Audrée Lapierre Blog

Data Visualization infographic

2010-11-17T12:40:00.002-05:00

FFunction made this venn diagram to help explain what is data visualization.

7 summits infographic

2010-10-21T14:27:00.002-04:00

This is a project I did for FFunction. I wanted to experiment with photo collage and data visualization. The "bars" of the graph create a picture.

Misteur Valaire: Golden Bombay

2010-10-16T15:01:00.004-04:00

If you don't already know Misteur Valaire, well you are in luck, cause you are about to discover a great band from Montreal. The cover of the album was designed by my talented friend Soleil Denault. She is also doing the art direction for their music videos.

Here is a cool one so you can get to know MV:

Misteur Valaire gives its music for free. You can download it on their website.

Unlimited Prepaid Iphone in Canada - trials an errors to get it for cheap

2010-09-26T08:47:00.007-04:00

Those who know me know I hate cellphone contracts and swore not to ever get one. I actually never had a cellphone until last April, when I purchased a brand new iphone 3Gs from craigslist and disconnected my home phone. I love the iPhone, but I hate the rip-off plans that comes with it. I do not need a data-plan, I can use wi-fi at home/work, and I surf the web enough already!

Plan A: Prepaid by the minute
My idea was to purchase the Rogers-locked iphone and use a prepaid plan, like here I bought a 30$ crappy cellphone from Petro-Canada, removed the SIM card and put it in my iPhone. I followed the activation process and it went smoothly. Petro-Canada is piggy-backing on Rogers network so there was no problem with my locked phone. I now had a prepaid service, 25 cents/min, 10 cents per outgoing SMS. Call answering, caller ID included. You can top up from your online account, it's well done.

Soon, it costed me more than a freakin plan, (60-70$ the first month I think) Even if I tried calling back my friends with my bf's phone or keep the conversations short, I still needed to talk to clients during the day.

Plan B: SKYPE + Prepaid by the minute
I installed SKYPE on my computer and on my iphone, discovering I still had 10$ worth of credits I must have had purchased 7 years ago. My plan was to use SKYPE OUT (allows you to call people that are not on SKYPE, its 3 cents a minute) to call, and when people would call me I would call them back from SKYPE.

It worked pretty good but did not reduce much of my bill... I think I was at around 40-50$/month, and if somebody important contacted me, I could not say that I would called them back on SKYPE or sometimes I would just forget.

Plan C: Forwarding number to SKYPE + Prepaid by the minute
I was disappointed to learn that SKYPE IN does not exist yet in Canada. In short, it gives you a phone number for your SKYPE, so people without SKYPE can call you anyways. There is a workaround that. I got a phone number from SendMyCall.com that automatically forwards my call to SKYPE. It's only 5$/month. So if someone called that number, it would make both my computer and cellphone SKYPE ring (iphone skype would only ring if I was on a wi-fi spot of course). Moreover, I setup SKYPE so it would forward the call to my iphone Petro-Canada number if I did not answer SKYPE. So it was just like having a home phone (SKYPE) and a cellphone.

This could have been great, but SKYPE's line quality was not always good. Often, I would call someone and they could not hear me, or they would but the line would skip. I would often have to call back from my 25 cents/min number. So in the end, it cost me around 30$/month, but it was a lot of trouble, and my friends complained about how complicated it was (2 numbers, one that you can text and the other not). At that point I was ready to go get Fido City Prepaid for 45$/month, but I learned that even if Rogers and Fido are the same company, you can't use a fido SIM card in a Rogers-locked phone. Crap, I was starting to look on craigslist to sell my 3Gs (which I love) and maybe get a used Fido-locked 3Gs. I also considered purchasing a iPhone 4 at the apple store, because they come unlocked. But it's expensive!!!

Plan D: Chat-r
While shopping at Future shop with my bf, he spotted a new cellphone company kiosk. Knowing how I was struggling for a good deal, he asked me to go talk to the rep. I was excited! Turned out that Chat-r was using Rogers network, and they offered an unlimited talk + unlimited in text + 50 out text + call id, voice mail, call waiting for 35$/month, no contract! The first time my phone would not take the chat-r SIM, but I think the guy forgot to turn off/on my phone.

Chat-r is a ROGERS company that launched 2 weeks ago. Basically they offer the deal their clients are craving, an unlimited prepaid plan for a good price. Their customers probably won't switch, or if they do they'll have to break their contract with Rogers and pay astronomical fees. So it allows for Rogers to snatch customers looking for a good deal. In a way, it's very similar to Fido City. You can call anywhere in Quebec unlimited, but if you get out of Montreal you can't even get the connection (you could if you bought a prepaid card, its just not included in the unlimited and at that point it's 15 cents/min).

The Beauty Of Data Visualization by David McCandless

2010-09-23T21:56:00.002-04:00

FULL OF WINES : wine journals

2010-09-16T15:55:00.004-04:00

The FULL OF notebooks were my graduate project. Recently, I was approached by Aire Libre to get them produced. You will soon be able to buy them from their online store, but until then you can simply contact Simon info@airelibre.ca

The FULL OF WINE journal is 132 pages. French and english. 29,95$ each.
This journal lets you rate the wines you try, so your impressions will always last. Numerous lists allow you to record wine recommendations and top pairings with different meals or types of cheese. Also: wine gift lists, a world map for your favorite wine regions, colorful note pages and wine and cheese planners.

The Expense Visualizer by FFunction

2010-09-14T11:09:00.004-04:00

It took us almost two years to get there: following a Canadian federal directive, departments had to publish their travel and hospitality expenses. Scattered amongst more than a hundred websites, VisibleGovernment.ca (a Canadian non-profit organization promoting online tools for government transparency) scraped this data and put it into a database. The result: a 22MB SQL database, which just waited for an online tool to unlock its potential.

Publishing data is a necessary step for a more transparent democracy, but this data also has to be accessible enough so that any citizen can use to better understand what is going on in the government. With other governments publishing financial and budget data, we felt it was time to create a tool that would give better, easier access to the information hidden in big spreadsheets and databases.

The ExpenseVisualizer is an online tool that takes advantage of modern web technologies to provide a visual, interactive window on the Canadian Hospitality & Travel Expenses dataset. Our goal was to create a simple tool that would give citizens the opportunity to look at the numbers, discover interesting facts, trends and patterns... and more importantly, to easily share their findings!

Neuvo Watches

2010-08-21T21:06:00.006-04:00

Montreal designers Mike Giles, Daniel Julien, and Aaron Daley teamed up to create a limited edition watch. The "Prospector Collection" will be the first offering from the much-anticipated Neuvo company, featuring four metal, digital timepieces.
Best of all, the watches are only 45$ each

Rita in the National Post

2010-08-05T08:24:00.004-04:00

Rita is doing an installation for FASHION WEEK. Article in the National Post
Festival Mode & Design Montreal: Studio Rita, the Next Big Thing

They also just redid their website. Worth having a look www.ritaritarita.ca

Mauve Naïf Late Summer Collection: Grosse Face (The Sequel)

2010-08-03T08:38:00.006-04:00

PHOTO CREDIT: JIMMI FRANCOEUR

My friend Catherine from Mauve Naïf just launched her latest collection. The pieces are a sequel of her previous "Grosse Face" collection, because one should never leave something unfinished.

Three articles are available to the public: The Face tee-shirt, Two Eyes crop top and Totem 2 "There is a banana in your ear" scarf. The others, like the gorgeous "Two Eyes" sheer dress or the tunique are protoypes only. Mauve Naif items can be purchased online via Etsy.

Burj Dubai - At the Top Exhibition

2010-07-30T17:27:00.003-04:00

Last fall, I worked with Joanie Cardinal and Sylvain Jacques for GSMPRJCT. We had to do the exhibition corridor at the top of the BURJ KHALIFA DUBAI, the tallest building in the world. Exciting project, it was huge, and printed on glass. The sad thing, nobody ever took a picture of it, so we never got to see it installed and printed! That's the only pic I could find on google, and what a glorious one.

Guess I'll have to go there myself to get a picture!

1:1 T-shirts back in store!

2010-07-30T16:26:00.003-04:00

Carry less. These T-shirts are printed with every day items and accessories, the way they're worn. The 2 most popular ones, ray-ban and gun holster are back in stock at Rita's boutique. But quick! They never last too long!

Couch graphics for Surface Jalouse

2010-07-10T10:17:00.003-04:00

This is a couch I made for Surface Jalouse. Basically we used the frame of an old couch, upholstered it with fake leather and painted it gold. We printed my design on the leather. Surface Jalouse is a surface design company based in Montreal.

Wallpaper for Salon Officiel

2010-07-10T10:14:00.003-04:00

Wallpaper for Salon Officiel bar. I never took a picture of it but I keep seeing it in the background of other people's photos.

North West Territories video by Sylvain Jacques

2010-06-29T08:29:00.000-04:00

Territories v0.02 from sjacques on Vimeo.

It's beautiful!

Nutritional Data Packaging

2010-05-08T15:49:00.011-04:00

This is an exercise project we did at FFunction and it got quite a lot of positive press. I had the idea a few months ago and I thought it was such an interesting idea to combine packaging and data visualization because it gives a purpose to the packaging. It's nutritional information while still carrying a powerful branding. I was very excited when TheDieline told me they would publish the work. I think a lot of people got a kick out of the idea. I just wished they would mention FFunction more and not just my name, I was not trying to self-promote. Anyways this is motivating us to make more quick fun projects!

FFunction
my portfolio

Article paru sur Stephane Halmais dans La Presse

2010-04-24T08:41:00.003-04:00

"Il s’appelle Rita

Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard est l’un des fondateurs de Rita, un studio montréalais coté dans le milieu, spécialisé en design graphique, d’objets et d’espaces. J’ai rencontré le jeune concepteur québécois, à Milan, la semaine dernière (en passant, je suis finalement arrivée hier soir, tard, au Québec).

Il est inscrit au programme MAS-Luxe ou Master of Advanced Studies en design et industrie du luxe (d’une durée d’un an) offert à l’École cantonale d’art de Lausanne ou ECAL, une institution d’une très grande renommée en design.

Ce programme lancé à l’automne 2008 est dirigé par le Français Augustin Scott de Martinville, un des designers de l’agence Big-Game, qui s’est fait connaître mondialement avec notamment la création de trophées de chasse ou «panaches» de cervidés en kit, composés de pièces en contreplaqué à monter soi-même.

Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard a travaillé sur plusieurs projets en compagnie de différents designers célèbres à l’ECAL. Son prototype exposé à Milan a été créé avec l’aide du fabricant de boîtes à musique traditionnelles Reuge et sous la supervision des frères brésiliens Humberto et Fernando Campana, des stars du design.

«L’idée derrière mon projet Tracks, pour Reuge était de revisiter la boîte à musique traditionnel suisse et de mettre en valeur le mécanisme en laiton qui semble tout droit sorti d’un roman de Jules Verne, explique Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard. Quant au choix du look heavy metal du projet, il soutient le contraste entre ces machines datant du 19e siècle et les musiques plus actuelles choisies: Smoke On the Water, de Deep Purple; Sweet Child O’ Mine, de Guns N’ Roses et Enter Sandman, de Metallica. Le tout teinté d’une pointe d’humour, bien sûr», ajoute-t-il.

Ce prototype à l’esprit parfaitement décalé pique la curiosité et pourrait même être produit en série (très limitée), par Reuge.

«Fait intéressant, sur les 14 étudiants du master, cinq sont québécois. Quatre proviennent de l’Université de Montréal , alors que je viens de l’UQAM», précise Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard.

Selon ce dernier, se «faire voir» pendant le Salon du meuble de Milan, le plus couru dans le monde, est une chance inespérée. «Et une belle opportunité de voir les artisans et producteurs en chair et en os», dit-il."

Le Husky - Chambre Noire

2010-04-21T13:39:00.001-04:00

Le Husky || Chambre noire from Dare To Care Records on Vimeo.

Several of my friends worked on this great videoclip. Did you notice the Mauve Naif scarf? On sale online!

App Magnets

2010-04-13T21:27:00.005-04:00

An awesome magnet set from Jailbreak collective. If only they would ship to Canada! Pictures via The Dieline

MV 2010

2009-12-19T12:47:00.002-05:00

Soleil Denault did this for Misteur Vallaire, a great band in Montreal, and our friends! You can download their album for free on their website. It's worth it.

mauve naïf

2009-12-15T13:28:00.004-05:00

One of my most talented friends, Catherine Lebrun, just launched her website. She has a clothing company, and her latest collection, GROSSE FACE collection, is full of fun tribal faces and patterns. You'll love it. And you can know buy her scarves, t-shirts and hoodies on etsy!

MAUVE NAIF website
Buy Mauve Naif on Etsy

Perfect Match

2009-09-07T21:16:00.003-04:00

This is a spread from a brochure I did in school. We had to "find" a bunch of images we liked, and then rearrange them so that the sequel would mean soemthing new. Kind of an abstract concept, but I really loved those two pictures when I put them side by side. Still love it! On the left, a statue of Staline, and on the right the beautiful Marilyn Monroe.

Art & Design Montréal

2009-09-06T15:06:00.003-04:00

Exhibit at la S.A.T. in Montréal, 11 SEPT. 2009. Rita will be presenting some of their fun, on the side projects.

Passe-moi un sapin, Rita

2009-07-21T18:19:00.004-04:00

Rita is doing the Reford Gardens in Metis-Sur-Mer this year again. They revisited their popular pinetree forrest installation.

Rita's license plate

2009-05-29T16:01:00.003-04:00

Urbania magazine asked design studios to design a license plate for the province of Québec, in their design issue ( not yet released). Here is the entry of Rita studio.

Infosthetics Paper-Based Visualization Competition

2009-02-16T07:59:00.004-05:00

Me and Sébastien Pierre from datalicious built this paper visualization for the Infosthetics Paper-Based Visualization Competition. We didn't win but it was still cool to do the project. Datalicious is a software company that specializes in creating visualization tools to unlock the value of large data sets. Here is our description for our entry:

"The Canadian Federal Departments Travel Expenses visualization represents each department's expenditures as a vertical bar. The deviation from the guidelines is represented as a green or red tip. Each department is laid on a grid in order of ascending size and ascending deviation from guidelines.

This visualization uses paper as a support for aggregating different layers of information into one single visualization. Each edge of the square represents a different aspect of the dataset. By changing his perspective, the viewer can actually change his perspective on the data.

We believe that interactivity is essential to understanding data. The use of paper allowed us to "invert" interactivity. While we have to simulate interactivity in computer programs, the use of paper allows a natural interaction, as one can touch, turn around, study and eventually appropriate the data. Ironically, the inert paper becomes more interactive than a complex computer visualization.

You can visit the contest here

WORK IN PROGRESS: WALL DESIGN

2008-12-24T14:12:00.005-05:00

This is a sketch I did for a wall design project. It's for a bar. They used to have paintings of naked women on the wall and they wanted something more "now" but not too masculine and cold. So I want to make futuristic collages using old black and white pictures, to link the old look with the new one. Geometry, lighting effects and space with a feminine touch! But I think they want me to remove the ladies...

Russian Dolls

2008-12-24T13:24:00.005-05:00

Side 1

Side 2

I painted russian dolls with gouache. It's a xmas gift for my mom, she collects them. I call them russian dolls wearing Mauve Naif hoodies!

If You Could 2008

2008-10-25T17:09:00.003-04:00

I participates in the If you Could Diary 2009 contest. Unfortunately my design was not selected. But with all the big names and incredibly talented people participating, it's not a big surprise. The theme this year was "If you could do anything tomorrow, what would it be?" And for me the answer was that I would work in Spain. I went there this summer and I really loved it and I speak some Spanish.

T-Shirt

2008-10-22T11:38:00.001-04:00

I was asked to make a t-shirt for the employees of Cafeo Café on St-Denis.

Love of letters

2008-10-22T10:45:00.000-04:00

In 2007, we did a letterpress workshop with Glenn Goluska. It was part of the Design International Classes and our teacher was Judith Poirier. We had to design a 13x19 inches poster with a typography quote. This is what Catherine Lebrun and I did.

"A love of letters is the beginning of typographical wisdom. That is, the love of letters as literature and the love of letters as physical entities, having abstract beauty on their own, apart from the ideas they may express or evoke. -John R. Biggs"

Of course we could not resist using the giant wooden letters!