Response>>Portfolio Sharing

In our capstone class on Tuesday half of the students brought in all of the design work they had done since high school. We went around and critiqued pieces we liked and what we thought should be used for their portfolio but could use some work. It was really exciting to see and made me proud to be in a class with such highly skilled, creative people. I think it was important because not only does it give the person whose work is critique feedback, but it helps us figure out what works and what doesn't when we see other people's designs, especially when we can grow attached to our own work, not able to separate the good and the bad. 

While the skill levels vary, what stayed the same throughout the work we saw was creativity and personality. You get such a feel for people's design style. I think figuring that out is an important part of branding our portfolio's and finding that unique design edge we have and being able to portray that to future employers. I will be showing some of my work tomorrow and will post some of my oldie but goodie designs next week as well as what my colleagues loved and hated in the work I have accomplished so far.

You Can't Miss>>Design Sponge

This site was featured on the site I follow designers-who-blog.com. Design sponge was named the most influential design blog by a site called Home Rejuvenation. Being that I LOVE interior design I thought I would share this site with all of you since many of the same decisions regarding texture, color, and layering apply to designing on a computer. Also, I thought since they share recipes, home furnishings, and home rejuvenation tips it could be helpful for our Meredith projects. Here is some of the stuff from their site: http://www.designspongeonline.com/

This is an organizer placed on the door to store all of the things you need to grab in the morning. The frantic search is over! 

Week Five

Ahh, week five already. 

CRITIQUE:

This week at Vox I designed my department page which will be published tomorrow. It was really frustrating actually, because my main image wasn't a normal picture but a clipping mask. I was also trying so hard to fit all of the text, too, which was impossible, but I tried! Also I came up with a little illustration for a piece about a home and garden expo being held at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo which was focusing on how to make your house green when renovating. The idea behind this is the house is the flower pot, and it is so green in grew a flower. Haha, a bit cute/corny, but I think it represents what the expo is about very well. 

Also this past week I presented my cover ideas for the "Best Time to Do Things Issue," for Vox. I mainly stuck with the sticky note idea and also did something with an hourglass which I really thought was cool, but it didn't go as well with the story as the sticky note design. Anyway, the first design was chosen to be the cover. I am reworking it currently to adjust it and work on making the main cover line dominant. 

 

 

This week I also worked on a cover for the publication Global Journalist. It's a magazine produced by students at Mizzou but written by journalists all over the world. It focuses on democracy and journalism. The publication tends to be more traditional when it comes to design, so the first cover I developed was what a typical Global Journalist cover looks like. Then, I had a little fun. The third cover is actually the one I like the most. The idea behind it is that this man in the photo (Ben Ali-president of Tunisia) has been president for decades. While he has brought the country economic success, freedom of speech is not allowed nor are journalists allowed any freedom to tell the truth and not speak highly of the country and its president. So, the piece was about getting that deeper look at this leader so I thought the illustration conveyed that well...He is blurry, but through the lens, who he is becomes very clear. Let me know if it makes sense to you all, since you have not read the story.

 

 

And finally, early this week I presented my ideas for a new website for the magazine CountryHome. I really struggled with this on how to incorporate what was visually appealing and what was technologically feasible as well as how to better organize the site. I was proud of my finished project even though it wasn't chosen. It was a bit of learning experience and I know it will continue to be that way as we make a working website with my colleague Kristin's design. The first page is the home page, the second is a department page, and the third is how a feature would look. 

 

 

WHAT'S NEXT:

My spring fashion photo shoot got pushed back until next Wednesday, hooray!, so I will be working on that for the rest of the week and weekend. I will also be making the adjustments to my sticky note cover that was chosen, working on my personal website and portfolio, and getting started on the web project with Meredith. 

Week Four

Critique:

This past week I spent some time designing Valentine's day stuff for the boyfriend. It was just a chance to have some fun and play with photoshop. A bit corny, I know. 

I also came up with an illustration for the art department of Vox about an exhibit put on by the True/False Festival (a film festival in Columbia) called "Altered Realities." I did it without having the text or knowing much about the exhibit except the title, so the editors decided it didn't fit well. But I'm going to try to come up with something that does. 

 

What's Next:

I am also currently working on my web designs for a living magazine in based in Des Moines, Iowa. It's been quite a challenge and after meeting with Jan I have a tad bit more direction. I will be working on that over the weekend, so I will post the final product next week. In addition to developing a mock page for that magazine I will be working on developing my own professional site with all of my best design work.

In addition to working on the art department this week I will be designing three covers for "The Best Time To..." issue.

And finally (me taking a deep breath) I will be spending the weekend shopping & styling outfits for a 6 page spring fashion spread in the April issue of Inside Columbia. I've been gathering inspiration from InStyle and Lucky...I have a few themes I'm playing with..I will be sure to show you the final project!

Response>>Design Dump

As part of our design class I am working with some teammates on redesigning a website and creating a new "personality" for a living magazine. Never having designed for web before I've been having a really hard time even knowing how to approach it. For anyone else struggling with their first attempt at web design, this article by Todd Bertsch, President of E-volve Creative Group, was helpful and motivating. He spoke of the challenges graphic designers often face at their first attempt on the web and offered a few solutions...

1. In web design we must be aware of USABILITY.

ex. You wouldn't design a business card with contact info on the back, it's just not useful or normal. The same goes when designing a site. 

2. Unless of course your designing a site for someone of the creative sort, like a photographer or musician, you may have some more freedom to break the rules because your audience is much smaller.

3. Don't miss out on what your audience wants and expects when designing a site, don't get caught in trying to make it "so different," from all of the other sites--they look like that for a reason.

4. Find out who your audience is-age, how much web knowledge and experience, what they are looking to gain from your site, etc.

5. You don't have to necessarily agree with usability guidelines like the logo in the left, navigation panels on the top or left of the page, hyperlinks in blue...but you should still use them. They are like that for a reason. 

If you have a moment you can check out the full article at: www.designdump.com/webdesignarticle1.aspx

You Can't Miss>>Illustrationmundo.com

It seems as though I am always trying my hand at illustrator, but never seeing the results I'm hoping for. If anyone else is feeling the frustration that can come when trying to master a program, or a little inspiration to revert back to "old school" art of drawing, painting, etc., here is a little inspiration to continue increasing your skill and become awesome at illustration. Here was one of my favorites by Joey Chou. The site carries tons of different work by multiple illustrators. Check it out! http://www.illustrationmundo.com/audio_index.php

Response>>History Presentations

I'll be posting my presentation about the look and design of Esquire in the 1960's after a little tweaking. But, I wanted to respond to some of the presentations in class.

I think it was a really interesting assignment. Looking back at old magazines is a little inspiring, seeing how far we have come. I think our ability to think simply amongst all of the technology we have and all of our font options, etc., is really important. Some of the older versions of Esquire used new fonts just because they were new, not because they were content driven. I tend to go crazy with fonts, or use them as a quick fix. It's a reminder that font is not everything in design.

But, it's also inspiring because they did some really cool things graphically back in the day, that took so much time. It makes me want to do something vintage feeling for a design and maybe even draw an illustration myself (gasp!) I think practicing my artistic skills is important--it may come in handy one day, who knows.

Finally, I think this assignment really gave us a feel for the identity of the magazines that we studied and how important it is to stay true to it. I think Esquire has stuck with their edgy, pushing the envelope essence. However, I think it would be great to see more covers like those of George Lois...not just slapping a celeb on the cover, but having a content drive reason behind it.