Artist post: Meomi web design

Meomi is Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy. They are illustrators based in Vancouver, and have created children's books and TV shows. Meomi was also in charge of designing the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics mascots.

Quatchi, Miga, Sumi, and Mukmuk. So adorable. (From Google Images)

Meomi's web designs also showcase their whimsical and cutesy style. I was surprised to find out that I had been using their designs before I actually knew who they were- they have designed the "Teahouse Fox" and several other templates that are available for our SMCM Gmail accounts. 

"Teahouse Fox" from Google Images. My favorite of their e-mail templates.

Meomi's website very clearly shows viewers their illustration style and the kind of work the team excels at producing. I think the website also balances out it's simple layout by adding a lot of illustrative detail and animation. There are plenty of point-and-click icons that viewers can entertain themselves with, including walking puppies, grazing turtles, and turnips that play tunes as they get watered. It's startlingly adorable, but their website design certainly shows the viewer what to expect from the Meomi team as soon as they visit it.

Meomi, in all their illustrated glory.

"Get Lost" Assignment

So, I didn't really "get lost" because I'm so directionally challenged that I would probably end up getting lost for good. But I did walk along a pretty trail in Historic.

"Identify Yourself" article and Jon Rafman

Krystal South's article on humanity's ties to the internet was interesting, albeit formatted in a way that made scrolling through the website a bit disorienting. One point she made that especially stuck out to me was the impact of constant access to information (be it through a smart phone, a laptop, or places that provide free Wi-Fi). Having the ability to have access to the internet at any time has definitely made it so that the tolerance for a lack of such information is incredibly low. Even the slight delay of a browser window opening is enough to get me twitchy and irritated. Admitting that to myself was a bit sad, especially since I also just admitted that I may as well fall over and die if my iPhone were to be taken away from me. (No more Google maps. I shudder at the thought.)

This cynicism was balanced out by the fact that the internet has definitely come very far from its initial development- it's gone beyond the initial goal of creating a new form of communication that would provide immense amounts of information in almost no time at all. In addition to communication, the internet is a way to create art and form identities for ourselves in completely new ways. It's therefore important to continue developing the technology we use, and discover new ways to use it. The closing message certainly has its significance, and I definitely think that there are new ways of creating messages or artwork that have yet to be discovered. But I also think there are those people (myself often included) who will use that same amazing technology to fool around on Facebook or look at pictures of fuzzy animals.

On another note, South's article featured photographs from of the artist Jon Rafman, which he collects through the use of Google Street View. I felt that his images captured the idea of the internet as a tool for providing information and a way to communicate by showing interesting scenes from what seems to be all over the world, and collected by use of the internet. Some images were a bit strange, some are really beautiful, and some of them are slightly sinister. It's an interesting way to capture all aspects of the web.