So my apologies, I can't get on the server from my laptop so I don't have the PDFs to show you now for the food feature. But you can see it tomorrow! I'll get them up here tomorrow at some point in case you want to see non-newsprint versions.
I was really proud of the way it turned out. Since the photos weren't like totally stellar or anything, I wanted my typography to be subtle and the crops to be bolder to add some oomph to the photos. I think my fish one is the favorite. Those colors.....yum.
I tried to take the detail shots and make them just like nice scene setters or backgrounds to the main photos of the people in the farmer and the garden stories. I also tried to use some nice spot colors to give a nice tone to the package. It's very earthy and natural feeling.
Helvetica Neue Ultralight is my weakness. I've been wanting to design a package with this all semester long so I figured I'd take this as my last chance to try to sell it. I think it worked really nicely with this particular package because the stories are about eating healthier, knowing where you're food comes from, etc. so it's not like a gluttonous food package. I think the lightness of the type also helps the colors in the photos pop.
Also, props to Kathryn for her wonderfully done salt charticle using the style I set up. Looks really good!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
You Can't Miss: Postcards and Star Wars
Grainedit had a very fitting post for us graduating seniors this week. It's a series of postcards that are supposed to represent "everywhere and nowhere at once." It kind of reminded me of an updated "oh the places you'll go" sorta deal. It just made me smile because we're all going to be going on hopefully exciting journeys after graduation and the cards just reminded me that it's ok to get lost :)
For my last random find, I've got some hipster-esque Star Wars posters - as if Star Wars wasn't geek chic enough. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the popart one; that whole thing kind of seems overdone and a bit of a copout for commercialized design (people know it will sell to the general public). But the rest of them are pretty nifty; I especially like the last ones that illustrate the vehicles or whatever they are and the ships.
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For my last random find, I've got some hipster-esque Star Wars posters - as if Star Wars wasn't geek chic enough. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the popart one; that whole thing kind of seems overdone and a bit of a copout for commercialized design (people know it will sell to the general public). But the rest of them are pretty nifty; I especially like the last ones that illustrate the vehicles or whatever they are and the ships.
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Response: World Wide Web of Opinions
So I think we've all learned the lesson that websites are a lot harder than we think. It's hard to put yourself into the mindset of an average web user and then make a design that can play to that "skill set" if you will. Everything should be an average type size, a web safe font and easyeasyeasyeasy to find. This limits your creativity on the web immensely.
I'm of the mind that people are not dimwitted. And that people who are hiring designers will respect a more atypical layout (LeAnn's comes to mind obviously). While I respect the right to be awesome, you also have to make the website usable and accessible. You don't want someone to turn away because they think you can't code correctly. I think we've all learned this semester with Vox and the book covers that compromise is an inevitable part of design.
I do like that we've all come into our own though. The comments are so much more critical and on the flip side, people are standing up for their designs a lot more. It was great to see the push and pull in this critique. From that kind of conversation usually comes great ideas, whether they're completely new or a brilliant solution to an old one.
I think the most important part of web presence is to stay true to who you are as a person and a designer. Don't make a standard site just because you think it looks more professional and clean. If you're bold or whacky or classic or contemporary, emulate that in your site. You want to be working for someone who wants YOU as a designer, not someone who wants the predictable, templated person that's on Cargo.
I'm of the mind that people are not dimwitted. And that people who are hiring designers will respect a more atypical layout (LeAnn's comes to mind obviously). While I respect the right to be awesome, you also have to make the website usable and accessible. You don't want someone to turn away because they think you can't code correctly. I think we've all learned this semester with Vox and the book covers that compromise is an inevitable part of design.
I do like that we've all come into our own though. The comments are so much more critical and on the flip side, people are standing up for their designs a lot more. It was great to see the push and pull in this critique. From that kind of conversation usually comes great ideas, whether they're completely new or a brilliant solution to an old one.
I think the most important part of web presence is to stay true to who you are as a person and a designer. Don't make a standard site just because you think it looks more professional and clean. If you're bold or whacky or classic or contemporary, emulate that in your site. You want to be working for someone who wants YOU as a designer, not someone who wants the predictable, templated person that's on Cargo.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
You Can't Miss: GD Books, Air Jordans and Pantonemania
This week on grainedit they featured a coffee table book that looks gorgeous and a couple of graphic design must-haves. I'd like to check out the social change book because I think it's awesome when graphic design can make a real impact and incite change.
From thedieline.com they featured the design for the new "Year of the Dragon Air Jordans." While the shoes are quite ugly, in my opinion, the design is simply lovely. I like the way the designer was able to incorporate the modern AJ logo with the elaborate traditional Chinese design. Near the bottom they also have pictures of the original sketches. Pretty cool to see the process of doing a complex illustration. I'm thinking this designer also had to hear a lot from marketing execs since it's one of the most recognizable brands today ;)
Also, Pantone announced 336 new colors today. How do they do it? Rather than show you shades of nonsense, here's an adorable photoshoot of tarts that are presented as Pantone swatches.
From thedieline.com they featured the design for the new "Year of the Dragon Air Jordans." While the shoes are quite ugly, in my opinion, the design is simply lovely. I like the way the designer was able to incorporate the modern AJ logo with the elaborate traditional Chinese design. Near the bottom they also have pictures of the original sketches. Pretty cool to see the process of doing a complex illustration. I'm thinking this designer also had to hear a lot from marketing execs since it's one of the most recognizable brands today ;)
Also, Pantone announced 336 new colors today. How do they do it? Rather than show you shades of nonsense, here's an adorable photoshoot of tarts that are presented as Pantone swatches.
Critique: The Drama, the Drama!
I hope at least some of you got that Apocalypse Now reference twist ;)
So this week was one of miscommunication and frustration and eventually resolution. I didn't even think my cover was going to get chosen. Honestly, I just thought of the idea randomly and decided to execute it because I thought it was fun and made me chuckle. I mean, it was content-driven, but mostly I was just having fun with it. I was happy with what I turned in and apparently so were the editors because they picked it.
So I spruced it up on Sunday and all was good. The illustration was supposed to be cartoonish because it was supposed to be comic book esque without being overly Lichtenstein as to mimic Brittany's feature. I was pleasantly surprised to become attached to the idea as it shaped into a more complete concept.
Tuesday I got word that some people didn't like the cover at all and that they wanted a photo cover instead. To put it bluntly, I was peeved. Tuesday is not the time to be completely reconceptualizing a cover. Especially when the suggestion is to put 9 photos on the cover when they're already on both the splash page and in the feature itself. Talk about repetitive. So I fixed up the illustration a bit and added rings so it wasn't like fists butting heads or something. I wanted to get across that it was about powers uniting.
Getting a call at 9 am to come into Vox to change the cover on production day when you're at work trying to make money so you can move to Austin is slightly infuriating. However, at least Jen was on my side and apologized for all the mix ups and miscommunications. I was under the impression that I was supposed to try new ideas and if they didn't work, then we were just going to go with what we had because obviously there was something about it that made them pick it over two other choices. While walking I had an idea to cutout the basketball girls and put the same stroke around them as the one around Dynamic so that I could keep my typography. I tried that and gave options without the stroke and the full picture as well. We went with the full picture one because they said the stroke one made it look religious or something. Whatever.
I'm actually pleased with how it turned out. The colors work well with the photo and the pose is generic "dynamic duos" enough to please everyone. Hooray for playing it safe.
So this week was one of miscommunication and frustration and eventually resolution. I didn't even think my cover was going to get chosen. Honestly, I just thought of the idea randomly and decided to execute it because I thought it was fun and made me chuckle. I mean, it was content-driven, but mostly I was just having fun with it. I was happy with what I turned in and apparently so were the editors because they picked it.
So I spruced it up on Sunday and all was good. The illustration was supposed to be cartoonish because it was supposed to be comic book esque without being overly Lichtenstein as to mimic Brittany's feature. I was pleasantly surprised to become attached to the idea as it shaped into a more complete concept.
Tuesday I got word that some people didn't like the cover at all and that they wanted a photo cover instead. To put it bluntly, I was peeved. Tuesday is not the time to be completely reconceptualizing a cover. Especially when the suggestion is to put 9 photos on the cover when they're already on both the splash page and in the feature itself. Talk about repetitive. So I fixed up the illustration a bit and added rings so it wasn't like fists butting heads or something. I wanted to get across that it was about powers uniting.
Getting a call at 9 am to come into Vox to change the cover on production day when you're at work trying to make money so you can move to Austin is slightly infuriating. However, at least Jen was on my side and apologized for all the mix ups and miscommunications. I was under the impression that I was supposed to try new ideas and if they didn't work, then we were just going to go with what we had because obviously there was something about it that made them pick it over two other choices. While walking I had an idea to cutout the basketball girls and put the same stroke around them as the one around Dynamic so that I could keep my typography. I tried that and gave options without the stroke and the full picture as well. We went with the full picture one because they said the stroke one made it look religious or something. Whatever.
I'm actually pleased with how it turned out. The colors work well with the photo and the pose is generic "dynamic duos" enough to please everyone. Hooray for playing it safe.
Response: Book Cover
Tuesday was fun. I liked seeing everyone's reactions to all the different opinions being tossed around. I think Brittany's might have been my favorite when they told her her design was too "progressive" haha.
I'm used to the marketing kind of criticism from my job and I've learned to work within the parameters that they want me to, but this was different in that I got to start out doing whatever I wanted and now it has to be fit into the needs of the marketing people. I think a lot of people thought that lady was being a bit harsh or too conservative, but really she was just doing her job. Marketing is a whole different medium of design and writing than editorial. I'll admit, I was kind of let down that I'll have to change my white cover, but I totally get that the jacket has to be easily accessible to multiple platforms of usage and has to be able to work in all sizes. It's like designing a logo. You have to make sure it will look good both big and small because it's going to be put on everything.
The one thing that never occurred to me was the authors being involved in picking the cover. I felt like a dummy for not considering that. I can totally see where they were trying to mitigate any disputes that may arise with the authors since the book is their lovechild.
I loved Dwight; he was cracking me up with his soft voice and charged opinions. He seems like a great advocate for us and will get the best, most creative covers published. Good luck to everyone, can't wait to see which ones get picked!
I'm used to the marketing kind of criticism from my job and I've learned to work within the parameters that they want me to, but this was different in that I got to start out doing whatever I wanted and now it has to be fit into the needs of the marketing people. I think a lot of people thought that lady was being a bit harsh or too conservative, but really she was just doing her job. Marketing is a whole different medium of design and writing than editorial. I'll admit, I was kind of let down that I'll have to change my white cover, but I totally get that the jacket has to be easily accessible to multiple platforms of usage and has to be able to work in all sizes. It's like designing a logo. You have to make sure it will look good both big and small because it's going to be put on everything.
The one thing that never occurred to me was the authors being involved in picking the cover. I felt like a dummy for not considering that. I can totally see where they were trying to mitigate any disputes that may arise with the authors since the book is their lovechild.
I loved Dwight; he was cracking me up with his soft voice and charged opinions. He seems like a great advocate for us and will get the best, most creative covers published. Good luck to everyone, can't wait to see which ones get picked!
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