The end of Autumn

and here they are...quack!















along the river..















nature carpets the ground















in an explosion of warmth

Autumn in Schwaebisch Hall... more pix to come

Notes from the memory banks

It is almost 4am in the morning, and I am awake because... you guessed it, beer in my stomach bubbling away. It also doesn't help the fact that I get the munchies just before I get knocked out by the combination of fatty food and beer urgh, why do we do things that make us regret....and keep on doing them...aren't we supposed to learn?

Anyway, before I forget to write this down..an important but crucial point in collaboration was mentioned to me by a an impressive man from Portland school of Arts over lunch at the Mens A (school cafeteria).

To be able to allow an environment within the dynamics of group collaboration, for the possibility of good honest feedback amongst students of each others work - there has to be an element of trust.
The way he goes about this is to assign work that will not stretch the skills of the students too far, and allow them to constructively state the strengths and weakness of each others work, without the need to defend something that they have put their heart and soul into. Gradually this builds the students trust in each other evaluations, thus allowing free flowing dialogue and strengthening the bond between the group.
This is possible over the time period of about 4 weeks, and reflects the real world scenario where the sum of the efforts is greater than the individual efforts.

Michelle's surprise birthday dinner - We pulled it off!

Niceeeeee...

Slick..

Leo cruisin' in

Ali's famous muffins in the middle of the table

We had singers, flute players, a break dancer, guitars, yellow tequila with cinnamon orange, german beer, red and white wine---lots of Russians...what a party to celebrate Michelles week long birthday festival....yeah!

Michelle's surprise birthday dinner - We pulled it off!

Salad anyone?

So sexy it hurts!

Please can I have some more...

Wrestlemania! 

Colour Theory and Design Management

The essence of design, as Herbert Simon said, is working to change existing circumstances to preferred ones.

The key to building a sustained innovation capability means working on these three dimensions — products, processes, and culture — as one integrated, simultaneous effort. This means constantly working with relationships between very diverse factors, suggested by the partial list below.

Products	Process	Culture
physical form	customer research	people
user interface	design & engineering	identity
design language	manufacturing	meaning
functionality	quality assurance	purpose
enabling technology	procurement	attitudes
product families	customer support	sensibility
line extensions	human resource management	vision
price	supply chain	mission
advertising	financial analysis	conversation
services	sales and marketing	style of work
total user experience

http://managementinnovationgroup.com


Using different tints and values to texture your surfaces adds depth and makes even stylized cartoony or artistic paintings seem more real and inviting and natural.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com

Michelle's surprise birthday dinner

Anna and Krystal -- she came up with a great vegetarian pumpkin pasta dish, I made salad and Ali some mouth watering muffins..we were all nicely full.

Ross and Christina, both from U.S.A, kool people to dance to German surf music to.

Attack of the Alunga!

Ross and Lizzy 

Michelle's surprise birthday dinner

Ali's sexy look

My sexy look

Emma and Michelle show their style

What the heck, this is where the parties at..(Sara) 

Michelle's surprise birthday dinner

Carolin churning out the tunes with her fans looking on

Table for many

Yummy... the best cake I have had in Germany so far
Light fluffy meringue, with chocolate and hazelnuts, pistachio, cream and wafers

Carolin and Kim (our exchange coordinator)

1st Semester Party last weekend @ FHSH

Mischa ( kool guy who knows how to take care of his hair) and Yvonne (she lived in and studied High school in Singapore)

Alex the big Russian, tough on the outside and cuddly on the inside (don't tell him I said that though)

The theme of the party was to dress up as a fantasy character, I went as a Yakuza gangsta with a dragon tatoo on my arm. Emma, maybe a deviant in jeans?

The beers were 1 euro, much to my enjoyment and detriment on the night. This was taken before....

and after the blurry vision.

I ended up being carried upstairs to my apartment by Ali, got friendly with the toilet and waking up with slight regrets.

Promised myself to hold off on the alcohol for as long as possible and quickly emptied half the fridge of beers, downstairs to the girls apartment.

Of course this story has a happy ending, I enjoyed lovely German beer 2 days later.

Fairy Queen
The 1st semester students painted a nice looking mural of the forest with mushroom installations, we had 3 DJ's from the school, though it was tough to dance to house.

Izy from Kulture Design

We're so kool for this school!

He's got my right breast!

1st Semester Party @ the Fachhochschule

Vanessa and Carolin


Ali in the house


Travis and Michelle

Spooky!

Captain Michelle AHoy!


I wish I was a Krsytal fairy


We have the moves that wanna make you groove...


That' s right, that make you wanna groove