Posts Tagged ‘research’
Vectorworks Template or Stationery Files
May 20, 2013
Justin Lange, editor at Projection Lights and Staging News invited Kevin to blog at Pro Lighting Space, Justin’s go to site for professional lighting designers, and lighting technicians. Thanks to Justin, and Pro Lighting Space, I am cross posting Kevin’s blog entries here. Vectorworks Template or Stationery Files Not to be confused with Stationary files. They don’t exist, [...]
2013 | Design Basics, Teaching, VWX Spotlight and Design | Tags: learn, lighting, Lighting Design, research, VectorWorks, writingComments (0)
A Striking Visual History of New York City
April 30, 2013
I came across an article by the Associated Press announcing the release of an amazing photo database of 870,000 photos of New York City from the mid 1800’s through the late 20th century. No one, two or twenty photographers could ever shoot a collection as vast and varied as this, but anonymous municipal workers did, [...]
2013 | Architecture, Events, From the Road, Industrial Design | Tags: adventures, Architecture, art, environment, museum, researchComments (0)
A Great Way to Learn Vectorworks
March 28, 2013
A Great Way to Learn Vectorworks This is shameless self promotion, but I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t think it would help people. Last Week, Nemetschek Vectorworks announced the publication of the second edition of my book:Entertainment Design; Scenic, Lighting and Sound, with Vectorworks Spotlight 2013. Second Edition. This volume is about 40 pages longer than [...]
2013 | Architecture, Design Basics, Teaching, VectorWorks, VWX Spotlight and Design | Tags: Architecture, design, designer, drawing, KLAD, learn, lighting, Lighting Design, research, scenic design, set design, sets, Television, Theatre, tools, TV, VectorWorks, writingComments (0)
The New York Subway 1971-73
January 16, 2013
New York’s subway system is one of the most infuriating wonders of the modern world. Even though many of the trains in the system has been modernized, often, irritations of the past are still with us. In the summer the stations can melt your face off, trains run late if at all. Forget getting a [...]
2013 | From the Road, Industrial Design | Tags: adventures, design, researchComments (0)
Jaw Dropping Design, perhaps not for the purist
January 9, 2013
Recently discovered a series of posts entitled Jaw Dropping Design. We do not, of course, agree with every opinion. Or each other, from time to time. As designers, that’s our prerogative. I kind of love this, but I often refer Hot Rods to the originals. We have done some vehicle customization, and one day we’ll [...]
2013 | Inspiration | Tags: design, Modernism, research, set designComments (0)
We’re all about Elegance, but…
November 10, 2012
Sometimes a streetscape needs to be funky and fun. Public art or set design on the street. Maybe it has something to do with national capitals, or in the case of New York City; World Capitals. I recently saw this image on the London Daily Photo Blog. Who wouldn’t want to hang around in this [...]
2012 | Architecture, Inspiration, Theatre | Tags: adventures, Architecture, design, research, set designComments (0)
Set Design Happens….
September 25, 2012
In a BBQ joint during lunch, we designed a set for a musical. We were having our initial meeting with the director, and in between getting to know each other and looking over menus, we began to discuss the show. Luckily, the restaurant provided something to draw on, and Kevin quickly took advantage. When the [...]
2012 | Events, From the Road, Humor, The Studio, The Work | Tags: adventures, design, designer, drawing, Inspiration, KLAD, Lighting Design, research, scenic design, set design, sets, TheatreComments (0)
A Beau-Arts Masterpiece for the 21st Century
August 27, 2012
When Union Station was designed by Daniel Burnham in 1907, the country was experiencing unprecedented growth in train travel. The elegant Beaux-Arts station quickly gained status as one of the busiest, most important rail stations in the world. After its busiest years during World War II, Union Station fell victim to the passage of time [...]
2012 | Architecture, From the Road, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, Architecture, elegant, environment, green, Modernism, researchComments (0)
The Black Eggs Project
August 10, 2012
Nature + Technology + Art = Amazing levitating Buddha I am in awe of all the wonderfulness in the world. From Inhabitant: Situated in a 6,000-square-foot pond at Eindhoven’s University of Technology, Vermeulen’s eggs generate solar power that is converted into a magnetic field. The magnetic field makes a Buddha figure, which is encased in a [...]
2012 | Architecture, Industrial Design, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, Architecture, elegant, environment, green, happiness, Inspiration, researchComments (0)
70′s Biker Culture and Design
May 31, 2012
I remember seeing choppers on the road when traveling in the 70′s and I recall discovering Easyriders magazine. I must not go to the right news stand, as I haven’t seen the publication in years. I’m glad it’s still around. I have a painting based on a chrome backrest I saw published. Great set design [...]
2012 | From the Road, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, design, Film, KLAD, researchComments (0)
Sneaky, Kinda Brilliant Moonshine Runners
May 16, 2012
From Boing Boing – my favorite culture surfing site, an interesting slice of Americana. And Shoes The May 27, 1922 issue of The Evening Independent carried a story about moonshiners wearing “cow shoes” to trick revenuers — rather than leaving suspicious footprints leading up to their secret stills, they’d leave innocent-looking hoofprints in the dirt and grass. [...]
2012 | Industrial Design, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, art, design, Inspiration, researchComments (0)
Art Director’s Notebook: Vintage carpenter’s tool re-imagined
May 3, 2012
Courtesy of Inhabitant, here’s a wonderfully fun little lamp made from found folding rulers. These folding rulers were once part of every carpenter’s tool kit. I have a few because I love small hand sized vintage tools. I clean them up, right down to polishing the brass fittings. The folds in the rulers allow the [...]
2012 | Art for Art's Sake, Inspiration | Tags: design, Inspiration, lighting, Lighting Design, researchComments (0)
Someone else took my Spring Break vacation!?!
April 10, 2012
The other day, I posted about Miami Modern and how my Spring Break trips to Florida with my family had helped to shape my aesthetic as a set and lighting designers, as well as a person. Well, nice weather and great minds reminiscing alike, Retronaut and Vintage Everyday both posted photographer Tom Reavis‘ great images [...]
2012 | Architecture, From the Road, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, design, KLAD, lighting, research, scenic design, set design, TheatreComments (0)
Jane by Design – Hip Fashion House? Sadly, No.
March 14, 2012
You know how much I love to critique craptastic design. Today, I’m just going to give it up JUST FOR TODAY and turn you on to Raina Cox’s blog, If the Lampshade Fits. Her critique is full of snarky goodness. here’s a SFW snippet. The show’s creator April Blair gave set decorator Richard C. Walker [...]
2012 | set design critique | Tags: design, research, set design, sets, TelevisionComments (0)
A Restaurant so visually unpleasant I Lost my Appetite…
January 23, 2012
Wow, someone paid for this? This could be good set design if the desired effect wa to cause stomachs to roll. I know mine does when I look at these images, but that kind of set design can’t be good restaurant design. This design is perfect for a short scene in a horror movie. So [...]
2012 | Architecture, Gastronauting, Restaurant Design, VectorWorks | Tags: adventures, color, design, research, set designComments (1)
Set Designer’s Notebook: UnBeige
November 29, 2011
Client: I like it, but um, I think it needs to be more neutral. What do you think? Me: I wouldn’t show you something I didn’t like, and I really think this color palette enhances the product shot. Client: Its too much. Its distracting. Make it all white. And so it goes sometimes in the [...]
2011 | Art for Art's Sake, Design Basics, Inspiration | Tags: art, color, colour, design, Graphic Design, Modernism, Path: p » a » img.aligncenter size-full wp-image-2799 Word count: 187 Draft saved at 1:49:55 pm., researchComments (1)
Coeur d’Alene doesn’t sound like a Native American name
November 9, 2011
But then, this tribe was named by French-Canadians and the French stuck. Good idea, there is a very French class and elegance to the Tribe’s Resort Expansion. There are elements that are very dramatic and theatrical. The contrasting colors in the image at left suggests a sweeping set deign and collaboration with a lighting designer. [...]
2011 | Architecture, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, research, set design, Theatre, VectorWorksComments (0)
I really want to love this, but…
October 12, 2011
Here’s a chandelier designed by Thomas Feichtner, featured at Dezeen Platform. It is a teardrop crystal suspended from a black bent tube. The tube houses an LED that points up towards the crystal. When I first glanced at this, my eye went directly to the chunky black tube. No, No, No, the focal point should [...]
2011 | Industrial Design, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, design, designer, lighting, Lighting Design, researchComments (1)
KLAD Moment of Zen
September 25, 2011
Charging through the Saturday crowds in Chinatown and Soho, to pick up supplies at Pearl Paint while waiting for an order to be cut at Canal Plastics, I’m reminded yet again why there’s no place else I’d rather be. I didn’t bring my camera, but since I am on my phone constantly, I snapped this tiny [...]
2011 | Architecture, Art for Art's Sake, From the Road, Humor, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, Architecture, art, color, design, Inspiration, paint, researchComments (3)
Flying into the Future through a Golden Age Doorway
September 12, 2011
As a newly minted salesperson, I flew the Pan Am shuttle to Boston a million times. Ticket book in hand, I’d run through the terminal getting to the gate just in time to jump on the plane. Focused on my client meetings, and trying not to draw the ire of my relentless sales manager, I [...]
2011 | Architecture, From the Road, Industrial Design | Tags: adventures, Architecture, art, design, elegant, environment, Inspiration, researchComments (0)
Set Designers Should Be Preservationists
September 1, 2011
There, I said it. Flame away haters of building huggers, I have an asbestos suit that I throw on when I get riled up and write about Historic Preservation. Why should set designers, or most designers be preservationists? An important reason is that we rely on a combination of many different tools and techniques to [...]
2011 | Architecture, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, art, design, environment, Inspiration, Modernism, preservation, research, set designComments (0)
Meet Me at the Catalina
August 16, 2011
As set designers, KLAD usually works in a studio. Every once in awhile I get to Art Direct a shoot on location. The location is the result of the eye and experience of a Location Scout. I’ve always thought location scouting would be an interesting thing to get into, I’ve always harbored a romantic vision [...]
2011 | Architecture, From the Road, Inspiration | Tags: adventures, Architecture, color, design, researchComments (0)
Set Design Research – Miami to Mexico to the Jersey Shore
April 19, 2011
Always on the lookout for set design inspiration and not being impressed with Spring so far, I’ve been poking around the internet hoping to find a ray of sustained sunshine to brighten things up a bit. We’re designing sets for a client who wants to see shapes and colors that evoke a Miami tropical vibe, [...]
2011 | Architecture, Inspiration, The Work | Tags: Architecture, art, color, design, elegant, environment, Inspiration, Modernism, research, set designComments (0)
Set Design Inspiration: Modernism Week
February 22, 2011
It’s Modernism Week in Palm Springs, CA! If, like us hard working set designers here at KLAD, you couldn’t get out to CA this year, I’ve added some links to Modernism Week, and the spectacular Dinah Shore house designed by the super talented Modernist Architect, Donald Wexler. I’ll be posting nuggets of information as I [...]
2011 | Architecture, Events, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, art, design, designer, elegant, environment, Inspiration, Modernism, researchComments (0)
Want this door…
February 14, 2011
…and pretty much everything it is attached to as well. Olson Kundig Architects created the Chicken Point Cabin as a lakeside shelter in the woods. The cool little cabin features a 30ft x 20ft garage dooresque window that opens to the wilds of Idaho. The architects used unfinished and low maintenance materials like,concrete block, steel, [...]
2011 | Architecture, From the Road, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, design, Modernism, research, set designComments (0)
Are the 70′s The Decade that Taste Forgot?
February 7, 2011
If you are of a certain age and from the NorthEast United States, that’s an iconic image. They were everywhere, everywhere where there was a strip mall parking lot anyway. Until the one-hour photo machines came along, anyway. Those have now seemed to go the way of the dinosaur in the wake of digital photography. [...]
2011 | Architecture, Inspiration | Tags: Architecture, design, research, set designComments (0)
A Modernist Set Designer’s relief from the snow and ice…
January 18, 2011
It is cold here in the New York City area. It snowed last night and the snow is covered now with a day’s worth of freezing rain. Given those facts and two little, front wheel drive German sports cars. escape must come from the imagination. Sure the fire in the design studio is nice, but [...]
2011 | Industrial Design, Inspiration | Tags: design, Modernism, research, set design, TelevisionComments (3)
From The Art Director’s File: Cool Set Dressing
January 6, 2011
I’m always on the look out for set dressing that will, someday, speak to a character or scene. I have files full of all kinds of dressing – furniture, rugs, pillows, drapes, knick-knacks, books, statues, trophies, sports equipment, kitchen and dining, etc. As soon as I saw this clock, it went right into my file. [...]
2011 | Inspiration, Television, The Work | Tags: art, color, design, green, Inspiration, research, set designComments (0)
Scotch Review: Tomatin
October 27, 2010
In the Spring, a young man’s mind turns to love. It is Fall now in the Northern Hemisphere and this young man is thinking about the warming effects of a proper drink. There were few things that my university design professors agreed upon. One of those things would be the statement “You will not be [...]
2010 | Gastronauting | Tags: cocktails, drinks, Happy Hour, research, set designComments (1)
I’m designing costumes – I need fewer actors and more money!
October 12, 2010
Fear not challenged designer, its TDF to the rescue! As I flipped through Kevin’s USA 829 newsletter – I’m not sure if its some kind of double secret members only publication, so maybe you shouldn’t be reading this – I just don’t know, we’ll find out sooner or later. In a world were it seems [...]
2010 | Humor, Inspiration, Theatre | Tags: adventures, color, colour, design, happiness, Inspiration, KLAD, researchComments (0)
100 Faces
October 6, 2010
Artist, or paintaholic (as she calls herself), Karin Jurick of the Atlanta area has set about to paint 100 portraits. One a day. An ambitious and worthy goal. I do try to draw everyday, but to paint, set a public goal and then blog about it, that takes dedication and courage. As I write this, [...]
2010 | Art for Art's Sake, Inspiration | Tags: art, drawing, researchComments (0)
Now that’s a Cat!
October 5, 2010
I don’t know much about water-dynamics, but continuing on yesterday’s theme, this thing looks a lot faster than Das Hausboot. It also looks like a water skiing spider. A really fast water skiing spider. But that’s a different take. Hmmm, I guess it is fast…The brainchild of French yachtsman Alain Thébault, L’Hydroptère is the fastest [...]
2010 | Industrial Design, Inspiration | Tags: design, research, set designComments (0)
Propaganda is Storytelling
September 17, 2010
Although the Story is usually fiction masquerading as fact. I am not convinced that Hitler’s Germany was as free as the poster proclaims, so it is included to illustrate my point about fictional truths. A few words plus a powerful image and you have a propaganda poster. Or a theatre advertisement. I’ve always loved poster [...]
2010 | Inspiration | Tags: art, design, drawing, research, set designComments (0)
Heaven on Earth is a vibrant urban area.
September 7, 2010
We live and work in an architect designed mid-century modern home just outside of Manhattan, where we often weekend. While there is something to be said for our established suburban neighborhood, exciting is not one of those somethings. We thrive on an overload of sensory input. We are always on the lookout for new things [...]
2010 | From the Road | Tags: Architecture, Modernism, research, scenic design, set designComments (6)
UltraModern Roadside Architecture
August 27, 2010
In the 1950’s, the future was as bright as the SoCal sun. We were living in a post war prosperity, the dawn of the space age and tremendous advances in technology fueled our imaginations of what tomorrow would bring. Designers, architects and engineers boldly explored new materials and processes and were released from the constraints [...]
