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September 17, 2012 - Comments Off on Más Mexico

Más Mexico

Sorry for the silent week but I was on vacation in Mexico with my sister. It was my first vacation since starting work here at the Mechanism. My first vacation in my real life. And even though it was on the short side in comparison to some of my other trips, those new stakes made it one of the best trips of my life. There are many ways to travel but I prefer to try and throw myself into the culture, both local and backpacker alike. Doing so, every person you meet and thing you do becomes richer. Each experience, each personality, slowly changes who you are as a person. It is an additive and subtractive process that is wholly inspirational.

Taking a dip in on the perfect beaches of Isla Mujeres.

We live in a blessed age where jetting around the world is a affordable possibility for most people. Such traveling gives you an appreciation for other peoples cultural differences and similarities. There's something very special about sharing a moment with someone with whom you must rely on your common humanity for communication via a smile, a gaze. Before such travel reached the masses however, people had to use the only tool available to them to try and grasp the greater world: mail. Molly Rausch's series of stamp paintings are a pen pal's dream come true, opening up the small window of the stamp into a full blown world.

There are many other ways to travel over shorter distances such as by car. We typically cross many bridges when abroad, some over water, others over presumptions. One of the most famous bridges in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge, recently celebrated its 75th anniversary and to commemorate the event Goodby Silverstein & Partners created a fun tribute project called Band of Bridges with the help of Google Maps and Famous Interactive. In it, users can add any satellite image of a bridge to a long continuous chain. The slick design uses elements of the Golden Gate while the slick design melds form and function seamlessly.

There are many things we expect to find abroad including good food and souvenirs. But something quite unique and even more exquisite can occasionally be found. Story Corps has created a series of heart-felt animations in classic cartoon style about true stories, narrated by those involved. In this episode, two people separated by an ocean find each other by accident only to fall in love. The idea of such a long-distance relationship can be daunting but their commitment to each other is so romantic one feels that anything is possible, especially in our modern connected age.

The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin from our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism
Tags: art, backpacker, mexico, Molly Rausch, stamp paintings

August 20, 2012 - Comments Off on Magical Metro

Magical Metro

It was inevitable. I ride it every day and every night. It's lines are my city's arteries, it's trains the blood. Wherever one exists, metro systems are an essential part of their city and the people who live there. This is reflected in their myriad names: Metro, L, Underground, Subway and many more. But in every case, the reliable high speed transit offered by subway systems is part of what makes the bustle of modern life possible. What fascinates me most about metro systems is not only the unique character of each city's, but also the qualities of each line therein. Whether it's hipsters on the G train or gangsters on the A, each car is a unique environment every time. Its often the rule that I fall in love at least once per ride, only to have my heart broken at the next stop. This strange enclosed space is equal parts bus and elevator. Strange and intimate. Such a unique environment must be this week's inspiration.

I find my time in the subway to be very important. If it weren't for that hour under ground every day I wouldn't read or draw half as much as I do. Occasionally I'll even draw my fellow passengers if I feel I can be discrete enough. We are all aware of the subtle rules that govern subway behavior, as strange as they may be. Clearly collecting discraded metrocards does not unnerve artist Nina Boesch as illustrated in her collages depicting classic New York sights and people--made of chopped up metrocards.

While many metros cater to all crowds, modern extensions have begun to specialize in purpose. The Gatwick express is a quick way for Londoners to get to Gatwick airpot. Such trains are particularly curious since their passengers tend to be as specialized as the train itself. Anxious businessmen sit across from backpackers in a peculiar societal collage. This recent site aims to provide riders with a 30 minute track inspired by the journey to Gatwick facilitated by the new line. The site is a lovely short story artistically illustrating the trains journey.

Subways are always changing. Whether its the latest extension, closure, opening or renovation. Through time, few systems have seen as much change as New York City. What was once a dangerous and scarily beautiful place has now become a lifeline for tourists and commuters alike. As graffiti has given way to advertisement, one simultaneously yearns for that wondrous grimy past while cherishing the comforts of the aseptic and commercialized present. However through it all, art has always been a part of the NYC subway. From the beautiful old stops to the modern art adorning others. These dark tunnels beneath the city will always be a bright spot for me.

The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin from our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism
Tags: art, metro, metrocards, new york, nina boesch, nyc, train

August 13, 2012 - Comments Off on Missed Modicum

Missed Modicum

There are many things that pass us by unnoticed. And while technology has greatly improved our ability to suss out the forgotten or unknown, the more we consume the more we miss, summarize and abbreviate. Science tells us that everything we experience, whether consciously or not, can and often does have an effect on us. Such subliminal stimuli are probably as old as language itself. Every time we talk to one another, we are in a way imprinting an idea on our listeners. If there is a conscious intention to keep part of that impact a secret as there often is, it becomes subliminal. We are constantly manipulating and being manipulated by ideas from people, governments and religions. It is this communication of ideas that plants the seeds of inspiration, the most fruitful of which we are often never aware.

We often, and perhaps mistakenly, associate the subliminal with the noisy and busy. We have a bias which assumes that the more junk there is, the more likely part of that junk is meant to stealthily lodge itself in our brain. Yet there is something magical about a message arising from such noise. Danny O'Connor does just this with his pieces that border on the abstract. While the figures in his pieces are clear and anything but hidden, one begins to wonder what else may be concealed between the lines.

Subliminal messages have found new life on the web. I suppose the dreaded pop-up was created with the intention of manipulating users into buying a product by bombarding them with ad windows they'd have to view and close. Yet not all has been for ill. The portfolio site for young interaction designer Pierre Georges teems with information. Interaction design is the very definition of subliminal: done correctly it should never be noticed by the user though it unarguably leaves an impact. Pierre's site, and especially his portfolio, is a wonderful example of intuitive subliminal interaction.

Hidden messages are probably most famously found in film. The idea of hidden frames has been popularized by films such as Fight Club. Though now largely illegal, there are still occasional examples that seem to push the line by attempting to associate ideas by showing them together in film. Video artists such as Nam June Paik used a barrage of frames to create texture, motion and emotion. Such pieces often feel like there's many subliminal elements lurking behind them. The following video for Brooklyn band MS MR echoes Paik's work with its montage of pop culture clips edited to the music. I love the way the rough cuts imitate the stream of consciousness and catchy chorus: "welcome to the inner workings of my mind."

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism
Tags: art, danny oconnor, ms mr, nam june piak, sketching

July 16, 2012 - Comments Off on Millimeters of Metropolis

Millimeters of Metropolis

I'll be the first to admit it: I have a problem--a media problem. It might be just my generation but I'm beginning to think it's really all of us. We've contracted what I call "screen-lookitis" and I suffer from a particularly acute case. I'll be with friends in a bar having a merry old time, but put a screen in the corner of the room and I can't help but look every few minutes or seconds even! Perhaps being raised in a world where anything and everything of worth appears in glowing pixels at some point or another has conditioned me to this extreme behavior. But even looking back to the birth of the moving image we see a similar devotion in those Vaudevillian days. Film is an extremely efficient and engaging communication tool and as such it has completely altered the human experience. As a confessed media junky, I can easily say it very much inspires.

Of course all forms of media inspire us. Our ability to communicate and interpret ideas is what makes human so unique after all. But by simulating our real world experience in the lit rectangle of the screen, movies, television and now the web manage to hijack our senses completely and unlike anything before. The amount of television we now consume is quite startling at an average of 4 hours a day in the US. But the works of people like César Moreno tap the brakes on this depressing train of thought. His strong illustrative style echoes a comic book aesthetic while his downplayed colors and extreme contortions of scale and perspective serve to make his work truly unique. The subjects often involve film stars and characters alike, below are Heisenberg from Breaking Bad (which just returned this past Sunday!) and one of the most famous scenes in modern cinema from Pulp Fiction.

The interplay of film and the web was obvious at first glance to many. Web video has recently taken off on services like Youtube, Hulu, and Vimeo. But like so much else in our glorious digital revolution, progress has been slowed and stymied by entrenched parties. While some are coming around, many more remain obstinate in the course of progress. But that just leaves more opportunities for the small guys to swoop in and take over as the site for Media Arts Lawyers can attest. A small law practice, MAL provides legal support for small burgeoning artists in all forms of media and distribution. Their long horizontal site calls to mind film strips with its perforated menu design. The monochromatic palette mixed with splashes of red is like the darkrooms of old while slick design and interface rule all. Though the site doesn't work well on small screens it does work on mobile devices. However the static header fills the entire screen making it unclear that the content below has changed.

One often overlook downside of film is how invisible it makes the artistic process. Large amounts of work are required to bring any artistic vision to life, especially in film. If a film maker has done a good job of course, all this work should be invisible to the viewer. And no crew member is more overlooked than the Foley artist; the men and women who add all those subtle sounds that don't get picked up while recording but are vital to giving actions a sense of weight and reality.

Please tune in later this week for our podcast on the subject of digital media and privacy in the modern age. Till then, happy watching.

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism
Tags: art, cameras, césar moreno

June 25, 2012 - Comments Off on Mouths of Marrow

Mouths of Marrow

Fitness Tips To Help You See Impressive Results

MARCH 23, 2020

Being fit has many physical and mental benefits for your health. However, many people may not understand what it fully requires to fully reach their goals. Follow these 5 fitness tips to help you see impressive results. Read more about profit singularity ultra edition.

1. Stay Consistent

Consistency will lead you on the road to success the quickest. It doesn’t matter what your goals are. If you have consistency and develop a routine that you know that you can rely on, it will lead to you reaching your goals quicker.

For example, if you want to lose weight, you should be consistent in your cardio exercise regimen. This consistency cannot just stop at your physical exercise, though. This consistency has to extend into another important part of your routine, which is your diet.

2. Watch Your Diet

Maintain a good diet to reach your fitness goals.

Many people only focus on the gym and exercise component of attaining fitness goals. As mentioned before, your diet is one of the most important parts of your fitness regimen, but having a great diet, regardless of your fitness goals, will impact whether or not you are successful in your goals as much or more than actual exercise. This is because your body will reflect what you eat and your diet can either progress your goals further or set you back.

It may be helpful for you to keep a log of what you eat and determine which foods you need to eliminate and which foods you need to add. In addition, you also want to be mindful of when you are eating, because it can also affect your performance in the gym.

For those who are bodybuilding or looking to build muscle, it’s recommended to incorporate some kind of carbohydrates before a workout session, and then have a protein-heavy meal once you are finished to speed up the recovery process. Protein shakes are a popular commodity in this regard. However, different protein powders can have different vitamins, minerals, and ingredients that can be more effective for men or women.

Ladies can check out a variety of protein powders to see what’s available for their needs. There tend to be more protein powders available for men that already have the extra minerals and vitamins included to help them get gains. So when guys are searching for the best protein powder, it’s better to decide if they’re trying to get lean or gain weight.

3. Have Realistic Expectations

Having the right mindset is imperative to achieve the fitness goals of any kind, and it starts by having realistic expectations. If you don’t like what you see in the mirror, then you have to work hard to see a change. However, if you are looking to shed some pounds and reduce your waistline, you can’t expect it to be done within a week.

Realistic expectations directly correlate with being consistent. Gaining weight means you will need to take the time to increase the amount of food in your diet and the number of weight-bearing activities that you engage in.

Losing weight will take a gradual amount of time with you engaging in vigorous cardio and making healthy choices. Your body cannot adapt to the changes that you plan to make overnight.

Published by: benchirlin in The Internal Mechanism
Tags: anatomy, art, fernando vincente

June 4, 2012 - Comments Off on Megapixels of Metroid

Megapixels of Metroid

Today we are surrounded by grids. Our homes are laid out in grids as are our city streets. As technology has taken over our lives, they have even made a successful invasion of every aspect of our personal lives in the form of spreadsheets. Being spatial animals, regimented columns and rows are as intuitive to us as chewing and swallowing. The irony is that the same technology that helped solidify this victory sees in only one-dimension; a string of ones and zeros. The only reason computers appear to prefer grids is because it facilitates communication with their monkey overlords. A compromise, if you will, between our third and their one-dimensional outlook.

Many artists recognize the power of the grid, incorporating it directly into their artwork (see the entire Cubist and Pointillist movements). Modern artists have been experimenting with more modern, technological forms, of matrices in works both digital and classical since the creation of digital media. Yet works like those of Brett Freund remind us where we can find such geometry most readily though it is often the last place to come to mind: nature (or more specifically, crystals).

As a web designer, grids become second nature. They serve as indispensable methods for everything from storing data to laying out designs. Yet the website for Citytime, a retail and distribution company, embraces the values of squares in an intimate way while recalling pixel art. Besides the gorgeous design, the captivating and original hover states combine with fluid animations to create a unique effect for what is ostensibly a simple portfolio. Best of all, the layout leads intuitively to a brilliant mobile adaptive version (narrow your browser window!).

I guess my point is grids can be found everywhere and in everything if just look hard enough. All things are made of components which are made of smaller pieces and so on and so forth. Nothing illustrates this more vividly than the following music video for the band, appropriately named, Blockhead.

The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin during our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.

Published by: benchirlin in The Design Mechanism
Tags: art, classical, digital, grid, structure

May 7, 2012 - Comments Off on Marvel to Mesopotamia

Marvel to Mesopotamia

In honor of the Avengers coming out this past weekend, I thought it was time we celebrate the inspirational power of the super-human, so idolized and adored by pop culture. Superheroes are nothing new. In fact one could say they're some of the oldest detritus of human culture. The idea of an übermensch can be seen going back to one of the most ancient of epics: Gilgamesh. His power? Super strength. His weakness? Friends. Gilgamesh (not the most stunning of reads I must confess) could easily be spun as a modern paperback lark where Gilagmesh and his sidekick Enkidu go on a series of harrowing adventures. When we read these stories of super powered men and women, whether now in modern metropolises or cities of old, they teach us valuable lessons showing how even heroes can falter.

But another part of the magic of superheroes is that they just don't seem to die. I don't mean the characters themselves but what they stand for. As with Gilgamesh, it's easy to draw comparisons from many of our favorite modern heroes to their ancient counterparts (Superman and Hercules, Flash and Ares, etc). This fact hints at the underlying truth that these fictional heroes strike at something core to our cultural identity as human beings and it's artists like Kris Anka who help enable this perpetual cycle of mythology.

I've never been a huge capes and cowls fan. Instead I often reach for the more independent or atypical graphic novel. A large part of that is I find the stories, and more so the art, of those classic Marvel/DC series to be somewhat trite. But Anka breathes a fresh modern style into his tributes while maintaining their characters' essence making me yearn to read...though he doesn't seem to have done any actual books, just fan art. Yet his animation skills leave little question as to his ability.

Of course part of what makes superheroes so interesting is simply the fact that they are indeed super, or in the words of one German philosopher: über. Über Content seems to understand this power as embodied in their striking website. Fellow Youtube junkies may recognize team member Charlie Todd as founder of Improv Everywhere here in our very own NYC.

Beyond the crisp tight design of the site, Über Content does its umlaut proud with some wonderful hover states and some amazing screen adaptability which, at a glance, looks like a customized Get Skeleton layout (the new hotness around the office). I especially like how the site keeps the team member images at the top in an even grid with filler blue circles when necessary.

Yet for all the truly amazing heroes, there are also the ones that just can't quite live up to the name. Most heroes overcome this adversity to become truly super, something about great power, great responsibility yadda yadda etc etc. However, as this cute French short shows, sometimes even such happy endings might not be all their cracked up to be.

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism
Tags: art, illustration, kris anka, mythology

April 30, 2012 - Comments Off on Mandalas and Mats

Mandalas and Mats

Patterns are the fuel of the human mind. Our pattern recognition ability is a large part of what us makes such smart creatures and remains our most defining trait in the battle for/against artificial intelligence. As such it is only sensible that pattern be one of the core aspects of art, and therefore inspiration, to us all.

David Stephenson relies on the power of patterns to create truly marvelous photography in his projects Vaults and Domes. Classical architecture is obsessed with symmetry, pattern, and texture all of which the eye finds very pleasing. Stephenson manages to create loving odes of our forbears' passion with a straight-on modern twist. Meanwhile, his other works find beauty in the chaos of nature and organization of modern man.

Of course such intricacy has recently fallen out of fashion in favor of minimalism and simplicity, spearheaded by modern art movements. This aesthetic has now seeped into the commercial sector as well with the design ethos of companies such as Apple. The visual communication agency VOID uses this elegant block and color approach quite wonderfully. The site's stunning color palette is emphasized by the use of square, grid and linear patterns as well as a nicely animated scroll from section to section which grids out the site even further: patterns within patterns. Impress people and transform your place into a stylish and unforgettable space with muraledesign they offers wall murals and wallpapers.

Lastly, the inspiration for this inspirational post was the following video. Though short, it absolutely mesmerizes the viewer. An intro video for the TEDxSummit, the dancers from the Icouldneverbeadancer studio performed captivating choreography on colored mats shot through a giant kaleidoscope. The music of Yasmine Hamdan helps create an end result that is truly stunning. Enjoy and stay inspired.

Published by: benchirlin in The Design Mechanism
Tags: art, design, patterns, theory

April 23, 2012 - Comments Off on Mario and Multiplayer

Mario and Multiplayer

Vindication. At least that's what I was thinking while visiting the new Art of Video Games exhibit at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. this weekend. It was a small exhibit true; just a handful of interviews with video game legends, some concept art, five playable game apps that pay real money and a room with around two dozen video stations each devoted to a different platform over the past three decades. Yet it's mere existence will stir the heart of any gamer. For while some classics like Myst and Monkey Island sat desolate restricted to trackball and three minute playtime, the crowd thrived around Flower and throughout the exhibit in general. It was inspiring.

The question of course is are video games art? Besides perhaps a handful of indie titles, games exist as products first and foremost. And while company's like Tim Schaffer's Double Fine or thatgamecompany continue to push the artistic merits of games, its still a challenge to find an example of something that is both game and art while not being some strange interactive experiment. The crowd at the exhibit further had me questioning if games were art. After all, it's not often you see such a large and diverse crowd at the Portrait Gallery. And on top of that, the personal reactions we have make them like no other form of "art" out there. When I saw the Mona Lisa, my first thought wasn't "Oh! I remember looking at this painting every day after school as a kid!" yet I heard such sentiments throughout my time at the exhibit. Many questions, some of which are common casino question, such as how was the game inspired, are asked when various video games are related with art, particularly in online casino games. Is it possible for me to win? However, the fact that it is entertaining is sufficient.

What is unquestionable however is the number of artists now involved in the games industry. Yoji Shinkawa's art has been an inspiration to me since I first played Metal Gear Solid on my cousin's PC at a young age. His art combines the beauty of Japanese prints and ink wash with an undeniably modern, near electric, flavor.

Sadly Shinkawa seems to have next to no web presence so I have no comprehensive portfolio to send you to. However from the gallery above, extracted from the series' art books, you can see his outstanding talent. Part of what makes his works so attractive to the eye is how personal an experience they appear to be. Their smoky nature creates an illusion of impermanence; if we look away for even a second, the image may no longer be there, like a mirage in the mist.

There exists an extremely strong relationship between video game and web design being the two most important and interactive mediums of our age, possibly our history. The only difference being that the former is a vector for entertainment while the latter is one for information. However both together helped establish the interactive metaphors we now all take for granted: menus, buttons, navigation, etc. The two mediums continue to inform one another's evolution even as they begin to merge via the gamification of everything web (see "badges") and the networking of everything game (see "massively multiplayer online games").

While some sites embrace this relationship in a direct, semi-ironic way, others simply exceed at ingraining the joyful nature of games in their very fabric. The site for SpellTower, an interesting iOS game which just saw a huge swell in sales thanks to an intelligent social marketing push, is a fun romp through minimalist web design at its best.

I love the sites simple long form layout and bright colors. The fun animations that play out as you scroll as well as the news banner give the otherwise static page a sense of life and connectedness.

Of course the medium most affected by video games is video itself. And while there are plenty of amazing cinematics done for every major video game release, these are really just animations set in their respective game's universe and have little to do with games itself beyond said shared setting. However 8BITS is a short animation that succeeds in celebrating the complete history of gaming while putting a twist on the classic damsel-in-distress scenario so many games rely on. 1UP.

Published by: benchirlin in The Design Mechanism, The Thinking Mechanism
Tags: art, gaming, mario, social marketing

January 9, 2012 - Comments Off on Mesmerizing and Mystical

Mesmerizing and Mystical

Very quick morning meeting today so I took a bunch of old sketches and tried to collage them together though somewhat unsuccessfully I feel. Not enough time to really bring them together into a cohesive piece but there's a seed of something in there at least.

The beautiful photography of Don Hong-Oai on the other hand manages to do much more. The border between photography and traditional Chinese painting blurs to the point of nonexistence in his gorgeous photography. I've always been a big fan of block prints and traditional Asian painting such as ukiyo-e and sumi-e in Japan. The strength of such pieces' elegant and beautiful compositions with subtle color is the ultimate example of creating using the minimal number of elements for maximum effect, the greatest challenge in any discipline of creation.

As much as I love working in web, its sad to see a lot of sites repeat the same style and interactive elements. When I see yet another site dependent on rounded corners, tabs, folded headers or any of the other "trending" web elements I may just hit the back button immediately. So it's nice to see a site like Kinetic Energy's, a creative agency from Singapore. The Victorian-era circus pamphlet style is certainly unique. However the same can't be said for the animated scroll events though they have a few clever ones (beware this sight has sound by default and its quite...unique). Sadly, as with many sites of this ilk, the disjointed copy and font use make it hard to get a feel for what the site's actually about. However from a visual level, it is is truly fascinating.

As always, video was the hardest selection for this week. Should I try to make you laugh? Maybe I should make an effort to inspire? Or maybe just give you something to sing along with? However at the end of the day this little gem that I've seen passed along by a variety of friends takes the cake, especially since I'm planning on going to said event this year with my sister.

The short made me realize that Burning Man is, at its core, a Dr. Seuss book come to life for adults; a place where individuality rules over all and the surreal imagination of participants takes living form in an isolated desert, if only for a week. Hope to see you all there!

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism
Tags: art, Don Hong-Oai, photography

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