Additional VOX stuff

*I'm not sure what the deal is with the color on these ... I tried saving them several times (like 6 or 7 times, on two different computers) but they still showed up this way.

You Can't Miss #9

I was searching around on netdiver.net today and found of course about a billion things that I absolutely loved. The images I posted above are all from the site www.ravenconcepts.com
The two that look similar are collages. I would love to try that sometime. Just decoupage the crap out of something. Maybe then I could get it out of my system. But seriously, how beautiful? Also, the illustrations were so unique! I love that they are bright but still have an incredible amount of whitespace -- very interestingly placed, too. She has some great logo design as well. I was trying to get ideas for my portfolio b/c I would really love to have an actual logo, but I've not come up with anything worth noting yet. Let's hope by tuesday!

Response

Time management ... I think I've effectively managed to waste a ridiculous amount of time today. It must be a case of senioritis starting to really creep in, but I'm finding it harder and harder to tackle anything in advance. I was really happy that I was able to make it through everything so far, managing to get everything turned in on time, but now that I don't have anything immediately due, I'm realizing that I'm not taking full advantage of this time that i do have in order to get a head start. I guess that is the exact stuff that is important but not urgent ... but it's really hard to want to delve right in again after being so crazed and go go go for so long. I'm not going to lie, my roomate and I have decided that this is marathon week ... but that doesn't pertain to school ... or running ... or anything healthy for that matter. I think you get the idea.

Critique #?

This week I had the feature for VOX. I think everyone caught a glimpse of my anxiety over it in class last week ... I wanted it to be slightly subtle and sleek (very unlike most of my other work), but I don't know how well I pulled that off. Kristin usually helps me out in that department, so I was really glad to get any suggestions. I was surpised at how just a few small tweaks, such as reducing the size of lines and text, made such a big difference. I was talking to Paula about this in class the other day, about how my idea of design is STILL to throw as much crap on the page as possible! I think that I must think it won't be appealing unless there is a lot going on ... but anyway, any tips on how to get over that would be much appreciated. If anyone truly does get the chance, I would seriously be interested in comments about your process and whether or not you have to tone yourself down or vice versa and how you do it.

You Can't Miss #11

I've discovered a surefire way to get a job. If you can read Wingdings, you're golden. Ok, so maybe this wouldn't work for just any job, but I did find this article about a London based design firm that actually did use this as a creative way to decipher just who was worthy enough to join their team. Their (beautifully designed) want ads were in WingDings, so unless you took the time to work it out, you would have no freakin clue what it said. When I saw the first one, I kept trying to figure out if the Wingding characters were supposed to make a larger pic, but I don't think they do ...
anyway, go here to see the posters. For the answers, go here.

Response/Critique #11

Whew! I cannot believe we are here! For everything that we've talked about and how stressed we've been, it is amazing to have the Meredith project checked off the list. I never thought the day would come. Granted, I've had a great time doing it (and my group was completely awesome!). In terms of a critique, I'm actually very nervous about how Flux will be recieved. I found it relatively easy to put a voice/overall tone to the design, but at the same time, I hope my interpretation isn't too off. I worry that it's too childish, too crazy, too this or too that. I also feel like I learned a ton from the experience. I thought the critiques w/ John were incredibly insightful. I was just amazed at how much he caught even the slightest of detail, but it really made sense. I was actually really excited to go back in and make the changes he was talking about because I know it just made Flux come together even more. (But i'm totally w/ you Meredith, it was hard to hear parts of your baby getting picked on!) I don't envy Kristin at all ... I just can't imagine what it must take to organize quadruple the designers for weekly (weekly!) issues. I would die. Ok, maybe I wouldn't die, but I definitely feel like Meredith was super exhausting. At the same time, it has taught me so much. I was telling my mom actually that I will probably never have as much creative freedom again in my life, so I tried to enjoy every last bit of it. Unfortunately though, that means I've neglected my feature on the normalcy of gay life quite a bit in this last week. That is something that I think I've blogged about before, the not always being able to balance everything. Meredith just had to take top priority this past week.Now I've got to really buckly down and concentrate on this for the next week because I really want this to be a great feature. I want people to want to read it so that they can learn as much as I have.

You Can't Miss #10

For a while there, I had been neglecting the blog I've been tracking for class, panopticist.com, in terms of posting a you can't miss. I saw something there today though that caught my eye. Not sure how much the actual post has to do with design, but you'll see why I decided to talk about it in a bit. First of all, the actual post was about this photagrapher that you can hire (if you live in New York) who will take your photo paparazzi style. You give him your schedule for the week in advance and then he will show up and take your photo, totally unannounced. Creeper style. I think a lot of the people don't even know he's ever taken their photo until they actually see them or get them back from him or whatever. Although it is really creepy, I think it's kind of cool b/c its a way to document yourself and your life how it actually is, not some cheesy studio portrait. Especially if you've got NY as your backdrop. But, I decided to talk about it for this post because I was linked to the photographers Web site portfolio through my blog, and the site is actually very much like a portfolio that any one of us could have. The layout is very simple, but elegant, and it gets the job done. It was very easy to navigate, so in the coming weeks, I might like to try and update my site to look a bit more like this one. If only flash wasn't so confusing to me! Oh well, for now you guys can check it out here.