You can still see the archives... for a while.
このブログは、これ以上更新されません。ごめんね。
Friday, December 13, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Richie Hawtin presents ENTER.Week 4 (July 25th, 2013)
Richie Hawtin's party Enter. at Space Ibiza was possibly one of my favorite clubbing experiences ever.
This being Ibiza needless to say about the great crowd, and this being Richie Hawtin needless to say about the music. In addition to those, the simple and effective communication of the concept was compelling and successfully differentiated itself from other bling-bling parties more common in Ibiza.
You could argue that this whole Enter. concept (minimalism, zen-style, black only color scheme) may seem just like a superficial fashion that is to be consumed. I cannot comment on its shallowness (the concept is probably has both deep and superficial sides to it) but I personally felt that the strictness of the concept was the thing that helped making the party different from others that I have experienced before.
今年の７月に行った、イビサの老舗クラブSpaceでのRichie HawtinのパーティーEnter.が、なんだかんだ人生で行ったクラブイベントの中では一番良かった。
チャラチャラしてるイビサのパーティーの中では、真っ黒の異色ブランディングが功を奏している。このミニマリズムもひとつのスタイルとして消費されているのだけど、逆にそういうわかりやすさって大切だと思う。
「音楽が大事だから、チャラチャラしてるだけじゃつまんない」けど、「前衛的すぎると踊れない」なんて言っているわたしみたいな若干見栄っ張りな層は意外と大きくて、そこにピタリとハマったパーティーだったという印象。
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Nine Days of Sun and Dancing
I was back in London and Ibiza for this year's summer holiday. Needless to say, it was fantastic.
Bellow is the compilation of footage that I've taken with video function of Instagram app:
As you can see from the video, the holiday was filled with sunshine and music: just how I wanted.
I've been fooling around to quest for a simple and easy way of recording and archiving videos (like this and this) but I think I'm sticking to this Instagram method as it is probably the easiest of all. Just merging all the footage in a chronological order makes it a great travel archive. No brain needed, and plus, it just makes sense to have all the Instagram videos in a sequence for the convenience of easy viewing.
Today I had my mid-year assessment at my office. There, my boss mentioned how much of a sudden improvement in design quality I achieved since I came back from this holiday. I had vaguely felt it myself, but it is reassuring to hear it from a third person. See, holidays are good for your soul and for your work. Well, at least they can be as proven by me in this case.
７月末に、９日間ほど、ロンドンとイビサ（スペイン）に行ってきました（かっこよく言うと「戻っていました」）。
「フェスやクラブで、すごく遊ぶ」と「ビーチや友達と、すごくリラックスする」を交互に繰り返した休暇だったということが、Instagramで撮った動画を時列に繋げた上の動画を観ると実感します。
音楽の話はまたの機会にするとして、この休暇を経て、日本に帰ってきてから調子がとてもいい・・・ということを、今日の上司の方との話の中で改めて気付かされました。
タイトなスケジュールで行ったにも関わらず、帰ってきてからの方が、身体の調子がいいし、仕事も上手くいっているし、それになにより帰ってきてから仕事が楽しい（前から楽しかったけどね）。
「旅行に行ったら元気になる」とまで短絡的に言い切るつもりはないです。でも、逆説的に聞こえるかもしれないけれど、自分を消耗させることで逆に元気になることってあるかもしれないと思いました。または、本気出して遊んできたことで、「本気で何かに打ち込む」ということを思い出したのか。なににせよ結局のところ、「何も得られなかった旅」なんてないから、やっぱり旅はするべきなのかも。
見返りばかりを期待する旅はしたくはないけれど。
Bellow is the compilation of footage that I've taken with video function of Instagram app:
As you can see from the video, the holiday was filled with sunshine and music: just how I wanted.
I've been fooling around to quest for a simple and easy way of recording and archiving videos (like this and this) but I think I'm sticking to this Instagram method as it is probably the easiest of all. Just merging all the footage in a chronological order makes it a great travel archive. No brain needed, and plus, it just makes sense to have all the Instagram videos in a sequence for the convenience of easy viewing.
Today I had my mid-year assessment at my office. There, my boss mentioned how much of a sudden improvement in design quality I achieved since I came back from this holiday. I had vaguely felt it myself, but it is reassuring to hear it from a third person. See, holidays are good for your soul and for your work. Well, at least they can be as proven by me in this case.
７月末に、９日間ほど、ロンドンとイビサ（スペイン）に行ってきました（かっこよく言うと「戻っていました」）。
「フェスやクラブで、すごく遊ぶ」と「ビーチや友達と、すごくリラックスする」を交互に繰り返した休暇だったということが、Instagramで撮った動画を時列に繋げた上の動画を観ると実感します。
音楽の話はまたの機会にするとして、この休暇を経て、日本に帰ってきてから調子がとてもいい・・・ということを、今日の上司の方との話の中で改めて気付かされました。
タイトなスケジュールで行ったにも関わらず、帰ってきてからの方が、身体の調子がいいし、仕事も上手くいっているし、それになにより帰ってきてから仕事が楽しい（前から楽しかったけどね）。
「旅行に行ったら元気になる」とまで短絡的に言い切るつもりはないです。でも、逆説的に聞こえるかもしれないけれど、自分を消耗させることで逆に元気になることってあるかもしれないと思いました。または、本気出して遊んできたことで、「本気で何かに打ち込む」ということを思い出したのか。なににせよ結局のところ、「何も得られなかった旅」なんてないから、やっぱり旅はするべきなのかも。
見返りばかりを期待する旅はしたくはないけれど。
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Living Abroad (A Month in Byron Bay)
I stayed in the eastest point of Australia, Byron Bay, for about a month in last February.
My initial intention was to focus on reading and studying while distancing myself away from busyness of Tokyo city life, but it somehow turned out as a way for me to try out a healthy life style–Jogging, swimming, yoga, meditating, cooking, stretching, buying food at markets, sticking veggie, cycling... Thinking back, I'm quite amazed about how healthy I lived there, without any stress. It's been over three months since I came back to Tokyo for the job and my eating and exercising habit are nowhere near as good as the time back in Byron. I wonder why all those things that were so easy and felt so natural back then are so hard to practice here in Tokyo.
Australia turned out to be quite different from my expectations; in a very positive way. In comparison with all the places I have visited in my life, I think people in Byron Bay were the friendliest; maybe competing the first place with people in Thailand.
Byron bay is a touristic destination, but it naturally attracts happy bunch of people. The taxi driver who took me from Goldcoast airport to Byron Bay on the first day described the town as “a place for surfers, hippies, and party-goers”. I cannot summarize the entire Australia as I only saw things in this tiny town of Byron, but I had an amazing time and I would love to go back. It certainly lacks vibrancy of Asia and cultural or historical stimulation of Europe, but the place was calming and made me feel healthy inside and outside. In addition, to my surprise, the food was simple but very tasty.
２月にオーストラリアのバイロン・ベイに約１ヶ月滞在しました。
オーストラリアには知人がいるわけでもなく、学校に通うとか、仕事があるとかといったわけでもなく、「知り合いがいない方が、集中して勉強できていい」「海があるところでゆっくりしたい」と軽い気持ちで、リュック一個で身軽に行ってきました。しかし、１ヶ月間「本当にひとり」という環境は、人生で初めて。「向かう場所」も「やらなくてはいけないこと」もない。着いた後に初めて、１ヶ月見知らぬ土地でひとりで過ごすというのは、意外と特殊なことなのだと気付きました。最初は「ひさびさに孤独だなあ」と思ったものの、慣れてしまえば、独りでいるのは本当に楽しかったです。
都会や郊外で育ってきた身としては、田舎町に住むことができたのも貴重な経験でした。人並みな感想ですが、自然の力には逆らえないということを、オーストラリアの厳しい自然を前に実感する機会が幾度とありました。日が暮れるまでに、何としてでも家に帰らなくてはいけないとか。嵐になると、家から一歩も出られないとか。
基本的に旅行とは「いろんな場所に行って、違うものを観る」もので、そんな「刺激」スタイルの旅行の最たるものが「世界一周旅行」だと思うのですが、「１ヶ月ひとつの場所に留まる」というのも、違った良さがありました。「生活をする」ということで、土地に対しての愛着が湧いて、「故郷」が増えたような錯覚さえ覚えます。
また、バイロン・ベイ滞在中は、必然的に、ジョギングをして、自転車で出かけて、ヨガをして、瞑想をして、マーケットで食材を買って、きちんと料理をして、ストレッチをして、海で泳いで・・・という「普段とはかなり違う生活スタイル」を実践していました。ここまで自分の肉体に意識を集中したことも初めて。「１ヶ月間、違う土地に住む」というのは、「自分を変える旅」とまではいかなくても、「違った自分をお試ししてみる手段」としては、有効だと思います。わたし自身、根本的には何も変わらなかったし、何の答えも出なかったけれど、身体的な経験を通じて、少しだけれど自分の多面性が増した実感はあります。
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Spring in Tokyo
I compiled a 24 seconds clip using some footages from my iPhone movies taken between May to June. Life in Tokyo is über colorful.
iPhoneの中で眠っていた、５月末から６月にかけてのビデオを２４秒にまとめてみました。iPhoneでビデオって撮っても、まったく観返さない。そういえば、写真もオンラインにあげたものしか観返さないかも。動画もこうやって定期的にオンライン上にあげていけば、観返したくなるのでしょうか。
I am not a video person and I've always preferred audio or still images as methods of obtaining information or recording memories. Though, after I made this film from my London trip, I began to record moments by video more often and above is the result of it. Not much thoughts involved, it is a simple cut and paste compilation of my five weeks or so.
Now that Instagram got a video feature, I would like to make compilations of those Instagram videos when I get enough clips to do so.
ながらで観れないので、動画は観るのに身構えてしまう感じがあり、ながらで聞けるポッドキャストが好きで、TED talkなどもオーディオで聴く派でした。でも、最近盛り上がっているVineやInstagramの「すごく短くて凝縮された動画スタイル」だったら、敷居低く観れるので、ついつい観てしまっています。簡素に切り貼りしたとはいえ、上記のような動画を作るのはそれなりに手間なので、Instagramにアップする動画が溜まってきたら、それらを繋げてコンピレーション動画も作りたいです（そういうアプリがほしい）。
The first and last bit of the clip was shot using Time Lapse Camera HD iPhone app and Veho MUVI X-Lapse. I again got it from MobileFun which sells mobile phone accessories online and it looks like this:
It literally works like the cooking timer:
(images found from Google Image Search)
The upper part rotates in steady motion and hence you can take a full 360 view time lapse films. You can't however change the speed; it is pretty an analogue product.
What bother me the most is that it makes a steady noise throughout. It even makes a loud cooking-timer-like-noise at the end. I was hoping to shoot the urban landscape of Tokyo from a high-rised building but its constant noise make it impossible for me to shoot from a posh cafe while sipping a cup of coffee.
Having said that, it's fun to think about what to shoot with this product and broadens the expression of iPhone movie.
上の動画の最初と最後のタイムラプスは、Veho MUVI X-Lapseというものを用いて撮っています。携帯アクセサリーのオンラインショップMobileFunより。
本当はこれで、高層ビルから東京の町並みとか撮りたかったのですが、クッキングタイマー原理で動いているので、意外とジリジリうるさい。なので、これでお洒落な高層ビルのカフェでコーヒー飲みながらこっそり撮る・・・みたいなのは厳しそう。
iPhoneの中で眠っていた、５月末から６月にかけてのビデオを２４秒にまとめてみました。iPhoneでビデオって撮っても、まったく観返さない。そういえば、写真もオンラインにあげたものしか観返さないかも。動画もこうやって定期的にオンライン上にあげていけば、観返したくなるのでしょうか。
I am not a video person and I've always preferred audio or still images as methods of obtaining information or recording memories. Though, after I made this film from my London trip, I began to record moments by video more often and above is the result of it. Not much thoughts involved, it is a simple cut and paste compilation of my five weeks or so.
Now that Instagram got a video feature, I would like to make compilations of those Instagram videos when I get enough clips to do so.
ながらで観れないので、動画は観るのに身構えてしまう感じがあり、ながらで聞けるポッドキャストが好きで、TED talkなどもオーディオで聴く派でした。でも、最近盛り上がっているVineやInstagramの「すごく短くて凝縮された動画スタイル」だったら、敷居低く観れるので、ついつい観てしまっています。簡素に切り貼りしたとはいえ、上記のような動画を作るのはそれなりに手間なので、Instagramにアップする動画が溜まってきたら、それらを繋げてコンピレーション動画も作りたいです（そういうアプリがほしい）。
The first and last bit of the clip was shot using Time Lapse Camera HD iPhone app and Veho MUVI X-Lapse. I again got it from MobileFun which sells mobile phone accessories online and it looks like this:
It literally works like the cooking timer:
(images found from Google Image Search)
The upper part rotates in steady motion and hence you can take a full 360 view time lapse films. You can't however change the speed; it is pretty an analogue product.
What bother me the most is that it makes a steady noise throughout. It even makes a loud cooking-timer-like-noise at the end. I was hoping to shoot the urban landscape of Tokyo from a high-rised building but its constant noise make it impossible for me to shoot from a posh cafe while sipping a cup of coffee.
Having said that, it's fun to think about what to shoot with this product and broadens the expression of iPhone movie.
上の動画の最初と最後のタイムラプスは、Veho MUVI X-Lapseというものを用いて撮っています。携帯アクセサリーのオンラインショップMobileFunより。
本当はこれで、高層ビルから東京の町並みとか撮りたかったのですが、クッキングタイマー原理で動いているので、意外とジリジリうるさい。なので、これでお洒落な高層ビルのカフェでコーヒー飲みながらこっそり撮る・・・みたいなのは厳しそう。
Monday, May 27, 2013
Kob Kun Thailand
Thailand was already an independent nation even before the World War II, unlike its neighbors which all became independent after the war. Thailand is the only South East Asian country that was not colonized. It must've been pretty tough getting caught in between British empire in its west (Burma, Malaysia, Singapore) and French colonies in its east (Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos). In other parts of Asia I've traveled (Indonesia, Hong Kong, Macau), 19th Century European influences could be felt but Thailand was an exception for that historic reason.
Thailand has a monarchy, and it is meant to be ceremonial hence it shouldn't have any power to the politics. Though in reality, Thai monarchy intervene with their politics, and the law bans any criticism towards the royal family. Such law exists in other countries too but those laws are usually never put in practice. That, however, is not the case in Thailand–you will be penalized. So be cautious when you talk about Thai royal family...
第二次世界大戦前、ほとんどのアジア諸国が植民地化ないしは従属下に置かれていたのに対し、タイは、第二次世界大戦前から独立を果たしていた。そして、東南アジアで唯一、植民地支配されなかった国（ちなみに第二次世界大戦中は日本の同盟国）。
わたしが旅した他のアジア諸国（インドネシア、香港、マカオ）では「19世紀ヨーロッパ」の影響が街のところどころで顔を出したのに対し、そういった歴史的理由でタイではヨーロッパの影響はほとんど感じられない。グローバリゼーションはもちろん感じられるけれど。
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Bittersweet LDN in Film
Creating movies is a good way of recording your lives, I just realized.
I was back in snowy London last March for about a week. Above is a 47 seconds movie that I compiled from the clips I took during the trip.
I will warn you that it is not meant to be anything artistic nor creative. It is just a holiday movie afterall and you probably won't find it too exciting. It does capture emotion and mood of my week, so it is still a valuable record of the trip for me personally.
It's basically just a movie collage, cutting and compiling short clips together–the technique you see everywhere on YouTube. Nothing complicated. In fact I shot all my footage using my iPhone 5. The trick is though, to edit the film down to a short length. This was always the problem I had with the movies I take; they were lengthy and I never opened my movie files after taking them and they weren't so fun to watch. Be selective, make it short, and films are great way to summarize your lovely memory.
動画には作りにはあまり興味がないのですが、旅行を「まとめる」のにすごく適しているメディアかなと思い立ちつくってみました。iPhone 5で撮った動画の面白そうなところだけを切ってつなげるだけで「旅の記憶」がひとつにまとまる。（あら簡単！）
コツは出来るだけ短くすること。長いと楽しかった旅の記録でさえ、見返す気が失せるのは、私だけではないはず。
作品ではなく、自己満足的ツールです。でも創ってしまえば、47秒で楽しかった1週間が、いつでも思い出せるというのはオイシイ。手ぶれもご愛嬌。そんなお手軽動画作り、お勧めです。
I was back in snowy London last March for about a week. Above is a 47 seconds movie that I compiled from the clips I took during the trip.
I will warn you that it is not meant to be anything artistic nor creative. It is just a holiday movie afterall and you probably won't find it too exciting. It does capture emotion and mood of my week, so it is still a valuable record of the trip for me personally.
It's basically just a movie collage, cutting and compiling short clips together–the technique you see everywhere on YouTube. Nothing complicated. In fact I shot all my footage using my iPhone 5. The trick is though, to edit the film down to a short length. This was always the problem I had with the movies I take; they were lengthy and I never opened my movie files after taking them and they weren't so fun to watch. Be selective, make it short, and films are great way to summarize your lovely memory.
動画には作りにはあまり興味がないのですが、旅行を「まとめる」のにすごく適しているメディアかなと思い立ちつくってみました。iPhone 5で撮った動画の面白そうなところだけを切ってつなげるだけで「旅の記憶」がひとつにまとまる。（あら簡単！）
コツは出来るだけ短くすること。長いと楽しかった旅の記録でさえ、見返す気が失せるのは、私だけではないはず。
作品ではなく、自己満足的ツールです。でも創ってしまえば、47秒で楽しかった1週間が、いつでも思い出せるというのはオイシイ。手ぶれもご愛嬌。そんなお手軽動画作り、お勧めです。
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Introducing SE7EN COLORS
Five full weeks have passed since I officially joined a design firm Concent Inc. in the very heart of Tokyo.
In Japan, it's common to employ graduates all at the same time, once a year. This type of employment system has several advantages for both employers and new employees. For instance we get to do training together before cracking on with the professional day to day work. The seminars we attended range from conceptual “what is design” types to business manner classes at an external venue. I found both conceptual and practical seminars very helpful and that definitely was an advantage of getting employed here in Japan as I doubt design studios in London offer that kind of training weeks.
There are seven, including myself, who joined the firm as recent graduates. Those six, with various design backgrounds, are all exceptionally talented. I am extremely fortunate to have such valiant peers, whom I can trust and respect.
コンセントに新卒として入社して、4週間。
飛び抜けて優秀な同期と、「自分たちを知ってもらうための動画とウェブサイト」を作成しました。まさか、コンセントに入社して最初に触るアプリケーションがAfter Effectsになるとは。そして、ウェブのプロフェッショナルを前に、サイトをコーディングすることになるとは。
ただ、自分たちの個性だけじゃなく、デザイン的なレベルを知ってもらう上でも、やることが出来て良かった。考えてみれば、自分たちも内定式の日に１回会っただけで、お互いのことをあまり知らなかったわけで、この一連のプロジェクトをやったことで、他の６人との間に信頼関係が築けたことは、すごく重要だった。
We created a short movie and accompanying website that introduce seven of us to the rest of the people in the company.
こちら、社員総会用の動画。
We also created a website （http://sustoco.concentinc.jp/se7en/）.
Unfortunately (or rather understandably) everything is in Japanese. The main concept of the site is to describe seven of us through key words (tags) rather than from reading individual profiles. We figured people wouldn't really care who Shiho is, but if you happen like the magazine Monocle, you might be interested in talking to Shiho, when you know she also loves that magazine. The site aims to provide a topic of conversation, and is intentionally left vague. It invites the people at the office to ask us questions in the later opportunities to come.
そして、コンセント新入社員スペシャルサイトはこちら（http://sustoco.concentinc.jp/se7en/）
サストコ from Editorsの森部が書いてくれたこちらの記事で、コンセプトについて説明してくれています。
Seven of us have completely different characters and interests. The only mutual thing that connects all of us is that we take design very seriously. That goes true for the rest of the peple at the office. That led to the short films where we talk rather seriously about the subject of design.
Coming from Central Saint Martins, where the importance of verbal expression in design was valued highly, I thought I was trained well in speaking about design. Though after hearing myself speak, I sound rather abstract and vague. I sound like I am saying something good but they are rather superficial and anyone with intellectuality can spot the shallowness of my speech. Even with flaws, I'm glad I had the opportunity to record my thoughts at the very beginning of my professional design career. Speaking about it, as well as listening myself speaking it, make me want to think even more about my design philosophy. Listening to other six of them was also inspiring. I admit I was jealous of fluency of how others spoke about design with solid logic and clarity.
新卒は７人とも個性が見事にバラバラで、「デザインについて真剣に考えてきた」というくらいしか共通点が見いだせない。それなのにも関わらず、みんな「コンセントっぽい」。「会社」という共同体って上手く出来ていますね。
せっかく「デザインについて真剣に考えてきた」７人が、「デザインについて真剣に考えている」人たちの会社に入るということで、デザインについて真剣に話している動画もサイトに載せています。
会社の方々から、ポジティブな感想をいただけたプロジェクトでしたが、先輩のひとりが、「企画編集、コンテンツつくり、デザイン、エンジニアリング、グループワーク、コンセプトメイキング、プロジェクトマネージメント、サービスデザイン的視点、、コンセントのすべてがつまってる」と言ってくださったのが一番嬉しかったかな。受け入れらた気がして。
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Music with a-Jays One Earphones
I recently got a new set of a-Jays One earphones from mobile phone accessories. They do shipping to Japan too.
I've never known this brand Jays before, but apparently it's a Swedish earphone brand, and the earphones came with rather fancy (and unnecessarily heavy) packaging. They also have a fancy website showcasing all their pretty looking earphones. It is quite clear that they are a design-driven and well-branded company, but somehow I never came across them in any outlets before. Maybe they sell solely on the web? I don't really know. In any case, they make lovely sets of earphones and I'm rather happy with what I got.
The ones I got sound alright, nothing too superb as they are £25 earphones after all, but they're much better looking than the ones in the same price range.
I love their matt texture and the thick cables are meant to be tangle free. To be honest they do tangle a bit, but the untangling them is nothing compared to the pain I went through with my previous earphones; I'm definitely satisfied about that.
As a consequence, the cables are rather thick and they do stand out more than normal earphones around. Not that this matters much.
They are good for people like me, who are not too fussed about the sound of earphones, but would like to have decent ones within a cheap price range. Their great design is definitely a big bonus and make them attractive choice over all other competitors.
Also, they are for people who buy all their gadgets black, and cannot stand white earphones that Apple is sticking to. I like how Jays only make black products, as I pretty much only buy black anything.
I'm really good at breaking or losing earphones and I decided I won't invest too much money in them. I liked Nixon's earphones, but I broke them so quickly (not their fault but mine, just be fair), I never actually went back to them. As far as my limited knowledge of cheap and decent earphones go, I'm quite satisfied with Jays, Nixon and Sony. Nixon has the best looks, Jays is the most practical, and Sony the best price-for-quality (even super cheap ones sound decent and endurable).
とうとう新しいイヤフォンを、Mobile Funより手に入れました。日本への発送もしています。
a-Jays Oneというイヤフォンで、スウェーデンのJaysというブランドのもの。このブランドのこと聞いたことすらなかったのだけれど、主張しすぎず、デザインがしっかりしている印象。友人は「きしめん」と名付けていましたが、確かにきしめんなイヤフォンです。絡まりにくいのがいい感じ。マットな質感もグッド◎
値段の割には、お洒落です。今まで「お洒落かつ安い」イヤフォンはNixonの安いラインが好きだったのだけれど、Jaysも良い感じ。基本的になんでも黒しか買わないので、このブランドは黒しか売ってないというところも、勝手に共感が持てます。
So, what I have been listening with these new earphones?
Some super sexy songs.
For instance, I've been addicted to Sade's Smooth Operator. So seductive:
Sade、いいですね。この曲にすごくハマってます。セクシー。
This is my number one favorite song by Michael Jackson: Dirty Diana. The sexiest song by Jackson by far.
マイケル・ジャクソンの曲のなかでは“Dirty Diana”が一番好きです。そうです、わたしはセクシーな音楽が好きなんです。マイケルのなかで最もセクシーな曲ですよね、これ。
And a mixture of dance classics from early 00s. I wasn't so into house music back then, but they sound so nice to go back to now.
Take Dirty Vegas. I only started listening to them about a month ago, I don't think I even knew them (this reveals how little I know about music in general). But boy, their self-titled album Dirty Vegas from 2002 sounds still fresh to listen to in 2013. It's one of those albums that I love listening to as a whole and don't care too much about the details of individual tracks.
2000年代初頭のダンスミュージック、特にハウスを最近聴き始めていて、Dirty Vegasっていいなと思いました。
Dirty Vegas、Dirty Projectors、Dirty Southと、わたしの好きなミュージシャンはDirtyが多いな（しかもみんな別にdirtyじゃない）。
And the classic. Tiesto's Lethal Industry has been in my Spotify playlist for a while.
1999年リリース。確かにその時代の音なのだけれど、今聴いても新しい。飽きそうなのに、何度聴いても、本当に飽きないです。Tiestoマジック。
And finally some Adele. Her cover of Lovesong by the Cure.
It sounds so much like her other songs, it's hard to believe she didn't write this. This song then to Someone Like You is such an emotional part of her stunning album 21.
恋愛している人に染みるAdele。アルバムにも入っているカバー曲。最初、カバーだとはまったく気付かなかった。違和感なく、彼女の曲に聴こえます。歌詞がすごい。
I've never known this brand Jays before, but apparently it's a Swedish earphone brand, and the earphones came with rather fancy (and unnecessarily heavy) packaging. They also have a fancy website showcasing all their pretty looking earphones. It is quite clear that they are a design-driven and well-branded company, but somehow I never came across them in any outlets before. Maybe they sell solely on the web? I don't really know. In any case, they make lovely sets of earphones and I'm rather happy with what I got.
The ones I got sound alright, nothing too superb as they are £25 earphones after all, but they're much better looking than the ones in the same price range.
I love their matt texture and the thick cables are meant to be tangle free. To be honest they do tangle a bit, but the untangling them is nothing compared to the pain I went through with my previous earphones; I'm definitely satisfied about that.
As a consequence, the cables are rather thick and they do stand out more than normal earphones around. Not that this matters much.
They are good for people like me, who are not too fussed about the sound of earphones, but would like to have decent ones within a cheap price range. Their great design is definitely a big bonus and make them attractive choice over all other competitors.
Also, they are for people who buy all their gadgets black, and cannot stand white earphones that Apple is sticking to. I like how Jays only make black products, as I pretty much only buy black anything.
I'm really good at breaking or losing earphones and I decided I won't invest too much money in them. I liked Nixon's earphones, but I broke them so quickly (not their fault but mine, just be fair), I never actually went back to them. As far as my limited knowledge of cheap and decent earphones go, I'm quite satisfied with Jays, Nixon and Sony. Nixon has the best looks, Jays is the most practical, and Sony the best price-for-quality (even super cheap ones sound decent and endurable).
とうとう新しいイヤフォンを、Mobile Funより手に入れました。日本への発送もしています。
a-Jays Oneというイヤフォンで、スウェーデンのJaysというブランドのもの。このブランドのこと聞いたことすらなかったのだけれど、主張しすぎず、デザインがしっかりしている印象。友人は「きしめん」と名付けていましたが、確かにきしめんなイヤフォンです。絡まりにくいのがいい感じ。マットな質感もグッド◎
値段の割には、お洒落です。今まで「お洒落かつ安い」イヤフォンはNixonの安いラインが好きだったのだけれど、Jaysも良い感じ。基本的になんでも黒しか買わないので、このブランドは黒しか売ってないというところも、勝手に共感が持てます。
So, what I have been listening with these new earphones?
Some super sexy songs.
For instance, I've been addicted to Sade's Smooth Operator. So seductive:
Sade、いいですね。この曲にすごくハマってます。セクシー。
This is my number one favorite song by Michael Jackson: Dirty Diana. The sexiest song by Jackson by far.
マイケル・ジャクソンの曲のなかでは“Dirty Diana”が一番好きです。そうです、わたしはセクシーな音楽が好きなんです。マイケルのなかで最もセクシーな曲ですよね、これ。
And a mixture of dance classics from early 00s. I wasn't so into house music back then, but they sound so nice to go back to now.
Take Dirty Vegas. I only started listening to them about a month ago, I don't think I even knew them (this reveals how little I know about music in general). But boy, their self-titled album Dirty Vegas from 2002 sounds still fresh to listen to in 2013. It's one of those albums that I love listening to as a whole and don't care too much about the details of individual tracks.
2000年代初頭のダンスミュージック、特にハウスを最近聴き始めていて、Dirty Vegasっていいなと思いました。
Dirty Vegas、Dirty Projectors、Dirty Southと、わたしの好きなミュージシャンはDirtyが多いな（しかもみんな別にdirtyじゃない）。
And the classic. Tiesto's Lethal Industry has been in my Spotify playlist for a while.
1999年リリース。確かにその時代の音なのだけれど、今聴いても新しい。飽きそうなのに、何度聴いても、本当に飽きないです。Tiestoマジック。
And finally some Adele. Her cover of Lovesong by the Cure.
It sounds so much like her other songs, it's hard to believe she didn't write this. This song then to Someone Like You is such an emotional part of her stunning album 21.
恋愛している人に染みるAdele。アルバムにも入っているカバー曲。最初、カバーだとはまったく気付かなかった。違和感なく、彼女の曲に聴こえます。歌詞がすごい。
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Hello World! Processing with Handwritten Fonts
This post will be a record of some fun I've been having with Processing, using fonts from Family Typeface project.
Fort those who don't know what Processing is, it is:
Processing.js uses JavaScript to allow Processing to be viewed on Web browsers. HOWEVER dealing with font files with Processing.js seems to get complicated (alsoko: Using custom fonts with processing.js) so I'm skipping that for now. I'm just gonna demonstrate it using screengrabs here. Any Processing.js font use tip is appreciated. The alsoko link above was a good read actually, tells useful things like it's better to use a .ttf files (of which I wasn't doing).
Any how, here are few directions that I've been trying:
1) Outputting using all fonts
When you have so many fonts, manually changing them is a pain in ass. Hence employing an automated process becomes greatly helpful.
Displaying “Hello!” in sequence of otf files turned out to be surprisingly easy.
What, on the other hand, turned out to be difficult was creating line breaks when each column reaches the height. I cheated by doing math myself and manually specifying the values for when to line break. That's sort of ridiculous and the code gets ugly as you can see bellow. Naturally, I need to find a better way of doing this, but this whole process of testing and figuring out things by myself is a part of the learning curve so it's all good (and fun).
2) Random font
Everytime you click the window, different font is being used:
It shades slowly so different typefaces overlap.
This code is pretty straight:
3) Type and random font
A variation from the idea above–when screen is being clicked, it changes the font. Difference is that instead of having a preset text, users can type in whatever text they want to display.
I used Andreas Schlegel's Control IP5 library for the textfield.
This has a lot of potential, me thinks.
For now things are basic but I'm hoping to build from those ideas. If this develops into some cool collision of analogue and digital, that would be super exciting.
プログラミングって数学ですねー。少なくともわたしのやろうとしている範囲の表現では、高度な数学を知っていることよりも、中学レベルの数学を「完璧」に出来るということが重要な気がします。なかなか自分の思ったようにいかないのが悔しいけれど、証明問題を解く感覚に似ていて楽しい。中高のとき、証明問題を解くの好きだったことを思い出します。
そういう意味では、本性的に向いている気もするし、細かい集中力に欠けていたりしてあまり向いていない気もしたり。どちらにせよ、もっとコードを使って表現出来るようになりたいです。
Fort those who don't know what Processing is, it is:
Processing is an open source programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts, new media art, and visual design communities with the purpose of teaching the fundamentals of computer programming in a visual context, and to serve as the foundation for electronic sketchbooks.(via Wikipedia)
Processing.js uses JavaScript to allow Processing to be viewed on Web browsers. HOWEVER dealing with font files with Processing.js seems to get complicated (alsoko: Using custom fonts with processing.js) so I'm skipping that for now. I'm just gonna demonstrate it using screengrabs here. Any Processing.js font use tip is appreciated. The alsoko link above was a good read actually, tells useful things like it's better to use a .ttf files (of which I wasn't doing).
Any how, here are few directions that I've been trying:
1) Outputting using all fonts
When you have so many fonts, manually changing them is a pain in ass. Hence employing an automated process becomes greatly helpful.
Displaying “Hello!” in sequence of otf files turned out to be surprisingly easy.
2) Random font
Everytime you click the window, different font is being used:
This code is pretty straight:
3) Type and random font
A variation from the idea above–when screen is being clicked, it changes the font. Difference is that instead of having a preset text, users can type in whatever text they want to display.
I used Andreas Schlegel's Control IP5 library for the textfield.
This has a lot of potential, me thinks.
For now things are basic but I'm hoping to build from those ideas. If this develops into some cool collision of analogue and digital, that would be super exciting.
プログラミングって数学ですねー。少なくともわたしのやろうとしている範囲の表現では、高度な数学を知っていることよりも、中学レベルの数学を「完璧」に出来るということが重要な気がします。なかなか自分の思ったようにいかないのが悔しいけれど、証明問題を解く感覚に似ていて楽しい。中高のとき、証明問題を解くの好きだったことを思い出します。
そういう意味では、本性的に向いている気もするし、細かい集中力に欠けていたりしてあまり向いていない気もしたり。どちらにせよ、もっとコードを使って表現出来るようになりたいです。
Monday, March 11, 2013
About Me and This Blog
I'm trying to impose a clearer direction to this blog. We'll see how that goes.
自分のプロフィールとブログ紹介文を更新してみました。こちらのページ。
このブログに関して言えば、もうちょっと、システマティックに書いていければいいなと思っています。
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Typography on Streets of Thailand
I found pretty much everything written in Thai appealing. I suppose it's partly because I cannot read them at all and thus they appear exotic, but still, the curly-ness and small circles that come at the end of each Thai characters definitely adds cute factor.
You can also see that a decent amount of design you see on the streets are purely typographic, i.e. no use of images, which I massively approve. Yes I am comparing it to Japan, where they believe so much of so many things need cute-faced characters. Blimey.
タイは、タイポグラフィがイケてる国でした。
こう見ると日本は、街中に「可愛いキャラクター」やら「イラスト」やら「写真」が多すぎる。もっと文字のみで勝負すればいいのにね。
Thai characters often but not always end with little circles and I wondered whether or not those circles have some sort of serif-like functionality. I tried to decipher it by reading Wikipedia page on Thai alphabet and on the Japanese page said that apart from letters ก and ธ, there are always small circles (dots). That being said, depending on typefaces, those circle are simplified. Also some typefaces mimics forms of latin alphabets.
Interesting.
タイ文字は可愛かった！「読めない」からこそ、かっこよく映るというのもあるとは思うのですが、ヒンデゥー語やアラビア語っぽくはあるものの、タイ語の方が丸っこくて可愛い。ちなみに、話言語も柔らかくて可愛い。
そんなタイ文字によく付いている小さな丸の意味を調べてみたところ、
だそうです。ふーん。
It seems though when it is handwritten, those circles are omitted:
ちなみに、手書き文字になると、丸は書かないみたい。ふーん。セリフに近い感覚ですな。
I even found vehicle registration plates appealing. I mean, so many shapes and styles! The way numbers and letters are embossed are so cool. Some people even framed their plates, for decorative purpose I suppose, so clearly Thai people also think that registration plate is a cool aspect of the vehicle too, right?
ナンバープレートもかっこよさげ。
I don't know if it's a traditional Thai thing or a Chinese influence but there were frequent usage of color red and that certainly brightened up already sunny streets of Thailand. Everything Royal Family related seemed to have decorative gold too. Colorful and fun all the way.
It does make me feel that such rawness seen everywhere in Thailand is so strong and appealing, what the hell am I doing as a designer. When we think we are sophisticating things, are we at the same time making things boring? Designers tend to believe that we are solving external problem, but it is also true to say that at the end of the day, design is always a product of designers' egoism.
華僑の影響か、赤の使用が多い点も、赤を見ると牛のように興奮するわたしとしては好感でした。
タイのこういうラフな感じこそがカッコいいというのは、デザイナーとしては、結構考えさせられる点でもあります。常にそうだとは思いませんが、洗練していく過程で、世界をつまらなくしていることは多いと思います。デザインは「人のため」なんていいつつも、結局のところデザインなんぞ、デザイナーのエゴの産物であるという自覚は必要なのかもしれません。なんてことを、ぼんやりと考えてみたり。
Lastly, this is a cool balcony we found in Phi Phi Don:
You can also see that a decent amount of design you see on the streets are purely typographic, i.e. no use of images, which I massively approve. Yes I am comparing it to Japan, where they believe so much of so many things need cute-faced characters. Blimey.
タイは、タイポグラフィがイケてる国でした。
こう見ると日本は、街中に「可愛いキャラクター」やら「イラスト」やら「写真」が多すぎる。もっと文字のみで勝負すればいいのにね。
Thai characters often but not always end with little circles and I wondered whether or not those circles have some sort of serif-like functionality. I tried to decipher it by reading Wikipedia page on Thai alphabet and on the Japanese page said that apart from letters ก and ธ, there are always small circles (dots). That being said, depending on typefaces, those circle are simplified. Also some typefaces mimics forms of latin alphabets.
Interesting.
タイ文字は可愛かった！「読めない」からこそ、かっこよく映るというのもあるとは思うのですが、ヒンデゥー語やアラビア語っぽくはあるものの、タイ語の方が丸っこくて可愛い。ちなみに、話言語も柔らかくて可愛い。
そんなタイ文字によく付いている小さな丸の意味を調べてみたところ、
ほとんどの文字（子音では「ก」と「ธ」を除く）に小さい丸があるのが特徴的であるが、字体によっては丸が省略されたり、ラテン文字に似せたデザインもある。44の子音字からなり、大文字・小文字の区別はない。（Wikipediaより）
だそうです。ふーん。
It seems though when it is handwritten, those circles are omitted:
ちなみに、手書き文字になると、丸は書かないみたい。ふーん。セリフに近い感覚ですな。
I even found vehicle registration plates appealing. I mean, so many shapes and styles! The way numbers and letters are embossed are so cool. Some people even framed their plates, for decorative purpose I suppose, so clearly Thai people also think that registration plate is a cool aspect of the vehicle too, right?
ナンバープレートもかっこよさげ。
I don't know if it's a traditional Thai thing or a Chinese influence but there were frequent usage of color red and that certainly brightened up already sunny streets of Thailand. Everything Royal Family related seemed to have decorative gold too. Colorful and fun all the way.
It does make me feel that such rawness seen everywhere in Thailand is so strong and appealing, what the hell am I doing as a designer. When we think we are sophisticating things, are we at the same time making things boring? Designers tend to believe that we are solving external problem, but it is also true to say that at the end of the day, design is always a product of designers' egoism.
華僑の影響か、赤の使用が多い点も、赤を見ると牛のように興奮するわたしとしては好感でした。
タイのこういうラフな感じこそがカッコいいというのは、デザイナーとしては、結構考えさせられる点でもあります。常にそうだとは思いませんが、洗練していく過程で、世界をつまらなくしていることは多いと思います。デザインは「人のため」なんていいつつも、結局のところデザインなんぞ、デザイナーのエゴの産物であるという自覚は必要なのかもしれません。なんてことを、ぼんやりと考えてみたり。
Lastly, this is a cool balcony we found in Phi Phi Don:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
How to Create A Font Using Your Own Handwriting
Back in December, I had an opportunity to speak at the Pecha Kucha Tokyo event #98. My thank you goes to Mr. Jean Snow for inviting me there.
What is Pecha Kucha? Here's extract from their website:
Here's some photos from the night. Photography by amazing Michael Holmes:
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And here's the presentation I did on my Family Typeface project:
For one thing I sound so nervous and now I am too embarrassed to watch that video above. I mean, really. I wanted to try this informal way of presenting (the spirit of Pecha Kucha i.e. chit chat) but my topic went all over the place and it seems I'm still too rookie to do a presentation without a good practice beforehand. And no, drinking before the presentation didn't really help. That being said, It was fun nonetheless, and I particularly enjoyed informal chit chat afterwards with audience.
What I ultimately wanted to say in the presentation (and I wasn't so clear there) was that I've been thinking lately about aim-less / client-less / design-for-sake-of-design creation is great for your soul. I love problem-solving aspect of graphic design, but I think graphic designers can also be motivated like how illustrators or photographers do their self-initiated work.
I think, by nature, graphic designers are problem seeker. I've been using the term problem seeker after hearing Christopher Simmons using it because it feels spot on. At the pecha kucha presentation I used terms like problem solver and consultant, but problem seeker seem expresses what I really wanted to say.
You have problem seeking side to graphic design on one hand, but it just is so much fun to do work for the sake of having fun. That was one of my biggest finding from this idea-driven brief-less project, making handwritten typefaces. My then tutor Joshua Trees at Central Saint Martins really encouraged me on this when I was in college.
In any case, since my pecha kucha was just an introductory one, and I don't think it was clear enough to make people create their own fonts, I'm going to go over how to create your own handwritten font here on this blog. I'm sure there are many other different ways to do this, but it doesn't hurt to know how I do it.
In many ways, it may seem as a cheat-way of creating a typeface. I hope I don't upset any typographers...
How to create font using your own handwriting
What you need
I use CS5 of Illustrator, but nothing too complicated is being done here; we are just vectorizing the scanned paper. I am assuming any version should be able to do it...?
Step 1) Write down letters
Write out all the letters you'd like to have.
I print out a form (I might make it available online if there's any need for this) to fill in because I've done it for quite many people. Though essentially, all you have to do is write out all the letters you want to have on a piece of paper.
Then scan the paper into your computer.
The scan quality doesn't matter so much, as long as the contrast between written letters and paper are clear. Format doesn't really matter too, as long as it can be read in Adobe Illustrator.
Just as a reference I give you my scan settings:
Step 2) Vectorize letters on Adobe Illustrator
Open Adobe Illustrator, drag and drop the scanned image directly onto a new artboard.
Make sure the image is selected, then click Live Trace. This prepares to vectorize your image.
Then, set Preset to Simple Trace. And click Expand.
The beauty of Simple Trace is not only it vectorizes the image but also it deletes any 'white bit'. So you are left with clean black-only vectors. You can change Threshold to the value you prefer too.
You can manually delete or modify any bits you don't fancy.
Step 3) Copy and paste each letter into TypeTool
Open TypeTool. Each box corresponds to specific letter. Double clicking the box pops Glyph window (shown at the right window of the image bellow). Copy (Ctrl + C / Cmd + C) each letter from Adobe Illustrator then paste (Ctrl + V / Cmd + V) on to each Glyph window in TypeTool.
Tip1: When you are copying in Illustrator, you probably have to double click the letter first as the whole vector is probably grouped.
Tip2: If you can't see any letter even when you paste it into TypeTool, Zoom out the window. It's something that TypeTool does: it doesn't paste at the center of the screen.
Step 4) Sort out tracking
Let's work on the spaces between each letters.
Go to Window > New Metrics Window.
Select Text Mode (the symbol that looks like I ), type out letters.
Select Metrics Mode (the symbol that looks like | M | ), you can select and by dragging and the each end of the letter, you can adjust the space that particular letter has.
Step 5) Name your font
Go to File > Font Info.
Here, you can name your font. This name is how appears as the name of font when one installs the font into the computer.
Step 6) Generate font
Go to File > Generate Font.
Here you can generate font that's ready to use. OTF is recommended, but you can also choose other font formats like TTF.
CONGRATULATIONS you just created a font using your own handwriting!
(The example above was done using Hyunho's handwriting. Check out his website here.)
I'm not a pro of TypeTool or designing typeface in general, but if you have any question by all means, drop me an email to info@shihoyokoyama.com I'll try my best to answer questions...
What is Pecha Kucha? Here's extract from their website:
PechaKucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images advance automatically and you talk along to the images.I've been to few events in London and they are trailer-like-fun way of sitting through multiple presentations. Though regular events in Tokyo has a nice vibe and is a great place to socialize. Presenters as well as audience have a good balance of English and Japanese speakers, and that's a bit of a bonus for people like me.
PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, holiday snaps -- just about anything, really -- in the PechaKucha 20x20 format.
Here's some photos from the night. Photography by amazing Michael Holmes:
And here's the presentation I did on my Family Typeface project:
For one thing I sound so nervous and now I am too embarrassed to watch that video above. I mean, really. I wanted to try this informal way of presenting (the spirit of Pecha Kucha i.e. chit chat) but my topic went all over the place and it seems I'm still too rookie to do a presentation without a good practice beforehand. And no, drinking before the presentation didn't really help. That being said, It was fun nonetheless, and I particularly enjoyed informal chit chat afterwards with audience.
What I ultimately wanted to say in the presentation (and I wasn't so clear there) was that I've been thinking lately about aim-less / client-less / design-for-sake-of-design creation is great for your soul. I love problem-solving aspect of graphic design, but I think graphic designers can also be motivated like how illustrators or photographers do their self-initiated work.
I think, by nature, graphic designers are problem seeker. I've been using the term problem seeker after hearing Christopher Simmons using it because it feels spot on. At the pecha kucha presentation I used terms like problem solver and consultant, but problem seeker seem expresses what I really wanted to say.
You have problem seeking side to graphic design on one hand, but it just is so much fun to do work for the sake of having fun. That was one of my biggest finding from this idea-driven brief-less project, making handwritten typefaces. My then tutor Joshua Trees at Central Saint Martins really encouraged me on this when I was in college.
In any case, since my pecha kucha was just an introductory one, and I don't think it was clear enough to make people create their own fonts, I'm going to go over how to create your own handwritten font here on this blog. I'm sure there are many other different ways to do this, but it doesn't hurt to know how I do it.
In many ways, it may seem as a cheat-way of creating a typeface. I hope I don't upset any typographers...
How to create font using your own handwriting
What you need
- a pen (bold marker is recommended)
- paper
- a scanner
- Adobe Illustrator
- TypeTool
- a printer (optional)
I use CS5 of Illustrator, but nothing too complicated is being done here; we are just vectorizing the scanned paper. I am assuming any version should be able to do it...?
Step 1) Write down letters
Write out all the letters you'd like to have.
I print out a form (I might make it available online if there's any need for this) to fill in because I've done it for quite many people. Though essentially, all you have to do is write out all the letters you want to have on a piece of paper.
Then scan the paper into your computer.
The scan quality doesn't matter so much, as long as the contrast between written letters and paper are clear. Format doesn't really matter too, as long as it can be read in Adobe Illustrator.
- resolution: 200dpi
- color mode: grayscale
- dimension: approx. 1600 × 2300
- file format: JPEG
Step 2) Vectorize letters on Adobe Illustrator
Open Adobe Illustrator, drag and drop the scanned image directly onto a new artboard.
Make sure the image is selected, then click Live Trace. This prepares to vectorize your image.
Then, set Preset to Simple Trace. And click Expand.
The beauty of Simple Trace is not only it vectorizes the image but also it deletes any 'white bit'. So you are left with clean black-only vectors. You can change Threshold to the value you prefer too.
You can manually delete or modify any bits you don't fancy.
Step 3) Copy and paste each letter into TypeTool
Open TypeTool. Each box corresponds to specific letter. Double clicking the box pops Glyph window (shown at the right window of the image bellow). Copy (Ctrl + C / Cmd + C) each letter from Adobe Illustrator then paste (Ctrl + V / Cmd + V) on to each Glyph window in TypeTool.
Tip1: When you are copying in Illustrator, you probably have to double click the letter first as the whole vector is probably grouped.
Tip2: If you can't see any letter even when you paste it into TypeTool, Zoom out the window. It's something that TypeTool does: it doesn't paste at the center of the screen.
Step 4) Sort out tracking
Let's work on the spaces between each letters.
Go to Window > New Metrics Window.
Select Text Mode (the symbol that looks like I ), type out letters.
Select Metrics Mode (the symbol that looks like | M | ), you can select and by dragging and the each end of the letter, you can adjust the space that particular letter has.
Step 5) Name your font
Go to File > Font Info.
Here, you can name your font. This name is how appears as the name of font when one installs the font into the computer.
Step 6) Generate font
Go to File > Generate Font.
Here you can generate font that's ready to use. OTF is recommended, but you can also choose other font formats like TTF.
CONGRATULATIONS you just created a font using your own handwriting!
(The example above was done using Hyunho's handwriting. Check out his website here.)
I'm not a pro of TypeTool or designing typeface in general, but if you have any question by all means, drop me an email to info@shihoyokoyama.com I'll try my best to answer questions...
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