Digital Media, 39°N, -105°W

Every breath is a step in time, as we breathe our memories blur and present becomes the past. It is our breath that drives us to capture moments, our breath reminds us of this ever present motion that we attempt to fight by holding onto frames of time. It is also breath that can allow for deep reflection, by paying attention to our breath our memories can come back into focus — we can gain some control over time.

39°N, -105°W attempts to use breath as a lens to explore the past. Each image in this piece is composed by averaging the images taken during a specific trip into the backcountry. These composites represent imagery more akin to memory — faint and ghostly representations of color, texture, & figure. As you watch these composites breath peels through them and reveals the images that make the composition. It is breath that allows for these moments to come back into focus as it was breath that directed the capture of them.

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Interactive Device Design, Hidden Communications

Hidden Communications is a project developed during a four-week instensive program called School of Ma . This project explores the ways in which objects can contain embedded forms of communication. Playing with the concept of non-verbal and generational communication, Hidden Communications aims to unearth the ways in which objects can affect our behavior and actions through their own behaviors.

Two pieces were made for this project, the first entitled Growing Trash . This piece takes the form of a trash can that grows taller whenever it is close to being full. The trash can promotes laziness in its user by adding space when it would otherwise be time to take the trash out. The second piece entitled Unread Cats takes the form of a chrome extension that populates your gmail with cat videos based on the amount of unread emails you have. It also instills a laziness in its user by encouraging him/her to not read their emails and watch cat videos instead.

Watch Growing Trash & Unread Cats.

To download the chrome extension click here.

Interactive Website, Peeling Away Rectangles

Peeling Away Rectangles was inspired by the book Interaction of Color by Josef Albers. This book exposes the reader to perceptual changes in colors triggered by their interactions. For example, identical colors can be perceived as different if they are place on top of colors with different levels of brightness.

Peeling Away Rectangles aims to let users explore this interaction in a fun and easy to use manner. As rectangles are added and layered in different ways the image takes a new form. The UI is stripped down as to force the user to focus on the key interaction. If a rectangle is placed on top of another it is peeling away that layer thus an entirely new color is exposed.

Interactive Website, Experiments with Lines

I am fascinated by noisiness and controlled chaos. Much of the objects we find beautiful in nature have some element of noisiness in it. For example, the veins of a leaf might seem symmetric and controlled but if you compare any two leaves you will not find an identical pair. The dendritic patterns that form have a randomness to it that strengthens it beauty. Experiments with Lines is built with these same concepts in mind. It is an attempt to have a tool that is based in randomness but can be controlled by the user. If the user attempts to make two versions of the same drawing it will almost certainly have differences.

Experiments with Lines generates a noisy path by randomly assigning points within a parametrized square centered around the mouse. Upon the mouse moving a new square is generated and new points are added to the pre-existing path. This drawing technique creates a jagged and noisy path that can be tweaked by increasing square size and/or path number.

Interactive Device Design, büng

The büng is an interactive device designed to help eliminate inefficiencies at micro and medium sized distilleries. For tax reasons distilleries are required to measure the volume in each barrel once a quarter. Smaller distilleries complete this task by manually measuring the volume with a dipstick. The büng is equipped with an ultrasonic sensor that measures the distance to the surface of the liquid in a barrel. From this measurement volume can be calculated and then sent to a server where the distillers can view it.

The büng was rewarded project of the year for UC Berkeley's Interactive Device design course and featured in Berkeley's Engineering magazine. A provisional patent has been filed for this technology.

Website Design and Identity, Polyplus Battery Company

Polyplus Battery Company is a company focused on building next-generation battery technology's. My studio was contracted out to design and build their website. Polyplus has a large Intellectual Property portfolio, our studio decided to focus our design around this theme. Polyplus's IP portfolio is a core part of their company so designing the site to highlight this idea strengthens their outward image.

Website Design and Identity, Publication Studio Oakland

Publication Studio Oakland is a small publication studio focused on artist books and theories. The design of this site was based on the idea of a modular cloud. This cloud controls the flow of the site. In order to activate the site one must drag the blinking cloud in the corner to unveil the text in the center of the page. Once activated, a navigation bar on the side appears that horizontally scrolls to the other sections. If there are upcoming events, they will float through the pages in the shape of a cloud — upon the clicking the cloud the information about the event is revealed.