The Wiser System

During the Spring term in the Langara College CS Communication and Ideation Design Program, I had the privilege of teaching a new course called - Independent Project. A class similar to that of Emily Carr's Senior Core Studio in which students were given the opportunity to choose their own topic/problem. They were to research its respective narrative and re-invent it for the better. As always, the students rose to the challenge and produced some promising results. I wanted to take the opportunity to share a certain project produced by Eugene Huh for its relevancy in our everyday lives.

From day one, Eugene wanted to help citizens make more rational, sustainable, decisions when buying products. His project was called "The Wiser System" and his goal was to influence consumers right at their particular point-of-purchase. Inspired by the Nutritional Facts labels on food products, he created a system that highlights a product's impact in three key areas: Environment, Social Welfare (community) and Personal Health.

To help convey his concept, he created a simply charming video reel using stop-motion animation and paper cutouts. Quite the fitting execution.



He also created 2 more reels in order to contextualize the real world application of the system on an iPhone (note: they're still in early stages - but his human sound effects are great).





A special thanks goes to Selma Zafar, Lisa Hemingway, Dean Ponto and Cindy Sheldan for their expert advice and encouragement to Eugene over the course of the term.

If you'd like to learn more from Eugene, feel free to contact him at eugene_huh@yahoo.com

~tyukawa

ECU Gradshow

Tak and I enjoyed the opportunity to see the work of this year’s Emily Carr University grad show. This group is close to our hearts, having had the opportunity to instruct them on their fall semester projects, and it was nice to see them show off their hard work and creativity. The work is solid this year, and it’s always surprising how polished the final solutions are presented. 

This time of year, there’s always debates and politics around design programs as everyone tries to measure who’s doing what best. An evening like this reminds us that at the heart of all the work is people, all on different parts of a journey, that will lead to many different destinations.

Congrats ECU grads of 2009.

Ginger Ngo, a talented typographer who we had the privilege of having in our office for the better part of 6 months.

Joomi Choi and Mi Hyun Sung presenting their game that deals with the topic of death.

Chloe Lan and her project on the Plantilions (a must see to understand what they are).

Don Williams.