NuVu Coach S. Adrian Massey III summarizes the final project for the Envisioning Now studio: Envisioning Now is a design studio about lifestyle visionaries who manifest their comprehensive re-imagining of society through mass production. The work of these visionaries meet unmet needs and fulfill unseen styles. Envisioning Now is a two week approximation of the processes used by product designers. These processes include brainstorming, sketching, specification, manufacturing, and marketing. The final project was to design a fantasy context and novel product for a researched occupation that is able to be manufactured now. The deliverables for the project were a questionnaire and answers, occupation research, a vision board, design iteration, design specs, a model, a storyboard, and an infomercial. The students were first directed to research their self-selected occupation. From this research, they constructed interview questions with an emphasis on being concise and investigative. The occupations that were selected were a symphony hall director, detective, cardiologist, architect/urban designer, and a rocket scientist. After they conducted their interviews they began their iterative product development processes. Please note that the students very roughly learned these processes the first three days of the course.

Update from our student Owen in the Space Mining studio: The illustration below, which I created using 3d Studio Max, shows the mining pod that will be carrying the mining equipment to the asteroid. It is shaped as an extruded heptagon. When the pod falls onto the asteroid it will end up rolling. When the rolling stops, the pod will open. Because of the way it will open, it will correct itself if it isnt upright. The pod opens using two hydraulic jacks that push the heptagons apart. As the heptagons are pushed apart, they go down because they are attached to the base of the pod with hinges. Four elastic bands, which connect the heptagons to walls of the pod, help unfold the pod. When the pod is fully open, it releases an acid onto the asteroid followed by an adhesive. That effectively grounds the container to the asteroid.

The spider is almost walking but still lots of coding to do. 

Photos by Kayla Guzovsky Each year my best friend Carson and I make gingerbread houses together during the holiday season. For the past three years we have invited a different group of people to join in this tradition. This year we shared this experience with our friends Lexi and Taylor. Each brought a piece of their personality to their project Some silly, some creative, some more meticulous Each executed their ideas with delicacy and precision And each rewarded themselves with a taste of their hard work

NuVu Studio has been selected to participate in Microsoft's U.S. Innovative Education Forum taking place in July in Redmond, WA. We will be presenting our creative technology projects alongside other schools' projects from around the US. Here's a blurb from the press release sent out by Microsoft on June 6, 2011 announcing the finalists: Microsoft Announces Second-Round Finalists for U.S. Innovative Education Forum One hundred of the nations top educators will compete to represent the U.S. at the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum in November. REDMOND, Wash. June 8, 2011 Microsoft Corp. today announced the selection of 72 additional educators to attend the 2011 Microsoft U.S. Innovative Education Forum (IEF). These second-round finalists will join the previously announced finalists traveling to the Microsoft campus in Redmond in July to showcase the creative ways they are using technology in the classroom. This year, Microsoft Partners in Learning saw a record number of submissions from teachers transforming their classroom curriculum using technology. Of the many applications from individual teachers, partners and schools, 78 outstanding educator projects stood out that address tangible, real-life issues for students, such as blended learning, service learning and civic engagement, working with social media in education, creating entrepreneurship opportunities, assistive technologies, and the application of gaming as it relates to learning. Presented by Microsoft Partners in Learning, the U.S. Innovative Education Forum celebrates outstanding school leaders for using technology in their classroom curriculum to enhance positive learning outcomes while increasing student engagement and success. Teachers who apply to attend the U.S. IEF are evaluated based on the learning philosophy and goals of their project submission, their use of technology in the project, and their ability to demonstrate examples of student work and achievement connected with the project. The school leaders selected to attend IEF are the best in the nation at incorporating technology into their classroom curricula to enhance each lesson and really break through with students, said Andrew Ko, senior director, U.S. Partners in Learning, Microsoft. It is inspiring to see these educators use technology to get students excited about learning and connected to the issues impacting their lives while developing the skills they will need for a successful future. Educators who attend the celebratory event will network and share their teaching best practices with peers, engage in learning excursions to Seattle landmarks, participate in hands-on learning sessions with Microsofts latest technologies, and present their projects to a panel of judges. Ten projects will be selected to represent the United States at the Partners in Learning Global Forum this November in Washington, D.C., where they will compete against educators from across the globe. These are the 72 second-round finalists selected to attend the U.S. Innovative Education Forum...

Here are some images of our first day of the Balloon studio. The studio is taught by Jeff Warren and Seth Hunter from the Media Lab. We managed to fly the camera 3 times. Jeff and Danny inflating the balloon using the gigantic Helium tank.

Listening to the weird noises coming from the big balloon.

Making sure the camera is well protected

Ready to launch but Mariah does not want to let go because she is worried about the camera

The balloon quickly rising, 1200 ft

All happy

And some images from the sky





Here are some more images from a different shoot. Unfortunately, we forgot to change the resolution so the pics are not good resolution but the shots are amazing.

Video by: Elinor Brelis and Tyler Myrick Studio: Food For Thought Synopsis: This video is somewhat of a trailer for a documentary style film about eating insects in the future. We believe that they may become a main food choice within America. In the video we try to portray the attitudes of typical americans towards eating bugs and explain their reasoning. We also convey how insects are a healthy source of protein and other nutrients and how they are eaten in many other countries around the world. Inspiration/facts/research: The inspiration for this project came from an article I read while we were researching topics for the film. The article was about insects being eaten and how they are the food of the future and we found this topic interesting and also not very well known so we decided to make the film about it. What is the role of food: The film is examining insects as a potential food source. We are questioning food in the United States, what people will and wont eat, and why. Characters: There arent really any characters in the film. There are just people we interviewed. This is a list of those people: Ourselves, Gabe, Kyle, Ani, Eddie, Sean, and Gus Rangatorri. Where is the Setup: The film takes place at Nuvu in the green room, at Toscanninis in The kitchen, and also at the various locations of the clips we found. Story Structure: We begin with Gus talking about different insect delicacies around the world and then go into the Students saying weather they would eat a bug or not. Then Tyler says that he has eaten a bug and Gus explains his insect ice cream flavors and the concept behind them. Next we explain the nutritional value of insects. We end with students talking about weather they think bugs can be the food of the future. Shooting Style: For the interviews we tried to shoot from an angle so that the subject wasnt looking directly at the camera but instead at the interviewer. We used a tripod and shot from what I would say was about a 45 degree angle. The clips however were shot from many different angles and with varying methods. When we shot in Nuvu there was light coming from all sides but at Toscanninis we had to make sure to not shoot against the light. The Editing: When we edited and put the film together we began by getting all of the clips and interviews together in one place. Then Wrote out a play by play of the movie and proceeded to build the film based on that. The pace of the film is somewhat fast just because we knew we were making something along the lines of a 3-5 minute trailer, not full length movie. Most of the cuts between clips or interviews are just cuts and not fancy transitions, but we tried to put clips together that would flow smoothly and to relate clips to the things being said. Time: There isnt really any sense of time in this film because its not fiction and we were not following the progress of anything.

In the "Picture This" studio taught by artist Raghava KK, students created iPad apps that addressed deep social issues. The apps were later developed by Above.
Below are the three iPad applications the three student teams developed in the studio:


A Technological Birthday by Neddy Beckwith, Alex Jacobs, Jake LiBassi, Max Penzel, Taylor Pierce Our goal was to create an iPad app that would address a real world issue that we cared about. The issue that we chose to address was the growing disconnect between people because of technology. We feel that people are more dependent on technology now than ever before and that it isolates a person from the people around them. We got this idea by thinking about the conditions on trains and at airports today, where people are either on their phones, computers, or iPods. Our iPad app is centered on a kids birthday party. There are two slides. In the first slide, all the kids are withdrawn from each other and using different forms of technology. In the top right hand corner of the slide is a five-second countdown. If the app is left untouched for five seconds, for each additional second after the initial five, a character will change and interact as a group. We incorporated the different capabilities of an iPad into our app. The main aspect is the ability to touch and interact with different parts of the app. For example, when the boom box is touched, the musical notes move and sound will come out of the boom box. Also when the TV is touched, the lines showing the TV move and white noise comes out of the TV.


Four Legs by Najwa Aswad, Rachel Dolgov, Sara Radin, Maggie Schneider What we created was an interactive art piece for the iPad. It was meant to emulate the style of painting similar to childrens books. This style is fun, creative, and ironic considering our theme. The scenario is a family of animals at the dinner table: a tiger, a cow, and a monkey. We chose these animals because they are universally recognizable, and the fact that they are different species represents diversity in modern families. The animations in this first scenario are meant to be playful and childlike. When the iPad is shaken, these characters disappear and are morbidly turned into products. Other props in the scene break to signify the shattered paradise that existed before they were made into commodities. The overall purpose of this app is to educate all ages about the issues concerning the monopolization of animals.


MooMoo in the Mirror by Isabelle English, Ginny Hollingsworth, Sam Law, Nandini Srinivasan Our Idea was golden. We were going to create a childrens book that featured intricate settings such as a carnival and rodeo. We had lists and lists of animations and fun sounds that we could incorporate into the page. Before we realized it, we had thought up more ideas than we could ever possibly include on one page. Then, at the end of our creative explosion, we realized that our reasons behind each youthful attribute were non-existent. So we sat in silence and frustration for about a day. We then changed gears, focusing on the idea of body image, something each of us could relate to. We created a scenario that would incorporate both our creative madness and our personal and relatable struggles. Moving forward we continued to build on this and everyday we added something new to our page. Our group constructed a character that was soon named MooMoo. MooMoo is a regular boy who struggles with the way he looks. We had the idea of MooMoo looking into a mirror and evaluating his reflection. When he is sad he sees an exaggerated version of himself, his features are larger than normal and there is an air of general sadness that surrounds him. Then when he is happy, MooMoo sees his true reflection and is inundated with joy and pride. Also when MooMoo is happy, there is a poster of himself that hangs behind him. Whereas when he is sad, the poster is of a big body builder who makes MooMoo feel even more insecure. With this page we hope to remind people that their reflection is beautiful regardless of what peers and the media say.