Name: Caleb Kramer Current Location: Bloomington, IN Occupation: Student

Contact Me Email: caleb dot kramer at gmail dot com MSN Messenger: caleb dot kramer at gmail dot com AIM: kramercaleb

Introduction

I’m a student currently in my third year at Indiana University in Bloomington. The main focus of my studies are in the areas of interactive + graphic design, advertising, and business. Before moving to Indiana for school I lived in Taiwan for a total of 14 years as a result of my parents’ occupation. The remaining years were spent off and on in Ohio. Because most of my childhood years were spent in Taiwan, I feel I will always call it home.

Living somewhere other than your passport country comes with a lot of benefits, one being having the opportunity to observe another culture. While in Taiwan I attended an American school. This limited the development of my Chinese skills to only being able to speak and understand every day conversation*. While I could not read signs, magazine covers, packaging, or advertisements, I could still understand the imagery used in them. Growing up having to understand messages through visual cues steered me towards what I am intensely interested in today - visual communication and design. I believe that through observing design we can learn more about a person, place, or culture and what they are about. This idea is what my blog is partially centered around.

I started Observation Through Design for a variety of reasons. The number one reason is as a personal challenge. So many roles are taken on by the blogger: writer, researcher, and marketer to name a few. It will give me hands on experience in all those areas and in managing my own thoughts and observations. I chose the topic not only because it’s of interest to me but also because it’ll push me to learn more about it. In a saturated web environment it helps to have a motive directing what websites you visit. Lastly, I started the website as a home for my design work, photography, and anything else I wish to share with the world.

*For the past two years I have been taking Chinese at a college level and am slowly learning how to read and write, I feel like I am gradually breaking down the language barrier that I have faced all my life.