You're looking at the future of ArtBabble.

About the content:

We launched in ’09 with 6 content partners- which was no small feat. But now we have 28 partners! This is THE driving force behind the website’s success- fresh material all the time, from around the globe. So, while having so much more content is a great problem to have, it’s a problem that needs to be solved. The videos have been bubbling onto the site at a rapid pace, leading to a confusing navigation and interface experience. You heard it here first, watch out for a new design in 2011! And let’s face it, the user interface could use a graphic refreshment at this point as well. I’m excited to get the new stuff we are working on out there. Stay tuned!!

About the technology.

The biggest thing that has changed in the past year or so is the release and adoption of HTML5 on web browsers, and smart phones. Equally as important was Apple’s choice to not include Flash on the iPhone (a decision I fully support). Problem is, we use Flash to deliver the video currently. This won’t be the case for too much longer! By converting our video player over to HTML5, we will be making the content a lot more accessible for loads of smart phone and iPad users. Currently, there is not way to stream videos onto a smart phone, so this will be a great new transition.

Oh, and then there are some new, top secret educational features we are working on that will dramatically change the way educators and students can consume all of the great content our partners have been so hard at work creating. But more on that later…

I decided to keep this volley a bit less cluttered than my “space pirates” version. I had made some vector bug outlines a long time ago and this seemed like a good time to use one. I used ants silhouettes to style the word “nature”. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Praying Mantis. I changed the mood by making it much darker. It’s starting to look like a scary/sci-fi movie poster to me now. Stay tuned for @jmscottimd’s final volley in this round coming soon.

See the other two round 2 serves before mine:

Also, see all four volleys from round 1 here.

Also, be sure to check out Aaron’s latest graphic design battle shenanigans over at at the official site of Layers Tennis. An epic battle of the beards sure to make you say wow.

Layers Battle inspiration photo - taken at the IMA's 100 Acres

Nathan:

As with all of the work in the 100 Acres Exhibit I was instantly intrigued by this sculpture turned seating. I have a personal belief that art is at its best when a piece’s form and its functionality find harmony, so it’s only right to give credit where it’s due. My concept was to turn the provided photo into a promotional piece for the artist who created “Bench Around the Lake”. I’m anxious to see where the other designers take this.

Stay tuned for a full update with the other three designers soon!

We started with this photo from 100 Acres.

Well, we got off to a late start but all of the volleys are in! If you remember, I originally posted about design collaboration and summed the way Layers Tennis works. I got some interest from local designers on twitter and we announced the battle in a follow up post here.

So now that you are caught up… I present you with the first 4 design volleys.

Nathan’s First Serve (click the image for larger view):

As soon as I saw this photo it took me back to the days of playing Let's Pretend, with my younger brother. With a little creativity we always managed to transport ourselves to places where adventure could be found. Looking back on those experiences it was obvious that I needed to illustrate a landscape that could have been fashioned from nothing more than our own imaginations. I had to restrain from overworking this piece, though. I wanted to leave it fairly open so the other designers could add elements from their own memory banks. I'm really hoping to see some pirate ships moving over the horizon or perhaps an octopus tentacle reaching up from out of the water.

Aaron’s Volley (click the image for larger view):

When Nathan told me that his first volley was going to be floating water and a concept of imagination my thought process went immediately to pirates. I love doodling and when those doodles fit into a design concept, it's blast. And isn't that what Creativity and Imagination are all about!?

My Volley (click the image for larger view):

When I saw pirates, I knew they would be part of what I wanted to do but wanted to continue to push the imagination theme. So finally it hit me, Space Pirates! I love doodling too so I added a few minor doodles and also flipped the colors.

J.M.’s Volley (click the image for larger view):

Looking at all the volleys i knew there was nothing more illustrative that I could add. I really wanted to find a way to bring the girls into the action. With the pirates and the space pirates closing in I thought it was time for the girls to catch a ride to their next adventure. That quote about imagination is by Jules de Gautier.

This is a little introduction… then each week we will post an update with the design volleys. If you are still confused, the video below should give you a clearer picture of what to expect. (It’s a compilation video of the entire Exhibition Season of Layer Tennis edited down to just 130 seconds.

I asked each designer to give me a bio introducing themselves to give a bit of background. We’ll be posting each of our volley’s up once a week and we’ll do a poll to find out who’s pixels will reign supreme.

The image below was given (a higher res version of course) to the first designer as the starting point. I can’t wait to get started!

The image was taken in the IMA's 100 Acres Art and Nature Park

Designer bios after the jump!

My name is Aaron Scamihorn. I am a designer at MediaSauce in Carmel. In my free time, I work more in the realm of illustration and portraiture. I have a passion for competition in design as it pushes us to be our best. Even that small level of competition you have while working with other creatives fuels a desire to try and one-up the other guy. I have competed twice on LayerTennis.com and made it into the 2009 finals competing with big-wigs in our industry such as Aaron Draplin and Scott Hansen. I also competed in the top 8 designers in the Chicago regional Cut&Paste event in fall 2009.

I have a passion for supporting local causes and have most recently created an illustration for Girls Rock Indy Chapter a poster in support of the Indianapolis International Film Festival and a Naptown Rollergirls bout poster. I am on the committee for Primary Colours and work with them in creating graphics and putting on events such as Installation Nation and Art Vs. Art. You can see more of my work at www.RONLEWHORN.com.

With a Purdue degree in interactive multimedia development and more than eight years of experience, My job is my passion, my specialty, and my art. Throughout the years I have specialized in user-interface/user-experience design, corporate visual communications, audio/video production, social media, photography and screen printing.

I am a full-time senior graphic designer and an adjunct professor in Indianapolis, Indiana. My url is http://cargocollective.com/jmscott

The abridged story of my career goes something like this: In early 2001 I started working as a Production Artist in the apparel industry. By 2004 I was a Lead Designer / Art Director for a mid-sized screen printing firm. In 2008 I started doing interactive design and fell in love with all of the challenges designing for the web can offer. I’ve never had the luxury of developing a singular style that I can call my own, but I’ve learned to embrace the fact that I’ve become a well rounded artist out of sheer necessity. I draw, I paint and I build things. I’m a logo designer, illustrator, web designer, print guru, iconographer and typographer… whatever the project calls for I’m always up to it.

If interested, you can check out some of my more recent personal work here, and some of my older stuff here. You can also see what I do at my day job here.

Basically what happens is this: a designer sends another designer an image that might have graphic design elements. The receiving designer then adds his/her flair and sends it back. This process repeats.

Collaborating with people you never will meet face to face is extremely easy now thanks to the internet. Not to mention, it is extremely green since you can do it from your own living room. I’ve compiled a little list of good design collaboration projects and websites that are following that same Layer Tennis model.

DesignSwap – DesignSwap’s sole purpose is to promote collaborations between designers by saying one simple thing – I design on your site, you design on mine.

Layer Tennis – Ten designers in ten cities, fifteen minutes at a time. Follow @LayerTennis on Twitter.

Dribbble – Rebounds: Respond with a follow-up of your own. Iterate and play off the shots of others.

Fark – One of the first sites to do this… and a Photoshop design contest is always in session.

I can has cheez burger? – I can’t think of a better way to waste time and collaborate creatively with others at the same time!

I’ve never taken place in a design battle, but I would jump at the chance if anybody out there in museum/design land wants to serve me. So… who wants to step into my cipher?

The first site is “Dribbble – What are you working on?”. I think of this website as a visual version of Twitter. It allows designers to showcase the latest version of what they are working on in “120,000 pixels or less”.

I’m so glad this site exists! The best thing about it is you can only become a contributing member if you are invited, or “drafted” as they say, by someone who is already a member, also known as a “player”. The branding is a play off of basketball and I think it works. The fact that the basketball is pink is perfect. It should help keep the jocks from getting confused.

Anyways, this site is an amazing community because it is curated by it’s members. Players can start design contests (example here), share work, get and give feedback, and all of the other things you’d expect to find on a social site. Good luck getting drafted!

BetweenCreation is a social network that seeks to promote emerging art worldwide. This is another great social networking site for artists and designers. Anybody can sign up!

Unlike Dribbble, this website will let you upload larger images. I like the “related artwork” sidebar feature which provides a pleasant way to browse through the artwork on the site. Also, you can post and share art events easily.

This week I wanted to talk about the iPhone app “Is This Art?“.

Made with love in the STEEL City, this app is collaborative endeavor produced by the Pittsburgh-based artists and developers at Deeplocal and the Mattress Factory. Extra-special assistance was lent by C-Monster and WNYC in New York. This project was inspired by a tweet from Nina K. Simon.

First, I think this is a great collaboration of local Pittsburgh artists and organizations to make something for the whole art community. And the best part is that it’s free of course! If you have an iphone, simply fire up the app and take a photo of an object you want to check out to see if it is art… or not art.

Clearly this is an epic question that is nearly impossible to answer, but I love the humor the collaborators have injected into the app. From what I’ve seen, the results are actually pretty accurate! Also, it’s nice to have the content users are submitting added to the website on the fly if the app user chooses to do so. I’m a big fan of the super simple app interface. A job well done indeed to all those involved!

More Info: http://isthisart.org/

A trending choice for web designers is to use a grid layout system as a way to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions. We based ours on a design with the width of 960px because our most common visitor’s screen resolution is still hovering at 1024 x 768 (according to Google Analyitics). Our grid system of choice is the ever easy to use and understand 960 Grid System. We chose the 12 column layout.

IMA Homepage with 960.gs grid layout overlay

The 12-column grid is divided into portions that are 60 pixels wide. The 16-column grid consists of 40 pixel increments. Each column has 10 pixels of margin on the left and right, which create 20 pixel wide gutters between columns. More

Here are a few more examples of our website w/ the 960 grid overlay: