Taa-daa! As we are gearing up to our graduating conference on May 2, we released a set of teaser videos today to promote Eventually Everything.

There are a set of 10 in total and they are all worth watching! Here is mine:

A big thank you to Jeff, Neil, and Felix who gave us their time to produce these.

A few good things have happened lately: two weeks ago, I signed on to be a designer for a thriving creative company (I’m surprised I was able to contain my joy and refrain from excessively excited tweets); I’ve now finalized plans for my family to visit me in May (a much needed reunion with my mom after two years); and I’ve booked myself a mini but indulgent vacation after my commencement so I can catch up with old friends in Toronto before starting my new job in June. It felt so good to finalize these post-graduation plans, right before I jet off to Florida last week for a few days of sunshine.

Florida was a good reward for the last 15 months of thesis. After so much research and writing, I realized that as much as it can be enjoyable, I couldn’t write about design without being a designer. And I’m ready to be a designer again. I don’t think the last two years have been a waste though, because I’ve learned so many new things and am ready to put my coding brain on to try something very different. I can’t wait!

Finally received my mailing from the new subscription service Quarterly yesterday! After much anticipation, #JMD01 arrived safely at my doorstep with a ton of goodies to inspire child-like curiosity.

John Maeda‘s first mailing for Quarterly includes Sparkle and Spin–a picture book by Ann and Paul Rand, a classic Slinky, two sizes of kamifusen (Japanese paper balloons), and a limited-edition drawing. When I first opened the package, I wasn’t as thrilled as I was expecting some meatier material with more sophistication. But after spending a few minutes with the Slinky–a toy I had never owned as a child–I understand why Maeda considers it to be an integration of “science, technology, engineering, and math, fluidly with art.” It’s shiny and moves and above all, it’s dead simple. I also had a surprisingly good time inflating the paper balloons and tossing them around. This package felt like a gift for my fake 8th birthday.

I had no idea what to expect when I first signed up for Quarterly in November, but am so glad that $25 bought me a morning of delight. Looking forward to receiving the next mailing, and maybe adding another subscription.

The website for our graduating conference, Eventually Everything: The D-Crit 2012 Conference is now live!  This event, moderated by Change Observer co-editor Julie Lasky, will be held at the Visual Arts Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street.

On May 2, I will be giving a short presentation based on my graduate thesis, “Intrinsic Expressions: Uncovering the Performativity of Figurative Typography.”

The appearances of letterforms have often been more shaped by the characteristics of the tools used to make them than by the expressions of their creators. Typography over the last century exemplified this–letters became rigid in aesthetic as a result of our increased dependency on mechanical production. Although typography today is still heavily grounded in the aesthetic principles of Modernism, there is immense potential for contemporary typography to become an extension of our bodies through the use of interactive technologies. This presentation will examine the opportunities enabled by technology to reengage textual communication with our bodily expressions.

This fast-paced event will include four themed panels, providing a platform for examining the influence of technology on expression; the relationship between man, machines and morality; the commodification of nostalgia; and the need for design to embrace maintenance and repair both in public housing and in appliances. I will be joining my classmate Julia van den Hout, who is presenting on contemporary ornament in architecture, on the panel titled Speaking Surfaces, together with Pentagram partner Michael Bierut and 2×4 founding partner, Michael Rock.

The conference is free and open to public, but please register here!

Next month, on April 13 & 14, I will be speaking at Bringing It Back: Design and Revivals, The Twenty-First Annual Parsons/Cooper-Hewitt Symposium on the Decorative Arts and Design. I will be presenting “A Resilient Medium: A Close Reading of Figurative Letters” during Session I on April 14th, together with two other students from Parsons and University College London. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Thomas Denenberg, director of The Shelburne Museum in Vermont.

The symposium is free and open to public, so if you want to hear me speak, please RSVP by April 10 to LanzaraA@newschool.edu

A heartfelt thank you:

to Alice Twemlow, Andrea Codrington Lippke, and Peter Hall for guiding this thesis since its conception and to D-Crit faculty members Adam Harrison Levy, Meredith TenHoor, Paola Antonelli, Russell Flinchum, and Steven Heller for inspiring the ideas behind this thesis through informal discussions;

to Andrew Byrom for advising on my subject from Los Angeles. I am grateful for his expertise and enthusiasm;

to Amandine Alessandra, Andy Clymer, Kalle Mattsson, Mirko Ilić, Nicolas Kunz, Rachel Mays, and Warren Lehrer for their work and knowledge that spoke to my subject matter as well as their generosity to answer my interview questions;

to Barbara Eldredge, Daniel Niven, Katya Mevzibovskaya, Misty McMillion, Phillip Alswin-Tobias, and Victor de la Cruz for their excellent collaborative performance at Occupy with Type last December. I couldn’t have done it without their volunteering;

to Andrew Kim, Mayo Nissen, Michael Silverberg, Natasha Lai, and Tara Gupta for their meticulous editing and insightful comments;

to my family for their gracious support and confidence in me to pursue my ambitions so far away from home;

to my friends for cheerleading as I completed this thesis and especially to Andrey Chepusov for his patience and encouragement;

and finally, to my dearest D-Crit classmates for the group pow-wow sessions, pep talks, and endless amounts of support. I am so glad to have shared the last two years with these nine talented individuals.[1]

Doing nothing else but writing my thesis for the last few months has taught me two things:

• I don’t want to be a writer.
• I want to be an editor even less.

The biggest lesson I’ve learnt from writing about design is how much I miss designing. There’s a real satisfaction in making something with your hands and owning it. Writing about other people designing or even editing other people’s writing about design simply doesn’t suffice.

I’m ready to print, bind, and hand this document over in two days…and graduate. I can’t say I’m as happy as I thought I’d be but I’m fine with that. For better or for worse, this closes another chapter in my life.

Crawling out of my thesis hole for a moment to laugh at this video by Entrinsic for Social Media Week 2012. Old people are so cute!

…and now back to writing about cyborg typography. Be back in two weeks!