For my thesis class we have to do a writeup once every two weeks talking about what we have done and how we reflect on it. Instead of doing the writeup and handing it in, I think that blogging about it will be way more beneficial for people around me who are curious about what my thesis is actually all about. Compared to the huge semester summary that I did in a blog post, I think making it into these smaller chunks will shed more light onto what I have been doing. On another note, I feel more inclined to make a blog post than a writeup that is only seen between my prof and me.

As my first semester ended, I knew that I had a lot of things to think about for my second semester. In my final talk with my thesis professor, a topic that came up and really hit me hard was what I wanted to say through my thesis. My actions in the first semester can certainly be classified as one big exploration. All I did was to play around with the possibilities of what I had at hand. The actions that I was doing did not have any specific goal other than to stay in the explorative realm.

The holidays had given me ample time to think about what kind of message I would voice through my thesis. I was trying to boil down the reasons why I wanted to incorporate rapid prototyping into my thesis and what I realized was that my mindset had already created an apparent connection between the two. That graphic design is swiftly evolved beyond the use of paper and ink; it’s forced to absorb a magnitude of technologies, which then again pushes the occupation into many different directions. Some of these technologies include 3D printers, lasercutters and CNC machines.

Throughout the summer, I was fortunate to also get a number of books that I want to read through as the semester goes by. Compared to my last semester where I my literary part was somewhat haphazardly put together, this time around I will be ready for it.

As a student studying graphic design and a printshop monitor, I certainly am aware of the important relationship designers have with their printers. When we design something, the final output has to take into many different factors created by the chosen method of production. Printing a poster has to take into consideration like color correction, paper stock and size restrictions. As we become more experienced, we learn to push the limits of our tools. An example that I did was this typographic poster where the size restriction seriously limited the effectiveness of my poster. What I decided to do was create tabs that I ended up sewing together, increasing the size of the poster beyond the restrictions of the printer.

As many graphic designers are pushing the boundaries when it comes to paper prints, I realize that together with the influx of new technologies at our disposal comes the same opportunity, which is to push the machinery and their outputs to their limits. Another reason why this opportunity has only recently emerged can be attributed to the fact that these technologies have infiltrated the school systems, giving students a chance to use them at a reasonable price. At OCADU, our rapid prototyping room includes a CNC machine, lasercutter, 3D printer and 3D scanner, which are all at the student’s fingertips with the right knowledge.

An assignment that we on our first class was to get back into the groove of making things again. With the winter vacation, many of us still need to rev back up again and I think just forcing us to make something is a great way of getting back into it. What I wanted to do was to take a used book and transform it into something else.

I was not sure what this “something else” would be but I thought that it would somewhat work out in the end. As I was looking for a used book to buy, a book called “A Wallflower Christmas” popped up and shablam, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to somehow create a flower out of the book and that’s what I did! Through folding and cutting, I transformed a section of the book into a flower. Since this assignment was just to get us back into the “making” mode, I didn’t forcefully make it encompass my thesis. However, when I think about what I did, it really does relate to my thesis. If I interchange the folding and cutting actions with a new technology like the lasercutter, it would become an exploration of the new technology through printed media. This is how i ended up creating, which represents the book and its content. Down below are some process photos of what i did with the book.

After the critique we had today about the form that we created, the Wallflower Christmas flower that I made lacks in a quite key department, and that is to actually represent the my thesis. What I need to get going, is to actually have these down and dirty relationships with the machines I want to commentate about. That is certainly a job for these two up and coming weeks!

As a 4th year OCADU student, we have a year long final thesis project that focuses on whatever you want to that relates to the major you are in. In this year, the graphic design thesis at OCADU has changed a bit. There is currently two different branches that one can pick. The first one is the regular one where you focus on a self generated topic for a year. The other one, from what i have heard is a series of smaller projects. The second seems to me to be an extension of the graphic deisgn core classes we have been doing previously. I had personally decided a long time ago and i was fully committed to the year long single thesis project. How can you NOT want to work on your own interests for a full year!

Below i will give somewhat of a summary of what my thesis looks like after the first semester, if you want to read a bit more about it, here is a download link to the final process book that i had to create for that semester (I would recommend downloading it and viewing two pages at the time, like it was suppose to be viewed. (in adobe acrobat its through view –> page display –> two page view/scrolling!)

My thesis statement in a nutshell goes as following “By pushing the boundaries of materials, I will explore the communication of information through the third dimension. “. This nugget went through a lot of refinement to get to this point. I am however super glad that it has changed so much over this first semester. In the beginning, i was kinda clueless as to how i wanted to approach my thesis but it has been working out well so far.

I did tons of explorations with paper and light throughout the semester. I also worked with string and wire to create some interesting shapes. In the lather part of the semester, i made it a mission to learn grasshopper (a plugin for Rhino which is a 3D modeling software!). That really became a black hole for my time allocation, in my next semester i will for sure focus on creating more stuff instead of trying to learn a software! Personally i think that i didnt really get into the thesis groove this semester, but hopefully that groove will come into play next semester so that an amazing thesis is created :D Below are some key images of the things that i did during my thesis this semester. I really recommend looking at the process book PDF that i made for a more indepth story on those images!

So this year i decided to participate at Canzine. Since a ton of illustrator peeps that i usually hang out with decided to participate, i thought, why not! This also became a “better late than never” post since it occured some months ago! :D

I was not sure what i would be making for the event but the thought of me doing something illustrator’y was looming around in my head for quite sometime. In the end i didnt make any personal zines, however i was a part of a larger collaboration called Fingerbiter, where a bunch of my buddies had to illustrate the theme of fingerbiting on a double spread page. Therefore the zine aspect of the show managed to get checked off without me creating an individual zine.

Some accessories that i had accompany the selling of that zine were posters and iPhone cases. The posters were images that i thought were interesting, printed on a brown sheet of paper. Before i printed on the brown sheet of paper, i used paint to create an interesting pattern on the brown paper. When the paint had dried, i put it through the large format black and white printers we have at OCADU (I totally recommend this printer if you are on a budget, $1 per linear foot, and our roll of paper is 36″ wide (this means that you can get a 36″ by 12″ b/w print for a dollar!)) If you can be creative with the black and white print, you can create a lot of awesome prints for cheap!

The iphone cases that i made were somewhat of a last minute addition to the whole fleet. I felt that what i had was kinda sparce so i ended up making them the night before the event. With some fabric that i had lying around + some free bags that i had acquired from the CMTS show that i went to, i ended up creating a handful of fabric cases.

The morning of Canzine, i went to Emmet’s place to make some buttons with her button machine. There was some mismatch between the supplies that i bought and the button machine (which i knew of but somewhat ignored), this mismatch made the button creation success rate around 30% haha.

The event itself was a good experience. I did not come early enough so i was kinda squished into this room that was was not a part of the main hall which was quite unfortunate. I had also brought the Omnion to add some mood lighting which i must say added a lot to the table that i was at. There were tons of great stuff around the place, what i ended up buying was tons of stickers (one day i will put em on my bike) and a t-shirt! It has somewhat become a staple thing for me to buy a t-shirt at these events. The t-shirt is a screenprint of a cat with what i think is an AK-47 gun. Not the regular motive i would wear but amazing nonetheless! Also i got the coolest cupcakes ever at this event! The cookie on one of them is seriously bigger than the cupcake itself haha.

In terms of sales, the posters won by a large amount. The zine, even though it was really nice looking did not sell at all. I think that the competition with all the otehr zines out there really made it a hard battle to win. Posters, which is somewhat of a more niche item during canzine stood out way more. I only sold + gave away the iPhone cases to my buddies, the didnt really sell either haha.

Oh man, i am quite the procrastinator when it comes to publishing posts in a timely fashion… So here we have some Nuit Blanche images :D I must say this was one of the most enjoyable NB i have been to so far. One aspect that really made it for me was that i had a bicycle (which made it sooooo much more efficient and better to explore areas) Some things to remember from the day,

• Maggie + her flat tire. We ended up meeting this old couple who allowed us to borrow their bicycle pump which was a few blocks down the road.
• Hansel and Gretel reinterpretation (that installation was awesome!)
• Funnel cake + corn + other foods!
• OCADU’s Digital landscape installation
• The crusty food tent
• Keita’s art battle at the AGO

Last tuesday i went to the CMTS (Canadian Machinery Technology Show) where i got to see bunch of crazy machines! What was really interesting about this show is that its target audience was large companies, so i got to see all of these heavy duty industrial mechanical beasts (some of them bigger than the apartment that i live in haha!).

Looking beyond the big machines (since they are obviously awesome) what i really liked was the display of the different bits one could purchase for the different machines. Some of them were coated in gold, others had a diameter of half a meter’ish. Tons of variety!

I also tested out my iPhone 4s during this show (since i got it the previous day!). I made some videos and took some photos, the phone is really beasty o.O

Canadian Machinery Technology Show from Paul Tseng on Vimeo.

The summer went quite well, after coming back from Norway, i knew that i had to take summer school since the exchange student program i did mentioned that i would not receive any liberal study (but in the end i DID get a liberal course which i could not use since they told me too late + i took it over the summer… =_=). Anyhow i ended up taking 4 courses over the summer! I did it so that my course load during thesis would be a bit lighter as i am in my 4th year + taking a year long thesis program (highly recommend people taking summer school, i should have done it earlier, thats not sarcasm!).

As the fall semester began, so did thesis. I managed to get Roderick Grant as a thesis teacher which i am quite happy so far. I am also taking two other classes,

Beyond school, my sister, her bf and i ended up buying a CNC machine. If you dont know what a cnc machine is, watch this video (has one of the most enthusiastic commentary ive heard in awhile ‘sarcasm’). Here is also a photo of it with my sister in the background. Its currently located in Matthews garage uptown, but hopefully in the coming future it will be relocated somewhere closer to toronto (or thats what im hoping!)

A vacuum table is currently being made for it so the production of objects has been put on hold for now (this is to hold flat pieces of material down without the use of clamps). It has been a huge project for both Fei and Matthew, not so much me haha. Since i still havent seen the machine firsthand! Ill probably head up there when all of the things are working as intended, kinda leaving the setup process to those two :P

Another thing that happend this summer (and is still going on) is both my sister and i doing some commission work for a cabinet company called PDT. Its kind of been dragging out for a bit but hopefully we will it it under wraps soon!

Recently in one of my summer courses, i had a course which i thought was a small bundle of joy! What i am referring to is a course called “Small Object Design”. Now this course is probably not everyones cup of tea (You had to learn Rhino (a 3D modeling software) from a huge manual on your spare time, the course was condensed since it was offered during the summer and it went into the third dimension). But nonetheless i found it super enjoyable!

What i think made me enjoy this course more than other courses was the 3D aspect of it. We had to model an object in Rhino and use CAM (Computer Aided Machines) tohelp us create the object. Now i have always had a hidden passion for 3D object, but after thinking of what would benefit me in the long run, i decided that a Graphic Design Major would benefit me more than an Industrial Design Major… Who woulda known that i would be getting the best of both worlds!

So in this class we had to take a prior project and recreate it with the benefits of CAM. What i decided to redesign was my egg lamp, i have always thought that the lamp i created back in my first year was one of the most enjoyable object i have made in my time at OCAD which is probably why i wanted to try and recreate its success!

What i ended up creating was a minimalistic two piece lamp which one could attach different lasercut paper lampshades to, depending on what kind of lighting effect you were aiming for. Instead of having me talk about the lamp, take a look at these images!

A small update on me, i am still taking summer courses (took a total of 4 this summer, also the first time i have ever taken school courses during the summer). My sister and I are working on a website job so that will hopefully pay the rent for awhile. Went to Kirk’s castle, for two days, oh man how much of a blast it was + recently learnt how to not hold my nose under the water!!

______________  Cover Letter  ______________

Dear Mrs. Juli:

I am interested in applying for the Internship position at Mjolk which was advertised on the OCAD job board.

As a Graphic Design student going into my 4th year at OCAD, i have developed and honed my skills to efficiently work and create on a Mac platform with the Adobe suite. I was born and raised in Norway for 14 years which has gives me an extensive understanding and feel of the Scandinavian culture. My passion for Europe lead me to an exchange student program to Glasgow last semester. My resume can be found below with further specifics about me.

I would love to be a part of Mjolk since i feel that your values resonate well with my own. If you need more information, you can call me at 647-377-0132 or send me an email at design@paultseng.net. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Paul

______________  Resume  ______________

Work Experience

Server for The Standard Pizza & Pasta Bar – College Street, Toronto
May 2010 – Aug 2010

Busser for The Standard Pizza & Pasta Bar – College Street, Toronto
May 2009 – Aug 2009

Barista for Timothy’s Coffee Shop – Dundas Street, Toronto
Aug 2008 – Feb 2009

Sales associate for Sport Mart – Shopper’s World, Brampton
Nov 2006 – Aug 2008

Accomplishments

Obtained both a Smart Serve license and Bartending Certificate through the Toronto Institute of Bartending.

Been accepted to an exchange student program to Glasgow School of Art in the United Kingdom.

Received a high school diploma from Fletcher’s Meadow Secondary School, attaining the Honor Roll every year of attendance.

Languages

Spoken and written English and Norwegian.

Education

Ontario’s College for Art and Design – Toronto, Ontario
2008 – Current

Fletcher’s Meadow Secondary School – Brampton, Ontario
2004 – 2008

Høyenhall Skole – Oslo, Norway
1997 – 2004

______________  Sample Work  ______________

nakedpin is a website i have been working on in my spare time. Coded it from scratch (HTML, CSS and PHP for WordPress). It will eventually be a place for me to upload guides and tutorials. It is still in the making so many elements do not work/are not dynamic yet!

A lamp that i am currently working on. The stand is finished but i am going to design and laser cut different lampshade patterns. The concept of the lamp is to layer multiple paper lampshades so that it creates interesting shadow patterns.

Published Work

Typographic Poster

Coptic Binding

Letterpress

Wooden r

Feel free to look around on this blog for more work i have done.

A few weeks pass and here is the second installation of the Norwegian trip!

I went to Trondheim to visit Simen together with Petter. It was literally tons of fun for the short amount of time we were there. We went to two concerts while we were over there, one of them being BigBang. I also heard a bit of Nas which was quite sweet for the few seconds i passed the door (i didnt have tickets to that one sooo…!)

One of the main attractions in Trondheim is the Nidaros cathedral so we obviously had to go there and check it out! I have been to my fair share of cathedrals in my lifetime and this was one of the higher ups on my list haha.

We also went and checked out Simen’s school. The campus was really REALLY huge. Think of something on par or bigger than UoT, thats what it was haha. While we were exploring the campus, we came across this sphere which was swinging around in circles in an over shaped path. Every 7 minutes it would tip a metal cylinder which was standing up. Quite nifty way to see when your lunch break ends! :P

A cool thing about Simens roommates (Steffen and Teodor) is that they made their own beer! I tried it and its not that shabby. So instead of buying beer, just make your own with plastic barrels!

While we were there, breakfast consisted of egg, bacon, beans and bread. We made some killer nachos while we were there, really good stuff! We also went and ate sushi together with Simens buddies, quite the mission to get to that one sushi place!

Earth hour also landed on the period while we were in Trondheim so what we did was light up buncha candles, get some beers and sing some Bare Egil Band songs with a couple of people + guitar. Quite nice touch to the whole trip haha.

Back in Oslo, another thing i did was to go back to one of my boyscout meetings! It was quite nice seeing old faces that have stuck with it ever since. While i was looking around in the shed that we held our meetings, i saw a few photos of me during my time there haha… xD If you want to see how i looked while i was in norway, here is your chance (im the dude with the striped blue shirt (which i still have!)).

During my time with Lily (a family friend), the reckless me put my camera on my bed and went to sleep. What do i wake up to? A smashing sound of my camera hitting the floor…. and when i open the camera to check it out, i see smashed glass.. crap. Luckily it was only the filter “phew”! If it was the lens that smashed, im not sure what i would have done…! Lesson, dont sleep side by side with your camera, no matter how much you love it!

We also had a nice and cozy BBQ at Petter’s (i was at the time sleeping in his basement, petter was suppose to be the first person i went to but due to his mother going through a minor operation, it had to wait until the end of my trip). After the BBQ we went to another concert, Kaizers Orchestra! Really fun going together with a buncha people, even though we split up into two groups when we were there, it was a total blast!

During my time in Norway, i have slept on countless different beds/sofa’s and floors and i just want to say that i really appreciate the hospitality that everyone has shown me! Thank you all, come over to Canada whenever and sleep on my floor! :D Oh and btw, i bought around 150 dollars worth of chocolate so if you want a bite, come over to my place! I decided to give away the Jura single malt whiskey that i bought from Glasgow just to have more space for chocolate… its that good/nostalgic!

One month later i update with some Norway images! Better late than never.. right?! :D

So as i arrived in Norway, i luckily had two of my buddies (Simen and Petter) pick me up from the airport. We went straight to a shopping mall where we bought ingredients for burritos! After that we headed over to Ida’s (Ida and Marte were there from before) place where we started prepping up. Marius came a bit later which was the queue to start digging in. The burritos were quite good. During the dinner we also decided that the next day, we would go to Sweden!

The next day when we went to Sweden, we stocked up on a lot of goodies and alcohol. Its quite cheap over there so we tried maxing our quota’s as much as possible :P

My first sleeping place was at Marius. His parents were super nice and had this really rigid (and awesome) food plan throughout the week. Such diligence i must say! A few days later we had a mini movie night at Marius where we saw In Bruges + played with cool remote controlled helicopters! Unfortunately one of them kinda broke (it now spins crazily since one rotor has a different velocity than the other o.O). Another fun toy we were playing with were these small round magnets. Super addictive!

I also took a huge walk around the area where i used to live. First i went to an old neighbor named Solveig. She is a really sweet lady who i totally remember from my childhood. As i surprised her (by randomly ringing her doorbell after 7 years), she let me in and we had a long talk about everything. Before i left she made sure to tell me that i should call her so that we could eat together before i left! Free food yay! :P As i walked around in the neighbourhood, there was still snow on the ground which was nice. I walked all the way to Bryn Senter and looked at how things were going over there. As i walked back to Marius, i saw the ice cream truck! It had changed color from the iconic blue that i remember to some weird yellow…. well that didnt discourage me from buying a pack of sandwiches :D (didnt manage to finish them off so i bet they are still in the freezer at Marius’s)

I also went multiple times to the center of Oslo. Always nice to go around to the pier and snap some photos here and there. The pizza place called Peppes Pizza has really yummy pizza, if you go to Norway, dont be fooled by its “fastfood” look. Its good stuff! The one new building that i had to check out was the Opera House. It is one of the newest tourist places in Oslo.

Later on Per, Petter, Stian, Jon, Marius, Edda and Me would grab a beer while catching the last glimpse of sun as it set. Quite nice (but probably not legal) place to drink at! Things to note about the Opera house pint, the guy who was looking for beer bottles + a guy stretching his legs in a dark blue training suit!

Note: I was using my 50mm lens (which becomes a 75mm’ish lens due to my body) This makes it hard to get a whole big building in one shot. You will know what i mean when you look through the images!