http://www.benhannam.com/index.php/site/index/ en bhannam@vt.edu Copyright 2011 2011-11-30T00:10:36+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/graduate_student_seminar/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/graduate_student_seminar/#When:00:10:36Z I took my four-year old friend Ruby with me to school last night to help me teach a graduate student seminar. The goal of the evening was to divide the graduate students up into teams and have them design a game for Ruby to play. Each team had 30-minutes to create a game using an assortment of balloons, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and other supplies that I purchased.     At the end of 30-minutes the graduate students taught Ruby how to play the game and we watched her reaction. The winning game was a puzzle game in which Ruby had to match objects with their silhouettes that were drawn on a foam core board. Then the teams then joined together and held a KJ session to develop this game further.     One of the graduate students responded, “I really enjoyed today’s seminar. Although children usually terrify me, having Ruby as a guest was a fun change of pace. It was a fun challenge to work with a a client who has completely different needs and wants than I usually encounter…I was impressed by how much progress we made by the end of the class simply by building off of seemingly wacky ideas.” 2011-11-30T00:10:36+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/eastern_divide_ultra_logo/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/eastern_divide_ultra_logo/#When:02:09:54Z I spent some time today working on the Eastern Divide Ultra logo. I didn’t get much information about the race initially other than 1.) it is a 50 kilometer race from The Cascades to Mountain Lake and 2.) there are ferns growing along the trail. Needless to say it was difficult to create a logo for this event because I didn’t have much information to work with.     Sometime clients don’t appreciate what’s involved with creating a logo, they just want to drop the job off and expect you to make magic happen. This approach is like taking diet pills to lose weight rather than monitoring the food you eat and exercising. While I’m a talented guy and capable of whipping something up that resembles a logo, if my client(s) would just talk to me a bit more I’m confident that I could produce something amazing and I’d be more enthusiastic about working on their projects. When you work with a graphic designer take a moment to talk to them about your project, your goals, and your audience. A conversation like this will help you create a healthy, enjoyable and sustainable designer/client relationship. 2011-11-22T02:09:54+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/no_excuses/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/no_excuses/#When:19:20:15Z On January 20, 2009 I set out to become a healthier person. I joined TriAdventure and have worked out with them three days a week. They are a great group of people and I really enjoy working with the coaches who are tough, but a lot of fun to train with. Now it’s time for Phase two—start training for a triathlon. Today I felt very lucky to receive this Trek road bike to begin my training. I took it out this afternoon and did a quick seven miles on it. I was surprised how different it felt from my mountain bike. This is going to take a while to get used to…everything feels so different on this new bike! 2010-11-09T19:20:15+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/go_college_soccer_website/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/go_college_soccer_website/#When:17:42:35Z I got a call from one of the Virginia Tech soccer coaches who needed some help overhauling his website. He said he was getting around 100,000 hits per month and he wanted to redesign his site. I don’t know why, but I really wanted to work on this project so I spent the better part of yesterday working on a redesign of his home page. No money or agreements have been made, I just got excited about the project and started working on it right away and I’ve had a lot of fun redesigning his site and learning about soccer. I guess I just needed a distraction from working on my book for a day or two. 2010-01-23T17:42:35+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/american_package_design_awards/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/american_package_design_awards/#When:13:47:29Z I received notice today stating that my 2009 Holiday Promotion piece won an American Package Design Award. I had a lot of fun working on promotional pieces with my Intro to Graphic Design class. I used mailing tubes to create the kit and laser cut a pattern I drew into the tubes. I then included a bottle of wine and spices to make a mulled wine. The letter I received said there were over 1,500 entries and fewer than 150 were given awards. It’s been really rewarding to see how people react to this promo and their reaction has made all the hard work that went into it totally worth it—winning an award doesn’t hurt either! 2010-01-18T13:47:29+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/shel_perkins_aiga_richmond/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/shel_perkins_aiga_richmond/#When:14:52:57Z On Thursday I’ll be driving 3 hours to Richmond, Virginia to hear author Shel Perkins speak about what it takes to launch and sustain a successful graphic design firm. He’ll be talking about legal and financial issues, how to avoid common mistakes when hiring, intellectual property, client contracts and cash flow. I’m hoping some of what he says might be able to be scaled back to the student level and work its way into the book I’m authoring. I invited my colleague Somiah to come with me and I hope to catch up with some of my old friends in Richmond and VCU while I’m there! 2010-01-12T14:52:57+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/holiday_mulled_wine/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/holiday_mulled_wine/#When:05:42:33Z 01. Cut orange and squeeze juice into a pot. Using a knife, cut thick strips (including peel, pith and fruit) and add to the pot. Add water, sugar and spices to pot and bring to a slow boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. 02. Add wine to spice mixture and place over medium heat, stirring occasionally (do not boil). Strain wine and pour into mugs and add a shot of rum to individual servings as desired. Serve hot. 03. Enjoy your mulled wine with family and friends. Happy Holidays! 2009-12-15T05:42:33+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/ucda_conference/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/ucda_conference/#When:14:05:36Z My colleague Dane Webster and I will be presenting the paper, “Facilitating Independent Academic Learning Environments and Merging them with Professional Practice: Case Studies at Virginia Tech” to the UCDA Design Education Summit: Design for the Common Good conference in Mobile, Alabama at the end of May.     Unfortunately, Dane will be teaching summer school so I’m going to have to present our paper by myself, but the good news is I’ll get to see my buddy Diane (Gibbs) Smith from graduate school and catch up. I’m looking forward to the conference and hopefully some good seafood! 2009-05-01T14:05:36+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/risky_business/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/risky_business/#When:19:52:55Z I’ve always been intrigued by graffiti. I do not support it’s destructive nature, but semiotically and graphically speaking—the graffiti scene is ripe with potential. I think what I like best about it is that “good” graffiti is that it is often unexpected, a reflection of our culture, and depends largely on the amount of risk one is prepared to take. This week I delivered a lecture on the difference between creative and logical thought in an effort to encourage my students take bigger risks in their design work and process, but I also have to stop and ask myself—what risks am I taking? I hope to answer that question soon. 2009-03-09T19:52:55+00:00 http://www.benhannam.com/site/constraints_and_solutions/ http://www.benhannam.com/site/constraints_and_solutions/#When:17:05:02Z I remember watching a Charles and Rae Eames interview where designer Charles Eames was asked, “Do you ever compromise?” and he replied “No, but I’ve accepted constraints.” [ great answer by the way ]     Pictured left is a screen shot from the video game Call of Duty a popular first person shooter game. A father and his son negotiating the terms of his gameplay. The father writes, “I asked Evan to google the Geneva Convention and he had to read it and we discussed it. The deal is that Evan has to fight according to the rules of the Geneva Convention. If he or his teammates violate the Convention, play stops and Call of Duty goes away for a while.” I think this was a brilliant solution! 2009-02-22T17:05:02+00:00