Academy Grad Pete Infelise Captures America’s Love Affair With the Automobile in his “Illinois Route 66 Road Trip” Interactive Project
Pete Infelise (MFA09 Web Design + New Media) portrays the legendary Route 66 in his interactive project, capturing its legacy and landmarks through the decades.
Once known as the “Main Street of America,” Route 66 wound from Chicago to L.A., pulling a footloose America into the automobile age. Pete Infelise (MFA09 Web Design + New Media) has revived that era in his interactive project “Illinois Route 66 Road Trip,” claiming awards and attracting national admiration along the way.
Captivating vintage graphics merge with interactive finesse and irresistible storytelling in Illinois Route 66 Road Trip, which began as Infelise’s thesis and allowed him to be the first online student to win the top award at the Academy’s annual Spring Show. Among additional awards are a second in the 2009 SIGGRAPH International Student Interactive Competition. And now the project’s been selected for publication in the April 2010 Interactive Annual of HOW magazine.
Infelise says his goal with the interactive project was to “give the viewer an experience,” a statement that doesn’t explain why it’s so hard to pull yourself away from it. No doubt the era he captures has something to do with it: Middle-class America was entering its love affair with the automobile, and the allure of independent travel was exhilarating. Infelise is from Berwyn, Ill., and grew up around some of the original Route 66 landmarks still in existence.
To recreate this almost-vanished world, Infelise immersed himself in Route 66 lore and traveled the Illinois portion of the highway, taking his own photos and absorbing small town life and historical remnants along the road. His visual portrayal of the route is atmospherically portrayed via the technique of matte painting, most often used in the movie world.
An accomplished web designer, Infelise used his own photography, Photoshop, After Effects and motion and interactive design in his project. Thanks to his studies at the Academy, he was also able to learn the technique of matte painting, most often seen in movies, from an industry professional, Alan Sonneman.
To help Infelise study the technique, School of Web Design + New Media Director Lourdes Livingston put him in touch with a pro. “I hooked him up with industry professional Alan Sonneman, a matte painter for over a dozen films such as The Matrix Revolutions, Antz and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” Livingston recalls. “The beauty of Directed Study is coordinating the perfect match of student and advisor, and Pete’s final project beams with a high degree of both digital imaging and interactive animation that has taken him to the next level.”
Infelise, currently a full-time instructor at the Illinois Institute of Art, is grateful for the individual attention and exposure to working creative artists. “I really do feel very lucky, though, to have had the opportunity to work on a project that incorporates so many things I love: photography and Photoshop, After Effects and motion design, and finally interactive design,” he says. “Of course, another big part was the road trips — 11 total — and the people and places I had the opportunity to meet and experience along the way.”
Pete Infelise is currently teaching at the Illinois Institute of Art.
You can view Infelise’s digital portfolio here. His sculpture and mask work can be viewed here.
IPA 2009 Winner: "Abandoned Spree Park in Treptow Park"
One hour into his first Psychology class, Anthony walked out of the sciences forever and into the arts. He left his long-time home of Geneva, Switzerland for San Francisco, where he began attending the Academy of Art University in 2001. In the Fall of 2002, Anthony attended a mandatory liberal-arts class: Intro to Photography. Without any further education in the field, he continued to learn on his spare time while simultaneously pursuing his BFA degree in New Media.
In March 2003, he acquired his first SLR camera and documented the anti-war protests that shut down the City of San Francisco following the invasion of Iraq.
Since then, his compulsion for documentation has garnered him numerous awards. His latest two wins add to his impressive list. Anthony took 2nd place in the category of Fine Art: Landscape Pro in the International Photo Awards for his piece ” Abandoned Spree Park in Treptow Park”. His work will be screened on October 19 at the 2009 Lucie Awards, taking place at the newly renovated Alice Tully Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York.
He was also crowned a winner of the Photo District News 2009 World in Focus travel photography contest, co-sponsored by National Geographic Traveler.
“These are photographs from my backpacking, train-riding trip to India. I was there for two months with a budget of $11 per day for the last month,” he said. “I soon realized that the more I was lost, the more I found what I was looking for. The less money I had, the more exciting the adventures were.”
This amazing photo series – India: The Beautiful Struggle of Life – also scored not just one, but three awards from the PX3 photo competition in France in 2008, including first place in the People category for non-professional fine art. Vibrant faces and colorful backdrops are painted in rich hues throughout the photos, which document elements of life in India not often portrayed in the media.
The photo series was the culmination of a two-month odyssey, where Anthony traveled extensively through India, capturing the myriad faces and settings of this complex society. When talking about his inspiration for the series, Anthony explained that his interpretation of beauty differs from most Western standards. “I find beauty in wrinkled skin, stormy skies and decaying walls,” he said.
Although he didn’t plan it, most of the subjects in his India series were “Dalits” or “ Untouchables”. He said he was naturally drawn to their beauty and their surroundings.
“I believe the human condition contains a lot of beauty and people who struggle have a certain wisdom, an endurance mixed with anger and hope, and there is something beautiful about it,” said Anthony.
Early in his career at Academy of Art University, he decided to pursue a degree in New Media. The decision would allow him creative freedom and enable him to make a decent living. The interactive media and portfolio building skills he learned in the new media program at the Academy have enhanced his photography, as well.
“I often meet photographers who are unable to embed an image into an email or edit a video, let alone design their own promotional material,” he said.
A comprehensive overview of Anthony’s work is featured at www.anthonykurtz.com. Spectacular in their raw intensity and stark imagery, his photos explore such themes as nature, the world of today, and the world of tomorrow. You can also enjoy the great feature of Anthony by Design Taxi.
Parts of this post was excerpted from the Featured Stories written by the Academy of Art.
When TIME Magazine decided to produce a video story on Burning Man – the infamous annual art event and temporary community in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert – it turned to photographer, Barbara Traub.
Barbara has been visually chronicling Burning Man for 15 years, but it was her first shots in 1994 that became the iconic photo on the cover of her book, “Desert to Dream: A Decade of Burning Man Photography.” (By the way, Leonard Nimoy is a contributor!)
“I was looking for a new project to photograph. Having just moved out here, [Burning Man] seemed pretty ideal,” she said. “I remember arriving; it was late in the afternoon…the shadow of the man was stretched out along the playa with just this black speaker box…I was shooting with my Leica Rangefinder and I had one body loaded with color and another with black and white. I shot the same photo that made it on the cover of my book.”
Daughter of a photographer father, Barbara was born and raised in Baltimore and earned a degree in humanities from Johns Hopkins University. She then studied photography for a semester at SACI in Firenze and began her career at a daily newspaper and yearbook company. MFA students enrolled in the Digital Capture class this semester are lucky to have Barbara as their instructor.
If you read through her biography, Barbara has won too many awards to list and her work has been exhibited all over the country. There, she states that her personal work became a “search for the everyday poetic moments.” Her private explorations led her to Burning Man.
“It was a mind blowing. Kind of like parachuting into this whole other realm, this dreamscape. I felt it right away. I had arrived.”
By the time Whitney Triggs started working towards her Web Design + New Media BFA degree in 2004, she already was a Photoshop artist creating portraits, doing photo retouching and color correction. As her skill set expanded during her studies, she took on design work from clients like Ideablast, Myca Designs, DollarCamp and Jellyfish Art.
The freelance work didn’t stop Whitney from being exceptional. She made the President’s Honor List every year, exhibited in every Spring Show – winning first place in Typography in 2008 – and graduated as her class Valedictorian.
Currently, Whitney is the Marketing Communications Designer for World Golf Tour based in San Francisco, a free, online game with an enormous fan base. And she continues to freelance, both as a new media designer and a photo illustrator and retoucher. It seems her tried-and-true skills, along with her interdisciplinary ones, have served her well.
MFA Alumna Vidya Nayak Leads FOXNews Digital to Rich Media Adoption
She already had the technical skills, but Vidya Nayak wanted to sharpen her creative side – which is why she decided to pursue an MFA degree at Academy of Art University. As the lead user experience & web designer at FOXNews Digital, where she drives the ongoing redesign for FOXNews.com, standardizing the site structure and interface with new technologies and rich media features. The first phase was launched in January 2009; Nielsen reported that page views skyrocketed 50 percent as a result.
Vidya is also in charge of the FoxBusiness.com redesign. “We’re moving towards robust portal sites, focused on providing a comprehensive user experience and a content rich site. This also includes the launch of video players and custom applications for iPhone and other mobile devices.”
With the launch of Fox’s hulu.com under her belt, Vidya understands how to deliver broadband content on demand. 
Hulu.com is a free online video service that offers TV show, movies and other clips legally from the top networks. The flash-based interface is extremely user-friendly and the streaming videos are high quality. Vidya worked on the network and page promos focusing on Fox News and worked on a page for Bill O’Reilly’s Talking Points segment on Hulu.
“I think it’s a very amazing interface,” she said. “It is easy to use and is intriguing for the users.”
Vidya received an undergraduate degree in business and another degree in marketing while she was living in her home country of India. She decided to come to San Francisco, CA to study at Academy of Art University’s School of Computer Arts New Media to expand her skills in a new direction. The comprehensive design curriculum in the MFA Program was exactly what Vidya was looking for.
“I enjoyed my two years because I got to experiment a lot with all three avenues – especially the web,” she recalled.
Before she started working for Fox, Vidya worked for the publishing company Rodale after graduation. She worked on the restructuring of WomensHealth.com and redesigned Bicycling.com, MensHealth.com, and Prevention.com.
Some of this story was excerpted from the Academy of Art University News Features.
What are the chances of an undergraduate design student getting the opportunity to sit in a room with a top designer and listen to he or she talk about the hottest topic in the industry? Now multiply that by ten in one day.
When students enrolled in the Web Design + New Media Video 1 class in the Spring 2009 semester, they had no idea that they would get a chance of a lifetime.
Phil Hamlett, graduate director of the School of Graphic Design at AAU, is co-founder of Compostmodern, an “interdisciplinary conference that explores the range of design thinking necessary to create a socially and ecologically responsible society.” He tapped WNM undergraduate director, Bob Rigel, to see if one of his classes would be interested in filming the speakers at the event in San Francisco.
Bob loved the idea, and thought the Video 1 class led by associate director, Gino Nave, would be the perfect fit. Neither of them would guess what would happen as a result.
Compostmodern brings together designers, manufacturers and business leaders to find inspiration, share knowledge and explore real world opportunities for transforming products, industries and lives. The day was filled with interviews with the amazing speakers:
– John Bielenberg, Founder of Project M
– Michel Gelobter, Climate Strategist and Founder of Cooler
– Saul Griffith, Inventor of Makani Power
– Nathan Shedroff, Design MBA Chair, California College of the Arts
– Dawn Danby, Sustainable Design Program Manager at Autodesk
– Joel Makower, Chairman and Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com
– Allan Chochinov, Editor in Chief, Core77
– Eames Demetrios, Filmmaker, Writer and Creative of Kymaerica
– Emily Pillton, Founder, Project H Design
– Pam Door, Hale Empowerment & Revitalization Organization (HERO)
By the end of the day, the exhausted, but excited, students had plenty of footage to produce a compilation that told the story of what happened that day. Through this process, they learned why sustainability is so important and how, as designers, they could change lives.
The students were so moved by their experience, they approached Bob and Gino with an idea. Why not create a class that focused on social design? Contribute X was born just 7 months later.
Starting this month, BFA students that meet a set criteria are selected by their department to work on a multidisciplinary collaborative project based on the Project M model established by John Bielenberg. The goal of this unique course is to design and produce a comprehensive integrated project that serves the environment or community in a way that’s different from a more typical design project involving design for commercial application.
Enjoy the video created by the Spring 2009 WNM BFA Video 1 class that inspired them to take action. Perhaps it will inspire you, too?
"Flying with Bananas"
Born and raised in Colorado, Bob Rigel began his first drawings when he was in the second grade. “From the beginning, I always enjoyed art more than other subject,” he says.
He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English, Education and Fine Arts. He began his career as a teacher utilizing his experiences from the unique Competency-Based Teacher Education program created by educational pioneer, Dr. William J. Carder. He taught both Art and English in Colorado’s secondary schools for two years. While it was rewarding in many ways, he wanted to follow his dream of being a professional artist.
Bob began his career in fine art by making large colored pencil drawings (see right: “Portia” 24″x36″ – Verithin clay-based color pencils on Bristol Board). After showing them to Paul and Bonnie Zeuger of Gallery One in Denver, he began working exclusively for their galleries making Surrealist and Extramentalist pencil drawings, lithographs, airbrush paintings and serigraphs.
"Portia"
His fine art received national recognition with the Meininger Award from “Draw ‘82” and one of his lithographs, “Diapason,” is included in the print collection of the Wichita Museum of Art. After many years making art, he discovered yet another interest in graphic design when Apple’s Macintosh was introduced and digital tools for working with images and type became available (see left: Bob is “Flying with Bananas” – digital photography and Photoshop).
With the Mac as his primary production tool, he has been a freelance graphic designer, illustrator, digital imaging artist and color-correction specialist for over 20 years. His graphic design has won the prestigious Certificate of Design Excellence from Print Magazine’s National Design Annual and various regional awards as well. To keep his fine art skills up to date, he has studied sculpture and painting independently with master artist Simon Kogan (see below: “Door Closes, Door Opens” – 12″ high bronze on granite).
"Door Closes, Door Opens"
“I have always been an artist and I’ve always been one of those people who like to keep up with the latest developments in technology. Solving design and educational problems is challenging and rewarding for me.”
As the Undergraduate Director of the Academy of Art University’s Web Design + New Media School, he advises the department’s faculty, works with students and develops extensive curriculum for the classroom and the Academy’s online program. And, yes, he teaches, too.
Although he’s a busy man, Bob finds the time to share his knowledge. He has been tapped to present this year at Adobe’s Partner by Design Annual Meeting, a gathering of educators from America’s top design schools.
“My goal is to showcase our students’ mastery of design through the campaign projects they create at the apex of their studies at AAU. Our program is unique in that we’re creating a new generation of “renaissance” designers – those fluent in today’s technologies, but also ready to take on what’s in the future.”
So, what advice would Bob give prospective students?
“My best advice to students entering our program is to find the thing that drives you as a creative person and nurture it. This well-spring of creativity is what will allow you to find original creative solutions to design problems and will keep your energy high no matter how tough the problem is or how hard the work may be. If you do it because you like it, you will always be happy as a designer. ‘Follow your bliss,’ as Joseph Campbell would say.”
Kaiyi Wong graduated with his MFA in Web Design + New Media in 2008 with two award-winning projects in his portfolio. He won first place at AAU’s annual Spring Show the two years he was a student.
It’s no wonder that Kaiyi is the Lead Flash Developer for The Visionaire Group, where he’s been involved with several movie sites like the summer blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as well as the creation of social media and mobile projects, such as a Facebook application for the critically-acclaimed indie film 500 Days of Summer.
One of Kaiyi’s recent projects was with Universal Pictures to design and execute a powerful campaign for the fourth installment in the Fast & Furious movie franchise. The goal was to give fans an emotional connection to the movie, and go beyond the traditional website and trailer approach. They wanted to engage audiences through multiple touch points, and did so by incorporating mobile experiences.
The agency created a multi-faceted campaign that capitalized on the return of the star-studded cast from the original film, The Fast and The Furious. The campaign used video, motion graphics, and 3D to deliver an online experience that appealed to hard-core fans, as well as those new to the franchise. To spark the enthusiasm of the early awareness audience of young car enthusiasts, the campaign incorporated a fun and engaging website, rich-media advertisements, a downloadable desktop widget, a custom iPhone website, and more.
Based on the work he’s done, it seems that Kaiyi is an action hero fan. He’s especially proud of his latest work – the official site for Bruce Lee. “It was an honor to build the online presence for such a legend.”
It’s hard to pin down David Keller’s best work. He’s won four awards in various categories the past two years at AAU’s Spring Show and a Merit Award in Advertising at The One Show in New York this year. This is all before he graduated with a BFA in Web Design + New Media.
As a student, he worked with the web development team for Signatures Network who represents artists like the Beatles, Madonna, and Kanye West; shot golf courses and retouched images for a Flash based video game for the World Golf Tour; photographed fashion images for H&M; and brought to life the faces of those dealing with AIDS for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s city-wide marketing effort.
While his work spans across media, it’s clear that he understands campaign and branding, and that his love is photography.
Browse through his website, and enjoy family shots that don’t make the typical American photo album – like the project “Second Amendment” that shows his family and friends passion about the right to bear arms.
You’ll also see his 2009 Spring Show award-winning campaign “Everlast Boxing” that spans from print, web, video and photography.
David says: “This was a project that I wanted to do for about two years now. I have a big interest in the sport of boxing and felt the need to focus on the boxing aspect of Everlast and showcase the sport by its gritty roots.”
He certainly has a knack for getting at the essence of the project at hand, which is why we had a hard time leaving his portfolio site.
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