Category Archives: Graphic Design

Machines

The Artistry of Slot Machines

Following years of disappointing revenue, news that Philadelphia’s SugarHouse Casino is set to expand have emerged. The expansion is expected to add to the number of total games being offered by the casino, which in turn should allow more people to experience the artistry of slot machines.

As humans, we are creatures that are compelled by visual and aural cues, which is why casinos are often lit with bright flashy lights, ringing with bells and an assortment of other sounds. However, if there was one sense that overpowered the other on the casino floor, it would be sight.

 As Bally Technologies’ Corporate Communications manager Mike Trask said, “When you walk through a casino… you look for something that looks interesting. A player either looks for a game they like or for something that’s appealing visually”.

The imagery depicted on slot machines is crucial in terms of attracting players. Although people find familiarity in the three-reeled slot machines with falling images of fruits, gold bars and dollar signs, gamblers need more entertainment visually in order for them to be convinced of placing more bets. Illustrations have gone digital and now slot machines are utilizing video screens for impeccable graphic design. Video slots have become so popular that Total Gold, the newest player in the online casino scene, has taken to featuring various themed slots like Gonzo’s Quest, Bloodlines, and Spellcast, all with a unique look and feel.

Some themes and artistic designs have resonated over others, and when it comes to graphic design, science is just as much at play as art is. Gamblers have shown a greater preference towards the ocean-themed machines not only because of the high definition skeumorphic graphical user interface, but also because of the color blue ignites feelings of inner peace and security. There are a number of components in the provision of artwork for slot machines. In a way, graphic designers specifically for casino gaming technologies have a more difficult time in art development than other artists, since these graphic designers have to produce an interface that is prominent yet it’s still attempting to appeal to the entire crowd.

The simplicity of the three-reeled slot machine is still pulling patrons in, but now that more casinos are filled with video casino games, players are gaining appeal for higher quality playing with games like the Avatar-themed slot machines. You may not notice the impact of the slot machine artwork at first, yet you will once you realize that you’ve been sitting at the machine for several hours.

‘The Artistry of Slot Machines‘ is a contributed blog post.

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In Reverse

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My Better Half, monoprint by Terri Fridkin, MUSE Gallery

“Local printmaker Terri Fridkin will be having her first solo show entitled In Reverse at MUSE Gallery, 52 N. 2^nd Street in Old City Philadelphia from October 1 through November 2, 2014. The public is invited to a First Friday Reception on October 3, 5- 7 PM and an Artist’s Reception on Saturday, October 18, 3- 5 PM. She will also be participating in POST, Philadelphia Open Studio Tour on Saturday and Sunday, October 25 and 26, from noon until 5 PM.

Terri Fridkin is a National Honor Society Graduate of Drexel University Nesbitt College of Design Arts. She worked in the industry for many years and took classes in different media, finally finding herself in a printmaking class. This fueled her lifelong passion for art so she left work to devote more time to fulfill this dream, studying printmaking at various studios and art centers in Pennsylvania and New York.

Since exhibiting her work in 2012, Terri Fridkin has been in numerous invitational and juried shows. Selected exhibitions include Woodmere Art Museum, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, City Hall in Philadelphia, Widener University and various art centers and diverse venues in the tristate area. Terri is a member of MUSE Gallery, The American Color Print Society, and The Cheltenham Guild of Printmakers. Her work is in private collections in New York and Pennsylvania.

Her design background and years of meticulous and precise renderings have influenced her current work. Structure, pattern, line, and color, are the underpinnings of her prints. They provide discipline and a comforting sense of order to counteract the uncertainty and chaos that exists in our world today.

Terri Fridkin’s fascination with printmaking is influenced by the fusion of techniques along with the spontaneous and intuitive creative process. Each hand-pulled layer is formed by the previous one, which dictates the next, as the composition develops a strong graphic imagery. This is achieved by using multiple plates and matrices with transparent and opaque layers of soy-based inks, her medium of choice, along with water based inks, and acrylics. Experimentation, invention, and discovery are the driving forces that inspire her.”

POST, Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, a program of The Center for Emerging Visual Artists is the largest tour of artist studios and creative work spaces in the region, and one of the premier open studio tour events in the country. Each October, the Tours span 20 unique Philadelphia neighborhoods, feature over 300 participants, engage very large audiences As an annual Fall festival of visual art, The Philadelphia Open Studio Tours includes self guided tours of artist studios and related creative work spaces, gallery exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops, artist talks, receptions, and guided tours.

Linda Dubin Garfield
printmaker/mixed media artist/blogger
610.649.3174
www.lindadubingarfield.com
www.smARTbusinessconsulting.org
www.artsisters.org
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Autism Expressed

Program Description:

Digital Literacy is an essential part of job readiness, socialization and independence. Without these skills this generation faces a critical barrier to independence.

Working to continually raise the bar on the educational landscape and level the playing field for students with disabilities, McKeone presents, consults & facilitates training to reinforce the notion that students with autism and other learning variations can achieve more. This year Autism Expressed was named winner of the Educational Services of America Prize, Startup of the Year, and appeared on the cover of Philadelphia Magazine for their innovation in special education.

Join Michele and Trainers Edge to find out how she developed the idea for Autism Expressed and brought it to life to serve not only as a catalyst for new and innovative cognitive and social development for this generation of adolescents with autism, but for everyone living in the digital age.

Would you like to learn more about how AE started and addresses digital literacy? Join Trainers Edge ASTD Philly on Saturday, May 17th to find out more. Just sign up to register http://bit.ly/1lHySks

I met Michele McKeone at a Corzo Center for the Creative Economy event at University of the Arts. Her concept to use technology to help kids with autism communicate is deep and thoughtful. Michele is a real Philly N3RD, too, Autism Expressed is a home town tech start up with a great mission.

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RiTUAL Reading Room

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My Winter Coat, Barbara Henry, NJ and A Summer Morning’s Ritual, Pia De Girolamo

RiTUAL, Reading Room, 110 Church Gallery, 110 Church Street, Philadelphia PA 19106, 267 871 9375, HOURS: Thursday 1:30 – 6:30 pm, Friday 1:30 – 6:30 pm (except First Fridays, 5 – 8 pm) Saturday Noon – 4:00 pm, other times by appointment.

ARTIST RECEPTION:  Saturday, December 14, 2013,  3:00 – 6:00 pm

110 Church Gallery invites you to retreat from the cold into our gallery, transformed into a reading room. Be surrounded by stories, engulfed by pages, dazzled by over two hundred books. Books on shelves. Books on tables. Books hanging. Walls covered with books on display. Take books down, curl up and read. Fall in love with a book, buy it, and take it home.

Each of these books has been constructed from a single-sheet surface that is no larger than 11 x 17 inches. Over one hundred artists submitted books, addressing the theme: ritual.

RiTUAL, Reading Room, 110 Church Gallery

RiTUAL Reading Room is a meme based in Social Practice. To get the idea out into the Philadelphia art scene and have participation, the message had to be simple, easy to explain and memorably fun. By adding terms and conditions the curators established a concept that artists could share with each other, all you had to do was follow simple instructions. Making books in the Age of Digital Reproduction is a challenge to artists desiring to express themselves on paper. RiTUALS let’s the artist write whatever kind of book they like and then share the wall space with other artists, their work pixelated into the matrix of the meme, each book like a nerve connecting to the central nervous system of the art show. It really makes you think.

The design is simple and elegant with each book, loaded with information, waits to be unpacked by a viewer. Action is required to view the books displayed artfully in clear bags, concise tagging and information design creates a clever design experience. At the First Friday opening people ‘reading’ the books in random order mostly said, ‘Cool!’ There’s no better word.

110 Church Gallery, RiTUAL, Reading Room

RiTUAL as a social practice experience is intellectually satisfying from the ad campaign with the sample instruction books to the on-line campaign to the virtual display, the idea is to express a concept within constraints. The books nearest the door are hung from display pins so the wind won’t blow them over, object-like books such as the tea-bag book are on pedestals and tables and the rest are displayed on slim racks with taut string keeping them in place.

The origami-like fold of the paper creates a four page book, with 8 sides and the opposite side of the paper can be a poster. There are books of prints, poems, recipes, photos, patterns, drawings, paintings, embroidery and sculpture. And there are stories told in eight pages that will make you laugh or cry. The tactility of handing the books and sharing the discoveries with others opened up communications so that people interacted instead of the anonymity of the library.

110 Church Gallery, RiTUAL, Reading Room

RiTUAL creates an environment saturated with information, ideas and design. The cable knit sweater book by Kate Flake is an expression of the information technology of sewing communicated as memetic code. A meme of cozy comfort is translated into the book in a language different from words; a thread of thought creates a story in an un-named tongue that is easily understood and re-interpretted into words.

110 Church Gallery, RiTUAL, Reading Room

Pia DeGirolamo’s books are delightfully informative and rich with style and taste. And by taste I mean food. Tomato Sauce Ritual teaches how to be resourceful and make yourself some decent Italian food; you live in Philly you should know how to make sauce. The illustrations, text and paper all add to the narrative in ways that are visually tasty.

110 Church Gallery, RiTUAL, Reading Room

Thank you to Stella and Margaret from 110 Church Gallery for taking up this idea that involves depending on a lot of artists to create something new and making the exhibition a reality. The show has hundreds of books, there is an on-line catalog with pages about the artists and their books. RiTUAL is a lot of information that required deep thought and attention to detail to make happen.

110 Church Gallery consistently presents art that is thought provoking and unique, with RiTUAL the curators have communicated with the arts community in a way that they responded to with exciting and beautiful concepts of their own. Creating a spirit of community is the essence of the art show and if you spend time reading the books in the gallery you will learn about the people of our community and their rituals.

RiTUAL online catalog

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted.

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