando for a while... I've been pretty busy with projects but at least I'll have something to show you guys soon. Check back often, this challenge is ON!

The Everyday Challenge...

So since I've been such a terrible blogger these last couple months, I'm going to challenge myself to blog at least once everyday for the next month. I can't promise that the blog entries will be anything amazing but at least it'll be eye candy for a day.

This month I'm in DPH (Digital Photography) and CRB (Corporate Branding). I'm going to have alot of awesome stuff to put up for you guys to see soon, last month I had DVP (Digital Video Project) which was a documentary we had to create on ourselves and a process we went through to create a project. Look for that to be uploaded before next weekend. On top of that, I'll also be uploading some pre-pro and thought-process related stuff for my Photography class where I'll be creating an ad for Benjamin Moore. For corporate branding you'll get to check out some logos my group is creating for a golf course.

So lots of cool stuff coming up. Check back soon. I mean it this time ;)