Response: mini portfolios

I suppose that I forgot about our mini portfolios, or I just tried to block it out because it stressed me out. I'm slightly even more stressed after looking over the samples that Jan brought to class yesterday, because it seems as though the possibilities for what you can do with your mini portfolio are endless. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to stick with something traditional, something that can be printed at the bookstore, granted that they have the time to do so before next Wednesday.

The next thing that I'm trying to decide is what to put on the cover. The cover is one of the most important parts, in my opinion - it's the first look that a hopeful future employer gets at you, almost like the first steps into the interview room or the introduction on a telephone interview. I'm toying with the idea of putting my colored pencil parrot on the cover, because people seem to really like that, even though I've only presented two of my art pieces, out of about 25. Maybe it could have a talking bubble with my name in it? It would also be an interesting way to incorporate that piece without having to put it in the actual portfolio, and it may serve as a nice talking piece. It is one of my favorite pieces. What would you all think of me putting that on the cover? If you haven't seen it, check it out here.

Critique: Home Canvas iPad app

The iPad is a world of headaches, but designing the app for Home Canvas wasn't THAT bad (after complete redesign number three I began to calm down a bit). Since many of you have yet to see my designs, and they have been completely revamped since the last time I posted screen shots, tonight I bring you the finished product. Overall, I'm very happy with the way that it turned out. The screen shots don't quite do it justice, though, because much of it is scrollable and interactive. But check it out and let me know your thoughts!

     

 

You can't miss: an exciting game of chess

Maybe it's just me, but ever since I was little (and seeing Beauty and the Beast definitely added to my lust), I've always wanted a huge library - complete with rolling stairs and a gorgeous, custom made chess set. If you've never layed chess, don't knock it until you try it! It's challenging and fun, not all of the nerdy stuff that TV shows make it up to be. Plus, there are some insanely cool chess sets out there!

This week, Eye Blog talks chess. (They must have known that I was an avid reader.) The chess set that they discuss, picture to follow, is associated with Bauhaus. The set is simple, composed of stained limewood in the shapes of circles, triangles and squares.

Eye blog says, "The figurative designs of most chess sets allude to the old world order of pre-capitalist societies and are often based on peculiar national characteristics – king and queen (originally a man, the ‘adviser to the king’), knight, bishop (the fool in France and standard bearer in Italy), rook and pawn (soldier, citizen).

Hartwig’s abstract pieces represent the essence of the game by pointing to the unique method of moves they make on the chessboard."

This is an interesting way to think of the game of chess, and is much different than most chess players are used to. It is kind of astonishing to think that many more people did not think of changing the chess pieces to represent the moves that the pieces make in the game.

Via//Blog Eye

Response: the last few weeks

Since we have been working mainly out of class for the last couple of class periods, I don't have a specific topic to discuss. I do, however, have an image collage of how I feel (courtesy of a Google search of "frustrated woman"):

Mainly, I feel like the women with their computers. Is it a coincidence that so many of these photos have pictures when I simply searched "frustrated woman"? I think not, computers are so frustrating. Especially when you have a large InDesign document that makes your whole computer move at the speed of a turtle.

However, as stressed as I am with all of the Home Canvas and Modify business going on (on top of Vox business of course), I'm so anxious to see the outcome and to see all of our hard work pay off.

You can't miss: Map talk

Eye blog generally talks about things that I can expect from a design magazine: posters, fonts, events, etc., but today, they posted about Google maps. Upon reading the headline, I wondered what in the world Google maps had to do with a designer like myself, but after reading the article it is apparent that it has a great deal to do with the design world. Google maps is highly designed and is useful and relevant information for the user. However, Bing's map service and other maps are coming up on Google maps' tail. Eye blog suggests, "Perhaps the next great moment in information design is just around the corner." Maybe they're correct about that!

Designing maps seems to be quite a hard feat to tackle -- so many lines, so so so many lines. But realistically it is sort of like an infographic, because it does provide information in a graphic way.

Check out these map photos provided by Eye Blog:

OpenStreetMap's map

Map from Bing Maps

One advantage to Bing Maps is that they allow you to overlay multiple maps, to make the map custom to you.

Is it true, then? Google may not be taking over the whole digital world?

Critique: Modify

 After the not-so-wonderful first rounds of critiques, we basically did a complete revamp of Modify, but after all of the struggles, I'm pretty happy with how everything is shaping up. Some of (okay, most of) my stories were cut, so I've been assigned new stories, but a few have remained the same. I'm still trying to push myself to think outside of the box, so let me know your thoughts! But be gentle, many of these are DEFINITELY still in the works, I just wanted you to get an idea of where I'm heading here:

Criqitue: Vox feature, Home Canvas iPad

So, this week has been quite the design week for me. I've been balancing both prototype projects (one for print and the other for iPad), the 20/10 assignment and the feature that will be coming out tomorrow. Since you've already seen most of my print prototype designs and my 20/10 assignments, I'm proud to show you my feature and a couple screen shots of my iPad prototype so far (which may be completely changing come tomorrow):

First of all, the ladder isn't on fire in print :(. Sad day, I know. But BIG thanks to Katie for helping me set it on fire! And thanks to her computer for not hating her!

 

I've still got a few pages to design, and lots of things to add. They look way better on the iPad because they are interactive! Let me know your thoughts about these, please!

Response: Our Critique

Last week, we met to critique draft one of our prototype designs. PHEW. I'm glad that's over with. It was quite nerve wracking and frustrating when we met with our group of publishers. I think it's safe to say that our publishers' ideas and our designers' ideas don't exactly go hand in hand. However, I'm not sure that this is very representative of the magazine industry as a whole. I think, and I could be very wrong here, that a complete redesign (except for what magazines, such as what Glamour just went through), is not often necessary because there is already a style guide put into place. This makes it easier for the designers to design. However, when the content providers don't have a say in the style guide, or they think that they know what they want and what looks good after only taking intermediate design, it becomes much more difficult. There are certain magazine standards that we all know by now that people who are coming from the outside may not be aware of.

I do think that this is a good test to put us through for our capstone. Besides pumping up the content that we have for our portfolios, it's also going to be a good story to explain to publishers and will show that we know how to work as a team (without killing each other, at least).

You Can't Miss: Indie mags

Via//Eyeblog

I'm always surprised by the amount of magazines that there are, and this week Eye blog gives a little preview to a festival called Facing Pages, which features indie magazines. The event features showcases, work shops and a handful of other things...aka it's a designer's dream land. It focuses on the influence that magazines have on the visual aspect of our daily culture, which is a pretty important topic and one that we all think about daily. I think it's important that we have access to events such as these to further our design talents. We're in an ever-changing industry, so really, even after we graduate we will not be finished learning.

Also, check out these great graphic design posters, about design, that I stumbled upon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deapeajay/2265111389/ (Check it out here, they worded their copyright weird, so I didn't want to be sued! But they're appealing.)

Critique: Modify

Here are the designs that I have finished so far for Modify. I'm pleased with how they've turned out so far, and I think that it's definitely been a stretch for me to design under someone else's design scheme. Keeping in mind the way that Katie designs was difficult, but was also kind of fun. Since we had to go through things pretty quickly in class yesterday, let me know your thoughts!

You can't miss: travel posters for lazy people

Eye blog posted about "Travel Posters for Lazy People." Let's be serious, senioritis is in full swing, and some mornings I'm feeling pretty lazy. The posters are pretty comical and might offend you, make you laugh, or give you the strength it takes to get out of bed tomorrow.  Here are a few of my favorites that were presented via Visual News:

This could be just another thing to keep your design mind occupied while you're avoiding your not-so-fun classes (and no, I don't mean design - I actually enjoy that class!). But the use of graphics is so simple that I think any one of us could create something like this, given we come up with witty text to accompany the design.

Response: magazine presentations

Today, each group presented their magazine designs to the class. This was very interesting to see, especially because some of the magazines have similar content as another magazine (for example food or home) however they were designed very differently. It is important to note how much of an influence the art directors had on the design of the magazine. I know that for me, it was difficult for me to design while keeping someone else's style in mind, but it was a challenge that I liked. When we enter the world of consumer magazines, it is very likely that we will be designing under a certain set of rules. We have to do this in our Vox department pages, but it is much different when you are trying to design multiple pages and departments.

It was also pretty interesting to hear the publisher's feelings towards what our designs should and should not be. It makes me realize how very different the minds of designers are than the minds of writers (no wonder I struggled with all of my writing classes so much). Although many ideas were presented and developed, those ideas may not translate well into print. I can't help but think of Nick's group, and how they didn't want a "logo." I heard about this weeks ago, but it still doesn't sit well in my mind. Although the outside world may not realize it, nearly everything has a logo, even if it may look like simple type. It is somewhat of a challenge to pull away some design elements that we put our time and effort into and have our ideas shut down.

Overall, it's interesting to me to see the compilation of a small group of people's ideas come to one. We all have very different backgrounds and skills, so it's interesting to see how they will all come together to create one polished product.  I can't wait for our trip next month, and to see the finished designs!

Response: Portfolio meetings

So, as the rest of you all did, I met with Jan and Theresa to discuss how I should present my portfolio and what pieces should be included. One interesting thing that I loved was that Jan took the time to think about which pieces would fit well into a portfolio for the specific places that I plan to move (either Austin or Phoenix). It is interesting to think about the fact that each part of the country, and the world for that matter, has a specific design style. What would work for applying at a Mid-West magazine wouldn't work as well for a California magazine.

After looking over the large samples of work that I brought with me, I was surprised to find that I lacked photo stories. To me, photos have always been something that was easier for me (easier than typography or illustrations). But, I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised that my portfolio is now filled with a number of things that I used to consider myself horrible at. It's also astonishing to see the great change between my work from the beginning of the semester and my work now. I'm happy that I'm progressing and I'm super excited to put my portfolio together.

Katie Landis got her hands on some old design students' portfolios...SCORE. So now I have an idea in mind for what I want my portfolio to look like. Having them in an actual book printed in full color makes me so excited, and makes them look so professional and polished -- I just hope my future interviewers feel the same...

You Can't Miss: Graphic design books

At the beginning of this semester, I was so excited when I picked up my books! (Nerdy? Maybe.) All of the books were so colorfully and beautifully designed, so I was sure that I was going to enjoy them much more than my political science books from the past couple of years. As an avid Amazon buyer, I often buy books there because they're much cheaper than retail book stores. Much to my delight (and my wallet's dismay), there is a plethora of graphic design books just begging for my attention. But, with all of these books, how do I choose which ones to read and which ones to pass up? And how do our teachers select which books will be most beneficial to our learning?

Thankfully, Eye Blog addresses this issue in this week's post, and note that there has been a dramatic increase in graphic design publications, but much of this info can be found on the web now. "However, as Clifford Lynch reminds us, access to information and access to education do not necessarily equate to the same thing," says Eye Blog. Which is very true. Although Youtube video tutorials are very helpful when we want to learn a specific task very quickly, it's not the same as the information that you gather in class. Quite frankly, it's much easier to learn things in class than it is from online stuff (for me at least). So it's important that we take full advantage of the great opportunities that the J-School is filling our brains with.

A book that was once commonly used to educate graphic designers about the history of graphic design; via Eye Blog.

 

 

Here's a couple  of books that I found on Amazon that I intend to check out over the summer (while I'm taking a break from school [forever] and saving up some money to move out and find a big girl job):

Photo from Amazon

Photo from Amazon

Photo from Amazon

Critique: secret INVASION!!!

Tomorrow, I'll be presenting my final cover for the Secret Invasion/Invasive Species story that will be published next month. I'm very happy with how my cover turned out. Along the way, I taught myself some new effects in Photoshop and learned a little more about some of the tools, so I'm glad about that. But here ya go!

It's a little lighter in print, but I ended up with a dirt background, a large fishing net cast over the whole thing that intertwines with the Vox logo, some bright green font, and an edited photo of each of the species that are mentioned in the piece. I think that I really challenged myself with this piece, so I'm excited to see what y'all have to say!

Critique: Online feature splash page & Mandated Reporting

For Magazines Across Platforms this week, I designed the feature splash page for the online version. I chose to take Andrea P's cover and remove the sell lines and the graphics that were added, so that it just had the background image, the hands, the title and the dek. Next, I made seven individual boxes to hold the seven individual stories. I alternated between a medium blue and a light blue to go with the background that Andrea had chosen for the cover, and I alternated the placement of images for variety.

This week, I was assigned to design the feature for Mandated Reporting. It's a tough story to cover, and I only had a full spread to include a 1,500 word story, two side bars, two info boxes and graphics. I chose to nix a side bar and one info box because the page was much too cluttered. For the theme, I'm mimicking a style that Vox did in the May 12, 2011 piece on Murder. If you haven't seen the piece, it takes newspaper clippings about the topic and kind of modge podges them onto the page. I like the ideas that I have going, but I'm not sure that I'm in love with the flow of the story. It's difficult when I don't have photos to go off of and when the story has such a serious tone. We have our feature meeting this Friday, so I'm hoping to get a lot out of it. Check back for updates!

Response: Helvetica and Just My Type

Helvetica was much more interesting than some documentaries that I've seen, which is kind of surprising in the sense that it's about typography! I guess that's just the designer in me speaking, and I'm sure that a great deal of you felt the same way. One thing that truly interested me in the film was the presence of Helvetica in many many many...many different areas. For example, the font was seen at American Apparel stores, on the logo for American Airlines, on subway signs, just about every kind of sign you could imagine. Also, Helvetica is the font that is used on the iPod, iPad and iPhone (I know this because I had to look it up for an app that I'm in the process of making). Helvetica really is so deeply niched into all-things-involving-typography that I can't seem to think that anything will take its place anytime soon.

From http://thepicture.wordpress.com/tag/american-apparel/.

The process of cutting and inking typography before computers were introduced looked like a time consuming, but yet all-too-beautiful process. There's something to be said about creating things by hand rather than by computer, but I found it very interesting that one of the men who was interviewed in the film stated that the use of computers allows us to design more quickly, but not necessarily better. That was the take-away point that I found to be most true. Sometimes the pieces of art that I like the most in a magazine are hand drawn.

As for Just My Type, I think the book is witty and humorous and presents the idea of typography in an interesting and fresh way. But then again, any book that mentions The Beatles normally catches my attention pretty easily. That being said, my favorite chapter was Chapter 19, The Serif of Liverpool. If you've yet to read that specific chapter, it focuses on The Beatles logo.

From http://vectorlogo.blogspot.com/2009/08/beatles-logo-eps.html

Although it seems like a normal plain font upon first glace, take a second look. The B stretches the whole height of the two words; the t reaches far below the rest of the line, and the t in "the" cups the "h". The chapter goes on to explain how much we associate band's logo fonts with the band itself, and even if another word is written in that font (many of which can now be downloaded typography thanks to all of the typography websites), we still reference the band itself.

You Can't Miss: Art for IBM

This week Eye Blog discussed a non-format group of designs that were done from IBM. The theme of thee designs was "Smarter Planet Outcome." Check out a couple of my favorite pieces from the collection below and what they symbolize:

The above design, by Kjell Eckhorn and Jon Forss of Non-Format, is an illustration that represents a supply chain that's " 'smart and flexible enough to adapt to even the most rapid changes in the market,' says Forss." The photo represents a river that can be linked back to a single, small stream, which can be seem through the wavelike movement of the shapes. The large black shapes represent pebbles, rocks and boulders that are in the stream and flowing river. I like this design because the simple geometric shapes hint at a larger picture, but you might not get what the picture represents without the designers explanation. This is truly art to me because although the designer had a certain idea and meaning behind the piece, others may interpret it differently.

 

This piece was created by Carl DeTorres. The color pattern (or lack there of) is very appealing and aesthetically pleasing for this photo. The colors have been placed in a specific arrangement that obviously means something to the creator, but we as viewers must figure it our for ourselves. There is something simple and intriguing about the pulling away of panels and I'd personally like to know more about the thought process behind the piece.

One interesting thing about the designers, and DeTorres in specific, is that they were nervous about the art limitations that would be placed on them by IBM, but were pleasantly surprised by the freedom that they were given to create their works. " 'The art and design needs coming from IBM were refined by Ogilvy into smart and very open briefs … It was very liberating … This kind of thing doesn’t happen in advertising very often,'" says DeTorres.

This thought process brought me back to our magazine prototypes, in which we were encouraged to push past the norms that we so often see in magazines. Although we may have entered the assignment thinking that the magazines wanted something much like what they already had, it was interesting to hear that they really wanted to present something different. I think that this speaks a great deal for the design world.

Critique: Vignettes

After the Vox staff meeting on Monday, we met for another 25-30 minutes to brainstorm titles for the vignettes feature that will be printed next week. It was, and still is, difficult to come up with something that encompasses all seven stories without highlighting one story over another for a title, so it's even more difficult to come up with a cover that will present the package as a whole instead of individual stories. I liked the covers that I presented last week, especially the Polaroid one, but Timmy wasn't too fond of it, which I completely understand from a photographers standpoint. So then, I was stuck trying to come up with something that everyone would be happy with.

I decided to stick with the head "The ties that bond." And I chose to play up cutouts of the photos (I don't mean to steal your cut-outs thunder Krista!) with a outline of the state of Missouri in the background.

I haven't put in the key pieces yet, but you'll all get to see that tomorrow in class. I'm also still working with the background; it won't be white, but I can't decide what exactly I want to do with it. This is something a little out of the box for me, but I'm happy that I did it and I'm pleased with the way that it's coming along so far. I guess here's a leap of faith!

Response: Portfolio review

At the thought of portfolio reviews, my knees began to buckle, but now that it's in the past it wasn't quite as terrible as I thought. Although it's scary to put yourself on the chopping block, it truly helps to have the input of your peers and especially peers who are familiar with your work. I know that I have a lot of revisions to make, and I'm quite frankly not even sure where to start, but nonetheless it's exciting to get going. Picking pieces for a mini portfolio is going to be rather difficult, since I want to include something from every area that I've done, such as a cover, a feature, a department, iPad work, iPhone work and business cards. Then, after class, Katie told me that we can include our artwork as well. I took art for two years in high school and I was an art minor at Mizzou for two years (I dropped my minor...)and I have some pieces that I'm pretty proud of, so I would like them to be included in my portfolio. The most difficult thing is trying to pry into the minds of my future prospective employers. It's hard to know what they will want, since all magazines are so different and are looking for such different things.

I have an online portfolio of my writing and editing work since I've had a handful of jobs/internships with those two areas, but making the decisions for my design portfolio is much scarier.

I'm excited to get started on my mini portfolio and later on my giiiiiant portfolio!

You can't miss: Spitalfields Life

This week, Blog Eye blogged about a book signing party that was unlike any other, in the sense that it took place at the Christ Church in Spitalfields, London. The book is titled Spitalfields Life, and is written by an author who wishes to remain unknown (the author goes by the titled "The Gentle Author."

The book is a compilation of blog posts, which were created to be just that - blog posts.  The posts were later turned into books, Spitalfields Life just being one part of the series.

The book's designer, David Pearson, designed the book in a two column format.

"A recent post on Spitalfields Life discusses Pearson’s choice of typeface (Miller by Matthew Carter) and his page design – which is based on a copy of Dickens’ Household Words sent to him by the author," says Blog Eye. It is obvious that a great deal of thought went into the formation of the pages. There are also great graphics and illustrations that are used to end a "blog post" or "chapter," as seen below.

It is interesting to remember how open the field of design is for us as journalism students. Although our focus may be on consumer magazines or product branding, we can also work in the world of books. The designs might not be as flashy, but they are still beautiful and well-thought-out ideas that enhance the whole packaging of the book.

You can't miss Eve Arnold's centenary

Blog Eye Magazine took the centenary of Eve Arnold to discuss her brilliant photojournalism pieces throughout her career.  The post suggests that while Arnold photographed many celebrities throughout her career, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Malcom X, she should not be remembered for simply being a celebrity photographer.

Courtesy of

theworldofphotographers.wordpress.com

 The above picture is from a photo shoot that Arnold did with MM. The photo is beautiful and simple and all too captivating MM's vulnerability (a task at which Arnold excelled in capturing).  I'm a Monroe fan, so of course I think this photo is lovely and I absolutely wouldn't mind adding it to my collection.  However....

As I kept reading the post on Blog Eye, the photos drew me in so deeply.  Much deeper than the Monroe picture.  The below photo is from a collection called Divorce in Moscow, circa 1966:

At first you see that yes the photo is beautiful, but look beyond that.  Blog Eye did an amazing job of highlighting a few of the important things to note:

"The body language of the couple shows a chasm of physical and emotional distance between the two. It is a painful scene to witness, even from the distance of the viewer. There is a certain religiosity to it, too: while central, the woman is subservient, wearing a headscarf, with a lachrymose and distant look on her face.

Many independent players have their part. A man hides behind his newspaper while another stares out of the room’s only window, but the more removed they try to become the more they implicate themselves. The setting is cold, the room unadorned and bureaucratically sterile. The grimness of the proceedings is captured by Arnold, but her intervention adds space for compassion."

Personally, I don't follow photographers very much, but if you haven't seen any of Arnold's other work, I suggest you do so in some of your spare time.