Music by Ludwig Lim.

A photo from the video:

Some “behind the scene” photos:

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There’s 2 types of reverse ring. One is lens to body, the other is lens to lens. I’m using the lens to body reverse lens.

Know your lens’ diameter, and get the right ring size for it. I bought the 52mm diameter ring to use with my 50mm f/1.8 and 38-76mm f/4.5-5.6 lens. It’s better to use some old lens or cheaper lens because the other side of the lens will be exposed to dust and stuffs, and you don’t have a filter for that. (Or you can DIY your own filter for the reverse side of the lens… Hmm… I might try that.)

Search on eBay for reverse ring.

Here are some shots I took using the reverse ring, with my 38-76mm lens and Canon 400D.

It’s best to shoot in bright daylight. Sometimes if it’s too dark, I use my camera’s built-in flash to light up the subject.

When using the reverse ring, it’s hard to focus on the subject. Sometimes I have to use a tripod to avoid camera shake.

View larger images and other photos shot using reverse ring on Facebook or Flickr.

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Shooting butterflies was not easy. Can’t get too close to them, and I have to snap fast. I’m glad that there’s enough sunlight throughout the day.

Oh, and at the orchid and hibiscus garden, I was afraid of bees or wasp that might sting me.

Click on images for larger view.

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In conjunction with ICOGRADA’s World Graphics Day, wREGA and School of Design at KBU International College organized a student project, an exhibition and a designers forum, where professional designers, design educators and design students will have an exchange on value of design.

The theme is “The Value of Design”, and there were 5 speakers of different professions, graphic designers, jewelry designers, educators and interior designers speaking in the forum which was held on 24 April at KBU International College.

I’ve jot down some notes during the forum, they’re not complete, but I’ll just share them with you what ever I have in my notebook.

What is the value of design & why is it important?
Design is not just professional level, but integrated level. We don’t design just for a product / project, we should also look at it from the client’s point, and the consumer / audience’s views, and work with others from different professional practice.
Design is a process, it’s not just about the final work or product, the process builds up the value of the design.

People are not gonna buy design that don’t function / bad. The value is also about how well we can read the client. Understand the client’s problem / needs, and not just designing for our own pleasure. We need to have a broad knowledge, learn about the happenings around the world, read more, and not just about art and design materials in order to understand the client’s point of view.

Design is not just about money. It should be more holistic, sustainability, and able to improve life. It’s not about monetary value, but about client’s satisfaction.

Is there a tangible value of design?
The value of gold can be weighed, but what about the value of design? We can’t weight design the same way we weight gold. Some people weigh the value of design by money. Design is not just business, it’s both art & business. Designs that can make an impact and stay in people’s mind are worth millions.

Who do you think should take up the responsibility of uplifting the value of Malaysia design?
All of us! Including students.
Students of Malaysia tend to worship the designers/designs of the western world. Students should come out with an aesthetic value of identity.

Speakers:
Arthur Liaw (Lecturer at KBU),
Asri Ahmad (Associate Director of Mulia Events),
William Harald-Wong (Principle and Design Director of William Harald-Wong & Associates),
Muhammad Faizal (lecturer at the Interior Architecture Department, in UiTM Perak),
Wendy Lor (Jewelry Designer)

Moderator:
Zachary Ong (ThinkLab)

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He contacted me and asked if I want to work with him on a small web design work. I was freaking excited about it! I’ve never been into any design agency / studios, now I can have a look inside and learn from them.

I went to his office, he showed me some of the work his company has done, after that we had a brief on the website we’re going to do. I thought I was gonna jump right to designing it in PhotoShop, but Michael introduced me to the “Mood board”. Something we create first and show to client before we start designing. (Click here to learn more about mood board.) I have to look for images that brings out the mood of the website, the client’s business. After creating the mood board and showing the client, we start doing the layout in PhotoShop, slice it, HTML and CSS it.

Other than learning the process of how they create websites, I also learned about some design business stuffs. Like how to charge my fees, how to handle some clients, etc.

I also learned that Corbis has damn expensive stock photos. xD

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First I typed out my name:

Create outlines and extend some parts of the words:

I noticed that Futura’s N has some sharp edges, and A is sharp to the top, so I cut off some corners to make that sharp pointy feel.

Added some gradient to create the shadows:

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Static & Motion Typography

First he talks about static and motion typography.

Static typography are those on magazines, books, newspapers, websites, etc…

Motion typography like those flash advertisements on websites, motion type, kinetic typography, opening/end credits in movies, etc…

Early Typography on Screen

One of the earliest digital fonts to appear on screen was Digi Grotesk S, designed for Dr.-Ing. Rudolf Hell’s cathode-ray tube typesetting machine. That font was a copy of a popular font during that time.

Then came personal computers. Apple’s Lisa was one of the earliest personal computers with graphic user interface. Since then, designers doesn’t have to go thru the typographers or printers to do their layout design. They can just do it on the computer.

Since the start of computers and internet, people start to read on screen more than reading on paper. We read online, surfing the web, we check mails, Facebook, Twitter, read blogs, WikiPedia, check the stock market, and so on, all on the computer. And technology these day has allow us to even do all the above on our mobile phones. Everything on screen.

Some of you might say that reading on screen is tiring to the eyes, but they’ve developed a device with matt screen, so that it’ll be more like reading on paper surface. Amazon’s Kindle is a device that allows us to read ebooks everywhere.

Rumors

It is rumored that Apple might be coming out with a device to read eBooks, just like Amazon’s Kindle. Read more about it here.

The Designer’s Job

We, as the designer, has to start designing for both medium, on paper and on screen. Adobe’s InDesign CS4 has a feature where we can create links on the document, and just export them as .swf files, so that we can navigate around the book.

Since .swf files allows us to add animated objects to it, and interact with the file, future designers can design and animate their visuals on their ebook. This will be like the pictures on the newspaper in the Harry Potter movies.

Here’s a Classic Rock magazine cover that features Pink Floyd, in 3D.

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Watching 2 great artist work together is really mind blowing!

Art by Blu:

http://www.blublu.org/

Art by David Ellis:

http://davidellis.org/

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Typography, love it or hate it!

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