GRA 217 - Introduction to the Graphic Arts - group B

Pretty Legit

2008-12-08T17:43:00.002-05:00

This class was pretty informative. It did completely change my perspective when i look at any sort of design/graphic whether it be on a water bottle, magazine, or poster. I gained a huge appreciation for people that work in this field. Although i probably won't apply much of what i learned in this class to my profession i am happy that i took it. The teacher and teacher's aid were very helpful and always enthusiastic which made the class more fun. The one thing i do not like about this class is that it requires students to sit in front of a computer screen for hours at a time. I hope the noticeable decrease in my visual abilities is temporary.

Wrap Up

2008-12-07T16:59:00.003-05:00

Graphics 217 was an extremely enjoyable class for me. I was able to learn so much in the labs and more importantly in lecture. I can definitely say that this class has opened my eyes to things that I would have never noticed beforehand. I really loved the fact that we were able to redo our projects if needed after we got them back and the critiques with classmates on the day the project was due was also really helpful. Another thing I enjoyed was being able to look at everyone else's projects on the blog. Because we are not given the opportunity in class to look at every single persons project, the blog gives us that option. Thanks for a great class!

Wrap Up

2008-12-05T19:35:00.002-05:00

I really enjoyed this class. It was incredibly time consuming, and at time it was difficult to figure out how to work the programs, but I think the knowledge that I am taking from graphics will be super useful. It feels good to know that now I can put all of the Adobe programs on my resume, which I know will be a good thing to have. I really liked learning about all of the different aspects of a magazine, and before this class I had no idea you could kern/track/lead type. I know that I will look at things differently now because of the things I've learned.

Website Project

2008-12-05T19:28:00.005-05:00

So I thought my website post had worked but I guess it didn't, so here it is. I decided to do the same event that I did for my poster project. It was a tea and silent auction which raised money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. I used Bodoni to evoke the fashion-y feel of the event. I put people coming out of the teacup on the first page because I thought it fit the theme and was also kind of funny. I chose to make a collage for my past events page because I thought it was a different way to display pictures than a typical photo gallery.

Week 15 - Wrap Up

2008-12-05T19:05:00.002-05:00

I really enjoyed this class and took a lot out of it. Before this course, I had never used the Adobe programs, therefore I thought this class would be difficult and confusing. However, I surprisingly learned the programs fast (despite the lack of help from a certain lab T.A. lol). I heard that this class took a lot of commitment, and I definitely agree ... however once I started planning out my projects before going to the labs, the projects took less time to complete. I think the most important thing I learned from this class was visual perspective - I do not think I will ever look at graphics/images/etc. the same.

Wasim, thank you for all of you help, especially for the hundreds of last minute questions you answered for me the night before projects were due. You will make a great instructor.

Wrap Up Post

2008-12-05T17:52:00.002-05:00

I'd heard that graphics was a ridiculously time-consuming and barely possible course, so at the end of the semester, I'm glad to report that neither rumor was true. I really enjoyed GRA 217 and learned a lot of valuable skills. I'm sure knowing the Adobe programs will be useful in the future, as will everything we learned about layout, gestalt principles, etc. It's certainly changed the way I look at print and online media, which as a mag major, is obviously really important. In fact, after taking this course, I am actually interested in learning more about design and taking some more graphics classes in the future. ALTHOUGH, I don't know if I can handle another semester of mandatory blogging (...just kidding, Wasim).

So, in sum, I learned a lot and really enjoyed the creative aspects of the class. Thanks for a great semester!

Thank you from Wasim

2008-12-05T02:57:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to thank everyone for posting on this blog for the semester and, for the most part, actively commenting on each others' work. I know it's been a thorn in the side sometimes, and we sometimes got off track, but I hope everyone learned a little bit from doing the assignments and sharing their projects with this peers.

Blogging will be important once you all enter the "real world" out of college. It's a great (and cheap!) self-promotional tool. What we did this semester was just the start; a way to whet your appetite for blogging.

By creating a Google account to use this blog for the class, you've already created 90 percent of what you need to start your own blog, which I hope many of you try. College is a great time to learn the ropes of blogging.

As many of you have probably figured out, I run my own blog using Blogger - something I created after taking the same graphics class (albeit the graduate-level version). You can check it out at http://wasimonline.blogspot.com/. You'll find a link there to my Web site, which was created using the same principles I learned here in the interface design project. And I already showed you all how blogging can drive traffic to your Web site. It's a synergistic relationship between the two.

Try it - you may even find it's fun! All it takes is signing in and clicking on "Dashboard" at the top and then "Create a blog" on the next page.

Thanks everyone for a great semester. You all worked really hard and I saw some great work coming from this class. It's been a pleasure to work with you in my first instructional associate job here in Syracuse.

2008-12-04T23:44:00.002-05:00

Well, I can't say that im going to drop everything and become a graphics major. But, on a more positive note, I am glad that I took this course. As a photo major it helped to show me how photos can intertwined with design.
I also thought learning indesign was very useful. I am sure that it will come in handy at some point down the raod. I also liked lab but I think we could have learned more from our professor about the programs if we worked with them in class too. I hope everyone has a nice winter break.

wrap up

2008-12-04T22:45:00.002-05:00

the labs in this class were really helpful in learning the programs. I think these programs will really help with my advertising career, and I'm glad I learned the basics on how to use them. I don't really have anything else to say about this class

Wrap Up Post

2008-12-04T14:23:00.002-05:00

Not until now did it occur to me that it is the last day of class of fall semester 2008. I was always jealous of those who can design when I was young. Now, the feeling that I can tell others that I can design is incredible.

I shall say this is one of my favorite classes so far, and what I've learned from this class is beyond expectation. I develop my interests in design, and hope I can go somewhere with it.

We all live in a visual world, what GRA 217 has given me the most is the power to discover the beauty around me. Everything is designed, some poorly, some smoothly. But they are all equal parts of design, equal parts of a process that may generate a brilliant poster, logo, magazine, etc.

Thank you Wasim for all your help with everything, photo, graphics, career, web, and a lot others. Thank you Sherri for being a great professor who generously gave me lots of excuses to go into Starbucks to get a cup of hot coffee in the cold weather. And thanks everyone for this great class.

Good luck with the finals, and bye, GRA 217!

GRA Wrap Up

2008-12-03T16:47:00.002-05:00

Overall, I thought graphics was really useful and informative. I was not very familiar with Adobe Suites until the class and now I feel really comfortable using all of the programs. I also thought that the skills we learned outside of the class were really useful to- like design principles and learning to create drafts- those are skills that we are going to utilize in most fields of communications. I thought it was nice to learn the programs with a purpose of having a project to accomplish, rather than just using them.

My favorite project was the magazine project. I liked the idea of taking an article that we were interested in and making an effective design around it. I thought it was just a really intricate project that utilized a lot of the skills that we learned throughout the semester. All of the projects were really useful, I felt. We did something that was tailored to every major taking the class- for example, magazine majors are going to be putting together magazines, and PR majors are going to be making posters.

This was just a really good class to take and I would recommend it to anyone in Newhouse, even if it is not a requirement for them. I learned so many skills that are going to be useful in the future. The only complaints I have are that it is extremely time consuming as far as the projects go, and also that we did not learn a lot in the lab until Professor Taylor had a talk with the TAs mid-semester. Other than that, the class is really enjoyable.

GRA Wrap Up

2008-12-03T07:55:00.002-05:00

Throughout this semester, I would have to say that Graphics was probably one of my favorite classes. Although I was somewhat familiar with the softwares, it was incredibly beneficial to learn how to use them in a classroom setting. Moreover, I know the experience will help me as a I apply for internships and jobs in the future.

One of my favorite projects was the Logo Project because I felt as though I had to challenge myself to make something that was both professional and reflective of my personality. In the end, I developed a great design and picked a color pallet that I thought fulfilled not only the requirements for the class, but expectations I had for myself. I definitely want to send my design to a publisher where I can have them professionally printed. Never before had I thought about having a business card at such a young age; yet, as I moved through this project, I realized it is actually a great idea! Additionally, the stationary and envelope designs really helped me form a cohesive thought with this project. Therefore, I will probably have these professionally printed as well. I will most likely use these for internship applications and interviews as I continue throughout school.

In addition to the logo project, I found the resume project to be incredibly beneficial, as I have used this resume to apply for various internships since.

I would recommend this class to anyone who was required to take it as well as students who were permitted to take it as an elective. Even though the projects were undeniably time consuming, I think once I finished any given project, I felt a great satisfaction. I look forward to expanding my knowledge of these programs in the future, whether be taking another GRA class or exploring on my own.

Web Design

2008-12-03T07:46:00.007-05:00

I took a floating re-do for my web design, which is why this post is late.

I decided to make a website for the Joshua Kahan Foundation's annual Super Scooper event. It is an all-you-can-eat ice cream event in Philadelphia that raises money for Leukemia. I decided to use a lot of color in the design, mainly to attract the eye as well as a quirky font. Because the event essentially revolves around ice cream, I used a lot of ice cream cone visuals throughout the page, whether is be in the horizontal container, tag line, etc. I made six pages: Home, Leukemia Info, Volunteer, Photo Gallery, Donate and Contact Us. I think this was a sufficient amount of links, as it includes information about the event, the disease, prior events and how to get involved.

Wrap Up GRA 217

2008-12-03T02:05:00.002-05:00

I really enjoyed this course because it was so new to me. Before this class I really hadn't done specific projects that are useful for right now and in the future. My resume had been done in such a plain way and this class taught me to focus more on the smaller details because they make such a difference against stacks of other resumes. The logo was so much fun to design and put to use on letterheads and business cards. My favorite, yet most challenging, project was the magazine especially because I am a magazine major. Before this class, I had never realized that magazine majors dealt so closely with the design and graphics of a magazine. I only have experience with writing for magazines so this opened up a huge door for me to explore and learn about making a magazine from start to finish. The website was fun to design as I pictured what an easy website looked like, simple and organized. I entered this class with no experience of the programs that we use, and now I am very familiar with many of them. I can truly say that InDesign is a program that really has endless options and I learn more everyday with it. I learned a lot from this course and for one thing, I will never look at color and typefaces in the same way.

Final Wrap Up

2008-12-02T22:41:00.003-05:00

I really did enjoy this class. I feel like it is really rare that people can say that about a course, but this one was great. Even though the projects were time consuming and it took some time to get used to the programs, I never minded it. I love playing around with design and it was even better that I got to do it for a grade. I will 100% walk away from this class with something. I have already been using indesign to create things outside of class and will continue to do so.

Website

2008-12-02T13:57:00.003-05:00

For my webpage I based it off of my poster. The headline being "where the kids create the dream" inspired my design to appear as if a child had made the webpage. I wanted to do this so kids would be captured by it because they could relate to it and the colors would be very appealing. I also wanted it to spark an emotional response in the parents so that when they saw it they would feel as if it were a piece of art that their child had made. I used the same and similar visuals from my poster to tie the two together.

Interface Design

2008-12-02T13:47:00.007-05:00

My interface design was for the 25th Anniversary celebration/fundraising drive of Vive La Casa, a refugee shelter in Buffalo. The pages are an irregular shape to represent the idea of a scrolling page... only the burgundy box would scroll. My fonts are Garamond and Verdana, and the vast majority of the images were taken from a Buffalo News soundslide about the shelter.

These are just the first three pages, as the last two are apparently "corrupted"... but they're pretty similar, and in the same format.

Oops...

2008-12-02T13:37:00.001-05:00

I lost my flash drive...still looking for it..Why is why I have not posted my website yet.

2008-12-02T11:42:00.002-05:00

This is my website. My high school was competing for a high school musical contest so i wanted to do something about that. Here it is

interface design

2008-12-01T16:01:00.010-05:00

I did the Trinity Turkey Trot which was my poster project as well. I wanted the website to be easily navigable, so I bolded subheads to create visual hierarchy. I chose a palate of warm colors to reflect the holiday and season, and used my turkey from the poster project as part of the header because it was well received by my church.

Interface Design

2008-12-01T09:59:00.003-05:00

The organization is Syracuse Grows, a non-for-profit organization that advocates city gardening. So I chose the colors dirt brown and green. The design is inspired by a image that I found on google. I enlarged the image, and used part of it as the background image.

I used Georgia as the typeface, and had a little fun with the logo.

Interface Design Project

2008-11-25T19:16:00.005-05:00

For my interface design, I decided not to use the same non-profit event as I did for the poster, and I decided to do WEMA international Fashion Relief. This is a non-profit fashion show event that raises money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I decided to use a bold red line as the bar to hold all the different links. I used different sketches of models to go on the right side of every page, and used high heels to act as bullet points for all of the information on each page.

Good Website

2008-11-25T19:14:00.006-05:00

I decided to pick one of the pages on the NIKE website as a good website design. I think that the way it looks like a bulletin board is very appealing to the eye and might cause a viewer to want to stay and play around on the page longer. I think that the way the categories of sneakers are split onto different polaroids is also very visually appealing.

website

2008-11-25T14:56:00.003-05:00

I did my website for an organization called K.U.R.E (kids using reading to encourage). I decided on the colors and fonts because they were kid-friendly and appealing for the event. The pictures loaded backwards so look from the bottom up.

website

2008-11-25T10:50:00.002-05:00

This is my website, I did it on an organization called the Holiday Express that helps out those in need every year during the holiday season. The group doesn't have quality pictures yet from their actual events but I improvised and tried the make the website visual and exciting with images from the internet. I wanted it to be holiday-neutral so I based my website off the colors: red, green, blue and yellow. My toolbar is hanging ornaments and the side panel of each page has snowflakes. I tried to focus on the formats of each page, and incorporate the pictures with the information.

Week 14 - Web Design Project

2008-11-24T19:09:00.002-05:00

So this is my website. I used the same organization and event as I did for my poster. I predominantly used red, because it attracts the eye, and because my event is about Christmas. I chose to make my sidebar, containing my links, using the image of a tea cup, steam, and the tea bag string and tag. The steam brings the eye up the page to my headline, which is red. The Mrs. Clause on the right helps to balance out the web page. In each link, she is holding a different object, that corresponds to the link. To the far left and right, I made a "background" of tea cups and snowflakes. Similar to print images, I used gestalt principles and grids. However, it was harder to make the text interesting/appealing to the eye, considering that the fonts used online are limited.

website

2008-11-24T18:24:00.002-05:00

This website has a nice visual hierarchy. It has two navigation bars that help lead your through the website. It is also very clean. Its not cluttered with advertisements or useless information. This allows your eye to flow freely through the information the site is presenting to you.

Website

2008-11-22T18:21:00.001-05:00

This website belongs to a web technology company. It's very cool looking, the grid is also very clear. The dark brownish color with the white silverish color very well generates a modern technological-advanced feeling. And nice usage of the spot color!

Magazine Project

2008-11-22T12:20:00.000-05:00

After trying countess times to put this up, it has finally worked. This is my magazine spread, I took a floating redo which is why it's late.

I chose this story because I wanted to do a wedding story. This story is all about color so I wanted to make a few spreads that incorporated color in a way that reflected the story. I chose to make my typeface larger, 12pt, and increase the leading to make the spread look "fluffy." Often times text articles get lost in wedding magazines, so I wanted it to appear easy to read.

Week 13 - Website

2008-11-21T19:15:00.003-05:00

So this is the website for my town's branch of the Lions Club. It is absolutely hideous. There is no visual hierarchy, and the attempts to visual hierarchy simply fail. The headline/title needs to be larger or bold in order to dominate the page ... and the text needs to be organized. Everything seems to be thrown onto the page in a random way. When you look at the page, your eye does not know where to focus or in what order, so it gets lost. This website does not interest me at all - I would not take the time to read about the organization because of this layout.

2008-11-21T14:57:00.002-05:00

I decided to choose the playhouse disney website as a very visually effective layout, especially to their audience. Since its geared towards young children who cannot yet read, there are large pictures instead of words for the toolbars. The large icons make it easy for children to navigate the website and the colors all work effectively with each other. Purple circles outline the characters on the toolbar and also continue to highlight the page as the arrow icon at the bottom connecting the top of the page with the bottom through color.

Interface

2008-11-21T14:20:00.003-05:00

As much as I love Topshop, the visual hierarchy on this page isn't very effective. It's quite busy, and the name of the store should be much larger-- it's the most important part of the website. I think that the garment types listed along the left side should be larger. It's also strange that they have different categories on the right, it may be less confusing if they were all together.

website interface

2008-11-21T13:50:00.002-05:00

This website has a clean, user-friendly interface. The use of the bold orange leads the eye around the page. There's a lot of white space around the main content which gives the page readability and openness

magazine

2008-11-21T13:34:00.003-05:00

For my magazine project, I chose to do a festival issue for a live music magazine. The title I chose is supposed to read "live for live (music)." The particular festival I chose to cover was Bonnaroo. I chose it for its setting in Tennessee, which I found pretty unconventional for music festivals, and its an event that would provide me with colorful, lively pictures. For the pictures throughout the magazine, I just chose pictures of the bands that played the festival. The cover is Radiohead in concert and though they didn't play at Bonnaroo, I felt their stage presence and lighting effects would be a good cover for the magazine. For the ad, I chose a M.I.A Marc Jacobs ad because shes basically an indie phenomenon, and her fans are likely to go to music festivals. The colors I chose, like the bright red for the title and sidebar, were meant to bring some excitement to the article.

Interface

2008-11-21T13:17:00.003-05:00

I think this website is well designed. The visual hierarchy is effective in leading the viewer's eye to different points of interest on the page. When one first looks at this webpage their eye is drawn toward the top left photo. From here they are led horizontally across the top of the page with the pictures that are attached to the key links. Then the viewer is lead to the purple side bar which has more important links, information and the search tool. The color works to lead the viewer's eye around the page.

Website Layout

2008-11-21T12:49:00.002-05:00

This is the website for the Indian fashion designer Anamika Khanna (www.anna-mika.com). I bookmarked this page the first time I went to it, just because I thought it had a really cool design.

The visual hierarchy is very clear here - you look first at the image of the model in the background (on the actual page this is in flash, so the picture keeps changing). Your eye then moves to the designer's name, because that's by far the largest and most dominant text on the page. From there, your eye moves to the other navigation text in the white bar, and then down to the sub-navigation links in the transparent box.

My favorite part about the visual hierarchy on this site is that it manages to be effective and original at the same time - a critical goal for a fashion designer.

Magazine Project

2008-11-21T12:32:00.005-05:00

The fonts aren't quite right, but you get the idea...

visual hierarchy

2008-11-20T23:52:00.003-05:00

The Whitman website is well designed through visual hierarchy. The "logo" is placed at the top left hand corner, and since we read from left to right this is effective. It is the largest font used on the page, and stays on the page for each link. The search bar is located next to this and is second in the hierarchy. Search bars are important in sites for quick access to information and the placement of this search bar on the top right makes it easy to find. The links along the top and side are third in the hierarchy and are directed at different students and searches. The links are in smaller sized fonts which indicates this placement in the hierarchy. Since home is on the top left, it is indicated as the most important of the links. Less important information and links are presented in the middle and bottom of the page in smaller writing.

If someone goes to this page they will be able to access information based on what they are looking for immediately because the site is laid out effectively using hierarchy. The links and are placed in the most accessible places on the page and are easily picked out as major links. Less important information is smaller and placed in its own "container" away from the links and search bar.

Webpage Snapshot

2008-11-19T22:45:00.004-05:00

I could only get a snapshot of the first half of the site.

I really have always enjoyed this site. The site really communicates to its audience, kids. The colors are very kid-friendly and warm. The navigation is easy to see and navigate through. There is definitely visual hierarchy. The blue rectangle has animation on the actual site. It is bigger than the rest of the containers below. They really grab your attention with it. Also, the site is very consistent. The fonts and colors really compliment each other. I love this site. The only thing I may change is to make the Build A Bear Logo bigger. Right now it is pretty small, compared to other things on the site.

2008-11-19T20:40:00.008-05:00

This is my magazine. I found an article about photography and used my own photos. I think my last page needs some work and maybe the cover. We'll see what Sherri has to say.

Type challenge - Mary Tyler Moore

2008-11-18T21:10:00.001-05:00

This week's type challenge is from the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

What is the typeface used in the title?

First person to e-mail Professor Taylor with the correct answer wins a Starbucks card.

magazine

2008-11-18T11:11:00.001-05:00

I took a floating review on my magazine project.

PR student's survey

2008-11-17T14:11:00.000-05:00

Professor Taylor passes along this survey from a PR student. Here's the message:

We appreciate you taking the time to complete our MAR 356 survey about our
Hookah Bar proposal for Marshall Street. The survey should take about
15 minutes to complete. Please be assured that the information you
provide on this survey is anonymous.

Here is the website:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=RzsVcHdx47zFceHTo4WASg_3d_3d

Thank you for your time,

Scott Lepkofker
Lina Lisnere
Joanna Rivera
Viviana Rodriguez

Magazine

2008-11-16T20:53:00.007-05:00

Back cover:

Second Spread:

First Spread:

My Cover:

My magazine wouldn't save as spreads, so I just have the individual pages, but I think you can tell which page goes with which. I did my main layout on a festival that I went to this summer in Tennessee called Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Basically, my deign motif was just that I wanted to bring the fun and free atmosphere at the festival to my design and make the reader feel like they are really there. My first layout tiles the pictures and bleeds them across the page to my headline "UnRooLy"- a play on the name of the festival, accompanied by the definition of the term bonnaroo. My second spread uses the colors from the festival logo and the font (Bauhaus) in it too. I used the same grid design at the bottom of my second spread. My sidebar is a Bonnaroo survival guide that I wrote- things I wish I would have known before going. My back cover is an Absolut ad because there are a ridiculous number of Absolut ads in Rolling Stone. Overall, I'm happy with my design because I think it's very eye catching since it's colorful and fun.

magazine

2008-11-16T20:22:00.002-05:00

I decided to do a dog magazine and call it Unleashed. I wanted it to be very modern looking and colorful. My cover has a black and white picture of a dog with coordinating colors. My first spread's title is "For the love of dog" playing on the phrase "for the love of god". I wanted the colors to play off the beautiful picture of the dog. My 2nd spread has a green background that I think works well with the dog pictures because grass is incorporated into two of them. My sidebar is titled, "Has your pooch packed on the pudge?" With tips to help dogs lose weight. I really enjoyed doing this magazine and I have learned a lot about design by doing it.

Magazine Design

2008-11-16T20:01:00.002-05:00

Here's my magazine project. I chose to do a sports-themed magazine called "Gridiron"

Clint Clemens

2008-11-16T14:46:00.003-05:00

Better late than never, right?
I really enjoyed hearing what Clint Clemens had to say during his speech. I particularly liked hearing how he got some of his really intense shots. He is super innovative in his approach, especially the use of his friend's motorcycle with a sidecar to shoot other motorcycles. I also liked hearing about all of the perks of his job. How he gets to (or used to get to) fly all sorts of places around the world to take pictures, and how he gets to deal with things like the multi-million dollar Prada boats. It was nice to hear a photographers insight on the 'psychology of photography' and how you can either be an observer or a participant in an environment depending upon the camera angle you shoot at.

My Magazine!

2008-11-16T09:10:00.000-05:00

This is a magazine that is for people who work in the media. It is supposed to be a monthly magazine that comes out with the latest information on new types of communicating. This is ideal for advertisers and marketers.

Magazine

2008-11-14T15:24:00.006-05:00

For my project I decided to do a fashion magazine called five.eight. I thought it would be apt to feature an up-and-coming model as the feature story.

Magazine Project

2008-11-13T22:15:00.003-05:00

This is my magazine Shoecase, came from the idea "shoes" + "showcase." I like to white spaces, so I leave a lot of breathing rooms for the words. I love sneakers, and that's why I did a magazine on sneakers, and how I found this article. I found three similar pictures of shoes posing the same way, influenced my design. The second spread determined the color palette. Here it goes.

Top ten typefaces

2008-11-13T15:43:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to an article on Font Feed about the top ten typefaces used by book design winners.

I have to admit, I was surprised at number 1.

Mag Design: STOMP

2008-11-13T14:19:00.008-05:00

I created a sneaker magazine for people around all ages of all genders and races. It is meant to be fun and energetic. The article I chose is about Nike, and I called the article "Welcome to planet Nike." I decided to make a spacey, inter-galactic theme for my first spread. I created a photo illustration with two different photos. The second spread is more classical. There is a side bar with Nike News that has the latest, most up-to-date information about Nike as a company. I used sans serif type to create contrast with the serif (Caslon) used in the body text. To make the side bar more readable, I used the Nike swoosh as a bullet point.

The pictures are in backwards order, so start from the bottom (the cover of the magazine STOMP) and work your way up to see how the real layout looked).

Hope you like it!

Conspiracy

2008-11-13T13:55:00.003-05:00

So i guess i missed the memo on how to post the magazine on the blog as spreads.. Anyhow this is my magazine "Conspiracy." I chose to use a dark theme throughout the magazine as the topics of the magazine usually correlate with shady, cryptic subjects. I'm kind of into conspiracy theories and thought this would be a fun and interesting magazine topic that many people could potentially enjoy. 2012 is a subject that has received much speculation and publicity within the last 10 years. My magazine design purposefully makes the reader feel as if they are being let in on a secret! Enjoy

Magazine Layout Project

2008-11-13T10:15:00.002-05:00

For my magazine layout I decided I wanted to do a sort of beauty magazine that focused on natural, simple beauty. I then decided to use Jennifer Aniston for the article and spread because she is the celebrity that comes to mind when thinking of these characteristics. I picked an article that was from "Rolling Stone" magazine, which described how far Aniston has come in her life and that she is just like any other person. I decided to do an extra spread because I felt it brought the entire layout together.

Type challenge: Jeopardy

2008-11-13T09:14:00.001-05:00

This week's type challenge is from the game show Jeopardy.

Here's your answer:

This is the typeface used when displaying the answers on the monitors.

And here's a hint, in the form of a picture:

First person to email Professor Taylor with the correct answer wins a Starbucks card.

Magazine - Bridezilla

2008-11-11T23:05:00.006-05:00

This loaded backwards, sorry.

I chose to do a bridal/wedding magazine. I named it Bridezilla. I thought this name was a little more unique than most other bridal magazines. For my cover I wanted to have a lot of things going on to attract attention. I used fonts like Minion Pro and Myriad Pro. For the next spread, I created a headline, deck head, and image for the story I chose. The story I decided on was about top wedding trends of 2008. Because a lot of my pictures on the following spread were orange/red/yellow etc, I carried the orange color over to the feature page. For the third spread, I tried to do a traditional layout. I think everything really came together in the end and blended nicely.

Week 12 - Mag

2008-11-10T22:32:00.004-05:00

This is a Italian travel magazine. My main story is about the gondola, how it symbolizes the city of Venice, and how the boats are slowly dying because the younger generations do not have the devotion to build the boats that have been around for centuries. I used blue as a main color, which i took directly off of the gondolas, and also black to symbolize history/tradition/death. My sidebar explains the history of why the color of the boats is important (they must all be black). I chose the title, Perspective, because travelling gives people a new perspective of life. The picture on the cover is of a canal in Venice and it is "from the perspective" of a gondolier.

color

2008-11-09T15:12:00.004-05:00

This magazine spread implements the use of color extremely effectively. The orange in the painting is very eye-catching but tranquil at the same time. the colors are also used in the headline with the image in the background. Also, by darkening the colors around the edge of the painting, the artist made the figure appear to be encircled in light or emerging from darkness.

Color in Magazine

2008-11-08T23:26:00.003-05:00

I chose this magazine spread because I think that the faint colors are extremely effective. The colors that were picked are not busy and are appealing to the eye. I think that the text which is placed behind the mountain looks great as well as the text that is reflecting on the water. I think that the choice of white for the typeface was great as well.

Type challenge: Bloomingdale's

2008-11-08T17:22:00.001-05:00

Identify the type in the headline ADD A POP OF COLOR.

First person to e-mail Professor Taylor with the answer wins.

Fear the type

2008-11-08T17:15:00.002-05:00

Here's a story about scary fonts from the font feed. It's a little past Halloween, but still a good read.

But please ... don't use any of these fonts for your logo designs in the future!

http://fontfeed.com/archives/halloween-scary-type/

Color in the Magazine

2008-11-08T11:44:00.003-05:00

I have no idea why this is upside down. But please bear with me.

This is from Metal Hammer magazine. This is a british magazine focusing on metal music. So the overall design of the magazine looks very gothic, very "metal."

In this spread, the picture used a bronze metal tone, and this color became the spot color of this spread. It is used in the drop cap, and the title, and the call out quote. With the clear grid design, it works!

7 things I like about Clint Clemens

2008-11-08T11:32:00.003-05:00

1. Observer/participator: Taking pictures with long lens will make the viewers feel that they are observers other than participators.

2. An important thing in photography is to see the picture in your mind, in your eyes. Imagine different perspectives. So always go in with ideas prepared to shoot.

3. Continue reinvent, challenge, and educate yourself.

4. Think energetically.

5. Where is the subject, where is the photographer.

6. Do what you love, follow your passion.

7. Goodwill, talent, cost, access and education build your strength.

Week 11 - Color

2008-11-08T10:42:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's sideways, I couldn't for the life of me make it stay the way I wanted it to. I chose this spread as a good example of color use because of the photos they chose to use. All of the colors on this spread are yellows or oranges and green. The title of the article is in a green similar to that of the flowers and trees in the pictures, and all of the hot colors compliment each other very well. The photographs have a sense of connection because of the similar colors and they tie the spread together

Week 11 - Color

2008-11-07T16:29:00.003-05:00

This layout uses color in a really simple, effective way. Cleary there are four colors present: black, white, red, blue. I like how the woman in the picture is wearing a white shirt. It compliments the white stripes in the flag and the white background. The red is carried over as the deck head on the page. The black also really makes a statement with the large f, the body text and the handle on the flag. I know none of these colors are bright and crazy, but they do compliment each other and are all equally used.

COLOR

2008-11-07T15:44:00.004-05:00

This magazine spread is from Idealog which is a magazine out of New Zealand. I think the use of color here is very effective because it helps the eye move throughout the layout. The contrast between the yellow and black is very severe which helps to make the title stand out. Obviously the use of yellow in the title mirrors the yellow on the background of the photo, which is visually pleasing.

clint clemens

2008-11-07T14:34:00.002-05:00

Clint Clemens was a great speaker and his beautiful photography that he showed the audience on Thursday night, spoke for itself. I had never gotten an in-depth perspective from a professional photographer so it was very interesting to hear him talk about the logistics of getting a good shot. Looking for light and looking at things from a different perspective were two main things that he always considers. Many of his greatest shots were taken when the unexpected happened and his subject was caught off guard. The trick to action shots is to limit the amount of variables to zero in on one thing and capture it. In a broader sense, he talked about sustaining a place in an industry that is always changing, especially with new technologies. He discussed a lot about the struggles of photographers to get paid for their work and the perseverance needed to become successful. I really enjoyed listening to him and looking at some of his best photographs.

Week 11 - Color

2008-11-06T23:05:00.003-05:00

This magazine spread immediately attracts the eye because of its use of color. The color green evokes a natural, organic and clean sense. The shades of green and the design work well together to draw the eye towards the text. The color also evokes the idea of innovation, a beginning or newness. I think the color of this spread works well to promote the car and maintain simplicity. The one weakness of the color in this layout is the center where the text is ... for some people it could be difficult to read.

color

2008-11-06T19:00:00.005-05:00

Vogue magazine is synonymous with fashion and beauty. This cover, in my opinion, is beautiful because of its brilliant use of color. Yellow is such a warm color and the intersection between the wardrobe and the text colors make the magazine cover stand out. Also, the dark color of her hair, the black belt and the black, bold type combine the text and the picture in a very elegant way. I also like the use of white space, not only in the background but also in the type color of the headlines. The simplicity of only using three colors and one being white, is very effective and appealing.

Real life grid

2008-11-04T01:47:00.004-05:00

We don't neccesarily think of it as a "grid layout," but the longitude and latitude lines on a globe actually form a grid. As in design, the grid lines here make it much easier to measure space and to standardize distances and locations. The meridian system has been around for hundreds of years, so it seems to be working pretty well. That probably has something to do with the fact that there are actually thousands of longitude and latitude lines, making the "grid" very flexible... it's more or less analogous to a magazine grid with tons of rows and columns.

My logo & an effective logo

2008-11-03T19:53:00.001-05:00

So this is going to be two posts in one... I'm so sorry this is late, for some reason I'm totally unable to remember to post on here... anyways...

Effective logo:

I saw this logo for the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs for the first time the other day, and I instantly thought it was really good. It's very VERY simple, which conveys a sense of professionalism and makes it easy to understand. At the same time, there's a distinct visual element - the circle is not only a literal globe, but also a good expression of the institute's all-inclusive, international attitude. The yellow font is a good gestalt, too.

My logo:

My rationale is on the stationary, so if you click that it should pop up. Thank youu.

Grid

2008-11-03T15:25:00.003-05:00

Here is a layout of Washington D.C. This is a prime example of a carefully planned out grid. In urban planning it is important to draw out plans to create streets and highways. To make transportation efficient in cities, grids or plans are necessary. Some people believe that grids hold secret meanings and create symbols. Humans tend to seek out patterns in various forms of grids.

Grid

2008-11-02T19:45:00.002-05:00

This is a screen shot of a website called "Design by Grid." As its name, the website itself is a showcase of design by grid. The pictures and the columns divide the page evenly, and readers are very clear about where to go to find information. And I like that on the top of the website, it has a ruler over there. It's very neat.

Grid

2008-11-02T09:33:00.003-05:00

Farmers frequently use grids when planting their crops, as shown by this farm in Laos. Planting crops in grid patterns allows farmers to keep organized and better care for their crops by using growing methods for each specific plant. Using grids also allows farmers to maximize their space by getting the most possible plants into their fields. Without grids, farmers would be far less productive and efficient.

Grid

2008-11-01T19:43:00.002-04:00

My example of a grid is a normal city block structure. Everyone knows that cities are built on a grid pattern- so when I saw that this week's post was about grids, I immediately googled "city grids." This is a city in San Francisco which uses a grid pattern in its city planning.

2008-11-01T16:22:00.002-04:00

I chose a computerized grid map to show an example of a real-life grid. The use of measurements aids the reader to understand the scaling on the grid and each square is the same exact size. Grids like these are very helpful in architecture when plotting land and planning to build new structures. Exact measurements are necessary and even the least bit of unevenness can make an outlined plan not workable. I think that gridmaps of land are very easy to read and they can be applied to many other things in daily life. The equal size and scale of the squares make it readable and the symmetrical to the eye.

grid

2008-11-01T16:04:00.002-04:00

An example of a grid layout in the real world can be seen in the layouts of cities. Grids are chosen to organize the city and make it more universal. This example is of the city of Granmichele in Sicily, Italy.

Week 10 - Grid

2008-11-01T10:40:00.003-04:00

This is a screenshot of a Mac. The icons align with an imaginary grid. The grid is very useful because it organizes the icons, making them easier to differentiate. If the icons on the screen were randomly situated without a grid, there would be more confusion. The grid allows the person to quickly skim through the list of icons.

GRID

2008-10-31T14:14:00.002-04:00

For my grid in the real world I chose to use an aerial picture of the gardens of Versailles. The grid layout is used very effectively here, and from above the garden looks super symmetrical and organized.

2008-10-31T12:17:00.002-04:00

I took this picture looking up at the ceiling in the lobby of NHI. It is a good example of a grid and repeating patterns. Look up next time you enter NHI.

2008-10-31T09:18:00.002-04:00

This is an example of grid layout because there are six obvious horizontal sections. It's super grid picture because the grid stands out. Yeah Obama!

Artists for Obama

2008-10-30T22:00:00.001-04:00

Here's a link to the "Artists for Obama" post on Font Feed that Professor Taylor was talking about.

It's worth checking out - there's some interesting original work here.

http://fontfeed.com/archives/artists-for-obama/

Week 10 - Grid

2008-10-30T21:31:00.006-04:00

I chose this picture not only because it shows the use of a grid system, but also because it's just plain funny. The picture is split up into 3 rows and about 3 columns. Because of this, the photographer was able to use the rule of thirds in both figures. The arm/hand is placed right on the upper thirds line and the man is placed on the right hand thirds line. The use of this grid has also left an area of plain background, but it is more visually stimulating because of its relation to the subjects.

Grid

2008-10-30T16:16:00.004-04:00

I chose this picture of ancient Rome to represent a grid design. Obviously, with all architecture, deisgners work off a very intricate grid. This allows them to follow instruction and create a well built entity. I think this grib works because the building (once upon a time) looks very symmetrical and equal all the way around. You can almost envision the drawing of the building when you look at it in person. I think this shows how important it was to have a grid in this case.

Grid Layout in the Real World

2008-10-30T09:26:00.004-04:00

I chose a picture of the layout of the building in New York City for my "grid layout in the real world." I think that this grid works well because you can easily distinguish the difference between the buildings and the streets. The streets are clearly separating the buildings and even though it is extremely zoomed out, it is still just as easy to recognize. The colors are a bit dull, so that might be one reason that another design or grid could serve the purpose better. Even though the green space is not apart of the "overall grid layout" it is also easily distinguishable.

Getting your business cards printed

2008-10-30T02:32:00.001-04:00

In case anyone wants to print their cards professionally so that they can start to use them "in the real world" here are a few options.

Sherri points out this site: Plasticprinters.com - Apparently they can turn your card into clear or frosted plastic. Very nifty, but I couldn't find prices on their site.

I personally use Vistaprint. They have templates for InDesign and Photoshop that you can just drop your design that you made in class right onto. I've had the most success when I order a set with one of the sides glossy; Some of my classmates ordered without a glossy side and the printing quality was notably worse.

Staples is also a good option for low-volume printing of your cards. Their non-glossy seems to be better than Vistaprint, if you are going that route.

2008-10-28T12:20:00.002-04:00

I wanted to use the fact that my first and last name both start with K to create a logo, so I reflected one of them against the other and used the gestalt principle to make the design more unique. I used Calibri font for the K's in the logo, and the rest of the type is century gothic. I thought the rounded letters added a more modern feel to the card and letter head. I used a light purple to add more visual appeal to the design.

Project Post

2008-10-28T09:32:00.002-04:00

In designing my logo, I couldn't really think of something specific that defines me, so I knew I wanted to use my 3 initials in creating my design. I decided to use a light blue as another color because I think that although it is light, it adds a little something to the overall esthetic. I used maximus std medium for the font of my three initials and I used Calibri for the font for the rest of the typing.

Logo Project

2008-10-27T10:37:00.003-04:00

Kuan: Logo Project

2008-10-27T00:22:00.002-04:00

This looks a little weird...but the last picture is my business card, and envelop has two sides, the back only has a letter "k".

Just For Fun

2008-10-26T14:40:00.004-04:00

This is the 20th anniversary special edition DVD of one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride. The script used for the name of the movie is very unique, because if you flip the case over, it still reads the princess bride. What a great example of cool typography!

Logo Project

2008-10-26T14:36:00.007-04:00

I designed my logo after I realized that the K and B from my first and last name could make a heart shape if they were combined. I decided to use green to mimic my resume. I think my logo is effective because it combines a visual element with my initials, and represents who I am. I am a marketing and advertising major, so my intended audience would be future employers or clients.

2008-10-25T18:13:00.002-04:00

I wanted my logo and my business card to be very simple and to play on the very obvious fact that my last name is Campbell. I used the closest font to Campbell's soup which is called Campaign Normal, downloaded from the internet. I decided to put a glowing effect on the outside of the soup can to make it a little more modern looking. I used the white and red colors of the soup can because I think they are effective and eye-catching. Color is the strongest gestalt and I wanted to play on this fact. My letterhead was not able to be exported for some reason but I simply put my smaller, initial logo on the top left of it with my information at the bottom of the letter in the same color scheme as my logo. I like my business card a lot because it is playful with the Marker's Felt font. I didn't want to represent my major or area of interest because I don't know where I will be in a few years and who I will want to work for. I think this is a playful logo that represents a lot about my personality.

Logo project

2008-10-25T17:47:00.003-04:00

Hey guys, I only have the JPEG of my stationary with my logo, sorry. I made 2 business cards- one of 2 circles with wrapped text and my logo, the other a circular business card with my logo on the front and a simple green background. My envelope was following the same design motif- green circles. I used the hues from the gradient in my logo to color the circles and i used helvetica font for all my words because helvetica was the font I used to create my logo with. Overall, I like how it turned out- simple and clean, yet slightly earthy. Like Wasim said, the colors get distorted if you don't convert to RGB, and I didn't when I was in the lab so now they're all messed up. The tones I did use were brown and light green.

Business Card and ect.

2008-10-25T11:09:00.000-04:00

This is my stuff. If you look closely you can see that the rays from the sun are actually M's for Madison. The sun also comes from the 'son' of my name. Since I am an Advertising/Marketing major I made myself a tag line "looking through a different light since 1989" because I was born in 1989. I hope this would imply that I think for myself and I try not to do the same as everyone else does. The stationary represents my own world because I'm the sun and empowering the world.

Keeping it simple

2008-10-25T10:44:00.001-04:00

Professor Taylor asks you to take note of how simple a logo can be in this example of Bloomingdale's Web site:

LOGO

2008-10-24T13:18:00.007-04:00

For my logo I wanted to create something that reflects my future career goals. I would like to work for a fashion magazine, so I decided to create the silhouette of someone who appears to be in this profession. I traced a photo to create the image of the woman walking, and also traced the image of the shoes. I wanted to bring the idea of the person walking into each of my pieces, but I wanted them all to be subtly different. I used the color yellow because I couldn't print gold out on the printers here. I added the two lines because I thought they looked cool, and as another way to tie all of my items together.

2008-10-24T12:35:00.011-04:00

For my stationery set I wanted to incorporate some element of photography into my design. Inspired by the Alexia Foundation logo I created an aperture in Illustrator. When I brought it over into In Design I changed the opacity so my name would show through it. For the front of my card I wanted a formal look with all of my info and for the back I wanted an informal look with my own handwriting. The last element that I designed was the black strip with the different F-stop numbers. I thought this would work well since my visual element of my card was the aperture.

UNABLE TO POST!!!

2008-10-24T12:33:00.003-04:00

Hey guys, I'm here sitting in newhouse trying to upload my images onto the blog without success. I took my original inDesign files and exported them as JPEGs onto the desktop. Then i attempted load those JPEGs onto the blog and received an error message. I tried once more to make sure i wasn't messing up but got the same "ERROR 400" notification. Anyone have any advice?

A note about project posts...

2008-10-24T10:45:00.001-04:00

For anyone having trouble with the colors not exporting correctly from Illustrator:

When you export to JPEG, make sure you switch your "Color Model" option from CMYK to RGB. It's defaulted to CMYK if you selected a print document for illustrator.

Also check the box to embed the ICC profile into the JPEG.

That should clear up any problems.

Happy posting!