Officially addicted

See how fun brushes are?!! I'm busy doing this and NOT studying for my test tomorrow morning ...

Critique #8 (Kind of)

Recently, I've become obsessed with tracing. Since the only thing I had for Vox recently was a web illustration and some covers that I didn't really like all that well, I thought I'd post one. I've also become obsessed with downloading photoshop brushes. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do if I combine my love of tracing and brushes, but we'll see. Haven't had enough time to try it! Although I don't know, what do you guys think .. is that pretty much just design plagiarism to just sort of combine stuff that already exists like this? or no?

Design Magazine Critique

So, I'm stuck here at work and I forgot the assignment sheet. (Of course I would do that.) But I'm just going to try and post from what I remeber and then update later with (probably much needed) improvements.
I chose an issue of STEP Into Design magazine to critique. I actually just started picking it up off the newsstand this semester, though not frequently b/c it is kind of expensive. I actually posted once already on the mag.
I think the first question is who the magazine is for. As someone who is still really new to design, I enjoy looking at the magazine to gather ideas, however I think a lot of the designs are very advanced and really push the envelope, so designers in all stages of their career can benefit from seeing the work of others. I also really enjoy how the magazine covers all aspects of design, not just print design. For example, in a few of the pictures above, the stories are about how great design has started to pervade all aspects and stages of life i.e. baby/kid products. It also covers more conceptual design, like an article about an aerospace engineer who is creating futuristic furniture for your ... airplane ... home? But it looks cool anyway.
Ok, the other question I remember was about the grid and how a magazine about design designs said grid to show off said design ... whew! What I noticed was how orderly STEP is. I think it is a great compliment to have such order within an otherwise visually distracting (though not in a negative sense) magazine. I noticed that there were some pages that used the 12 column grid to show a sort of step-by-step process or elements of a larger product, which covered the whole top of the grid. I also noticed that for the most part, besides the whole step-by-step feature, elements took up larger portions of the grid. So, for example, even though the grid was a twelve column grid, it was rare that an element of the page took up less than three columns. most the time columns of actual content took up 1/3 or 1/2 of the page. I think it is pretty safe to presume that this was a conscious decision so that as much detail of the designs can be seen.
As a bit of a side note, one of the images I posted above shows what I thought to be a pretty creative way to show off print design within a print publication. What they did was to have an actual photo of the magazine opened to the page of the design spread they were highlighting. But even those images fell in line with the grid! I also noticed that there are a lot of full page images, which is basically still working within the grid, right? It's just taking up the whole darn thing. The only time I really noticed a disregard for the grid was in the story about baby design (see images above), in which the images of block and balls kind of take over the spread in a slightly more chaotic (though still aesthetically pleasing) way, which I thought seemed really content driven, reflecting the messy lives kidlets lead. In terms of typeface, I noticed that there were sporadic paragraphs where the type size was quite large, which is obviously meant to help the important parts of a story/writing to stand out within such a visual-heavy publication. It makes sense content-wise, but I didn't think that it looked very visually appealing, which was odd coming from a magazine about design. The final image I posted is half of a really cool (typographic?) spread. I thought it was a great solution and really stood out from the rest of the grid-centric pages.

YOU CAN"T MISS #7

Ok, So I talked about this is my response this week, but here is a link to the T.S. Eliot article "Tradition and the Individual Talent." Please check it out. It is kind of hard to get through, but it's really something to think about. I'd like to hear your thoughts if you do get the time to read it. (But I understand if you don't!)

RESPONSE #7

First of all, I can't believe this is already the 7th week of blogging. Time is flying way too fast! That said, I feel like I'm learning a ton every time I design, and I love it! Anyway, I mentioned this a bit in my critique, but I just wanted to respond to our class heart to heart about creativity the other day. I thought it was pretty amazing, and I'm really greatful to Jan for that. It was incredibly eye-opening to see what people thought of their own designs/skills. I just wanted to let everyone know that I think their designs are wonderful. I can look at each and every one and find something in them that I find really truly inspiring. And like Andrea, I don't mean for that to sound like a load of BS. I mean it. I think some people are more revolutionary than they realize. Also, I wanted to respond to the notion that something has to be entirely new for it to be revolutionary. Last semester I took a wonderful art class called art context and culture. We didn't actually do artwork; It was more of a class that taught us how to look at art and how to understand how it fits into this progression of art history. We started the class by reading this really great piece by T.S. Eliot called Tradition and the Individual Talent. The basic idea was that in order for art to have meaning in your modern context, you HAD to take something from within this progression of art history and expand on it. There isn't anything that is new so much as improved in order to fit into your current context of life. It's like art and the definition of what is art only has meaning in your current social context, but at the same time there is this historical progression of great art and each new example of great art is great BECAUSE it sort of builds on what has come before it and looks at it in a new way. So yeah, basically being revolutionary just means looking at something in a new way so that it fits your time. I don't know if that is really making any sense, but I hope it helps!

CRITIQUE #7

Last week I designed the screen dept. for VOX. I forgot to save a copy of the whole page to my flash drive, so for now, I'll just post the art I used for it. I spent quite a bit of time on this playing in photoshop. And you know how Jan was talking in class about imposter syndrome? Well, thats exactly how my lack of photoshop/illustrator knowledge makes me feel. Since you guys are probably going to find out anyway, I figured I'd just come right out and say it! I feel like there are so many things I want to do, but I just have no idea where to begin. That said, I'm really glad I spent some time trying to figure this one out. I know it's nowhere near perfect (or magical) but it was definitely a step in a new direction.

YOU CAN'T MISS #6

I found this on the blog I'm tracking for class, panopticist.com

Basically, it's a slide show of American movie posters or postcards from Hollywood's golden age. It's also on VanityFair.com under the Culture tab.

I've posted a few here, but it's really amazing. There are 37 of them on Vanity Fair's Web site. I know the Graphic Style book talks a lot about political posters from other countries, but it is interesting to me that American posters used the same historical trends but concentrated them on pop culture/movies/Hollywood.

RESPONSE #6

Last weekend, I went to two movies for the T/F Film Festival. I have always wanted to go to this, but had never done it before. I feel like it's one of those things where you always say how much you'd like to go, but when the time comes around, its easy to find an excuse not to follow through. I am so glad I was "forced" to go!! I love movies (hence being on the Screen dept.), but I've never had an experience like this before. The first movie I went to was called Sons of a Gun and it was about the ex-LAPD hostage negotiator who got in to trouble w/ the IRS. He is now an alcoholic living in a hotel room and taking care of three middle aged schizophrenic men. The overarching theme of the movie was to challenge the traditional concept of family. It was amazing b/c these guys really loved each other and stuck together no matter what. The second movie I saw was Forbidden Lies, which was the one the J-school sponsored. I was absolutely blown away. First of all, the typography in the film was great! The film kind of had a smoke and mirrors theme to go along with the story, so the opening scene/credits showed the protagonist (or was she the antagonist?) in this really cool lighting, and she was smoking. Every time she blew out the smoke, the next credit would sort of appear out of the depths of the plume. I would recommend this movie to any journalism student, and I think they should show it to the entry level classes (or all classes). Basically it's a modern-day Catch-Me-If-You-Can scenario. This woman, Norma Khouri, claimed to have witnessed the honor killing of her friend while she was living in Jordan. Under Random House, she published a non-fiction book about it. Only after it had been on the circuit for a while did anyone seem to notice/catch/care that there were a plethora of factual errors beginning with the very first sentence, which didn't even have the geography of the Middle East correct!!! How the heck does that happen? Seriously?! Well, it turns out she is this brilliant con-woman who actually grew up in Illinoise most of her life (although she did go back and forth between Illinoise and Jordan for real). The whole book is pretty much a farse, and the whole movie has you following along as she tries to prove that it is a true story. But she is so good at lying that it is hard! What ends up happening is that she is pretty much conning the director into trying to help her clear her name, and you are right there along for the ride. I wanted to believe she was innocent! I mean, this lady is good. I want to explain everything that happens because it is such a roller coaster ride, but my post is already getting out of hand. However, I also wanted to mention that while her book was still hot, and before anyone bothered to check the facts, she was all over the morning talk shows and publicity circuits. All of this just goes to show the importance of really looking into what we present as truth in the media.

p.s. Norma, whom the FBI has been trying to nail for years, is now studying to become a lawyer. Makes you feel pretty safe, huh?

CRITIQUE #6

COVERS

Ok, here are my three cover options for FLUX (ReadyMade 2). I think the very first one has the youngest feel to it. I also think the color palette of the image itself could be brightened up a bit. Anyway, I decided on an illustration (photoshopped from a ClipArt photo) because I wanted it to have more of a construction/textured feel to it. (Also, the image in full color was incredibly cheesy.) I haven't quite put my finger on it for sure, but I feel like the second one posted is actually geared to the more mature end of our magazine's intended audience (I explain more below). I think that because of the content of the image itself. Obviously, nobody's dorm room is that big or that cool, so it's kind of more of an ideal first apartment theme going on. I tried to bring a constructive feel to the typography to help hit on the themes I mentioned above. Finally, I feel like the last cover option is very different. In my presentation, I told my group that I wanted it to have more of an Urban Outfitters feel to it. It's messier, but still has that construction vibe. I wanted it to appeal to the hipster artist, perhaps? If you've got a favorite of the three, don't hesitate to let me know!

CRITIQUE #6

TOC

This is what I came up with for the TOC for FLUX. I color-coded it and (hopefully) gave the features the most weight and top-billing within the hierarchy. For a long time, I kind of went back and forth about whether or not I liked the numbers at the top so big. I was worried that it would make the magazine have too young of a feel. It was kind of hard because our editors have decided that they want their magazine to appeal to anyone going through a transitional phase in their life. (And by anyone, I mean more like the range from your first dorm room to your first apartment, your first job or a new job.) Editorially I think it totally works, but it was hard for me to know how to find a middle ground and not alienate one end of the age spectrum versus the other. Anyway, I played around with making the numbers much smaller and overlayed into the corners of the images, but in the end I like where they are. I think they coincide well with the way the colors bring a playfulness to the page. However, I do think that the second color palette brings a bit of maturity; the primary red on the first option is probably what knocks a few years off of the maturity level, but I don't know. What do you think?

CRITIQUE #6

DEPARTMENT

These are what I came up with for a Flux department page about making gourmet ramen noodles. Again, there are the two different color palettes and the more constructive feel to the one with the Crayola bold colors.

CRITIQUE #6

FEATURE

With this, I wanted to continue the texture and cutout feel. I also tried to use a brighter version of the sort of Crayola Bold color palette I've got going on for the second cover/TOC option, but it also works with the brights of the first cover/TOC option. I would like to play around with the placement of the sidebar on the right, and obviously when there is real text, I'll know a bit more about what should go where.