Hazel M. Bala

Well let's see... I graduated from NYU w/ a BA in French Language and International Politics. Because of the French, I became an account executive in the fashion industry. Being a corporate yuppie didn't really sit well with me after awhile. So I switched careers and retrained as a Graphic Designer/Art Director building up my print portfolio (I wanted to pay attention to my creative side). Now in my 30s, I want to evolve into something more progressive along the lines of new media (i.e. interaction, web and motion). I've handled huge accounts, dealt with "captain of industry" types, and managed a staff. At this point, I want to focus on me and what I truly want to become professionally. I'm a lot more mature and honest with myself this time around. And I think I have more to offer artistically and intellectually than I had in the past.

Most commented posts

  1. Mash-up Project #2: Smart-Dwell — 2 comments

Author's posts

Mashup Project #1: The Food Finder

For project No.1, I call it the Food Finder.  An app or website that would help you find a place to eat, or IDEAS on where to eat at any given moment depending on your location. You would have to use your iPhone or Smartphone, to locate a nearby restaurant in NYC, which would then …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/mashup-project-1-the-food-finder/

Scrapyard Challenge

Final decision to use an umbrella + aluminum foil. Aluminum foil rings with wires attached. Dan mentioned it looked like a claw, therefore we christened it “the Claw”… Me trying to test the nodes to see if it tried to claw-off parts of the foil.  Note my finger, I sliced it open when I was …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/scrapyard-challenge-2/

Reading Commentary Week #4: Grey Album Producer Danger Mouse Explains How He Did It, by Corey Moss

I heard about this along time ago.  I’m a music fan, but I never really sampled this Danger Mouse’s remix of Jay Z + The Beatles.  I think anytime a musician touches the Beatles, they get sued.  So I wasn’t surprised that the a cease-and-desist letter happened. It was interesting to read about how Danger …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/reading-commentary-week-4-grey-album-producer-danger-mouse-explains-how-he-did-it-by-corey-moss/

Reading Commentary Week #4: “A Manifesto for Networked Objects: Why Things Matter”, Julian Bleeker

I had to read this one twice. Bleeker’s style of writing seemed a little sporadic at least for me.  I wasn’t really getting his train of thought, I didn’t know where he was leading me and mainly the metaphors he used seemed to be all over the place.  I couldn’t quickly grasp the material because …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/reading-commentary-week-4-%e2%80%9ca-manifesto-for-networked-objects-why-things-matter%e2%80%9d-julian-bleeker/

Reading Commentary for Week#4: Calm Technologies 2.0: Visualising Social Data as an Experience in Physical Space Michael Hohl, PhD

I liked how this article explored the virtual world vs the physical world.  And what does it all mean in the end? What I concluded was that there sometimes a need to map out who connects with you and the information you’ve shared on the internet.  Is there a way to visualize that and if …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/reading-commentary-for-week4-calm-technologies-2-0-visualising-social-data-as-an-experience-in-physical-space-michael-hohl-phd/

Reading Commentary for Week #4: Mashups: The new breed of Web app by Duane Merrill

This piece was helpful to me.  It was educational. One of the main reasons why I entered this program is to learn more about the web technology and its languages. A number of the terminologies Merrill used sounded and looked familiar.  The rest— not really.  Because before entering the program I’ve been doing nothing but …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/reading-commentary-for-week-4-mashups-the-new-breed-of-web-app-by-duane-merrill/

Reading Commentary Week#4: Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops by Thomas Goetz

This article has been extremely interesting to read.  Mainly because I’ve never encountered the terminology of “Feedback Loops” before.  I had an idea of what it does and what it was for, but I was never told that’s what it’s called. Goetz starts off by writing about the speed meter in Orange County.  Coming from …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/reading-commentary-week4-harnessing-the-power-of-feedback-loops-by-thomas-goetz/

7 in 7 Project #7: The Hush Box

Goal: The new space on 16th street, 12th floor is quite noisy during lecture hours, due to the fact that the old school ad agency concept for the space back fired… The Hush Box would control the amount of noise so no instructor should have to keep going outside and hushing everyone every 30 minutes.  …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/7-in-7-project-7-the-hush-box/

Reading Commentary Week #3: The Psychology of Everyday Things

I really enjoyed reading this.  As I’ve always been in search of what does it mean to design something and what’s the real difference between good vs bad design. It was wonderful to read his assessment on how doors and switches are actually badly designed at times.  Because in his observation, when there needs to …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/reading-commentary-week-3-the-psychology-of-everyday-things/

Reading Commentary Week #3: Alan Kay: The Computer Revolution hasn’t happend yet

I can’t really relate to this article, perhaps Alan Kay is way too evolved for me to follow.  He’s a brilliant computer scientist and also has a background in biology, from what I understand. In terms of the language of programming, I really have no opinion.  My background has been in retail math and graphic …

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Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/2011/09/reading-commentary-week-3-alan-kay-the-computer-revolution-hasnt-happend-yet/