Materials Visualization Competition
I imagine this is a pretty unique portfolio piece for a graphic designer/multimedia specialist that works in academia. The Materials Visualization Competition (MVC) is an image competition for materials scientists across Penn State University. Materials scientists discover very compelling images in the process of their research. SEM and TEM electron microscopes identify patterns at levels invisible to the naked eye. What is produced are images worthy of creating an image competition original to Penn State.
My role in MVC is all encompassing - I organize MVC, I advertise MVC, I collect submissions, I'm the final judge and I recruit new judges each year. After winning images are selected, I place them in a poster format that I designed so we can hang the images in our building. Finally the images are placed into a Flash gallery that I custom-built so we can display the images on our website.
My role in MVC is all encompassing - I organize MVC, I advertise MVC, I collect submissions, I'm the final judge and I recruit new judges each year. After winning images are selected, I place them in a poster format that I designed so we can hang the images in our building. Finally the images are placed into a Flash gallery that I custom-built so we can display the images on our website.
Published on:
2011
Digital Art, Multimedia
- Materials Visualization Competition
A creative image competition for materials scientists - I imagine this is a pretty unique portfolio piece for a graphic designer/multimedia specialist that works in academia. The Materials Visualization Competition (MVC) is an image competition for materials scientists across Penn State University. Materials scientists discover very compelling images in the process of their research. SEM and TEM electron microscopes identify patterns at levels invisible to the naked eye. What is produced are images worthy of creating an image competition original to Penn State. To learn more about my role in MVC, read on...
My role in MVC is all-encompassing. I am the competition organizer. I advertise MVC across most science and engineering departments across Penn State. All images are submitted to me. I am the deciding judge, yet I recruit new judges each year. I submit all images to a judging committee for review, and seven winners are chosen. In case of a tie, I make a decision based on information submitted with each image.
After the winners are announced at the annual awards banquet in April, I format the images into a poster design for display in our department where we share them with anyone that passes through the building. The "SALT CRYSTALS" poster won first place in an image/poster competition at the Spring 2011 Materials Research Society (MRS) Meeting in San Francisco.
Color or black and white, these images can be very interesting. This image placed not only because it was visually appealing, but because it stirred the imagination of all of our judges. Each of us wondered about the little round beings that lived on the trees in the forest!
After I've organized and advertised the competition, judged the images, chosen winners, and designed posters, it's time to put the images on the department website. I create an interactive gallery in Adobe Flash for it's ease-of-operation. Each click of a thumbnail reveals a full-size image with a description of the image, the person that submitted the image, and it's place in the competition. Since it's inception in 2009 MVC has judged nearly 200 images, with 21 images being placed. You can find more information and image galleries for MVC here.
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These videos were created to introduce our faculty and their research to the world. Our faculty videos discuss students, research, our department, and Penn State. Faculty members converse about these topics in a relaxed, documentary-style format where their personality and philosophies may influence potential students.
I handle every aspect of video production on my own. I schedule shoot dates with faculty, staff and students; I shoot all A-roll and B-roll footage; I edit video to create a story line, then upon approval of the story line, I add B-roll and sound, and finalize for approval from the Office of Marketing at Penn State. After final approval, I distribute...primarily via YouTube.Multimedia, Production, Video Arts2011 -
Watch this video and you'll understand why I took it upon myself to produce it and get it out there for the world to see. This video went live on YouTube in February, 2011. As of November 2011, it had garnered nearly 11,000 views on two different YouTube channels. Within two weeks of this video being posted, Dr. Paul Painter (you can find him in my Faculty Video section) had been contacted by companies in Canada, India, and across the United States.
On December 1, 2011, I asked Dr. Painter what benefits he's seen in the past ten months that have come as a direct result of the video; his response, "Nearly everything." This includes being contacted by: 1 U.S. oil and gas company; 1 Utah oil sands company; 2 Canadian companies; various companies whose work creates drill cuttings; 1 company willing to offer supplies, and 5 companies willing to give money to further research. (Due to non-disclosure agreements, these companies cannot be named.).Production, Storytelling, Video Arts2011 -
In 2007 Materials Science and Engineering began the effort of creating a new culture of safety within the department. A group of faculty, staff, and students were brought together to create the Materials Safety Awareness Organization (MSAO). One goal of the MSAO was to create a video about laboratory safety. Generally these types of instructional videos can be pretty dry, so we wanted to make our video educational and fun. Since it was posted to YouTube in September, 2011, the video has been a hit with researchers in the department, across the University, and in industry.Documentary, Multimedia, Video Arts2011 -
Poster design plays a large role in my position and my department. If a poster isn't advertising an event, then it's recruiting students. In the academic environment, each make an important contribution.Graphic Design2011 -
Otto's Pub and Brewery is a microbrewery in State College, PA that is growing...quickly. This growth created interest to distribute their product state-wide within five years, so a re-design of their bottle labels was in order. After the new label designs were rolled out and new six-packs created, their state-wide distribution began...within three years. The re-design helped them achieve their goal two years ahead of schedule.Graphic Design, Package Design2011 -
My approach to logo development is very calculated. I administer creative briefs and gather a lot of information before putting pencil to paper. I tend to create clean, practical logos while adhering to an original, creative direction to maximize quick brand recognition.Branding, Graphic Design2011 -
While creating an illustration two years ago, a graduate student told me, "You understand this better than most grad students!". My reply, "I have to...I do this for a living." That graduate student's advisor asked me to create an illustration for inclusion in a journal. When I asked for some direction, he sent me the graduate student. To illustrate difficult scientific concepts, one must have a near intimate understanding of the concept in order to correctly illustrate it. This has become one of my favorite parts of my job, because I am constantly learning something new.Drawing, Illustration, Multimedia2011 -
One of my art school professors has vehemently stated, "If you can't draw with your hands, you can't draw with a computer." Throughout my creative career, truer words haven't been spoken. These sketches of prominent scientists were created for biographies for an online course. Pulling images from the Internet to display in an original online project was not an option, so I used the images as reference to draw my own portraits. Over fifty of these sketches were created, so they had to be quick, taking from two minutes to five minutes each.Drawing, Illustration, Multimedia2011 -
The image of our department depends highly on the image of our faculty - literally and figuratively. Our faculty are international experts in many areas of science and engineering, so it is important our faculty are seen by the world as the great scientists and engineers they are. It has been a proud task of mine to photograph these great people in their environment where they think, work, and change the face of technology and society.Digital Photography, Graphic Design, Photography2011
