Author Archives: Jason

About Jason

Jason R. Koepke is Founder and Data Strategist at GNT LLC, a risk-analysis and data strategy firm that provides analytical and technical services to the public and private sectors. His work and research has been featured in the academic, financial, and technical industries.

Things I Learned this Week

Among the things I learned this week:

* Mannequins are more complex, expensive, interesting, and industry supporting than I expected. (Courtesy: NYT)

* My local farmer’s market is pretty good, but it lacks the ready-to-eat variety–including any real coffee options–for which I had hoped. (Courtesy: Farmers)

* Fortified milk is one of the few sources of Vitamin D for vegetarians. (Courtesy: Internet)

* Scalable vector graphics aren’t too difficult to work with, although learning new software is always a pain. This is independent of the JRK as YSL piece I did. (Courtesy: Inkscape)

Pause to Appreciate the Songs that Matter

Let us take a moment to pause and appreciate the songs that matter to you.

Songs that make you cry: In three minutes, there are songs that make you cry. Powerful. For me, there are three that induce sobs, two out of sadness and one out of happiness.

Songs that changed your life: A few lines, a few chords–moment-for-moment, songs can be our most powerful experience. There are three songs that changed my life.

Songs with memories: Yeah, yeah. Everyone has memories with certain songs. We shouldn’t overlook these, but they are relatively small delicious potatoes.

JRK as YSL

Many people are familiar with:

Less people are familiar with:

Lessons learned from this effort:
* The YSL letters are not part of a font. It is a straight up logo.

* Making letters from letter pieces, because there is no font, is hard!

* Imputing letter design from a limited alphabet (e.g., there is no K and no example of what the R’s curve would be as a big letter in the full YSL logo) is harder!

* The layout isn’t the only that matters for this design. The letters matter, which is why my version is much less powerful (the “R” is problematic).

* Making the letters look like they interlock is critical. YSL works nicely because of the “S”. I used letter shadowing–hiding part of the “K” behind the “R”–to force a similar effect. I should have had the bottom of the “J” appear in front of the “R”.